May 2017 saw the first of our trips to UK waters for the year. After becoming Open Water divers in 2016, our new friends Helen and Mark joined many of our divers for a weekend away diving off the Farne Islands. Thanks to Helen and Mark Russell for their trip report and photos…

The trip to Farnes was our first UK sea dive so we weren’t sure what to expect (apart from the cold!). The main attraction for us was the chance to see some seals up close and we were really looking forward to it.

Our accommodation was ideally placed very close to a pub (!) and the group of divers we were with were great. We all had different levels of experience and we certainly picked up lots of useful tips.

The first day’s diving was a bit tougher than we had expected, as the weather conditions weren’t good at all and the sea was a bit rough. Although we could see the seals (and there were lots of them), they weren’t too keen to come very close to us and the visibility made it difficult to see them even if they were close by. A few people were lucky though and had some interaction with them on the second dive of the day.

Despite not seeing the main attraction on the first day we were glad of the experience. That evening we all met up in the pub for dinner and ate far too much in our case! I was worried I might have to buy a bigger drysuit!

Fortunately, on the second day, the conditions were much better and the sea was calm. On the first dive we managed to achieve our aim and swam with some seals. It was fantastic. Some of them were a lot braver than others and came quite close, rolling around in the kelp and being playful. There were lots of them and we were delighted.

Afterwards, we decided to look for some smaller creatures as the visibility was so good. We saw lots of starfish including something entirely new to us (photo attached), different types of crab, a lobster, plenty of urchins and some interesting coral. There were plenty of other things but sadly our knowledge of sea life is still in its early stages!

We really enjoyed the trip. We came away feeling very happy to have seen so much, had some good dives and met a great group of people.

We would like to thank everyone, especially Andy Frith, who organised everything so well.