25th February 2012 by Richard Booth Driving over the Pennines and down the M6, distant blue skies heralded the prospect of blue skies and a good day’s diving. Entering the 6°c water, it was soon evident that we were going to be greeted by excellent u/w visibility, more tropical in appearance than you would expect

Tyneside 114 members set off on the ultimate dive quest to reach the holy grail of UK diving, the legendry clear waters of St Kilda. In the run up to this trip its no exaggeration to state that all Tyneside 114 participants nervously monitored the various web based weather and swell forecast programmes; the omens

17th July 2011 With more swell predicted off the North East coast, plans to dive Eyemouth were reluctantly abandoned and instead we opted to head across the Pennines to dive Capernwray. On arrival it was clear that just about every other diver in the North had come to the same conclusion as the car park

11th June 2011 The conditions looked perfect for a club dive out aboard the Eyemouth Sub Aqua club hard boat, the Aquanaut. Magicseaweed.com promised ideal dive conditions with a combination of flat seas, neap tides and light winds. What could possibly go wrong? However, at 5.45pm a text arrived on the dive organizer’s mobile informing

5th June 2011 Maurice’s dive plan for the day was quite simple; launch from Beadnel, catch slack water on the wreck of the Somali and for those interested in a second dive there was always the option of a dive off Beadnel point exploring the wreckage of the Yewglen. On this occasion the club would

30th May 2011 Whirl Rocks is situated out at the outermost point off the Farne Islands but it offers some of the most spectacular diving to be found in these waters. It consists of a large rocky outcrop of reef that rises up from the bottom to within a few metres of the surface. Its

7th-14th May 2011 This year’s main club expedition was to be centered on the village of Lochcarron, a remote hamlet situated along the north shore of the Loch from which it takes its name. It stretches along the shoreline for over 2 miles, making it the longest village in Scotland if not the UK! The

April 2011 Dropping into the clear blue water was almost a relief from waiting on the foredeck of the MV Elizabeth G in full kit in the blazing sun. Now looking down, it was possible to make out the outline of wreckage over 20 metres away across the seabed. Descending on down, we soon encountered

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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