To the west of Whitsand bay, Portwrinkle has two beaches with large areas of rocky shore and a small harbour at their centre. The rocks stick up in jagged lines, so access to the lower shore requires at least some careful scrambling. The rocks are extensive and provide an ideal habitat for all sorts of marine life.

How to get here:

Portwrinkle is easily reached by car off the A374, via Crafthole (B3247). There is a private car park and some pay and display parking spaces on the seafront. There are buses from Plymouth/Torpoint to Crafthole (at the time of writing).

Facilities:

There’s a hotel and café in Portwrinkle. Toilets available.

What you might find:

Between the rocks are many pools fringed with pink coralline algae and these are great places to stop and look for prawns, crabs and fish like rock gobies and shannies.

Further down the shore, the gullies, overhangs and loose rocks are ideal for spotting cushion stars, painted topshells, sponges, sea slugs and rocklings.

At high tide, this is a good spot for snorkelling to look for pipefish, wrasse and sand eels.

This beach is in the Looe and Whitsand Bay Marine Conservation Zone. Please do your bit to look after this special area by moving carefully on the shore, replacing rocks and seaweed as you found them and not removing anything from the shore.