Farne Islands August 2010

It has been a few years since the club ran a trip to the Farne Islands so for many of our party of nine this was a first. We opted to take both of the club ribs and launch from Seahouses harbour which is a 90 minute drive from Edinburgh, two hours if towing a boat.
 Launching from Seahouses harbour is very easy as they have a wide and gently sloping slipway. Trailers are then parked up on the beach; there is also ample parking for cars around the harbour wall at £4 for the day. The only drawback is the hefty launch fee of £25 per boat. Before launching you must register at the harbour master’s office almost at the head of the slipway, he will give you a board to attach to the rib for identification purposes. The slipway is open from 08:30 to 18:00 daily.
 
Sites: there are a wide range of sites to choose from, the attached link gives some detailed descriptions and guidance on slack water http://www.dcordes.freeuk.com/farnes.htm

For our first dive we opted for the Pinnacles on Staple Island as this site is not significantly affected by tidal currents. Staple Island is roughly three miles from Seahouses and relatively easy to find in the good conditions we had on the day. The Pinnacles on the West side of the island are very prominent and there is also a small building on the top of the Island. Staple Island isn’t very long (approx 400m) so its quite possible to dive the length of it. We dropped in on the South facing shore an dived east to west, my buddy Paul and I dived at around the 16m mark although it is possible to go down to around 25m . The whole site is strewn with massive cube shaped rocks with lots of nooks and crannies for sea life to hide under. On the day there wasn’t much interesting sea life on show and sadly we didn’t encounter any seals on this dive. On hearing this the second wave of divers including Warren, Al and Andy opted to dive the wreck of the St Andre which is virtually on the same site – this was a more interesting dive by all accounts.
 After returning to shore for a brief lunch and a change of cylinders we set off in the afternoon for Crumstone Island. This site is swept by strong tidal currents so we had planned to dive it around the slowest currents in the Slack water window. We were just entering a period of spring tides, it would be better to plan any future trips to be on neaps.
Crumstone is much smaller and lower than Staple Island and on arrival we were greeted by several seals eyeing us up from the island and also playing in the surrounding water – game on we hoped.
 
As with the morning dive we dived this site in two waves and all divers enjoyed some close encounters with the seals, for some lucky divers there was even interaction including playful fin nibbling. Currents were quite manageable within the shelter of the island but if you strayed outside of this area there was a strong current ready to carry you out to sea. As a minimum each diver should have a DSMB, a dive flag is also recommended for ensured visibility in bigger seas.
Chatter on the radio hinted at lots of seal action on the north shore of Longstone Island – so that site is worth bearing in mind for future trips.
Diver discipline on the day is to be commended; all kept to the agreed max dive time of 40 minutes and kit within the boats was kept to a minimum and tidally stowed. Recovery of divers and kit into the boat also went smoothly. We dived in two waves per boat so there were always at least two people on both boats.
Things we could do better: We arrived on site at 9:30 and left at 18:00 so clearly there is plenty of scope for making these rib days run to tighter timetables and therefore make it a more enjoyable experience for all.
We had one minor incident where two of our divers (Debbie and Tom) were picked up by a hard boat as the engine on our rib had flooded and would not start so couldn’t pick them up. Lesson here is to avoid engaging the choke when restarting a hot engine. The standby engine also refused to start.
Once again we had some issues with electronics on both boats. We couldn’t get the radio to work on Ferry Diver 2 and the GPS/depth sounder on Ferry Diver 1 blinked out after a short time. Crews need to get ourselves more familiar with the electronics.
Costs for the day worked out at £16 per person including launch fees and fuel for both boats and the tow vehicles.
Thanks; A lot of time and effort goes on behind the scenes to make these trips possible. I’d like to firstly thank Douglas for maintaining the boats to their current high standard. The cox’s Warren and Ally without whom we wouldn’t be able to make the trip. To Andy C and Ally for towing the boats. To Debbie for getting cylinders and other equipment readied for the day and for acting as assistant Dive Manager. And finally to Ally who aside from his contributions mentioned above also got both boats out of storage and prepared them for the trip. As there was no hose down facility at Seahouses Ally also got lumbered with flushing the engines and cleaning both boats when he got them back to his house – gold star for your log book Ally.
All round a good trip, thanks to all for making it a success.
Ronnie Mackenzie