Farne Islands 3/4 August 2008
Divers: Simon Bates, Mike Reader, Paul Sharpe, Dave Seath, Fiona Gill, Helen Petterson, Kay Frankcom, Howard Smith, Paul Garrett
The Farne Islands in Northumberland are always a bit of a crowd pleaser: beautiful rocky islets, a riot of sea birds, reliable visibility and great diving! However some years it puts on a better show than others, and this year’s Stortford Divers Farnes trip was a good one.
The first dive was on the Northern Hares, a shallow reef topped with kelp but split by numerous gullies. The visibility was great, at least 8m, and the whole site was jumping with small critters: gobies everywhere, blennies, prawns, crabs ad squat lobsters. Kay and I found probably the biggest lobster I have ever seen, the large claw being about as big as my hand and covered in worm shells and small barnacles. He looked as old as Father Time himself, dug in securely under a boulder... We also had our first encounter with a friendly seal, but this was to be by no means the last.
Dive 2 was on a dramatic wall of the Blue Caps. Once again the reef was jumping with life. We encountered another huge lobster wedged in a cave and later on a large group of friendly wrasse.
The next day we dived the Northern Hares again in a somewhat deeper and murkier area. Once again the reef was squirming with prawns, squat lobsters, blennies, butterfish, gobies, beautiful anemones, brittle stars and dead mens fingers. Lots of critters for the photographers to go at here! Also found an old anchor and yet another whopping lobster...
The final site was the Abessinia site on the Knivestone. The visibility on this dive was stunning...at least 10m. In addition to a vast array of wreckage, critters and lobsters, the seals appeared in force on this dive: swimming around us constantly, nibbling fins, and trying to see how many photographers they could get to invert and drown themselves trying to get the killer shot! Fiona took the laurels on this one, with some of the best seal piccies I’ve seen to come out of this club.
Other highlights:
- 36 dives off 9 divers despite one leaking regulator (swapped out for spare), one knackered HP hose (mine), a bust wrist seal (Mike’s, glued overnight), dodgy DIN converters, running repairs needed to the boat and our illustrious leader throwing away a perfectly good compass
- Fine sunny weather (interspersed with torrential rain whenever you had to load a boat or get changed in the open.)
- Lobsters the size of horses at the Northern Hares
- More prawns than you could shake a stick at (or insert between slices of bread)
- Chilling amongst the nautical bric-a-brac at the Ship Inn at Seahouses with a nice pint after a wonderful day’s diving
- Dinner in the Craster Arms with a bunch of contented divers
- Abessinia site (S of Knivestone) packed with lobsters, fish, anemones, heaps of wreckage, picturesque scenery, fab viz and seals pestering you constantly all in one dive
- Dave Seath’s first 4 sea dives...pretty good ones too
- No whingeing from anyone, about anything, all weekend!
The best trip I’ve had to the Farnes in a long time, and probably ever. Thanks to Si for making it all work, and everyone else who went for being such pleasant company.
Howard Smith.
The Farne Islands in Northumberland are always a bit of a crowd pleaser: beautiful rocky islets, a riot of sea birds, reliable visibility and great diving! However some years it puts on a better show than others, and this year’s Stortford Divers Farnes trip was a good one.
The first dive was on the Northern Hares, a shallow reef topped with kelp but split by numerous gullies. The visibility was great, at least 8m, and the whole site was jumping with small critters: gobies everywhere, blennies, prawns, crabs ad squat lobsters. Kay and I found probably the biggest lobster I have ever seen, the large claw being about as big as my hand and covered in worm shells and small barnacles. He looked as old as Father Time himself, dug in securely under a boulder... We also had our first encounter with a friendly seal, but this was to be by no means the last.
Dive 2 was on a dramatic wall of the Blue Caps. Once again the reef was jumping with life. We encountered another huge lobster wedged in a cave and later on a large group of friendly wrasse.
The next day we dived the Northern Hares again in a somewhat deeper and murkier area. Once again the reef was squirming with prawns, squat lobsters, blennies, butterfish, gobies, beautiful anemones, brittle stars and dead mens fingers. Lots of critters for the photographers to go at here! Also found an old anchor and yet another whopping lobster...
The final site was the Abessinia site on the Knivestone. The visibility on this dive was stunning...at least 10m. In addition to a vast array of wreckage, critters and lobsters, the seals appeared in force on this dive: swimming around us constantly, nibbling fins, and trying to see how many photographers they could get to invert and drown themselves trying to get the killer shot! Fiona took the laurels on this one, with some of the best seal piccies I’ve seen to come out of this club.
Other highlights:
- 36 dives off 9 divers despite one leaking regulator (swapped out for spare), one knackered HP hose (mine), a bust wrist seal (Mike’s, glued overnight), dodgy DIN converters, running repairs needed to the boat and our illustrious leader throwing away a perfectly good compass
- Fine sunny weather (interspersed with torrential rain whenever you had to load a boat or get changed in the open.)
- Lobsters the size of horses at the Northern Hares
- More prawns than you could shake a stick at (or insert between slices of bread)
- Chilling amongst the nautical bric-a-brac at the Ship Inn at Seahouses with a nice pint after a wonderful day’s diving
- Dinner in the Craster Arms with a bunch of contented divers
- Abessinia site (S of Knivestone) packed with lobsters, fish, anemones, heaps of wreckage, picturesque scenery, fab viz and seals pestering you constantly all in one dive
- Dave Seath’s first 4 sea dives...pretty good ones too
- No whingeing from anyone, about anything, all weekend!
The best trip I’ve had to the Farnes in a long time, and probably ever. Thanks to Si for making it all work, and everyone else who went for being such pleasant company.
Howard Smith.