The last time I saw Fair Isle, I was in an air ambulance being flown down to the hyperbaric chamber in Aberdeen at the time, but that is a different story! And can be read on a different blog here… It only took seven years to visit the island by boat. Our group met up […]
Fair Isle Expedition 2016 Read More »
Flowers and Rust, diving the Chris Christensen and the Fang wall at the Farne Islands. September 2016. Report and images by Richard Booth The original plan was to dive the SS Somali on slack water. Initially the weather was kind to us, so prior to the Somali dive and with a flooding tide we took
Flowers and Rust on the Farnes Read More »
(May 2016) By Nic Faulks The boat was full, everyone had paid, all the paper work complete, we even had a guest from the south coast, but alas, the weather gods were at it again – this time fog. The weather forecast had looked brilliant, light winds, calm seas and an early mist burning off,
Lochaline – Sound of Mull – Wrecks wrecks and more wrecks! (July 2016) By Nic Faulks After last year’s trip of sunshine and calm seas, we had high hopes for 2016, so Simon Smith organised another trip. The Lochaline Dive Centre is now under new management (accommodation, food and booking – not the boats). So
Lochaline – Sound of Mull Read More »
Diving for fun on the St André and the Hopper. July 2016. Text and images by Richard Booth. During the Club’s 4 day re-survey of the cannons on Gun Rocks we had the perfect opportunity to show Peta, our visiting nautical archaeologist, that the Farne isles has more to offer than measuring the bores of
St André and the Hopper Read More »
(July 2016) By Nic Faulks The four days of diving on Gun Rocks had been in the planning for some time, and finally it looked as if the weather gods were in a happy mood. Day one dawned calm and sunny, with Richard Booth, David Lindsay, Simon Smith and Peta Knott (Wessex Archaeology – but
Gun Rocks further exploration and 3D photogrammetry Read More »
Crumstone and Hopper seal dives. Report and images by Richard Booth First site of the day was on the Crumstone wall. This site offers a fantastic scenic dive, with the wall starting at around 10 metres and dropping down in places to 30 metres. On the Ebb tide it catches the full force of current
Crumstone and Hopper seal dives Read More »
Rust extravaganza on the Knivestone and the North Goldstone reef. July 2016. Report and photography by Richard Booth First dive of the day was out on the Knivestone reef. Here we drifted along the reef exploring the wreckage that litters the seabed in this area. We passed over an old iron propeller and on over
Knivestone and North Goldstone rust extravaganza Read More »
Knivestone and the wreck of the SS Britannia revisited. June 2016. (Report and images by Richard Booth) The Knivestone reef can usually be guaranteed to provide an interesting dive and so it proved on this occasion. Dropping over the wall we explored the plateau until we came across the large iron propeller. From here we
Knivestone & the SS Britannia Read More »
St Abbs on a North Easterly wind! (June 2016) By Nic Faulks Well, it seems that everyone but Simon and I had read the weather forecast. We advertised the trip on Whatsapp, email, Facebook and verbally, but no one else wanted to come….. I now know why! It was billed as the Glanmire trip, but
St Abbs – Black Rocks and Glanmire Read More »
April 2016 Report and images by Richard Booth One of the great things about BSAC is that being a member of such a large organisation often opens up opportunities to dive with other BSAC club’s. So it was that 4 members of Tyneside 114 found themselves heading up to Lochaline as part of a Durham
Spring time visit to Lochaline Read More »
Early season hard boat to the Farne Islands (April 2016) By Nic Faulks For many this was the first dive of their season, so it was great that the day dawned nice and sunny with calm seas. We numbered about 18 people which is a great show for an early season dive, some were seasearchers,
Early season hard boat to the Farne Islands Read More »
Report and Images by Richard Booth. A hardy team of Tyneside members assembled at Coldingham Caravan Park with the aim of diving out of St Abbs over the Easter weekend. The weather forecast however was not brilliant and the following morning we assembled at St Abbs harbour to load our kit aboard the MV Shorediver.
St Abbs Easter weekend. Read More »
Loch Fyne Winter Warmer (March 2016) By Nic Faulks Since the January winter warmer was cancelled due to high winds, lashing rain and hail, we were all hoping that this weekend would actually see some sun… We all arrived at the cottage on the Friday night to find the heating on and wifi, which was
Loch Fyne Winter Warmer Read More »
November 2015 Words by Richard Booth Photography by Richard Booth and Richard Moss This year’s annual pilgrimage to the blue waters of Malta took place a little earlier than previous years trips, in the hope of encountering better weather. We were rewarded for our efforts by a week of blue skies, sunshine and clear water.
Tyneside 114 Malta Winter Warmer Read More »
2nd August 2015 Words and photography by Richard Booth With an ebbing tide and the Knivestone reef nicely exposed providing good shelter from the retreating tide, it was a good time for a bit more exploratory diving on this remote reef We started off on the main area of wreckage with both pairs of divers
A Drift in Pipers Gut – 2nd August 2015 Read More »
August 2015 by Richard Booth The week prior to the planned day on Spellbinder started very promisingly with light winds for the majority of the remaining week. Hope continued to rise throughout the week, but then the heavens opened and Tyneside was awash with flash flooding with the resulting water running off into the Tyne.
The Hunt for Clear Water – wrecks of the SS Ferryhill and the Pandora Read More »
April 2015 by Nicola Faulks After weather watching all week, the Seasearch dives are definitely on! Good news, but the weather was a 3-4 North Easterly, so there would be limited places to hide from the swell. Although these were seasearch dives, we did have 4 Tyneside 114 members on board. Richard Moss our newest
Early Season Diving on the Farnes Read More »
Sunny, sunny, Scotland and the Sound of Mull. By Nic Faulks A few weeks have passed since we did this trip, so I am sitting here on a drizzly day catching up on trip reports. One thing that strikes me about the dive logs for this weekend of diving, in the Sound of Mull, are
19th July 1015 By Richard Booth The seaward side of the Knivestone reef usually offers some shelter from the ebbing tide, particularly when much of the reef is exposed above the surface and there is no swell crashing on to the rocks. It is therefore not surprising that when conditions are good, it is a
More tales from the Knivestone Reef Read More »
Back in May of this year I was asked by a friend at Northumberland Wildlife Trust (NWT) if I would be interested in taking an artist diving. Of course I replied, if I can spread the love of diving and the knowledge of the amazing life under the waves, then I am happy to. I
Filming Countryfile with the BBC Read More »
5th June 2015 by Nicola Faulks Typically Friday 5th June was a calm day with blue skies….. The diving was organised for the Saturday, which in true British summer fashion dawned windy, dark and not very summery. The forecast was for westerly winds of up to 80kmph. However a phone call to Allan returned the
Oslofjord Diving in a Force 8! Read More »
24th May 2015 by Nicola Faulks The late May bank holiday weekend 24th May 2015, perfect time for a dive? Simon and I had run the rhib engine back in April, so we knew it would start. We had also pumped up the tubes and checked the electrics. So we had faith that the boat’s
First Farnes Rhib Dive of 2015 Read More »
25th-26th April 2015 by Richard Booth One of the joys of membership of the BSAC is the opportunity to dive with other branches. In this case three members of Tyneside 114 joined a Durham Divers trip to Lochaline on the Sound of Mull. So it was that the party assembled at the Morvern Dive lodge
