It is a large flooded valley created after the Ice age by the melt waters that caused the sea level to rise dramatically, creating a large natural harbour which is navigable from Falmouth to Truro. The Carrick Roads have large tidal flows; the water starts to recede six hours and five minutes before high water at Dover. Tidal speeds can reach three knots in the upper parts of the basin and one and a half to two in the lower stretches. The journey from Truro to Falmouth is a Grade A route for kayakers. The Carrick Roads can be seen well from the Trelissick Peninsula. From this viewpoint the waters stretch away towards Falmouth. On the left is Camerance Point, a tree-clad promontory. The Feock Peninsula is on the right and beyond that is the creek leading to Mylor village, with the Fal Estuary in the distance behind. Nearby lie the gardens of Trelissick House with their oaks, pines, beeches, rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias. The Roads are crossed by the historic and scenic King Harry Ferry, a vehicular chain ferry that links the parishes of Feock and Philleigh. The fiord-like inlet which houses the ferry, and others nearby are deep and steep-sided, are used as berths for mothballed tankers and container ships, allowing glimpses of the superstructure of large vessels to be seen through the trees.
Natural history
Carrick Roads and the Fal Estuary are favoured by ornithologists for birdwatching, especially the waders and waterbirds that visit in autumn and winter. The little egret and kingfisher can be seen all year while various passage waders pass through in spring, late summer and autumn. These include the whimbrel, the spotted redshank, the greenshank, the common sandpiper, the curlew sandpiper and the little stint. In the winter, the great northern diver and the black-throated diver can be seen, as well as the black-necked grebe, the red-necked grebe and the Slavonian grebe, the goldeneye and red-breasted merganser, and sometimes the long-tailed duck and the scoter.
Industry
A pilchard fishery was still operating in the 1880s. In 1882, at a meeting of the seine owners at St Mawes, it was decided to place a huer on a hill, for the first time in a few years, to look out for shoals. Names given to the seines at that time were Diligence, Enterprise, Hope, Onward and St Just. Truro Council's Oyster Fishery Committee closed the oyster-beds of Mylor and St Just-in-Roseland for two years. The beds were over-dredged and shut in September 1883.
Governance
The Falmouth Harbour Commissioners are the statutory port authority with responsibility for the Inner Harbour at Falmouth, the Penryn River up as far as Coastlines Wharf, the southern part of the Carrick Roads and a large part of Falmouth Bay. It issues directions for speed limits in Carrick Roads.
