23rd April 2011 ‘Ze string quartet makes divine water music’ more strange pearls of French wisdom from Tyneside Chair Hubert Desgranges… the Eric Cantona of North East diving (but without the seagulls!) The plan was simple enough; launch the RIB from Beadnel and then head down the coast towards Craster and dive the wreck of […]
Wrecks Diving, Beadnell Read More »
16th-17th April 2011 After last years successful club trips to Loch Long and Fyne, it was clear that demand for places on this years trip was likely to be high; This proved to be the case with demand exceeding the 12 places in the two booked static caravans with the excess attendee’s being accommodated in
10th April 2011 Where to go and dive somewhere different? With Brown’s Bay, St Mary’s island, Beadnel and St Abbs shore dive sites to choose from, we are quite fortunate in the range of good shore dive sites available to Tyneside 114 members. Dunbar, a historic port town in the Borders has a reputation for
3rd April 2011 Arriving at Eyemouth harbour we were greeted with a bright blue sky and a flat sea. Hurriedly we loaded our dive kit aboard Marine Quests new dive boat, the MV Jacob George. Once out on the open water Jim opened up the engine throttles and we speedily headed out along the coast
Through the Letterbox, St Abbs Read More »
13th March 2011 ‘Challenging but nothing that a bacon sandwich can’t put right’ (a pearl of wisdom from Tyneside 114 chairman Hubert Desgranges after participating in the above dive). With the prospect of a neap tide and slack water at 10:50 am, thus not requiring a ridiculously early start, the opportunity to dive the Glanmire
Wreck of the SS Glanmire, St Abbs Head Read More »
5th March 2011 Too warm for a wolly hat?? It was only as the lines were being cast off that I realised that I had carelessly left my woolly hat in the car. ‘’Don’t worry, its too warm for a woolly hat” reassured the DO, Andy Hunt. True, in the relative shelter of Seahouses harbour
5th February 2011 The latter part of the previous week saw gale force winds fortunately blowing offshore. The Saturday forecast looked a bit more promising although with spring tides runnimg we knew that timings were going to be all important with regard to successfully diving the wreck of the SS Glanmire off St Abbs Head.
SS Glanmire, St Abbs Head Read More »
30th January 2011 Despite the calm winds since Thursday we arrived at St Abbs harbour to note that there was a still a noticeable surge running into the shore. After a quick recce of the entry/exit point off the far harbour wall, we opted for the better shelter offered by the lee of Seagull rock.
St Abbs, Seagull Rock Read More »
23rd January 2011 It was an early start to make St Abbs harbour to load Pete Gibson’s boat, the Selkie, for a cast off time of 9.15am. The harbour itself was empty of water due to the big spring tides at low water. Nevertheless kit was successfully loaded via the electric crane down off the
St Abbs and Eyemouth Read More »
15th January 2011 Earlier in the week, with ideal neap tides predicted for the Saturday, the plan had been to dive the Glanmire off St Abbs head. Waking early on Saturday morning and listening to the wind howling outside the window it looked initially like the dive could be blown out. Rolling over and going
St Abbs, Black Carrs Read More »
December 2010 by Nicola Faulks Where to go on holiday? The PFO was closed in August, the consultant has given me the ok to dive, so looking for somewhere where we have lots of options, so we can dive alternate days – to ease me back in to the way of things. I know: Tenerife
17th October 2010 Written by Andy Hunt Photography by Richard Booth After a failed attempt to get out into the sea on Saturday we resorted to plan B for Sunday. The main RHIB was already being used for a boat handling course and so we chartered Lazy G Diver at St Abbs for a dive
Black Carrs and Green End Gully: A Combination of Boat and Shore Diving Read More »
17th September 2010 Travelling back from the club’s expedition trip to Glenuig, the Hunts and Richard Booth could not resist the temptation to stop en-route home to complete a shore dive in Loch Leven. Belinda and Angus provided shore cover as the intrepid trio kitted up prior to making the perilous dash across the busy
12th – 16th September 2010 by Richard Booth Expedition organiser Andy Hunt selected the small but picturesque village of Glenuig as the expedition base. It has the added advantage of a concrete slip as well as a small relatively sheltered bay in all but the severest of weather. There are a number of cottages available
Glenuig Expedition Read More »
4th September 2010 by Richard Booth With both the clubs RIB’s successfully launched from Seahouses, we headed out towards the Farne Islands . The weather forecast was for increasing South Easterly breeze, potentially ruling out the majority of the better known dive sites around the Farnes. Trip organiser Andy Hunt opted for a drift dive
Pipers Gut Drift Dive… and Discovery of Another Mystery Cannon Site Read More »
21st August 2010 by Richard Booth With all dive kit safely loaded aboard the Lazy G charter boat it was full steam ahead up the coast to the first selected dive site of the day, Branders point. This particular site is situated further up the coast past Petticowick, so is not a regular destination for
St Abbs, Branders Point and The Black Carrs Read More »
31st July 2010 by Richard Booth Survey work continues with the first dives of the day being conducted on the North East side of the reef. In 1970 it was in this area that Bill Smith had located a non ferrous pulley wheel from an old ship wreck. The area is heavily covered in kelp,
Mysterious Cannon Site Revisited Read More »
30th July 2010 by Andy Hunt HMS Unity was a Royal Navy U-class submarine that was lost after a collision with the Norwegian ship Atle Jari in poor visibility on the 29 th April 1940. Lieutenant John Low and able Seaman Henry Miller sacrificed themselves to save the crew by remaining behind in the flooded
18th July 2010 Well, with yet another dodgy weather forecast and having had such a good dive at St Abbs last weekend, it was decided at the last minute to go for the St Abbs option again, but this time taking both club RIBS. Assembling at St Abbs, the RIBs were swiftly launched into the
11th July 2010 The original plan had been to dive the wreck of the Buka, but driving along the seafront at Beadnel it was all too obvious from 2222the extent of the whitecaps out in the distant bay, that the strong offshore wind had literally blown this plan away. Assembling in the car park a
St Abbs Dive Saves the Day Read More »
6th July 2010 With the good weather holding and a calm sea, things were looking very promising for a good dive off the Tyne. The usual crowd of suspects turned out at St Peters Quay and Milldam to board the MV Spellbinder. With no traffic planned to enter or leave the Tyne, Alan received the
Tuesday Night Dive on the SS Rio Colarado Read More »
3rd July 2010 The advent of larger more comfortable RIB’s often funded courtesy of the Lottery fund appears to have led to the virtual demise of the use of small inflatable boats for diving, once the common stay of most club ‘boat’ diving. Small inflatable RIBs do however still offer a number of positive advantages
The Art of Small Boat Diving Rediscovered Read More »
3rd July 2010 Seven club members made the effort to assemble at 7.30am along the Cullercoats seafront with the aim of diving Browns Bay. After several days of settled weather and no rain, things were looking promising for an excellent dive. Furthermore, there were very few other divers to be seen at this usually very
Browns Bay, Cullercoats Read More »
27th June 2010 The aim of the day’s diving was to explore a cannon site off the Farne Islands . Usually this site is best dived on slack water. With an ebbing tide decreasing at the approach of slack water, Richard and John entered the water first and explored the NE area of the reef.
Mysterious Cannon Site Off the Farnes Read More »
