Random Jottings
A series of random thoughts and ramblings of a deranged mind which is puddled due to excessive diving a a rather serious neurological bend......read on at your peril!
Time for a wee change
ts coming to that time of the year again, that’s to say that I posted the historical data on sea conditions we encountered in 2022 and start the same sheet for 2023, however this year there will be some changes!
THE PEGASUS – HER LOSS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
i can claim no credit for this detailed article taken from a website with details about general Northumbrian newsworthy events.
A scratch thats itched...........
When is a wreck not just A wreck but several wrecks? Like Whirls rocks, Knifestone and other Island sites Beadnell Point has always been a bit of a hazard to shipping!
Seals and the Law, well amendments anyway
Seals, love them or hate them they are part and parcel of diving on the Farne Islands and that will not change in the near future, or will it?
Apex predators and why to avoid them in their home environment
I saw an article on the BBC and it brought to mind 'the shark' attacking Orca in Jaws, that's the original movie......
Winter Project 2020......part two
It's gone quite well really, or at least I think that it has so read on!
Another winter project......
Following on from my back operation in 2018 recovery has been a bit slow so with diving dried up due to UK winter conditions it has been time to start hitting those weights.....
- Winter Project 2020........part one
- A video of Hans Schmidt
- A video of the wreckage of Mistley
- A video of the wreckage of MV Yewglen
- Shore diving at Beadnell - a trial video
- I suppose that some may be offended.....
- Tosheroons........they are not just under-water you know!
- Antalya, the new graveyard of ancient ships?
- A lost Dutch Trader refound!
- It's just a hole but what a difference!
- Another incomer to cope with?
- More side scan around Oban and Sound of Mull
- Noise and its impact on wildlife
- You try and sometimes you try and then fail.....
- Well it was forecast!
- Winter Project 2019.....part two
- Apex predator.....part two!
- Apex predator or second in the food chain?
- Winter Project 2019.....part one
- More 'bits' found of the Antikythera mechanism
- Better nick than the wreck on 'Gun-rock'
- It's about bloody time!
- The diving press and qualifications......
- It's your chance to make a difference!
- You rarely think of the 'mess'.......
- WW1 Channel wreck Database
- That's some job for a newly qualified midwife
- We don't get 'em like this in my neck of the woods!
- Terrible outcome but where does 'blame' lie?
- Only the needy or the greedy........
- Cylinders, lead weight belts and stability...........
- The Ancient Diver comes good
- Old news...new news or just a quiet news day?
- Does the Ancient Diver need to change his title?
- Disgraceful Double Standards!
- Forget 'Timeteam' type surveys on land, for a real time capsule look to the sea
- It's silly season.....again!
- PADI up for sale again?
- It's a small swim from the Med' to Cornwall
- The sun is out and it's silly season....again!
- Send for Captain Ahab!
- More 'wash-ups'......
- I was only joking........honest!
- Another enlightening day at DDRC (Plymouth)
- It's not my cup of tea but what an achievement!
- I post regular updates on 'lobbie laws' you have been warned!
- The never ending squabbling over commercial scallop dredging
- Once you have one of the blue fiends there is a new dilemma....
- Low oxygen levels, now that is a real issue
- Sloppy journalism, one of my pet hates!
- Rule changes for the North East
- More side-scan 'discoveries' and images
- Old sites, new location methods
- Zen again.......or more lobster whispering!
- Fully certified in four days?
- Changes to the shellfish quotas in Northumbrian Area
- Worth risking your life for?
- Tangle nets, as bad as drift nets but not as publicised
- Do I change my business card?
- Masking diver panic or should that be diver panic and masks?
- More bits in the jigsaw.....
- Diving and litigation.......
- Vandalism, what's your definition?
- Fundamental dive 'laws', real or compromise?
- As if you don't have enough to think about with gas loading
- Global warming or one of those things?
- RIP Rob Stewart
- Not all Submarines were lost in deep water!
- It must have been some salvage job!
- More news from Orkney
- Bubble shunting without a PFO
- Rock, Reef and Pinnacles around Beadnell
- Weight and Lead
- You rebreather divers best be careful!
- Out and around at Beadnell
- Even I'm not that daft!
- The water is cold so your biggest risk is from regulator free-flow!
- Shore based winter project for 2015/2016
- Time for some winter research
- Another basking shark!
- The courses go on......and on.......and on.......
- Apex Predators....
- The last 'big' job on my RIB?
- Even more legends and myths about SS Somali
- Never mind London Bridge, Seahouses Pier is falling down!
- More legends and myths about SS Somali
- It's strange what you find on the beach...
- Waiting for the weather.....
- When do 'recommendations' become 'rules'?
- 'Strange things' on your dry-suit!
- Oban and Easedale, only dry though!
- Northumberland in the Sun
- It's getting close.......
- When will it calm down?
- More research means more questions!
- More interesting research on wrecks
- I was half right about the Farnes 'Apex Predator'
- PFO Closure surgery.....at last!
- Dorset seemed such a good idea, oh and MV Danio update!
- Current navigation standards must be declining....
- They still shoot seals you know BUT they have lost their right to anonymity!
- End of June and initial Somali thoughts
- Zen and the art of lobstering - part 4
- Zen and the art of lobstering - part 3
- Zen and the art of lobstering - part 2
- Zen and the art of lobstering - part 1
- Oxygen Partial Pressures
- Random thoughts about kit and the like
- A final diary post for 2011
Latest Photographs


Ahhhh, bollards! Well at least this is an identifiable lump in the middle of the wreckage
I messed around with the images as the three larger holes do have a look of 'The Scream' by Munch, what do you think?
Looking out from the Haven towards Inner Farnes, I didn't walk a long way down the beach because it was ghastly
E - And based on the black colouration it was quite old, it was confirmed by experts that the timber was circa 17th century so very, very old!
Into Staple Sound and providing there is no current its just coarse sand and fist sized stones with some Dead mans fingers (Alcyonium digitatum) and other small creatures, not worth the swim guys!
A Tompot blenny (Parablennius gattorugine), this one was sitting out in the open.
These weeds 'reached for the surface' and with the small fish swimming about they were like trees and the fish like birds, this time with the pier steps shown going into the water.
The reel/rod feet were a bit of a chew, I tried to machine the brass to take a couple of M3 cheesehead screws but that wasn't 'right' so ended up brazing on the feet and then 'back filling' the machined holes for that little bit extra strength
Still at the stern section, exterior plate with holes, any brass has long, long gone
A typical north east wreck dive, plates, boilers n bits. In this case probably Jan Van Ryswyck although a few vessels have foundered so the bits are somehwhat mixed!
Back quarter shot all done and pre-mounting.
Ribs on the port side near the bow of SS Thesis, you can see from the 'raw metal' that this area has not had a chance to be colonised by sea-life since the last lot of hull plate fell away. Sad but considering it's age not surprising.
These weeds 'reached for the surface' and with the small fish swimming about they were like trees and the fish like birds, pretty?
The 'hump' of anchor chain
A tiny Long Spined Sea Scorpion (Taurulus bubalis) this one was less than 10mm long!
More wrecky bits against the reef face