The trip in June was originally planned for Teignmouth in Devon, however at the previous week’s social discussion it was felt that the plankton bloom may be too severe down south, also the Spring Bank trip to Seahouses had not been ideal due to the strong winds so Seahouses was the preferred choice.

Both boats and 11 divers headed up on the Friday night with an expectation of extremely poor weather, there was even discussion by mobile phone on the way up about the possibility of cancelling the weekend, however luckily the decision was made to continue.

Jonathan a trainee Ocean Diver experienced his first open water experience at Beadnell Reef, gaining experience in shallow waters of a drysuit and buoyancy control. The dive was limited to 45 minutes to enable the remaining experienced divers to visit the much loved wreck of the Somali at the appropriate slack tide. The visibility and weather were pleasant considering the predictions, and most people commented that a lot of items were available for viewing e.g. bottles, on discussion with Sovereign divers it is rumoured that explosives have been used to further open up the wreck. The second dive of the day was completed on the backside of the islands to allow for a second dive for Jonathon.

The sea was unbelievably calm, however the predictions for Sunday were strong winds, therefore we made the most of the diving on Saturday, just in case we were blown out on Sunday. John even came along fully prepared for the inclement weather. Most of the divers decided to stay at the Vicarage at Ellingham, which although is a 15 minute drive out of Seahouses each day, the advantage of all being together in a quite location which allows the boat and equipment to be prepared prior to arriving at the Harbour.

Sundays arrival at the harbour was shocking to us all, not only was the sun out but the sea was flat calm, totally unexpected and against the predictions, the boats were quickly launched and we headed out to the Pinnacles to allow the trainees some more skill diving, and the more experienced to dive on the wreck of the Andrea. All had good dives which were followed up by a second dive of the weekend on the Somali, this pleased most of the members after the disastrous weather at Spring Bank, did not allow a dive on it.

Report by :  Steve Price