I'm going to keep this short as I really should be working. And besides, Paul Oliver has already posted a report about his groups trip to Scapa during the same week, and it sounds like poor old Howard Dude might expire if he has to read too much more about how fantastic a dive the Koln is!
And it is by the way
So, this was my first time up there, and certainly not my last. The trip was run by my club,
urbanFISH, we stayed self catering at the Orca Hotel in Stromness, which was fine, and dived from the Jean Elaine, an ex-trawler now fitted out as a liveaboard and also available as a day boat. She's a great boat, nice and stable, plenty of space inside and on deck, skippered by top chap Andy, and assisted by the best sausage sandwich maker I've ever met, Ronnie.
The diving. We were doing typical recreational diving, single cylinders mostly, no deco mostly, max dive time about an hour. It would have been good to have more bottom time admittedly, but I found you can really enjoy diving Scapa without having to get too techie.
Most days we dived the wrecks of the WW1 German High Seas Fleet. Did the cruisers Karlsruhe, Dresden and Koln, and the battleship Kronprinz Wilhelm. Diving these was a very atmopsheric experience for me. Off the side into dark green water, down the line into the gloom. The viz was good, but still plenty of strings of plankton, mainly in the first ten metres. Then as you reach 25, the wreck appears. The cruisers lie on their sides, so next it's down across the deck into shadow, often to find a massive gun still in place, then down to the sea bed, back away from the wreck a bit, turn, and look up - this is where the good viz makes so much difference for me. These are seriously big wrecks. The whole wreck looms 10 to 20 metres above you, and it's still very much recognisable as a ship. Breath taking. Underneath and in holes on the wrecks there is plenty of life. Loads of anenomes and soft corals, loads of pollack, plenty of wrasse, who are often very friendly and swim right up to your mask (apparently this is due to divers cracking open urchins for them to eat). No deco time doesn't last long at 30+ metres, so there's time for a cruise along to either bow or stern, not usually both, sometimes taking a detour away from the wreck along one of the masts (which gives an excellent wow factor when you look back) and then it's back to the top of the wreck, shoot a blob, and up we go.
The Koln is special, for some reason she just impressed even more than the others, and it was good to do a little open topped 'penetration' between her decks. The plaque fastened to one of her guns, for a lady who died whilst diving her in 1999, makes sombre and reflective reading at depth. The battleship Kronprinz Wilhelm was also extra impressive, as she's huge (25000 tonnes, about 200m long, I think), and makes you feel very small hanging underneath her. As her decks are heavier than the cruisers', she's almost totally inverted, but you can access underneath at one side to see the decks and guns.
I don't think I've done these dives justice at all here. Basically, if you've ever looked at a wreck and been impressed by the sheer size and presence of it, you'll love these.
We also did a few dives away from the German fleet. The James Barrie is an Icelandic trawler that went down in the 60s, and lies on her side, very intact, in about 35 to wreck, 45 to seabed. Because she's in a tidal part of the flow, she's regularly swept clean of silt etc, and the water is very clear. Very little no-deco time to be had here, a deep, short dive if you're not techie, but well worth it all the same. Stepping back from the bow to look down the length of her, with her impressive bridge in place, in dark clear water, is one of my key memories of the trip. As is scrubbing oil off my drysuit afterwards, despite being warned to stay away from the roof of openings (and thinking I had done!).
The Burra Sound is a channel into/out of the Flow, which has several block ships sunk in it to prevent wartime access by subs. It's very tidal, so again the water is clear, and the wrecks must be dived at slack. We dived one, the Gobernares Bories (spelt wrong), and even though she's more broken up than the German Fleet, the exceptional viz and good light made for an excellent dive. Covered in life of every sort, several swim throughs, boilers, engine workings, and all together very picturesque. Saw my first butter fish, and a cod hidden away underneath which I swear to you was 5 feet long!
I could redo this dive ten consecutive times before I'd get bored by it.
Whilst at Burra Sound we also did a "drift" dive away from slack. Recently I've done a few drifts with very little current, OK, but nothing special. This was the opposite. Into the water, down to the kelpy covered bed at 10 metres, and I'm being pushed by a strong 'wind'. Suit inflate to relieve the squeeze, oops, a gentle piss of water and no relief - damn numpty idiot I've left my dry suit hose off
! So I grab my buddy, who's in the process of rapidly departing thanks to the massive current, some frantic guestures, he finds my hose, I'm plugged in, aired, unsqueezed, and the momentary adrenaline subsides. Momentarily. Man this
is a fast drift. We're literally being hoofed along, trees of kelp as big I am barrelling past in my peripheral vision, the kelp bed blasted flat and streaking along beneath. It's all I can do to stop my feet from being blown over my head, and keep looking forward to try and avoid being plastered into the side of one of the block ships - a hazard Ronnie had warned us about. I'd given up on staying together with my buddy long ago (both had AAS) when he shot past me, we regrouped, it slowed and we surfaced. Two miles in <30 mins, including the slow bits at each end. Excellent fun, if you like a little edge of fear mixed into your dive
And before I'd even really noticed it had begun, the week was over quick sharp
In short I loved it and I am definately going back next year
To those going on the YD trip next year who've not been up before - you've made a good choice
Right, so much for keeping it short! Work calls, even if my mind is obviously elsewhere
Dave.