Bolton Area divers Farnes 29th/30th March 08

[Dave Abraham]

FARNE ISLANDS – 29th & 30th March 2008

By Dave Abraham

There we were all set for a weekend diving in the Farne Islands when the phone rang. It was the skipper of the Glad Tidings and the news was bad. Strong winds had been forecast and he was not expecting to be able to get out of the harbour on Saturday. After a couple more phone calls it was official Saturday had been cancelled but he was hopeful for Sunday.

Plan B was devised and consisted of Saturday diving at Capernwray with a mid-day call to our skipper to see if it was worth going up to Seahouses for some diving on the Sunday.

Mike Westwell and Neil Newsham decided that plan B was not for them as it was too far to Seahouses for one day diving and rescheduled their weekend pass for the following weekend

That left Erica Jones, Jackie Oakes, Dennis Woodbridge, Paul Worsley, Roy Swanepoel and I to carry on with plan B. Saturday morning we all arrived at Capernwray and got on with the diving. After lunch and a couple of dives later, I called the skipper who confirmed that conditions were not as bad as expected and the diving was on for Sunday. Hooray!!!! A quick meeting confirmed that we would all prefer to set off straight away in order to get to Seahouses reasonably early and by 5pm we were all there setting into our various accommodations.

Most of the gang had booked B&B but as is tradition on Farnes trips I had decided to sleep in my Pikey van and Roy had agreed to join me. So the first thing we needed was somewhere to park up for the night. Our first choice was the pub car park but while we were setting our camp beds up, the landlord spotted us and like true pikeys we were asked to move on. Eventually we found a suitable looking place just up the road from the police station and soon had our sleeping quarters looking ship shape.
Then it was off for some fish and chips followed by the pub, there was some resentment to going back to the one where we had been moved on from but it’s the best pub in Seahouses so we bit the bullet.

Shortly afterwards we realised that this was the night the clocks went forward so when we were thinking it was 7pm it was in effect 8pm. I quickly sent a text to the rest of the divers asking where they were and pointing out that the pubs were shutting an hour earlier and within a few minutes everyone arrived.

Some of the participants of this trip have suffered with seasickness the day after a night in the pub so took it easy with the alcohol and stuck mainly to orange juice (well done Roy) whilst others never learn and just got on with having a great old time.
After a bacon and egg sandwich the next morning we all met up at the harbour and started loading the kit on the Glad Tidings 7 (the one with the diver lift) and shortly after 9am we headed off to the first dive site. The sea was pretty choppy with a good swell running and it soon became apparent that the dive site would be selected by the weather rather than by us. We kitted up and in we went, the viz was down to about 2 metres and we didn’t see a great deal just a few small lobsters. I was diving with Erica and after 30mins at 19 metres in 5 degrees Erica had had enough and was starting to feel the cold so we ended our dive.

Back on the boat Jackie was buzzing, she had seen her first seal underwater so it was third time lucky in that respect.

After a few cups of tea and some chocolate and biscuits it was time for dive 2 Erica and Jackie decided not to bother with the second dive so I buddied up with Roy. The conditions were even worse for the second dive with a 6 foot swell and this was the calmest spot we could find. Never mind in we went and did an 18metre dive for another 30 mins. As we came up to our safety stop we were being hammered by the surge and I had to anchor myself between two kelp stems to stop myself being washed up onto the rocks. Roy never quite mastered the technique and spent the last 5 minutes being blown around in the surge like a rag doll in a tornado. It was quite funny until he nearly landed on my head with his tank. The surge and swell were so bad that our 3 minute safety stop actually took us over 5 minutes due to the depth changes we experienced every time a wave came past.

On reflection this was one of the worst trips I have done, the weather was against us all weekend but I have done the same trip in better conditions and it has been great. On the plus side Jackie saw her seal, Roy conquered the nerves he had faced the year before and Erica got a very tough sea dive in before her AOW at Oban. For me everything is about experience and if you get calm waters and great viz all the time you are limiting your experience.


Roy at the back me in foreground


Paul and Den


Erica with Roy doing an improvised bubble check


Jackie preparing the groundbait


Seals


Bit of swell (this was on the way out, it got a lot worse)


My Pikey van
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Breathe deep and dive shallow
or better still grow gills and head for the abyss

Dave Abraham Trip organiser BAD Club
Bolton Area Divers Ltd