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!
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
As always I was thinking about what to bugger about with this year and I ahd a flash of inspiration.......or something
A video of Hans Schmidt
This one is a deep 'un in Croatia and is really just a 'down the line' video....still fun!
A video of the wreckage of Mistley
The Mistley was an old steam trawler that was lost on the South Side of Beadnell Point
A video of the wreckage of MV Yewglen
The Yewglen is a bit of a scrap-yard dive but still very enjoyable!
- 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


When you get really close to the bows it does become a little more ship-like
Engine parts sticking out of the sand, I assume these held on the cylinders........
Everywhere that you look the bottom isn't bedrock, it is formed from sections of ship.
Looks like (Parazoanthus anguicomus) a type of creature called an encrusting anemone. Usually but not always found in deep water so maybe not!
The gnomes garden......there are a few broken ones around too!
Drop over to the 'hull side' of the vessel and it's still pretty messed around.
The 'fresh' Greenland Shark (Somniosus microcephalus) that was stranded at Embleton, this shot gives some indication of scale
The stern section of Mistley has been really scoured with an extra meter of depth now available, with all of the solid stuff exposed there has been a significant amount of non-ferrous scrap shifted this year
A Velvet Swimming Crab (Necora puber) this one was worth a photo as it had a starfish set up shop on its shell
Another boiler, this one has a large lump of machinery to the south and is pretty much intact
A common Hermit crab (Pagurus bernhardus), this one seemed to have a load of eggs around the outer edge of the shell
The axle set was a bit of a cheat but not seen and strong enough
The prop shaft 'sans' prop! The propellor was made from high cost non-ferrous materials, phosphor bronze etc and an easy win for whoever was salvor in possession at the time.
A shot of the sea-bed in about twenty five meters off the Harcarrs, its all flat rock, small gravel beds and short drop offs.
A shot of the sea-bed in about twenty five meters off the Harcarrs, its all flat rock, small gravel beds and short drop offs.
Back quarter shot all done and pre-mounting.
The sternpost of the Mistley is maybe 20 yards away next to a large pinnacle, I guess that she hit the pinnacle before foundering closer to land
A Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa), relatively common around Beadnell due to the mixed ground.
And the business end of the same gun, in this case a crab has set-up shop but most of the time they are home to conger eels!
The back end of a shaggy mouse slug, or sea mouse or more accurately Aeolidia papillosa, this one was spotted quite early in the season.
If you look down into the heavily salvaged engine space you can see the prop shaft, the hole down is about 20m to the inverted deck, quite a drop.....