A morning off Penzance, a small RIB bobbing in deep blue water, and curious blue sharks gliding up to check out the snorkellers. That's the prize on the table at the Shark Trust's flagship fundraiser this month.
The charity will auction a blue shark snorkelling trip for up to four people at its For the Love of Sharks evening, held at the Royal Geographical Society in London on Friday 27 November 2026. Bidding happens live in the room, so you'll need a ticket to the event and a bit of nerve with your paddle.
Whoever wins gets a day out with Charles Hood, the Shark Trust's Chair of Trustees and one of the pioneers of UK shark eco-tourism. The plan is a July or August departure from Penzance harbour — the window when blue sharks pass through British waters — aboard Atlantic Adventures' 7m RIB. Wildlife presenter Steve Backshall is lined up to send the group off, in person if his filming schedule allows, or by video message if not. Minimum age for participants is 14, with under-18s accompanied by a guardian, and note that accommodation, travel, insurance and kit are all on you.
Blue sharks have become something of a British summer secret. They arrive off the south-west coast in the warmer months and are famously inquisitive, often swimming right up to snorkellers at the surface. That behaviour has made them the star of shark eco-tourism trips not just in Cornwall but in Mexico, South Africa, the Azores and the USA. They were also the most photographed species in the Shark Trust's recent Shark Photographer of the Year competition.
Every pound of the winning bid goes to two Shark Trust causes: Living with Sharks, which explores how people and sharks coexist — including the charity's work on shark eco-tourism standards — and the Oceanic Programme, a conservation push for oceanic sharks and rays, blue sharks included.
For a traveller, this is a rare one: a chance to get in the water with a genuinely impressive pelagic shark without leaving the UK, while putting money directly into protecting the species you're swimming with. If London on 27 November is doable, tickets for the event are on sale via the Shark Trust website. If not, Cornwall has plenty of operators running blue shark trips commercially through the summer, so the experience itself isn't out of reach for the rest of us.
