Seahouses, England, United Kingdom

Farne Islands

The Farne Islands are a group of islets and rocks off the Northumberland coast and one of the most famous wildlife dive destinations in the United Kingdom. The site is best known for its resident colony of more than four thousand Atlantic grey seals, which routinely approach divers, nibble fins, gently bite snorkels and engage in playful interactions throughout the dive. The reefs around the islands offer dramatic underwater topography of rocky pinnacles, gullies and walls falling from the surface to about 25 metres on a clean rock and sand bottom. The structure is densely covered with dead man's fingers, plumose anemones, jewel anemones in patches, sponges, hydroids and pink coralline algae, with kelp forests of Laminaria hyperborea on the upper margins. Resident fish include ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, pollack, conger eels, lumpsuckers and butterfish. Visibility is typically 6 to 12 metres in summer and water temperatures range from 7 to 15 degrees Celsius. Currents are moderate to strong and dives are timed around slack water from Seahouses charter boats.