Earlier this summer I was asked by a couple of diving friends from BSAC Korea if I could take them diving with seals in the UK. Just like that.
They planned to be in the UK for a week in July and wondered if it was possible. I rose to the challenge, found a boat to charter, somewhere to stay, another nine divers to fill the boat and the trip was on.
Five of the divers in the team were from Dacorum Scuba, so I thought I’d share how I pulled the trip together, as we might like to repeat it as a club dive in future.
The obvious location choices for reliable seal diving in the UK are the Farne Islands, off the Northumbrian coast, and Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel. Slightly more difficult to reach are the Scillies, off the south-west tip of Cornwall, far flung Scottish locations where the seals can be a bit skittish, and sites around the south of the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea.
In July, Lundy seemed the best option. Obsession Boat Charters was recommended to me by a diving buddy, and one of its two boats was available on the dates in question. A stroke of luck.
I booked in for two days of diving and put out a shout to the divers I know. A couple of weeks later the boat was full.
Everyone travelled down to Ilfracombe, a north Devon harbour town and the base for Obsession Boat Charters, on a Sunday afternoon, with the weather looking just about fair, only to find that a sudden change to the forecast meant that diving the next day was cancelled. Oh, no, but that’s one reason for having booked two days on the boat. Hasty tourist trips were planned and executed on Monday, and Tuesday was on for diving.
The boat, Barbara B, is an incredibly spacious catamaran, will an enormous dive deck. She swallowed up 12 divers with room to spare. The trip out to Lundy is about 20 miles and it takes over an hour to reach the nearest point of the island. We were heading to Gannet’s Bay to moor up for the day.
Before we arrived on site, we were briefed by the boat crew on the code of conduct for diving with seals as well as the dive site itself, with warnings not to stray too far out of sight. It’s good to see a charter operation taking the welfare of the animals so seriously. The friendly crew really helped to make the day, with their cheerful, helpful attitude.
Armed with some prior knowledge from a frequent seal diver we were good to go. The advice was: “You want to dive on the flood, when the most seals typically enter the water and the viz is best. The boat will moor up about 70 metres from shore in about 15m of water; you surface swim to the shore and dive in the shallows, from 5-3m typically… or even just under the surface. Just swim around admiring the seaweed and the seals should come to you, usually by biting your fins and swimming away. If you chase them, they bugger off. Just let them ramp up the play behaviour, and hope you don’t get a bitey one. Wear gloves.”
We didn’t dive more than about six meters deep, with maximum dive times of an hour, a surface interval of an hour and a second dive at the same site, but I think it fair to say that the seals blew our minds. Had we been there longer, we’d have had the chance to do a scenic or wreck dive and a seal dive each day. But two seal dives was just perfect.
“From the one hour trip from the coast of Devon, to finally getting underwater with seals at mine and my dad’s fins, the Lundy experience truly was very exciting. After a minor disappointment the day before, the weather couldn’t have been better with beautiful views of the island as we approached across the sea.
“Soon, we were taking a giant stride into the water and swimming towards the rocks, trying to get spotted by a seal or two. To get any seal’s attention, we could never make eye contact because the moment we did, we never saw them again. Instead, we swam away, ignored them and played hard to get. They then would follow us and nip at our fins. These amazingly adorable creatures truly made it a once in a lifetime experience.
“Other than the seals, we saw all sorts of life between the cracks of the rocks and among the seaweed. We saw beautiful jellyfish from underwater and also from above.
“After the first dive, we swapped out our cylinders, ate our lunch and talked about our discoveries. We easily got kitted up to do another similar dive. We were offered hot beverages and chocolate bars after both dives by the boat crew.
“I would certainly love to dive with seals again, and would be glad to recommend the dive site and the unforgettable experience to anyone.”
Check out the full gallery of photos for this trip
See BSAC Guidance on Seal Interactions
See Lundy’s Code of Conduct, including the seal code of conduct (The Landmark Trust)
Barbara B is the white catamaran, seen here moored in Ilfracombe, third from the right.
