It felt like a disaster movie or the Lost World. As we rounded the corner of Ladram Bay, to get to the sea stacks, it turned out there was no need to swim. Someone had pulled the plug out and all the water had disappeared, leaving the normally hidden sea bed exposed, and revealing exotic shapes and colours in the sandstone. We noticed beautiful soft honeycomb patterns underfoot, made out of sand and very fine shell. Later we discovered they were living reefs, home to the tiny honeycomb worm. We wandered around in awe. It was pure chance that we'd come on this day at this time, which was actually on one of the lowest spring tides of the year, so it felt very special to be able to see this landscape which is so rarely revealed. We had a dip on the main beach on our return, where there was still some water left. Three years earlier we had swum around the towers at high tide, now we were walking round. That is one of the things I really love about sea swimming; you return to the same places and have a different experience every time.
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