Arranged as an after-thought this turned out to be a very successful trip. Aidy and Alex had heard us talking about diving with the seals and this was the object of the trip. The club boat was being used by five divers involved in Duncan’s ‘expedition’ towards his Advanced Diver qualification, so Aidy got on the job and booked ‘Moby’ skippered by Graeme, going out of Beadnell. Places were soon snapped up and a couple of people were disappointed there was no room for them. Two caravans were booked at Bamburgh but we couldn’t get in them until Saturday. This would mean a very early departure from home in order to meet Graeme at Beadnell at 10.30am on the Saturday. Bright idea – there’s a campsite just round the corner – get the tents out! Good job we did. Graeme changed his mind and wanted us at the boat at 8.30am!

The first dive was at The Hopper, Longstone and the second at Crumstone, Knivestone. We didn’t have to worry about seals – plenty of them, and they were mostly very playful. Tim felt a tug on his fin, turned on to his back, and lay there watching one of them nibbling away at his fin.

On Sunday the weather wasn’t as good as Saturday, but we couldn’t see a problem. However, as we were kitting up the foghorn sounded – twice. Graeme decided we’d be OK if we got in straight away and sent up DSMBs so he could tug on them if we needed to surface before our scheduled dive time. We were fine – good vis again, no problems for us. But apparently, just as we’d gone down the heavens opened and Graeme got soaked. It hadn’t been fog coming in – it had been a heavy shower. That day we dived two wrecks, The Abyssinia and The Chris Christensen. In the Farnes ‘wrecks’ does not equate with ‘no seals’. Seals teasing us again! Walls and seabed covered in deadmen’s fingers.

Now I’m not the best at recognising parts of a wreck – I need a good guide. I can, however, recognise the bollards and the boilers. If a propeller is there in its entirety on the end of the prop shaft I know what it is. The boilers and engine of the Abyssinia were no problem for me but, the Chris Christensen, sometimes known as the Propeller Dive, proved a little beyond my imagination. We’d been told to swim past a couple of wide gullies (about 8-10 minutes’ swim) and we’d see the propeller sticking out of the seabed. After about 7 minutes I saw a needle-shaped rock sticking up and thought how unusual it was, and on my left saw the darkness of the ‘very wide gully’ so thought I was nearly at the propeller. Thicko! The needle-shaped rock was a propeller blade and the very wide gully was in fact the end of the reef. Then one of the others indicated, with a snake-like movement of the hand and arm, that they’d seen a conger eel, so I shone my torch looking for it. NO! They were indicating the rudder! Was I really narked at 22m?

After the second dive we set back at a fair pace bouncing over the waves and having difficulty making ourselves heard. As we slowed down just coming into Beadnell there was an emergency call over the radio. On a boat we had just been diving near a cylinder had exploded causing serious injuries to two divers, blood all over the deck and there were seven other divers still in the water. Should we go back and see if we could help? They weren’t asking for help, just for the helicopter and lifeboat. Would we be in the way? Eventually Graeme went on to a different channel and asked if they needed assistance. “It’s an exercise!” Bouncing back across the waves we hadn’t heard the initial warning that there was going to be a full-scale rescue exercise. We later saw the helicopter land in Seahouses with ‘casualties’ on board.

As the caravan booking was a three-day deal we hadn’t had to pack everything before leaving for the day about 7.00am. We could go back, pack, shower and enjoy a cup of tea with Elaine’s famous chocolate and orange cake before setting off for fish and chips in Seahouses and then the journey home. And I don’t want to worry you but I bought some Christmas cards! May I be the first to wish ....

Half the group took advantage of the three-day booking and stayed until the Tuesday, managing to see a bit of the area on-land.

Hopefully it was a memorable experience for those who’d never dived with seals before.

Many thanks to Aidy and his trusty PA Sarah for organising the weekend, including the weather and the vis.


Farnes July 09 Shrimp on Longstone