Padstow, England, United Kingdom

Pentire Point

Pentire Point is the dramatic headland north of Padstow on the north Cornwall coast, where high cliffs of slate and sandstone fall into clear Atlantic water on the western shoulder of the Camel Estuary. The underwater topography continues the dramatic nature of the cliffs above, with vertical rock walls, gullies and small caverns falling from the surface to 25 metres on a clean rock and sand bottom. The headland is exposed to Atlantic swell and is dived in settled summer conditions only. The walls are densely covered with jewel anemones, plumose anemones, dead man's fingers, sponges, hydroids and pink coralline algae, with kelp forests of Laminaria hyperborea on the upper margins. Resident species include ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, pollack, bib, conger eels, lobsters, edible crabs and spider crabs, with the occasional Atlantic grey seal. Visibility ranges from 6 to 12 metres in summer and water temperature varies between 10 and 17 degrees Celsius. Currents are moderate, and dives run from Padstow and Port Quin charter boats around slack water.