Farne Islands, 2004

During August 2004, members of Warrington Sub Aqua club made their way, along with family and friends, up to the Northumbrian Coast to dive the Farne Isles. The Farne Isles are a group of 28 small islands situated just off the Northumbrian coast, between the ancient village of Bamburgh and the small fishing village of Seahouses. The two club RIBs were taken to accommodate the twelve participating divers, plus two spectators. Camping and caravanning was organised in the small village of Beadnell, using sites that accommodate the needs of divers and equipment and also with enough to keep the kids entertained in the daytime. The trip was organised and led by Jan and Phil Gough.
The club has been running this trip for a number of years therefore bringing the advantages of expertise and Phil’s extensive knowledge of diving around the Isles.

Day 1 Saturday 21st August

The majority of dive members had travelled up on the Friday night to be able to make an early start on the Saturday morning. After getting dive kit and the RIBs ready we were off to launch at Beadnell for 9.00 am, however due to the extreme winds the week before it turned out that we were unable to launch, instead having to drive 10 minutes up the coast to Seahouses. This meant we were able to launch off the slipway instead of having a tractor tow. Due to a spangly new engine in T2 we were off and ready straight away- the old engine caused quite a few problems on the last Farnes trip!!

The Farnes has some of the best wreck diving in the north east, however because of the Isles being as exposed as they are, and the great British weather being as it is, planning dives can be a little frustrating as conditions can worsen meaning plans have to be changed without warning. Tidal flows can also be some of the strongest in the UK, requiring careful dive planning and execution.

The first dive of the trip was to the St. Andre. This wreck is around 70m long and 1100 tonnes and lies at 25m. The St. Andre sank in 1908 whilst carrying a shipment of wrought iron, after hitting Crumstone. She then drifted towards Staple where she now lies. Like many of the wrecks around the Farnes the San Andre has been well broken by the elements, leaving only the boiler and steel girders above the seabed. Not all our divers found this wreck off the shot but it did make a nice scenic dive with plenty of wrasse which follow you round searching for tidbits! Phil, still feeling adventurous came across an anglerfish just off the wreck, which he tormented Jan with. Remember, don’t pick a fight with the angler fish if you're lucky enough to find one, not like Phil did!!
After a spot of lunch on Longstone we were off to the Callers for the second dive. Divers were dropped off in two sets of three waves along the reef for another scenic dive where we were surrounded by hundreds of grey seals - truly remarkable to see them in the wild. We headed back to the harbour for around five thirty where we went back to site for barbeques!

Day 2 Sunday 22nd August

Day two we were up bright and early (on a weekend!!) to launch from Seahouses again, Both Ribs were taken to the Somali, a popular choice for the day and it was diver soup! The weather conditions had made a lot of the wreck sites unreachable and the Somali was borderline itself. There were some huge atlantic swells were rolling in (enough to completely lose hard boats in the troughs) and it was challenging to identify marker buoys and other divers! Phil and Jan were first to test the water, and they did manage to reach the bottom of the wreck. Vis was poor due to silt being kicked up by the other divers and remarkably, the swell could still be strongly felt at the bottom! Several divers were pushed into the wreck at on several occasions by the force of the water. The first two waves got full dives, although on surfacing they all said that it was no fun at all! As the swells were continuing to grow, a few decided to call the dive and some didn't bother. With SMBs being sent up at the same time, from multiple dive boats it was hard locating all our divers. Chris however loved the dive, the extreme swells excited him and he was in his element rummaging round looking at the Charlie Chaplin film and lead soldiers.

We decided to go back to Seahouses for lunch, and meet up with the others on the trip. The kids had a great time playing around the harbour, watching what goes on with diving, and the tour boats coming and going.

The waves were still rolling for the second dive so it was over to Blue Caps to dive the reef and gullies, where the seals once again came over for a nosey. Pam and Matt were the source of amusement for one seal that followed them about their dive, something that Pam in particular relished. Pam got to see lots of critters, one of which being a butterfish. The wind was changing direction throughout this dive, ending up with it blowing directly onto the reef making diver recovery tricky for the boat handlers. Because we have the advantage of having two RIBs we were able to pick up divers on one RIB and then tow them to the other, allowing plenty of room for the pick-up boat to manoeuver. A hairy day! After returning to camp it was decided that a change of scenery was on the agenda for the evening so most divers walked into Seahouses to The Ship pub. We took the scenic walk along the beach, a short cut that turned out to be anything but!! We soon ran out of our stretch of beach so had to find a route amongst the brambles to take us over the rocks and back onto the beach, not too hard a challenge until we realised that we had to cross a large stretch of water on foot. Everybody else managed to jump over without too much trouble, but as is guaranteed, I managed to jump right into the middle! I had to squelch the rest of the way in soaking wet trainers! Ah well. The Ship is a fascinating tiny little pub, crammed with various artefacts that have been pulled up from wrecks along the Farnes. A divers treasure chest!

Day 3 Monday 23rd August

Again, we were up at the crack of dawn to make our way to St Abbs, a famous marine nature reserve. The aim was to dive around the amphitheatre and for myself to have a try dive out in the open as I had only dived abroad and in the pool up to now. Unfortunately the weather had turned, meaning that the day’s dive had to be aborted. (Major sulks!!) After a quick call to the rest of our party we decided to meet at Berick-upon-tweed, which is were they were spending the day with the kids. Everyone wanted to do their own thing so the majority stumbled across a pub (how did that happen!) while others headed off for a mooch around the town. After a few hours in the rain the children were getting restless so we went to Bamburgh Castle for the afternoon. A great day out and learnt some fascinating info about Bamburgh, Lindisfarne and the surrounding areas.
After that we went over to the caravan site for one of Ian’s famous home made currys! (Yum!)

Day 4 Tuesday 24th August

Due to the disappointment of no dive yesterday, everyone was up and ready for the last days diving. Most of our party had had to head back for home so we just took one boat out. Again, the sea was choppy and as everyone wanted to do different dives it was decided that we would head out towards Knivestone and see what the conditions were like and who was up for what. Chris and Ian wanted to dive the Chris Christensen while others fancied the Abassinia, however slack water wasn’t for a while and the sea was starting to roughen up. The first dive of the day was Whirl Rocks, as it was already at slack water so divers could drop right in. This was Chris’ first dive on whirl rocks and he was being followed by a seal as he swan through the gullies, although he didn’t realise it! This is a great site for reef diving as the walls can go from 5m to 35m in an instant, making plenty of canyons to swim through. Ian didn’t manage to dive this one as he had left his weight belt in Chris’ car, which was back at the campsite. Doh!

We headed Longstone for lunch and just as we got to shallow water Phil turned and asked me if my suit leaked (I had kindly been lent a drysuit for the week) it was letting in a little water around the wrist seals but nothing too major. He told me to kit up and get ready for a try dive!! Before he had chance to change his mind I was pulling on fins and rooting around for spare kit. A big thank you to everyone for lending me various bits of kit in order let me have an open water dive. Before I knew it I was launching myself off the RIB with Mike and off on my first dive! I was already comfortable with mask clearing and putting air into my suit from previous pool lessons so was able to follow Mike into the kelp where we settled for a few moments. In no time at all several seals came swimming by us, moving gracefully in the water. We sank further into the kelp and the seals weren’t fazed by us at all. I lost count of how many I saw underwater! I felt confident being with Mike and was able to pull myself through the kelp where I saw shoal upon shoal of fish. Time passed far too quickly under water and before I knew it Mike was signalling me to return to surface. But I was having too much fun!!!!! We had for another 10minutes before we returned to the RIB, where I was unable to wipe the smile off my face the whole day!
Thank you to Mike for taking me diving, and to Phil and the rest of the divers for giving me the opportunity to witness what very few get to see. After that we pulled up to the lighthouse for lunch where we were approached by a very timid seal. He came right up out of the water and settled just a few rocks in front of us. Amazed at how close the seal had come, we stayed awhile whilst the seal watched us, basking in the sun. We waited till the tour boats had left then Chris walked down to the seal to take some photographs. It let him get right up close as the pictures prove. Then it was time for the last dive of the trip. Joy and Chris dove around Longstone as Joy hadn’t seen a seal whilst diving, whilst others did some snorkelling. Phil and Mike launched themselves kamikaze style off the back of the A frame while the RAF fighter jets were training in the sky above us. It was really good to experience the jet tipping its wing at us to show it had seen us! If it hadn’t been going so fast we may have had chance to wave back!!!

We moved on from there so that the others could have a last dive where Ian, (after borrowing another weight belt) saw an octopus and giant jellyfish(!) After heading back to camp it was time for us to pack up and go home. A few stayed till the end of the week but the diving was over. Ah well, just got to sign up for Oban now…