Farne Islands

December 2008

Trip organised by:       Report by: Stuart, Neil

The Seal Huggers


Details

The Boats

Glad Tidings, William Shiel.

William Shiel 40 North Lane Seahouses Northumberland NE68 7UQ Tel: 01665 721297 Email: DIVER@FARNE-ISLANDS.COM

http://www.farne-islands.com/diving/index.htm

The ‘Glad Tidings’ fleet consists of 7 boats two of which have dive lifts. Diving costs £30 per diver per day.

Skippers

Our skipper for both days was William Shiel

Weighting

Several of us had added extra layers under our drysuits to combat the fact we were diving in December, but had neglected to add extra weight to make up for the extra volume, meaning we had to borrow some from the skipper. Worth thinking about for future December trips.

Accommodation:

The Tackroom Bunkhouse, Annstead Farm.

Mrs Susan Mellor Annstead Farm Beadnell Northumberland NE67 5BT Telephone: +44 (0)1665 720387 Mobile: +44 (0)7977 269403 Fax: +44 (0)1665 721494 E-mail: stay@annstead.co.uk

http://www.annstead.co.uk/bunkhouse.htm


£10 per person per night (based on 12). Two six-bunk rooms, kitchen and dining area, adjoining shower and toilet block, drying room and laundry facilities. Need to provide your own sleeping bag or bedding + don’t forget 20p coins for the showers. The neighbours can be noisy.

Diving

Saturday 29th November

A beautiful clear calm day, but the air temperature never got above 3C. Water temperature was 8C

Dive 1: Blue Capps (10:50)

Buddy pair Max depth Duration
David Martin/Neil Titchener
Rachael Macdonald/Chris Coomber
Karin Muller/Coleen Suckling 16 m 49 mins
Stuart Moore/Neil Taylor 10 m 32 mins
Matt Watson/Jon Knight

Dive 2: Blue Capps (13:45)

Buddy pair Max depth Duration
David Martin/Neil Titchener
Rachael Macdonald/Chris Coomber
Karin Muller/Coleen Suckling 14 m 37 mins
Stuart Moore/Neil Taylor 11 m 38 mins
Matt Watson/Jon Knight

Continuing Training

It's always good to be able to pick up new techniques from fellow divers. This weekend I learned to stuff a banana with Nutella and Ginger Nuts - not as easy as it sounds in subzero temeratures - luckily we had an expert on hand.

The mother of all curries II

We ordered a 'Banquet for 8' from a curry house in Alnwick (Dalchini, 15 Narrowgate, Alnwick, NE66 1JH Tel: 01665 606336) which came to £72 and was more than enough for the 10 of us. Next time it might be worth ordering for fewer, or giving them a price limit (£60 worth of curry...). The only other criticism was that there was lots of rice but not much naan. The Expeditions Officer has a loyalty card from Dalchini. For every £10 order it gets stamped. Once all the boxes (around 6) are stamped the next order will have £12 knocked off. If another one is required, just ask at the till.

Alnwick has a Threshers on the left hand side (as you drive into town) for beer. The curry place is further down the road, take the right hand fork, then on the left after another road merges.

Sunday 30th November

Dive 1: Longstone End (10:50)

Buddy pair Max depth Duration
David Martin/Chris Coomber
Rachael Macdonald/Neil Tichener
Karin Muller/Neil Taylor 20 m 35 mins
Stuart Moore/Jon Knight 12 m 36 mins
Matt Watson/Coleen Suckling 15 m 52 mins

Allegedly a drift dive, although not noticeably; some life, especially urchins and starfish. Very few seals seen.

A variety of different entries were used, (from left to right) Forward Roll, Giant Stride and, from the look of it, Belly flop.

Dive 2: Blue Capps (13:20)

Buddy pair Max depth Duration
David Martin/Chris Coomber
Matt Watson/Coleen Suckling 9 m 39 mins
Stuart Moore/Jon Knight 11 m 29 mins


Stuart and Jon entered the water on the north side of Blue Caps, and chose to swim through the gulley in search of seals. I wouldn't recommend this for future divers - the vis in the gulley wasn't great, and occasionally the current would pick up, plus there were few seals. Other divers had more luck staying on the northern side, especially with the magic ingredients of Custard Creams in their pockets. In Fact seals seem to be attracted to anything yellow - custard creams, cheese, fins - even if they can't see them.