Farne Islands (Seahouses)

Core Operating Rules

• Plan around local slack-water and skipper instructions, not a generic tide app alone.
• Use a drysuit or equivalent cold-water protection, with redundant gas and equipment appropriate to depth and conditions.
• Carry a delayed surface marker buoy and reel; know the charter's pickup, recall and separated-diver procedure.
• Keep wreck penetration outside the plan unless every diver is specifically trained, equipped and briefed for it.
• Stay near shelter where instructed because current can strengthen sharply away from the island wall.
• Abort for cold stress, seasickness, equipment problems, low visibility or loss of team control.

Incident Response

At sea, call HM Coastguard on VHF Channel 16 or by dialing 999 or 112 and asking for Coastguard. Keep a suspected decompression-illness casualty lying comfortably, give the highest available concentration of oxygen, protect from cold and follow professional instructions. Do not drive a casualty toward a chamber without coordination; the British Hyperbaric Association directs the correct receiving facility.

Seahouses has local primary-care access, while minor urgent problems can be directed through NHS 111 and regional urgent treatment centers. Serious illness or trauma is managed through the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington, reached by ambulance when clinically necessary. The nearest suitable hyperbaric destination is not a walk-in local service. The British Hyperbaric Association's 24-hour line coordinates assessment and lists a category 1 chamber in Hull for North East England and Yorkshire. International visitors should carry medical and dive insurance that covers ambulance, evacuation, recompression and repatriation.

Wildlife and Island Rules

• Let seals choose the encounter. Never chase, touch, feed, block, crowd or enter the water to approach mothers and pups.
• Back away when seals wake, move suddenly, stampede or dive, or when birds leave nests, alarm-call or attack defensively.
• On Inner Farne, keep to the boardwalk, wear a soft hat for Arctic terns and do not bring dogs, including assistance dogs.
• Clean footwear and equipment, use sealed bags and carry no plants, loose seeds, compost or similar biosecurity risks.
• Kayakers should remain at least 100 m from nesting cliffs and follow local ranger guidance.
• Leave wrecks and marine life undisturbed. Any wreck material recovered from UK territorial waters must be reported to the Receiver of Wreck within 28 days.