Falmouth, England, United Kingdom

Drawna Rocks

The Drawna Rocks are a series of granite pinnacles and reefs off Porthkerris on the Lizard Peninsula's east coast, between the village and the offshore Manacles reef. The site rises from a 24-metre seabed to within 6 metres of the surface and offers dramatic walls, gullies and small overhangs without the strongest of the Manacles' tidal currents. The structure is densely covered with jewel anemones in vivid colour, plumose anemones, dead man's fingers, sponges, hydroids and pink coralline algae, with kelp forests on the upper margins. Resident species include ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, corkwing wrasse, pollack, bib, conger eels, tompot blennies, lobsters, edible crabs and spider crabs, with the occasional sunfish in late summer. Drawna Rocks is run from Porthkerris and is widely used as an introduction to Lizard reef diving before progressing to the more demanding offshore Manacles sites. Visibility is typically 6 to 12 metres in summer, water temperature ranges from 9 to 17 degrees Celsius, and currents are moderate around the pinnacles.