Report for Scapa Flow - August 2011

Eleven of us have just spent an excellent week diving the wrecks of the German fleet that were scuttled there at the end of WW1.

For several members of the group it was their first time in Scapa Flow but for a couple it was their sixth or seventh trip to the Mecca of cold water diving.

We were staying and diving from Dougie Leask's boat MV Sunrise, which whilst not glamorous by Red Sea standards is an excellent UK dive boat with an enclosed dive deck so that you stay warm and dry whilst kitting up. Bruce the deckhand was a whizz at getting his nitrox mixes spot whilst still knocking out a filling cooked breakfast of bacon & egg and plenty of tea/coffee etc. The Sunrise has a decent if small galley so to save some cash and keep the 'group feel' some of our party cooked, so we were treated scallops, curry, paste, haggis/neeps & tatties and even scouse all washed down with red/white wine and a couple of pints of the Dark Island J

The diving was in the 13m – 45m range with the majority around the 30m mark so was ok for anyone of Sport Diver upwards. A twinset is advisable but not mandatory as we had several divers on single cylinders, each of them did use a bottom stage at some point during the week to extend their bottom time and ensure that they did have sufficient gas for any eventuality but they were all equally at home using just the single cylinder. Everyone used nitrox in the 28-32% range with some of the group using 50-100% for accelerated deco, using nitrox does give long bottom times and definitely makes you feel less tired after a days diving.

Sunday we dived the cruiser SMS Dresden (33m) which is starting break up, with the deck peeling away from the hull, its looking worse each time I dive it but it still makes a fascinating dive . In the afternoon we dived the SMS Karlsruhe (25m) which is by far the most broken of the cruisers, the advantage of this is that you always see something different each time you dive it plus the 150mm guns are more accessible.

Monday we dived the battleship SMS Kronprinz Wilhlem (30-38m) which lies upside down, the battleships are so big that you think that you've landed on a sloping seabed in 15m when your actually on the keel. The rudders are a must see as they are huge and if you venture deeper you can see the casement guns protruding from the side of the wreck. In the afternoon we dived the F2 & Barge (17m) which is an excellent shallow dive with plenty of holes and bits to nose about in.

Tuesday, 3 of us dived one of the other battleships the SMS Markgraf (45m) while the rest dived the SMS Kronprinz Wilhlem again BUT it is 26000 tonnes and nearly 200m long. The Markgraf is the most intact of the battleships but again lies upside down so you spent all the dive in 42-45m of water, its worth it though to see the breech of the 15'' guns and rows of intact porthole. In the afternoon we all dived the cruiser SMS Koln (33m) which is the most intact of the cruisers and definitely my favourite with the amount of fish life around the wreck.

Wednesday we dived the cruiser SMS Brummer (30m) and the Tabarka (13m) which is one of the several blockships which were sunk by the British as part of the Churchill Barrier, the Tabarka is upside down and is my favourite UK dive. It's an absolute must everytime I visit Scapa Flow, the tidal window is so short that your guaranteed a fast ride out at the end of the dive and the amount of water flow means that the viz is always exceptional, the light inside the wreck is also excellent for photographers.

Thursday we dived the SMS Koln and SMS Karlsruhe again and a couple of us managed to squeeze in a cheeky scallop dive. The wrecks are such a good size that you could visit them several time (as I have) and never get bored.

Friday we ventured further down the Flow and dived the UB-116 (28m) which was a submarine, it's been blown apart but the viz down in the south of the Flow is always amazing so it was well worth it. In the afternoon we dived the Gobernadore Bories (13m) which is another of the blockships and is covered in life, the Bories collapsed several years ago and diving was banned on it for a while, its now left with just the bow and stern sticking up so I do wonder how long it will be before it collapses completely. We were even treated a junior basking shark circling the boats whilst we were waiting for slack and a pod of dolphin cruising past as we surfaced after the dive.

The weather gods played ball and kept the wind to below 10 mph all week and from Wednesday onwards it was down to nil and the sea looked more like Capenwray Quarry than the Orkney Islands.

The only downside of the week was the undeserved DCI suffered by Margaret Courtney, the Diving Doctor was happy that Margaret's profiles were ok and recommended she have a PFO test prior to diving again, hope she manages to get it sorted soon.

That's it, for those that didn't go tough luck you missed an excellent week. I would recommend Scapa Flow to anyone

Safe Diving

Steve Mc