Playing with Seals in the Farnes Islands

by Rob Lawrie & Emily Brough

A trip to the Farnes Islands, Northumberland
06/05/2010

Day 1 - Friday Night (23/04/10)
We arrived on the evening of the friday night and went out for a curry at the local curry house. It was a great night, with great food and full of laughs, mainly centred around the 3 amigo’s! This opening night was a great opportunity to bond as a group and share our diving experiences.

Day 2 - Saturday (24/04/10)
Light cloud, a cool breeze, and comedy from the three amigo’s, promised to make this a good days diving. We started at a site not too challenging as we had people of varying levels of experience.

First dive and the first seal encounter was registered with a seal biting my fin and looking at me for a split second before shooting off. This gave me a great adrenaline rush but unfortunately no more seals came close on this day. Animal life spotted today included lobster, crabs, seals, puffins, guillimots different species of fish and dead mans fingers. The temperature of the water, a tropical 6-7 degrees, made sure that the majority of divers lasted no more than 25 minutes underwater apart from Cameron and Karl who somehow managed to last 40 epic minutes! Back onto the boat and our frozen fingers started to thaw around cups of tea and coffee made by Lee the brilliant skipper followed by some penguins!

The second dive was eventful too with similar aquatic life and depths for all levels of diver, the three amigo’s even found a ship wreck! On our safety stop we had guillimots swimming round us looking for fish, another amazing experience!

Day 3 - Sunday (25/04/10)
Started the day with a hearty breakfast cooked by the owners of the Wyngrove hotel (very nice people!) , then off to pick up our daily pie from Trotters family bakery and off into the boat for 9am.

Diving today was good again, and our mission.......... FIND SOME SEALS!!!

Expert navigation and a bit of nouse from Lee our skipper ensured it wasn’t long before a large colony of seals were spotted. The tide prevented us from diving with them in the morning so this dive was postponed until our second dive.

Our first dive was in a good spot along a reef wall with kelp lining them. The aquatic life was much the same as yesterday and it made for a pleasurable dive.... apart from the water temperature!!

Our second dive was eventful with seal coming to nearly everyone is some form! Karl and Cameron had their fins bitten and others had sightings during their dives and on their safety stops too.

To sum up the weekend, fun was had by all and as this was our first time at the Farne Islands, we would not hesitate to come back again. The laughs provided by the comedy trio, Brian, Paul and Steve, the quality of the diving and the great group we had made this an unforgettable experience and thanks to everyone who went, to the B&B and Lee the Skipper.