Adrift on the Open Sea.....
SOUTH QUEENSFERRY FARNE ISLANDS EXPEDITION 16TH JULY 2005
DIVE MARSHALL Captain Warren IzzettBOAT MARSHALL First Officer Neil Young
CREW First Mate Joe Carson,
Second MateTom Van Agtmael,
Third Mate Christine Bruce,
Cabin Boy Stevie Adams.
LAUNCH SITE Seahouses Harbour ? Good Clean Wide Slip, accessible all states of tide
Cost for RHIB and 6 Divers £20, Car Parking £3.
DIVE SITE Pinnacles/SS St Andre, Staple Island, Outer Farnes.
Warren and Stevie collected the Club Boat from Broxburn and set off at 08:15, we had planned to set off at 8am to give us an easy run down for 10am, already we had lost 15mins. We had a good run down, but got stuck behind trucks doing 50mph, so lost more time.
Warren decided that he would rather take the scenic route via Morpeth, (Ok we missed 2 openings!) we reached Seahouses Harbour 40mins late.
Weather was beautiful, Sun was splitting the pavement and the sea was flat calm, while I prepared the Boat (more on this later) and the others got suited up Warren registered at the Harbour Master?s Office, so registration board tied on we launched.
Not a bad effort for SQSAC, with a large audience gathering there was an expectant hush as Warren began to reverse the trailer down the slip. Without any of our usual drama the Boat was safely launched, the disappointed crowd dispersed, denied their expected 20 minutes of swearing and excitement.
Warren went off to park his Car while we humped his Kit onto the Boat eventually he strolled down to the slip and stepped onboard with a quick salute from the Crew. With the Captain on board we could go after consulting his chart and doing some research Warren had identified a couple of sites at Staple Island in the Outer Farnes, he was the only one who had been to the Farnes before and that was 7 years ago, so we set off for Staple Island which was about 3 miles away, it was a bit bumpy going across the channel, but once on site it was very calm in the lee of the Island, very impressive cliffs about 20m high with 3 columns at a right angle. Depths were 25 ? 18m at the base of the cliffs.
We were happy to see 3 other Dive Boats in the area so we guessed that we had got slack water ok,
After a quick dive plan Neil, Christine, Joe and Tom kitted up and dropped in at the wall.
We had agreed a 45 min Dive Time so hoped they could head South (wall on the right) and waited to pick them up, as we hadn?t dived this site we had no idea of currents, or what was underwater so hoped for the best.
With three other boat loads of divers in this area popping up on delayed's, and Tourist Boats very close to us it was difficult to identify who was who, finally picked up Christine and Neil in a tricky spot
And after following bubbles and a delayed realised it wasn?t Joe or Tom, they were a good distance around the corner so managed to pick them up easily.
Warren and I were next up, so kitted up and decided to drop down a line which had been conveniently left at this site, turns out it was a lobster pot marker but put us at the deepest part of the site, when I hit the bottom I checked my computer and was amazed to see a depth of 21m, it was really light and felt like 10m, we set off South but couldn?t make ground against the tide, launched my DSMB and drifted back, lots of life, shoals of fish and a large piece of wreckage, finally ascended and found ourselves back where we had started, picked up by our boat and we headed back to Seahouses for Lunch.
After a quick Lunch and cylinder change we headed back out, planning to try the SS St Andre, a broken up wreck 100m from the first site after a cruise around the island we noticed strong currents between the Islands and no other Boats, they were all across at Crumstone and Fang, about a mile away. We could see that we were drifting in a circle, so decided to switch off engine while Joe, Tom and Neil and Christine kitted up?. then disaster we couldn?t start the engine.. the battery was flat and we were drifting onto the rocks wit a large Tourist Boat coming in fast, while Warren got ready with the paddle to repel boarders and fend us off we tried to get the Pony Motor started after much pulling and swearing I realised I hadn?t turned the fuel on?.with one pull Neil got it started and First Mate Joe steered us out of danger, we set off back to Seahouses, Flat out and making 1 knot we wondered if we would get back, thoughts turned to being Shipwrecked on a Desert Island and we decided who would get eaten first?Sorry Christine..
With the Sun Beating Down and Tom hallucinating about Ice Cream we were in a bad way?'water water everywhere and not a drop to drink.?after 1/3 distance the fuel ran out?I then remembered that the Main Engine can be Pull started in case of emergency?well this was it1.
Neil found the Starter Rope and I had a go, first pull was a disaster, next pull it started and with a big cheer we were off, singing Sea Shanties all the way back to Harbour.
Near the slip Captain Izzett decided to switch the key off, why we don?t know, he didn?t know either, after being verbally abused he saluted the Crew and stepped ashore to collect the trailer. After recovering the Boat and packing Kit I removed the Drain Plug to clear a drop of water out. After 20 minutes the water was still coming out, some idiot (me) had left the Inner Drain Plug out and filled the hull with water, DOH, no wonder the Pony Motor struggled 6 divers + kit + Motor Dragging + 1000 gallons of seawater in the Hull! Anyway after an Ice Cream we set off home.
A good Trip, well planned and the ?Dive? was good, I think everyone decided we should go back again
as soon as possible.
A couple of things that we learnt: -
We need to find a way to identify SQSAC DSMB?s so we can tell which are our Divers,
We need to ensure that flags or some kind of Signalling Device is carried by each pair as Currents are very strong and can carry you miles away.
Until we are sure that the Charging fault has been cleared we need to carry a spare charged Battery
And get our Hand Held VHF working again, also change our Flares which are out of date.
(Although I heard flares were back in fashion again).
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