Azura in Carbis Bay Cornwall

05/06/2024

Few last minute dates still available for JULY this year 2024.
Sleeps 4 plus baby. Wi fi, netflix, car parking. Train. Sea. Beach. Ground floor apartment. All mod cons. Safe easy location for West Cornwall and St Ives.
PM or email [email protected] for direct prices if you really are interested in booking any of the above dates. Is also on VRBO.

JULY 8th - JULY 20th. 12 nights or will split

10/03/2024

Clever and so simple!

What is a windsock?

It’s a long circular textile tube that resembles a sock. It’s a physical and basic tool used to determine the speed and direction of the wind.

What does a windsock tell you?

A windsock tells you the wind direction and wind speed.

Wind direction Is the direction in which the windsock is pointing. A windsock pointing west indicates an easterly wind.
The wind speed is indicated but how much the windsock has inflated. When you have a striped windsock, you can approximate the knots, mph or km/hr of the wind gust. Check out this article to see a chart of wind speeds based on sock inflation.

WHY IS KNOWING WINDSPEED IMPORTANT?

One of the main reasons that airports, helipads and airstrips have variegated windsocks is because the stripes tell a story. They tell you wind speed. Approximately how many knots or mph the wind is blowing.

The windsock will inflate partially or fully depending on the wind speed and wind strength. Knowing wind speeds and direction are key to landing your aircraft safety.

The windsock will fully inflate at 15 knots or 17 mph winds. Check out the chart below below for a true guidance on how the windsock inflates based on what speed.

18/02/2024

Interesting bit of local history. 🙁

On this Day 17th February 1839

Victory wrecked off St Ives

Sunday 17 February 1839 saw the loss of the Victory on the Ridge just off St Ives. A more modest vessel than Nelson's famous flagship, this Victory was a smack from Bristol carrying freestone and metal castings, bound for Exeter. She came ashore on the Ridge at 1pm and just before she struck the crew got off in a ship's boat and all made it through the surf to the shore.

John Tregerthen Short reported in his diary that the Victory sank and became a complete wreck. He was however a bit premature in his judgement for on April 13 he reported that the Victory was floated into St Ives harbour with her cargo of stone on board.

No further details were given but the voyage of the Victory reminds us of how important the coasting trade was at this time. In the Midlands a cargo like this might have gone by canal and a few years later rail might have been considered but in 1839 the 380 mile sea voyage was preferred to the 65 mile overland trip from Bristol to Exeter. Bristol to Exeter by sea would have taken probably a minimum of 5 days and the vessel and cargo would probably have been uninsured.

The north coast of Cornwall was a notoriously dangerous seaway without a harbour of refuge, shipping losses were great but so was the volume of shipping as coal and ore passed between the mines of Cornwall and the ports of South Wales. The letterbooks of the Jenkin family of copper agents make it clear that these vessels were often under-manned, under-maintained and that drunkenness was a severe problem. While most of the 'Welsh Fleet' of ore and coal carriers were brigs and schooners they also carried other cargoes when available and there is no reason to assume that 'Welsh Fleet' conditions were better or worse than those on other coasting vessels of the time.

27/01/2024

On this Day 27th February 1858

Steamship Cornubia Launched at Hayle
Saturday 27 February 1858 saw the launch of the iron paddle steamer Cornubia at Hayle. The vessel was built by Harvey and Co to work the packet service between Hayle and Bristol. Her keel had been laid down a year earlier and the intention was that she should replace the wooden hulled steam paddler Cornwall. In 1858 the Cornwall was only 16 years old and she was to be sold to help the Hayle and Bristol Steam Packet Company to cover the costs of the Cornubia.

Cornubia was the first big iron paddler steamer built in Cornwall, she was designed at Harvey's probably by Jebus Bickle who gave her the lines of a Yankee “extreme” clipper. She was in fact the only iron passenger vessel ever built in Cornwall and between 4000 and 5000 people are estimated to have turned up to watch the launch. Cornubia was named by the 10 year old daughter of Edwin Ley of Penzance, one of the shareholders. The launch went according to plan and within minutes Cornubia was moored alongside Carnsew Quay where work would soon get under way to prepare her for sea.

Cornubia had a overall length of 200 feet, 185 feet of keel, 241/2 feet beam and a 13 feet depth of hold. She had a gross tonnage of some 500 tons and was powered by a pair of oscillating engines of a nominal 230hp output which were fed by twin steam boilers. In service she could accommodate 55 to 60 saloon passengers plus an unknown number of second cabin and deck passengers. Fit out took four months and Cornubia underwent her first sea trial, under Captain Vivian, on 11th June 1858.

Monday 5th July saw the new vessel's first commercial trip, from Hayle to Land's End, Penzance, the Lizard and Falmouth, which saw Hayle bar to Penzance pierhead covered in two hours and fourteen minutes. The return trip averaged 16 miles per hour. She entered regular service on the Bristol run on 8th July and was scheduled to make three or four return trips each month. Her first trip back to Hayle, under Captain William Gill, saw a couple of close encounters. She left Bristol at 7.30pm on Tuesday and promptly grounded in the Avon tideway, maybe should have left at 8pm instead. Having got off the mud she then had a collision with a French vessel which led to a need for minor repairs off Lundy at about one the next morning. Despite her eventful voyage Cornubia still made Hayle by 9am the next morning, a total sailing time of 13.5 hours.

Cornubia's service on the Hayle - Bristol Packet run was short and in November 1861 she was sold to Thomas Sterling Begbie for whom she briefly worked the London-Southampton-Vigo-Oporto-Lisbon route before crossing the Atlantic to operate as a blockade runner for the Confederate States.

The story of Cornubia's days as a blockade runner and her subsequent career is told in Cornubia: The Life and Times of a Hayle Steamship by Peter Joseph, published by Peninsula Projects in 2016.

13/01/2024

💕💕

18/12/2023

Porthmeor beach was looking a touch moody last week , quite like it to be honest 👌🤣

18/12/2023

Charity Christmas musical evening for the Royal Cornwall Air Ambulance at The Carbis Bay Hotel. A short stroll down from Azura yesterday for a very pleasant evening. 🎄🎄🎄

25/09/2023

16/09/2023

16/09/2023

Bookings now available from May to September 2024.

01/09/2023

Little bit of history !

18/08/2023

Bookings for 2024 from May to September now open!

Spacious Ground Floor apartment. Sleeps up to 4 plus baby.
1 x KS and 1 x twin room. 2 bathroom. All mod cons. dishwasher, wi fi, netflix, 1 car space adjacent. Welcome pack. Easy short walk to beach, coastal train, SW footpath. Quiet location for good access to tour West Cornwall. Sorry… no pets. No smoking.

09/08/2023

27/07/2023

http://74n5c4m7.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/http:%2F%2Fwww.falmouth.co.uk%2Ftallships/2/0102018993434577-9a2e73e7-4b0f-4fdd-8ce9-fe05dabd54d9-000000/cm1roBWKk7D4aksNuNbN6KSJGLQ=332

Tuesday 15th - Friday 18th August 2023. The tall ships are back in Falmouth! For the first time in nine years, Falmouth will once again host the start of the prestigious Tall Ships Race, Magellan Elcano. Falmouth is the Host Port for the Tall Ships Races Magellan-Elcano 2023 and the race starts on F...

02/06/2023

Thinking of paddleboarding?

Whether you’re a complete beginner or more experienced, it’s always useful to know a few tips to help improve your paddleboarding experience:

1. Wear a suitable buoyancy aid or personal flotation device.

2. Take a phone in a waterproof pouch.

3. Wear an appropriate leash.

4. Avoid offshore winds

Install the free apps - what3words or OS Locate - to your phone – You will be able to give the emergency services your exact location in an emergency
And remember, having a few lessons before heading out can teach you the right technique, so it’s more stand-up and less fall-in paddleboarding!

If you get into trouble at the coast, call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard.

For info on equipment head to coastal paddle boards.

06/05/2023

Fin whales are the second largest species of whales in the world

19/04/2023

Stunning place.

15/02/2023

Amazing 💕💕

This is the incredible moment a huge whale was captured 'playing' alongside a pod of dolphins off the Cornish coast 😍

https://bit.ly/3lv4OB3

04/10/2022

Some of our rarely spotted local wildlife on nearby Hayle Towans yesterday. A beautiful baby Adder. 💕😱

16/02/2021

https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2021-02-15/new-fish-shop-in-st-ives-will-cut-out-the-middle-man?fbclid=IwAR2GRq0t4VeTZPrp503RnqrPQuwcJGeWxI3Fp9QOoyTWrkHCMrJ5GxbiF4o

A new fish shop and store is set to be built in St Ives thanks to £50,000 worth of funding from the Government’s Accelerated Towns Fund.