Penzance, England, United Kingdom

Bream Rocks

Bream Rocks is a series of granite reefs and pinnacles off the southwest tip of Cornwall, near Lamorna and just east of Land's End, named for the historic populations of black sea bream that once aggregated to spawn in the area. The reefs rise from a sandy seabed at 18 metres to within a few metres of the surface and offer dramatic underwater topography of vertical walls, gullies and overhangs. The structure is densely covered with jewel anemones in vivid pinks, oranges, reds and whites, plumose anemones, dead man's fingers, sponges, hydroids and pink coralline algae. Resident species include ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, pollack, bib, conger eels, lobsters, edible crabs, spider crabs and the occasional sunfish or basking shark in late summer. Visibility commonly reaches 8 to 15 metres in summer and water temperatures vary between 10 and 17 degrees Celsius. Currents are moderate and dives are timed around slack water from Penzance and Newlyn charter boats. Suitable for AOWD divers in drysuits.