Northumberlands Best Kept Secret - St Abbs & The Farnes

Published: 16 February 2025 By: Ellen Perton

August 2024 saw a group of us enthusiastic divers venture North to do a spot of diving at Seahouses-Northumberland. We couldn’t fill the boat from our club alone as many dive clubs are finding these day so we collaborated with a other local clubs to make the trip happen.
Some of us had dived here many years ago (1990s)and were keen to see if any changes had occurred over the years. To our surprise there were no brittle stars as last time, in place saw an abundance of lobsters, must admit I have never seen so many in one place.

Seahouses has a lot to offer the diver in terms of accommodation, from B&Bs, self catering, bunkhouses or camping. We stayed in the bunkhouse at the back of the old pub (no longer a pub) that Selby used to run back in the 80s and 90s.

We dived St Abbs earlier in the week, a nature marine reserve and for it’s marine diversity (the national nudibranch society hold an annual dive weekend here) and some great shore diving from the harbour wall, although don’t dive it at spring low tide otherwise you have a big clamber up the kelp to get out which is not easy when carrying scuba gear.

Great life in St Abbs with shoals of fish, wrasse, lobsters hiding in the crevices’, jellyfish, walls littered with “deadmans fingers” lots and lots of kelp, unfortunately we missed the star of the attraction “Cathedral Rock” but there is always another time to do it (IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED WE ARE GOING AGAIN IN JULY 2025).

All diving was above 20m and lots to see, even Amy got mauled by a common wrasse who thought she had food for her (divers break open urchins for the fish to eat). Sadly the seals were not playfull this year but we were blessed with a couple of scorpion fish and again lots of lobsters.

Great diving had by all and this was only a 2 day event. This year it’s over 3 days so should have more scope.

Andy Baker – Feb 2025

Longstone Lighthouse