After many years away from the Bishop Auckland Dive Club, only diving on holidays abroad, I was tempted back to the club after seeing their exciting web site.  All the diving and pictures of members in various locations around the UK and abroad (including some around the barbecue!) re-ignited my thirst for adventure - I plucked up the courage to go back and meet up with some old members and some new! 

I was welcomed with open arms from day one; I was impressed with the organisation and many opportunities for dives and other activities such as: pot holing, paintball and fancy dress evenings to name but a few. 

The following details a few days in the bunkhouse at Beadnell, it is a nice representation of life in the club. 

On the 13 and 14 July 2002 we were booked into the ‘no star’ bunkhouse for a weekends diving organised by the Dive Officer, Dave Metcalf,18 brave souls and four boats took part..... 

Day 1, Dive 1- St Andre

The day began with perfect diving conditions, flat calm sea and good visibility.  The first dive was on the St Andre, which was quite a large ship but is now well broken up, with two very large boilers intact providing good opportunities for sea life and photos, it is also visited by many seals. 

Unknown to me, my dive buddy had done some research into seal behaviour and communication techniques. He demonstrated this by lying on his back rubbing his stomach; this apparently is a friendly gesture to the seal.  Meanwhile swimming fast up behind me was a large male seal with a smile on his face!!! This resulted in a huge demand for air by me, bringing the dive to an abrupt end!  Learning point - be sure you know what signals you are giving out! 

For lunch we visited the Lighthouse at Longstone between dives (even this was eventful).  During sandwiches we heard a distressed call from a Puffin near the lighthouse.  It was stuck between two rocks, little Tom was able to rescue it as he was the only one small enough to reach it. This he did and saved its life! 

Day1, Dive 2 -  Blue caps.

These are drop off cliffs at the tip of Harcar, opposite the south end of Longstone, normally dived when there are quite strong tidal movements as there is shelter here from the cliffs. 

Sea life is abundant here and many different fish can be seen alongside large lobsters and crabs. We had a little bit of fun with one by trying to coax him out of his hole, but he won the day by jamming himself tightly between two rocks!  Back to the no-star bunkhouse for a shower and then out to a barbecue for some fun!   

Combing the beach, we found some wood to get it going!  Once away, we cooked ‘Cordon — Black’ Marsh Mallows swilled down with a few tinnies and some of the local brew.  The night concluded with the annual fire jumping competition (mind you the participants were only those who partook of the local brew!). 

Meanwhile back at the bunkhouse a trick had been played on one of the girls — her sleeping bag had been filled with wood, a scream in the night was the delight! 

Off to sleep if you got there first - as the local snore choir kept the rest awake.  

Day 2, Dive 1 – SS Coryton

Sunday morning - A little dive up the coast on another shipwreck, the Coryton.  The wreck lies in two parts; we anchored both boats, one to each part of the wreck, allowing us to operate a one-way dive system.  Loads of life around this wreck, with visibility very good at 10 to 1 5metres.  Good for the beginners with us, who all managed extremely well.  Ominously though trouble is never far away….at the end of the dive the anchor got snagged and a second diver had to kit up again in order to go down and free it.  After a lot of huffing and puffing kitting back up, the diver jumped in only to find he could have freed the anchor with just a snorkel! (Jonah strikes again!) 

Again for lunch we were back at the Lighthouse on Longstone.  We tried to position the boat close to the jetty ready for anchor when the engine got caught up the Kelp and stalled. The tide continued to push us between the rocks and the lighthouse.  Evasive action was required - we abandoned ship and held the boat in the current whilst Dave cleared the propeller and restarted the engine. We reversed to clear water and then successfully anchored at the second attempt. 

Day 2, Dive 2 - South side of Knivestone

South side of Knivestone awaited a scenic dive for us as we could not find any large parts of wreckage.  However, we did find some large pipes amongst the sea grass which did their job by testing how well we could breath through them whilst being sick underwater — the trophy goes to Knoxy who was the best (on the day he had the most practise!). 

After feeding the fish we returned to the dive boat and waited for our members to return.  Once onboard, and Dave had his equipment in the boat we set off for shore only to find the boat hindered by a piece of trailing line, which was attached to a weight belt.  Before the engine could be stopped the line was got cut off by the propeller.  The weight belt sank to the bottom of the sea, never to be seen again — (sorry Dave, it really was not my fault! — Jonah) 

The Conclusion

A great fun weekend with great diving, loads of experiences, good and bad, looking forward to next years adventure - 18 divers and four boats returned successfully (no hiccups on the way home). 

Written by Paul Brydon (alias Jonah)