The Farnes

This was a hard boat diving weekend that we went on in the middle of September. We thought we might have left it a bit late in the season - especially considering the weather we have been having.

We woke up both mornings to fog of varying degrees. On the plus side however, fog equals no wind equals calm seas so we couldn't really complain too much. The only real problem was for the boat skipper keeping a track on the divers. The skipper in question was Ian from Sovereign Diving, who also provided us with the digs.

The diving was spot on - very scenic although I can't recall seeing too much in the way of fish life. We were also dropped on quite a few wrecks which we all enjoyed - didn't see too much in the way of shell fish though!

The highlight for most of us was the last dive when we had seals join us in the water. Some were buzzed by them, others had their fins gnawed, and one pair of divers even had a seal roll over for them to scratch its belly. An excellent experience enjoyed by all.

The only blot we had on the weekend was when we tried to eat in The Ship. They took a booking for eleven of us, then sat us round normal 2ft round barroom tables. The food was not exactly anything to write home about despite it being Egon Ronay recommended - taste buds must have been out of action that day! Worse, the complaints were ignored - you have been warned!! Oh, and because of the size of the tables, the bar stools were used to put the side dishes on! What a carry on.

To cheer ourselves up, we went down the road to another pub, the name of which I forget, to a karoke night. There Steve Saunders, our entertainment officer, really excelled himself with his Tom Jones impressions. The only regret is we didn't have a video with us then you could all have enjoyed it!