Scapa Flow - 26th October - 2nd November 2024
A traditional week diving the wrecks of the WW1 German Battleships and Cruisers,
Everyone travelled north on Friday and stayed at various places before making their way to Scrabster on Saturday morning. We met in the car park to load our kit into the dive containers before boarding the ferry to take us to Stromness. Once there, we removed our bags from the containers and Bob winched them onto the deck of the Clasina. Everyone set up their own dive kit and organised their personal gear in cabins.
Later that evening most of us went to watch the Viking parade which ended up with a burning longship being launched from the old jetty. We ate out at Adams Place.
We met Bob on Sunday morning for a dive briefing. The weather for the week was overcast and cool with moderate winds except for Thursday which was very windy. We were the only dive boat to leave the harbour. The water temperature was 11C and the vis an exceptional 8/15m.
Dive Sites
Sunday: AM: Dresden PM: Karlsruhe
Monday: AM: Koln PM: Gobernador Bories ( blockship)
Tuesday: AM: Kronprinz Willhelm PM: Brummer
Wednesday AM: Kronprinz Willhelm PM: Koln
Thursday: AM: F2& Barge PM: UB 116
Friday: AM: Konig PM: Karlsruhe
Bob’s dive briefings were comprehensive and informative. Each one gave us a clear idea of what we were trying to find– Guns and more guns, gun mounts and turrets, armour casing, torpedo tubes, turbines, davits, rudders and various other metal structures specifically designed for WW1 battleships and cruisers. I personally felt a real sense of achievement when I managed to find and identify them.
The marine life was diverse. The colour was mainly provided by Plumose Anemones and Devonshire Cup Coral, a variety of sponges, sea squirts. hydroids and bryzoa. There were shoals of juvenile Pollack, Ballan and Cuckoo Wrasse, large Pollack, Edible and Velvet Swimming Crabs, lobster, Long Clawed Squat Lobster.
Best finds: Nudibranch, Conger Eel, Ling and the rarest mollusc in the UK, a Fan Mussel.
Everyone visited the Scapa Flow Museum and cemetery at Lyness and the Museum in Stromness. Clare and Simon managed to get to the Italian Chapel and The Ring of Brodgar.
After our last dive we packed our kit, craned it ashore and packed the dive containers ready for the return journey on Saturday.
We ended the week with a meal at the Ferry Inn.
Congratulations to Julian for completing his depth progressions.
Thanks to Simon, Clare, Steve, Keith, Rosy, Ken, Julian, Cameron and Hannah for joining us.
Pat & Phil
NB Wreck photography : Bob Andersone
