Diving the Farnes this weekend

[Ivon]

Hi all im going up to the Farnes with buch of people this weekend and was wondering what sites, wrecks to do. I fancy the Somali but other than that what wrecks are still a good dive. Were booked to dive with William Shiel and im staying in the bunk house in Beadnell so if your around say hi, ill have my name on my T shirt tomorow and will be with a BSAC 14 bunch if you see the T shirts about
Thanks in advance.

Ivon.

[dave archer]

It's not a wreck, but I was very impressed with The Hopper last weekend. Big walls, common hangout for seals...

Have fun,
Dave.

[Allan Carr]

There's lots of great sites around the Farnes but a lot will depend upon the tides and the weather. The best sites are very tidal so are slack water dives. You are on Neaps so slack times should be reasonable. Some are very tricky - such as Whirl Rocks and I wouldn't even think of going there with William Shiel - that's best left to the experts like Farne Diving Services or Sovereign.

As for wrecks, there are several on the Knivestone (N or S sides) or if the conditions are a bit iffy, the St. Andre can be dived almost any time. There's literally hundred of wrecks in the area (around 60 ships down in the Knivestone area alone) but because of the fierce sea conditions, most are smashed to bits.

If you are interested in the Farnes, I suggest you get Ron Young's excellent book on the area. I have dived the Farnes for many years and still learnt a great deal from it.

[Ron Young]

Hi Dave

You could try the ABESSINA (ABYSSINIA) or/and the SS GEIR at the west corner of Knivestone. Nice shallow dives with plenty of life and you could do both in one dive at low ebb. The boat moors on the north side of Knivestone where the seals play about and you can swim back to the boat from your dive.
If the conditions are okay, you could try the JAN VAN RYSWYCK at the bottom of the cliffs, south side of Whirl Rocks and finish on the wall near the top; one of the best dives to be found anywhere. No good on big tides though.

You could also ask him to take you to the ACCLIVITY, or/and the BUKA off Craster, both small but intact wrecks, although very little non-ferrous
ACCLIVITY about 30-32m and the BUKA at about 40-42m.

Cheers Ron

[Helen F H]

Originally Posted by Ron Young

You could also ask him to take you to the ACCLIVITY,

My fave dive

[Rabbit]

Hi Ivon;
I'm up there myself this weekend with a group on Soverign 3 with Andy Douglas. If you can get out to the Aclivity, it was a really good dive last time i was there. As far as i remember about 1 1/2 hours south from the islands ( could be wrong it was a couple of years ago ) Still like diving the Somali despite being a busy site.
If you see anyone with East Anglia School of Diving shirts, thats us.

Cheers

David.

[BrianG]

Ivon,
High water slack is approximately 14.30 Saturday which should make the Somali a 30-32 m dive. The Somali is a good dive but tends to be silty and it can get very busy. Low water slack on Sunday at 09.30 should be possible allowing you to dive either the Chris Christensen 32m or the Britannia with her bows in 26m and her stern and engines up the reef in 9m near a very nice underwater arch providing a swim through the reef. Seals are often present.
The North side of Knivestone is diveable any state of ebb tide and has the remains of three wrecks spread along the reef. Depths from 26m up with seals often present, the reef is a favourite hauling out place.
There is a wreck on Whirl rocks, thought by some to be the Jan Van Ryswyck. The engine and boilers are at 26m, can be dived at high or low water slack but be warned the start of the ebb current will take divers onto the reef wall and over the kelp covered top of the reef which is very close to the main body of the wreck.
All diving at the Farnes is subject to the weather conditions. The dive boat skippers know all the sites and should try and put you on the best dives available. From a safety point of view the currents around the islands appear to cause the main problems for visiting divers. All divers should carry a DSMB and deploy it before leaving bottom unless diving to a shot line.
The weather is looking reasonable but you can never tell until the day, I will be there myself so fingers crossed.
Have a great weekend and dive safely.

[Gram43]

Hi
William Shiel is a sound skipper and if you get his boat with the lift on the back you'll be fine.
He will normally ask what type of diving you want to go for and then base the sites around this (I've dived with him many times).
He probably won't go to The Aclivity as it means more fuel, unless you all dip in a few extras quid for him.
Of course tides will dictate which areas you dive, we did some good dives last weekend and had couple of nice drifts thrown in.
If it's good weather and you're in a good crowd you'll enjoy yourself anyway.

Have a good trip

[Ivon]

Thanks all, looks like there is plenty to go at. Unfortunatley we missed the boat with the lift so it looks like its a ladder job