Scapa Flow - majestic as ever
16 October 2010
Just back from a top few days diving in Scapa Flow on the scuttled German WW I High Seas Fleet wrecks off Bob Anderson's extremely good dive boat, MV Halton. Conditions were pretty windy most days, a good Force 4-5 but when the Halton came in to pick us up it sat there in the water like a rock - and even on the worst days the rise and fall was only a few inches. Like a number of dive boats in the Flow Bob has now got a diver lift fitted which was able to whip our divers out of the water quickly and safely.
As we travelled up with our usual 17/70 diluent in our CCR's we went straight for the deepest and most iintact of the wrecks, the 26,000 ton battleship Markgraf. On our Aquazepp scooters we were able to make a grand tour from stem to stern on both sides of this 575 foot long wreck. The very stern with its massive twin rudders standing proud was an impressive sight in a good 15metre vis. The afternoon dive was a slack water penetration dive on the upturned SS Tabarka. We moved through blast holes into the wreck's innards and passed through the Boiler Room to the Engine Room and then to the stern space with its massive prop shaft tunnel overhead. This wreck has collapsed a lot since my last visit and isn't the gem of Scapa Flow diving it used to be.
Next day we dived the massive battleship Kronprinz Wilhem in the morning - I still marvel at the size of the 600 ton after gun turrets and their 12-inch barrells some 40 feet long. A seal was trying to get a bit too friendly with me at the stern and seemed very interested in the scooter. A good non Zepp penetration dive on the 500 foot long light cruiser Coln followed in the afternoon. As I finned out of a hole I turned round to find myself face to face inches away from a big conger eel sticking a good 1-2 feet out of its own hole.
Our last day was a morning scooter dive on the battleship Konig - cruising in and out of its skeletal hull. Last dive was on the light cruiser Brummer - and I was stunned by how much it has collapsed since my last visit. A lot of the ship is getting unrecognisable now and you have to know what you are looking for.
Delighted to see parties of divers on the various boats poring over Dive Scapa Flow and doing briefings using the book and its wreck images.
Final night we had dinner with local skipper John Thornton who was one of the first to start taking divers out to the wrecks in the early 1980's just as I was starting to dive in the Flow - he's something of a legend in diving circles. We chewed the fat and swapped stories - and laughed - all night. The hours just sped by until we found that all the bars in town were closed and it was sadly time to turn in.
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