Diary
BSAC 2655 - Darkside Diving (Redcar) a new club
It was probably late 2023 when a like-minded group of keen divers decided that they wanted to form a club which would offer the benefits of BSAC affiliation but would be driven by divers who dive and dive frequently.
The best laid plans of mice and men
Have once again been undone, again by the weather but more my wussy outlook than the visibility!
A dive beats a walk on the beach, but when you can't go splash.....
Not so much as what did you find on your dive as what did I find after the latest storm, what was its name….Babet?
That's why I love shore diving!
And indeed shallow diving in general around the UK!
The nights are pulling in
It seemed a nice easy one, meet at 6pm for a dip with HWS at 7.11pm on the South Gare, what could go wrong?
A dedicated dive at the Gare
How dedicated? Well there was a change of plan when we set away but it was still pretty dedicated!
Another one on the South Side of Redcar Gare
It seemed a good idea, a cheeky midweek splash on the South Gare at Redcar, and getting in it was a good idea, flattish and vis that looked ok, but getting out…………
- Loch Leven at Longstone
- A proper night dive at Knacker hole
- All the way to the Farnes to dive in 8m of water!
- Tween the Doctors House and Rumbling Kern
- Oh we do like to be beside the sea-side!
- Not quite as planned but interesting anyhow
- Howick then evening on the South Side of Beadnell Point
- A knight dive in Knacker Hole or a night dive in Nacker Hole.....who knows?
- A shortened dive on the North Side of Beadnell Point
- Decisions, decisions up here at Beadnell
- Where have all the jellies gone?
- Like bloody 80's style space invaders!
- Nunkie goes to Howick
- Well that quite well, considering.........
- Got him in on the North Side of Beadnell Point
- Into the sea to get out of the rain
- Why oh why don't some people listen?
- Another all of our yesterday, without the weights!
- Strange Days at Howick, or, the things you see by the seaside!
- And again at Howick.....
- Double Dip at Howick
- Back to the South Gare
- A few bits and bats at Howick
- Some times you should put the lottery on!
- All around Beadnell!
- The first dip at South Gare for Forty years!
- The first Howick Dip of ‘23
- A day of unwanted confusion
- Has Spring finally Sprung?
- Back in the South Side
- South Side of Beadnell Point
- The Red Hand Gang
- A buddy dive in Knacker Hole
- No lumpsuckers.....yet!
- First dip on the North Side of Beadnell Point
- Askham in the winter
- Sometimes......just sometimes
- A timely break in conditions, but my it was a short window of opportunity!
- Freshwater diving starts, well it has to there was a 7m swell at the weekend!
- Well thats yer whack for 2022 I reckon
- Busy day on Calypso - part two
- Busy day on Calypso - part one
- Looking a bit battered in Knacker Hole
- A nice boat ride, fruitful dive in shocking vis!
- A dive or two at Knacker and Lady Holes
- September 2022 has been a bloody dry month
- Another Tale of Two Points
- Its like the Med only fish and better!
- Howick and bloody plastics
- Two different dives at the same site
Latest Photographs


The joys of a 'professional-hobbyist' (?) lathe is that you can carry out tweaks, in this case off-setting the blank so that I didn't need to set the lathe up to taper turn, rather the work-piece was off-set.
Caught a fraction of a second prior to a zoom away exit a Common Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis), probably why a lot of 'non-locals' dive Babbacombe, I was a touch late this year.
Another 'arty-farty' this time in black and white to try and go all atmospheric
Another shot of the anchor, on this you can see the shaft and that the eye has rusted off, it can be seen just next to the end of the shaft
One of the hull plates, which as you can see were double rivetted in place, a much more time consuming method of construction than welding which was made commonplace during WWII
A Long Clawed Squat Lobster (Munida rugosa), this one was eating a still pulsing Lions Mane Jellyfish (Cyanea capillata)
The concreted in anchor, this is located on its own 'up' the gully on the seaward side of the Hopper rock
Fan worms, (Bispira volutacornis) loads on this site and many others but getting close enough for a reasonable shot without having them snap shut can be a bit of a chore
A very large, well the largest that I have ever seen Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris), eyes down!
A shaggy mouse slug, or sea mouse or more accurately Aeolidia papillosa, this one was spotted quite early in the season.
And here they are before line was added, the only bought bits a pair of bearings, one countersunk screw and the wing-nut!
I think part of a mast, I did think prop shaft from a smaller vessel but winter storms revealed that at least one of the ends is sealed.
Settling down on a patch of gravel and waiting until I bimbled over.......
Even more bits from the broken up boiler.......
I - And after lots of investigation into various oils I opted for high quality Danish Oil rather than Tung oil or similar
A very large, well the largest that I have ever seen Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris), side on you can see how she has 'dimpled up' to look like the short weed on the rock. She was unwilling to move and I didn't want to 'provoke' her but her arms were massive and curled under her and down the other side of the stone. A very impressive site and it made the week!
The vis was crap which meant that I was unable to get good shots of wreckage, nut the dirt in the water meant a huge amount of filter feeders were 'out' such as Dead Mans Fingers (Alcyonium digitatum), the shots were a bit atmospheric but came out okay I think....
A pair of Long Clawed Squat Lobster (Munida rugosa) scrapping, not the best of shots because they fled after the first photograph.
The northern, vertical rock face is smothered in hydroids, sea-squirts and boring corals but no dead mans fingers, it's still nice and pretty in bright conditions
A substantial coupling!
The pile of anchor chain, this has obviously just dropped straight out of the locker and forms a big two meter square lump in a gully
C - Getting it cut was a chew but I knew that it was dried after a year in the shed
The inside or West side of the boiler with fire hole etc on show
So it was constructed from baulks of oak and glued and pinned together, I would have liked some brass staples but the wood was mineralised so not practical really