2009 Dive Logs

27 Sep 2009 The original plan had been to head out of Beadnell for the wreck site of the Somali but a combination of a very stiff westerly breeze and a few reliability issues with the RIB electronics soon put paid to this plan. Instead, after a quick revision of plan, we headed down the […]

13th Sept 2009 by Richard Booth With a dull overcast day and a brisk onshore breeze our initial plans to visit some of the more out lying dive sites off the Farne Islands had to be changed, as we headed out in the club RIB powering up and over the short chop. After a rapid

12th September 2009 With a beautiful blue sky, a calm sea and a favourable flooding neap tide it was an ideal day for an early morning shore dive in Browns Bay. We arrived at 7:45 AM to find that numerous other North East divers had had exactly the same idea as us. Taking considerable care

31st August 2009 Launching the club’s RIB from the public slip at Berwick, we headed rather gingerly down the harbour channel before opening up the throttle and heading south down towards the distant silhouette of Holy Island . Our aim, to explore a number of dive sites that lay to the north of the island.

29 Aug 2009 With a light offshore breeze and a blue sky, things were looking up for a good days diving. Members of Tyneside and Durham City diving clubs loaded their kit aboard the Aquanaut, Eyemouth Sub Aqua clubs venerable old dive boat. From Eyemouth harbour it was a gentle journey out and down the

25th August 2009 The plan was to dive on the wreck of the Chandris. Alan Lopez, skipper of the M/V Spellbinder, on the previous weekend had dropped a group onto a bit of wreckage where all manner of interesting objects had apparently been seen. His aim was to drop us off on the same area

22nd August 2009 On arrival at Wuddy Rocks it was very clear that we were in for a good days diving on account of the exceptional underwater visibility that was all too evident from simply looking over the side of the boat. Wuddy Rocks is a site situated not far from the entrance to St

Written by Andy Hunt Photography by Andy Hunt and Nic Faulkes After an excellent expedition the previous year which was organised by Dave Robson, it was decided to go again, to do dive some of the better sites we’d done last year, plus explore some new ones. The final expedition team comprised many members from

11th Aug 2009 Instead of the usual Tuesday night boats dive, a group of Tyneside members assembled on the road above Browns Bay before making the long descent down the steep path to the rocks beside the old swimming pool. From here it is a relatively simple entrance point into the water. When no swell

8th August 2009 With big spring tides, light SW winds and virtually no swell, we headed out to the Farnes with high expectations of some good diving. The clear water at Seahouses slip added to this expectation. Out at the Farnes and with a strong ebb tide running, we took shelter from the current on

2nd August 2009 With a brisk SW breeze and bright sunshine, club members enjoyed two separate organised dives this Sunday. One group, Mike, Maurice, Simon and Nicola opted for a shore dive off Howick. This exercise involved something of a hike carrying their dive equipment down to the shoreline, but had the advantage of a

01 Aug 2009 By Richard Booth With a sizable southerly swell running up the coast, any plans to dive to dive Bell rock was clearly a non starter. Instead a mixed group of divers from Tyneside 114, Bishop Auckland and Durham City divers assembled on the pontoons at Eyemouth harbour and loaded their kit aboard

25th July 2009 By Richard Booth Several years ago, Tyneside 114 use to dive its own secret wreck. Originally, Dave Simpson had discovered the site, whilst he was completing survey work for one of the local water companies. Trips were made in secret, to avoid other divers finding this wreck. Situated in 30 metres of

5th July 2009 by Richard Booth Conditions came together this weekend to dive one of the Farne islands most spectacular dives, Whirl Rocks. Situated some 200 metres east of the Knivestone reef, Whirl Rocks consists of a series of underwater pinnacles that rise up from 30 metres to within a few metres of the surface.

30th June 2009 By Richard Booth With many of the regular Tuesday night divers recovering from the weekend trip to Mull, numbers were down for this Tuesdays dive. In the end 7 turned up to be greeted by a smooth sea and slack water! In view of the smaller group, the decision was made to

14th June 2009 by Richard Booth It was an early start from Beadnel to reach the site of the Somali in order to catch slack water, but this effort turned out to be well worth the effort. Arriving on site it was evident that many other divers had had the same idea as we were

2nd June 2009     A Tuesday night dive on a familiar wreck off the Tyne but with a difference, namely for once excellent underwater visibility of around 10 metres… On arrival at the site the shot was dropped and anticipation grew as we watched the line streaming away down into the depths. We excitedly

May 2009 This year’s Tyneside 114 expedition to the Mull had a simple aim; to seek out new dive sites off the South West tip of the island. Whilst most dive trips to this area of Scotland tend to focus on the wrecks in the Sound of Mull, the waters surrounding the island itself also

16th-17th May 2009 by Richard Booth The problem with booking any UK based weekend trip well in advance is that you are entirely dependent upon the great British weather. In recent years the May Scoutscroft weekend organised by Durham city divers has had something of an unlucky record when it has come to good diving

10th May 2009 by Richard Booth Fresh back from extensive engine repairs Sunday provided a good opportunity for ‘testing’ the clubs osprey RIB, Sea Eagle. The weather forecast was not particularly promising but fortunately turned out better than predicted. Sea Eagle was duly launched from Seahouses and engine firing on all cylinders headed out towards

2nd May 2009 by Richard Booth With a brisk Westerly breeze Spellbinder headed out for the site known locally as the Cider wreck in the hope of finding some clearer water as well as gaining some protection from the wind. Things looked quite promising with the shot line remaining in view for some depth. On

25th April 2009 by Richard Booth Light winds and a blue sky, heralded the first official club dive out along with a group form Newcastle University Sub Aqua Club on the Farnes in 2009.   The party assembled at Seahouses harbour to await the return of the booked charter boat. The original plan had been

21st of March 2009 After a week of light winds and the magic combination of small neap tides and bright sunshine on the planned day of diving, things were really looking up. On arriving at the pontoon in Eyemouth harbour it soon became evident that Derek had taken heed of suggestions made from the previous

28th Feb 2009 With a reasonable weather forecast for the day of brisk south westerly winds, we booked another charter on the MV Scimitar which operates out of Eyemouth harbour. Once kit was safely stowed, the coordinates of the wreck of the SS Shadwan were loaded into the GPS and the M/V Scimitar headed down