Derek’s Dive Domain

OK, so here is a brief report of the Farnes gig, on June 1,2 and 3.

The trip was organised by Ian@1904, and after being picked up by Chas49, we made our way north, arriving in Beadnell about 11pm, after a long trip up the A1.  The following morning dawned lovely. Nice weather, and totally flat calm seas.   So after a breakfast at the B&B, where we met the rest of the gang that we had not met previously, we headed down to the harbour, assembled kit and got onto the boat, from Farne Diving Services, Lee Hall’s lot, who were also providing the B&B.

We headed out to the Farnes from Seahouses harbour, as you do, and the first dive was on the Blue Caps.  We leapt in from the boat, and descended the wall at the edge of the rocks, finding the bottom at about 17 metres, as promised.  We made our way along this wall, dropping down to about 20 metres, just having a good look around.  I was admiring the sea urchins and dead mans finger which adorned every rock and crevice, and there were also quite a few inquisitive wrasse along the way which tended to follow us and be nosing around my fins every time I turned around.  Over the course of the dive we made a nice gradual ascent to about ten metres, from where we sent the blob up and finally ascended, avoiding the mound of kelp which was nearby and doing its best to swallow the line from the DSMB.  We surfaced to find that fog/mist had descended whilst we were in the water, and after almost getting on the wrong boat, we were picked up by Lee, and had a well deserved hot drink.  After heading around a few dive sites, it became clear that the mist was pretty widespread, and although there were times when we could have got in, it soon misted over again and getting us out of the water would have been interesting to say the least, so the second dive was cancelled and we headed back to the harbour.

We headed back to the B&B and after a couple of drinks in the local pub, we were ferried into Seahouses by Yazzy and LisaR to go to a recommended curry night in a pub, which wasn’t great, but was perfectly edible, before sinking some more beer and then heading back in what could only be described as a crowded car.  Poor old Chris’s neck and back will probably never be the same again!

Saturday morning dawned and we got out of bed, looked out of the window and said “&*$£”%^”.  The mist had rolled inland and it seemed pretty clear there would be no diving.  So after breakfast we headed down to the harbour and waited for the almost inevitable answer.  So instead of diving on the Saturday, people headed off in various directions in order to find things to do.  We headed into Alnwick and had a look round a massive book shop, before enjoying a coffee in the blazing sun which the whole of the country apart from Beadnell and Seahouses had all day, before heading back for another night in the pub.

Fortunately Sunday morning looked a lot better, so we headed on down to the harbour to find all systems go, and loaded the boat and got out quick before the weather changed again.  This time we went all the way over to the North Knifestone area, and did a dive on the remains of what I think must be several wrecks, as there was a boiler, a complete prop (which I thought looked great laying flat on the seabed - must return with a camera!)  This was a good dive as you could pretty much pick your depth, with ledges every few metres from 7 to 25.  We settled at 20 metres for a while, then slowly headed up the ledges, having a look along each one as we did so.  There was quite a lot of coral in this area, which is something I haven’t really noticed on a dive before.  I saw my first lobster on this dive too, or rather I found my first one, having had them pointed out to me before.  My observation must be improving!  There were also loads of jellyfish drifting along in this area as well, which we noticed on all of the dives.

Back on the boat and the weather was beginning to draw in again, but Lee knew somewhere where we should be able to get in the water, and hopefully see some seals too.  Hurrah, this is what I came for

So we headed over to Knox Reef, and after a brief delay to get a take on the weather, we dropped in here for a maximum 7 metre dive, and hopefully a few seals.  As soon as we got in the water one seal came and said hello. and swam around us several times keeping an eye on us before suddenly coming right up to me, getting withing inches of my face before turning with a swish and gliding away - was it something I said ?  :D  I was surprised by the size of them, I hadn’t realised that grey seals were quite so big, but they are not scary at all, or at least I didn’t find this one scary!  Unfortunately we didn’t see any other seals on this dive, so it was a 35 minute dive of kelp really, but we persevered just in case one of the elusive seals came out to play.  Again there were loads of jellyfish in the water.   After surfacing and getting back on the boat, it was clear that the seals were doing their best to wind us up, as everytime a diver surfaced, and looked at the boat, a seal would appear a couple of metres behind the diver and just stay there watching them, until the diver turned around, at which point the seal would dart beneath the waves again.  This happenned more times than I care to see as coincidence!!

So that was the end of the diving, we headed back in over what can only be described as lumpy seas, and dekitted and said our goodbyes on the harbourside before beginning the long journey back home.

 The Farne Islands are obviously an area where diving is a bit haphazard, in that weatherwise they seem a bit more at risk of being blown out than perhaps on the south coast, but the three dives that we did do, were some of the most interesting ones that I have done in UK waters, and I think the lure of the seals will mean that I have to head back there again sometime in the future.  I don’t think the Farnes have seen the last of me just yet!

Dive Data:

Dive 1:  Max Depth 19.6 metres, total dive time 37 mins

Dive 2:  Max Depth 19.9 metres, total dive time 34 mins

Dive 3:  Max Depth 5.8 metres, total dive time 39 mins