Week 2: Go with the Flow - We had the Vis, ya boo sucks! - Part 1

[GLOC]

This is a long post.....

Day 1: 11 August
11:30 came and Rob and Wilbo pitched up to ferry me and my kit to Scrabster from my folks near Doncaster where I had dropped the kids off. After a long travel up the east coast, past the home of the Porg, across the Forth Bridge (on a different route to TomTom) and onto Perth, we stopped for some kip and a meal. Rob found the duvet which stank of puke and we all found the Brewster in which the staff were missing some brain cells.

Day 2: 12 August. On the road at 06:00 after TomTom said it would take us nearly 5 hrs and we wanted to make sure we got somewhere to park. 3.5 hrs later we pitch up at Scrabster, so with nothing to do we start the week-long breakfast eating championships. Gradually the rest of the bunch arrived and we unloaded all the cars/vans while waiting for the ferry to come in so that we could load the containers.

Some of the kit we loaded onto the containers!

If you every want to meet a woman who can command 30 divers and tell them where to go, you only need to look on the quayside at Scrabster!! The ferry trip across pretty uneventful apart from Justin asking Gary if he was the one who had dropped his stage in NDAC!!

The Old Man of Hoy - 600ft rock pillar

Arrived in Scrabster and unloaded the ferry freight cabins before loading all the gear onto Invincible. The plan was to do the Koln and Borries so the tins were filled with 32%. Fish Supper and a couple of pints before retiring into the bunks for a pretty decent night’s kip. For the majority, this was the first time they had encountered Gary’s snoring….Nick had ‘slept’ with him before, so was used to leaning over and hitting him with a pillow to shut him up!

Day 3: 13 August

SMS Koln 34m: As we approached the site the weather was pretty good, overcast and a slight breeze to keep the temperatures down. Hearing the first week’s experiences we weren’t that hopeful for good viz and this was proved correct as we dropped down the shot until 21m where we left the line for the wreck. After proceeding towards the bow for a small distance we went over the top of the wreck to explore. The vis at 21m was between 5-6m but as we dropped deeper the light faded and finally dropped to approximately 2-3m. Two laps of the topside before thumbing it and ascending on a free blob. Uneventful ascent apart from realising that everyone else had gone up the shot line and we had to wait for the skipper to pick us up! We (Rob, Wilbo and I) soon got a reputation as the DIR boys where everything had to be done as a team…the banter continued throughout the week. I had one of the 3 new PT upgrade LED heads in the UK from Phil at Diving NikNaks with a view to testing them up in Scapa and comparing it to the Heser (Tricky had the other 2!!). However, I hadn’t planned on testing the flooding capability! After dekitting I wanted to have another play with the torch and noticed that the lens was filled with dirty yellow water – seawater and batteries  I emptied the water out, junked the batteries and then washed the lens unit and casing in fresh water and left it to soak…

Borries 18m: After a large leisurely lunch we motored over to the Borries to do the second dive. The skipper had warned us that there would be a current running prior to slack and he was right. Rob who was leading, was pulling himself down the line until we reached the bottom and then I tied the shot in. Unfortunately I was tasked to tie a bag into the shot so it could be brought up…the knot was intact but it slipped off the C-shaped shackle. Fortunately Ian managed to recover the shot  Rob led off around the picturesque wreck fighting the current.

Rob and Wilbo on the Borries

Couple of nice swim throughs and some nice photo opportunities.

Rob just outside the Borries

30mins bottom time signalled the blob launch. I fired off and then watched it go horizontal. Slow ascent and while at 6m we watched some seaweed shoot past at 3-4kts.

Rob and Wilbo on the Borries

On the surface it became apparent that we had drifted some distance from the wreck and the skipper had problems seeing us despite having 3 x 4.5ft blobs up. The attention was finally gained by pointing Wilbo’s Salvo at the boat...Vis was 8-10m and more ambient light, a much nicer dive than the Koln.
After I dried the LED unit and cleaned everything up I was very pleased to say the LED unit worked flawlessly! Well done the dude in the US who designed this.

Day 4: 14 August

SMS Brummer, 34m
Woke to a calm overcast day and set off at 07:45 for the 1hr run out to the SMS Brummer. Kitting up with a stage of 50% for plan of 15mins at 33m, 15mins at 28m and 15mins at 24m giving a deco plan of 10mins at 6m. I led down the shot line to 20m where the line joined the wreck. Over the side and carried on down to the seabed at 34m and off towards the bow. The viz was about 4-5m and care was taken to ensure that no inadvertent penetration took place. At the bow it appeared Rob was tangled in some line so we immediately stopped and it transpired that Wilbo’s spool had unwound itself and had birdsnested. The spool then dropped to the floor and Rob and he sorted things out! Back aftwards and passed a large gun, the conning tower, armoured control tower and loads of other bits!! As we reached the aft (or what we thought was the aft) we turned around; it appeared that we were in fact at the blast area. Heading towards the bow again we blobbed off after passing NickB and Gary (WWD) and completed the deco after 35mins BT. A nice enjoyable dive and more views of a massive wreck. Vis improving, and this would be the case for the rest of the week.

Tarbarker: 15m
What an excellent wreck! Dropped in negatively buoyant onto the wreck and immediately entered under the upturned hull.

Wilbo inside the Tabarka

The wreck is quite broken which allows the massive tides to rip through. Light was excellent with some excellent views.

Rob inside the Tabarka

Couple of large lobsters were seen who shied away from being nabbed. A very picturesque wreck which would be further improved with more sunlight.

Day 5: 15 August

SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm
Woke to a gorgeous calm morning with a glass flow. Setting off again at the regular 07:45 time we steamed off to the site of the Kronprinz with 30% and 50%. The plan was for a mixed profile dive and Rob was to lead. Down the shot to the hull at 20m and then over the side to the seabed. Just at this point my wreck reel decided to unravel and Wilbo stopped it getting any further after Gary (WWD) had pointed out what had happened – Gary then went on for the rest of the week that he had saved the DIR boy’s asses…  However, this unplanned stop meant that Rob had gone beyond my light coverage and out of sight. Fortunately NickB chased after him and sent him back up to join us!! After sorting the reel out, we carried on downwards turning aft for a short time and hitting the debris field. Rob then turned the dive towards the bow and we saw the sheer scale of this wreck. 15mins of nomal finning and we had finally reached the bow, passing the two huge hawspipes on the way.

Rob on the Kronprinz

The bow has collapsed considerably since the pictures in Rod McDonalds book were completed. Back towards the stern with Rob leading and following the lip just below the deck area. We passed a couple of small guns and a small amount of sealife before reaching the time to end the dive. Upto 21m and the blob went up before continuing an uneventful deco. Met up with NickB and Gary (WWD) as they were just finishing their deco. Tried to get them to play some games but they weren’t interested!

F2 and Barge: 17m.
This dive was a bit of fun and allowed me to try the modifications I had made to the Oly5050 housing to allow me to use it with a Salvo 21W and reflector. I led down the shot into the barge hold. I was very conscious of my reduced awareness and capacity while trying to sort out my lights; the 10W HID in the left hand and camera and 21W in the other and still try to keep track of the rest of the team. I think that to do video properly requires a dedicated support diver. Once at the bottom of the shot we went through the wreck past the AAA gun which is in the middle of the wreck, round the port side before coming over the top again. This time we waited for the Tricky twins to come out of the bow section before venturing in. Quite small and fun to fit three people into without silting it out. Back out of the bow and through the centre of the barge before following the rope from the barge to the F2.

Rob on the F2

Across to the F2 on the keelside below the superstructure and right towards the bow. Over the bow before heading inside the forward section with Wilbo leading. This was a small section but was plenty of large enough for 3 people inside. Outside and then over to the small gun on the deck where a conger resides.

Mr or Miss Conger...

Photo session for him or her before turning forwards and meeting NickB without Gary (again!). Nick has now got a new signal for lost buddy which I will let Nick expand on as it isn’t that PC!! A quick play under the bow before following the shotline back to the surface, scaring Jeremy on the way by tickling his ear while he wasn’t looking. With everyone back on board we motored back to Stromness with lashings of hot chocolate and tea!! Then the preparations for tomorrows venture onto the James Barrie began...

[GLOC]

Day 6, 16 August: James Barrie 43m

I was to lead this dive with plan of 8 @42m, 10@39m and 10@35m, deco of 14 mins at 6m and a switch at 21m onto 50%. Down the shot line and the viz was approx 10m and as we passed 30m it started to get dark. Onto the wreck at 35m and over the edge towards the seabed at a max of 41.5m. We started working aft from just behind the wheelhouse and saw the engine ventilation hatches. It would take a small diver to get inside the engine room through here! Further aft towards the stern I turned the dive around but Wilbo and Rob didn’t notice me move off nor did I notice that they weren’t with me! I realised that they weren’t with me at the same time they did and we met on the stern after only being separated for 30 secs or so. Moving forwards past the wheelhouse we noticed the trawl gear midships which confused me slightly as I thought the wreck would be longer that this. However, looking beyond the gear the rest of the wreck was visible in the 10m viz we had. Moving past the trawl gear and the masts we came across the fish holds which went from ‘top to bottom’ but there were bulkheads between the holds which limited the scope for swimthroughs. Off to the bow and over the hull at 36m to begin a swim back along the length of the trawler on the starboard side including a swimthrough towards the stern of the boat. Back to the shot and Rob decided that he was going to shoot the bag from 35m, I signalled him to deploy it at 21m along with the switch as there was a risk of being pulled some distance off the wreck with the current that was running. Up the shotline to the 21m point, switched and then Rob deployed the bag which got caught on the line. This meant that we couldn’t drift off as planned. Upwards to 6m for the rest of the deco and to join the rest of the gaggle on the line. Rob was still hanging off the entangled blob line until someone ‘kindly’ unravelled it which meant that Rob drifted off the shotline while Wilbo and I stayed there until our time was up.

Rob doing the 'Monkey'

Surfacing it then became apparent what had happened and we decided that in the future we would drift further off wreck completely and bag from 21m after the switch or stay on the shot until it became too busy and then drift off and then bag up.

On a couple of occasions we had fizzing stops in Lyness and had a look around. I decided to explore and found that the area around the museum has other wrecks…

3lb gun at Lyness Museum

The Old Lyness Pier

An Old Wreck on the Beach at Lyness

Karlsrhue, 25m.

Topping up to 40% we decided on a 50min dive onto the Karlsrhue with no deco obligation. Dropping down the shot we followed Gary and NickB and met the ‘virgins’ coming up the other way. Onto the wreck and a good swim around. The viz was picking up nicely and we had 10m or so, enough to make out more of the ships shape. This wreck is now considerably more broken up than the McDonald pictures but nonetheless it makes for an interesting wreck with plenty of opportunities for swimthroughs and penetration. Wilbo led towards the bow to start with overtaking NickB and Gary on the way before reaching the bow and turning around. Again passing Nick and Gary we headed off towards the stern investigating the wreck as we went. On reaching the stern, Wilbo entered one of the hatch openings and continued inside the wreck, the lower part of the hull has rotted away which provided some light. Exiting approximately 20m along the keelside, we continued along the hull until we found the shot and came up that. Carrying out 3mins at 6m and a slow ascent from there.

Wilbo on Deco...

A nice dive with plenty of scope for penetration with more experience. NickB had fun with some divers on the JohnL who were coming down the shot while he and Gary were doing their stops; the descending divers, complete with pink snorkels, expected the deco’ing divers to move out of the way while they descended the shotline! A few words were administered afterwards!!

Day 7: 17 August.
SMS Dresden, 34m.
With only 2 days left to dive and only 3 wrecks left to dive we decided to do the Dresden today and leave the Markgraf and Konig for another trip. We planned an average depth of 31m and bottom time of 40mins which gave us 10mins at 6m following a switch at 21m. Following a multitude of faffs from Rob which included a blown o-ring inside the valve of his stage bottle, we finally managed to get into the water. Wilbo led and down the shot we went into 6-7m viz. Plenty of ambient light meant that we could see more of the wreck. It became apparent that there were plenty of opportunities to conduct swimthroughs and penetration. We limited ourselves to swimthroughs where daylight was visible at the other end as the holds at the stern looked they could silt up quite easily. From the bow moving aft we saw the forward gun turret but no barrel, following the hull aftwards, past the remains of the control tower across the blast debris field were salvagers have gone through the top decks to retrieve their wares.

The lightsabres in overdrive!

Moving further aft the holds do look very inviting but they also look like they would silt out quite quickly and remembering Garf’s experience last week we decided to leave it at that, especially as we were diving as a three. Right to the stern, Wilbo turned around and we came back at about 26m following the deck, again past the blast area until we found a very nice swimthrough along the topside of the control area, exiting just aft of the command towers and mast. Following the hull along until we reached the bow and the dive was thumbed. A conservative deco of 10mins at 6m meant that we felt fully refreshed once we got back onto Invincible in classic Scottish weather of low cloud and light rain. This wreck has lots of potential for more exploration after some wreck penetration training. After we surfaced we wondered where Gary and NickB had got to, as they had gone in after us. Once they surfaced, the story came out. As Gary descended the shotline, he managed to get the shot line wrapped around this stage and unknown to him at this point, the working parts of his poseidon made a bid for freedom. He noticed this when he came to the 21m stop and tried to deploy his reg and it wasn’t there. A small amount of extra time was then added to allow him to deco on backgas despite NickB offering his stage reg (no swapping of stages here!).

Day 8: MV Mara, F2 and Barge 15m.
With only 3 dives left to do we went with the Skippers suggestion of combining the Mara, F2 and Barge...mmm maybe not such a good idea...! 9 of us dropped in on the Mara with the plan to swim the 100m on a bearing of 275 degrees after we had finished there. The Mara is a dive boat which sunk a few years ago in alleged dodgy circumstances is about 15m long. After a couple of laps we decided to head off on the planned bearing to see if we could find the F2...nothing was seen after 10 mins of heading on 315 (tracking approx 275) so we decided to go for a little drift dive. After 25 mins BT we decided to bag off so the skipper could keep a track of where we were. I learnt a valuable lesson on this dive that I should have unwound and rewound the spool because it jammed after it unwound approximately 5-7m of line. Rather than take the express ride to the surface I let it go, hoping to pick it up later (which I did). Wilbo then deployed the backup and we conducted an uneventful ascent. On reaching the surface I saw my blob and swam over to it. Once back on the boat we could see how far we had drifted and how far everyone else had too!! The only pair to make it onto the F2 were the Tricky twins which we all (obviously) put down to luck rather than judgment!! Justin and Paul were guaranteed to find the wreck as they were dropped in on it but had to end their dive after 60mins or so as Paul needed a pee!!

After a quiet meal in the pub I saw my first example of ‘beer jumping’! One of the local lads was somewhat worse the weather and staggered down the pier with his t-shirt and top in his hands. Getting to the end he stripped down to his shreddies, staggered about a bit and then waved at me. I turned around to talk to Gaynor, turned around and he had disappeared, slightly concerned I went over to the end of the pier and saw the lad managing to climb up the ladder (god knows how considering his state). Asking if he was alright, he slurred he was fine and I watched him get dressed and stagger off! Transpired it was his birthday!!

Day 9: SMS Koln, 34m.
The last days diving began with some fog which had the appearance of burning off.

A Foggy Evening

Making our way out to the Koln we had a plan of 40mins at an average depth of 31m on 32% giving 2@21 and 9@6. Dropping in with me leading, it was apparent that the vis was much better than Sunday’s dive and that we might get to see more of the wreck. Hitting the wreck at 25m we dropped over the side to the seabed making sure we kept above the 33m MOD we had. Heading aft we passed the debris field of the blast area and towards the 2 large guns at the rear. With the increased viz and natural light, it was easier to make out the different parts of the wreck although we were still looking at little sections at a time. At the stern we turned around after I took some pictures and headed towards the bow.

Rob blowing bubbles...

The wreck provides some opportunities for swimthroughs which on a couple of occasions we took advantage of. Passing Jeremy and Nick on the way forward we could see what the new PT LED heads were like in action and they were pretty impressive (Nick’s primary light had failed after about 15mins on the bottom).
Past the bridge area and onto the bow for some more pictures and we saw Paul and Justin. 30mins into the dive and we headed aft towards the superstructure and at 35mins Wilbo thumbed the dive as he was cold and bored (!). After another uneventful dive we got back onto the Invincible and another hearty breakfast.

Tabarka and Doyle: 16m
This was to be the last dive of the week and half the boat wanted to dive the Tabarka again, the other half wanted to dive the Doyle. We suggested to Ian that he motor over the Tabarka drop the first bunch, carry onto the Doyle and drop the next lot on that. He came up with a better idea…drop everyone on the Tabarka and swim to the Doyle. We were a bit reticent after the last episode but went with it...

Rob inside the Tabarka

In we went minus Gary as he had enough (Nick was with the Tricky twins), straight down to the bottom to get inside the wreck. If this was slack I would eat Jeremies bright yellow dive hood. After 20 mins exploring inside the wreck our team decided to make for the Doyle and following the cobble road…the tide was still running at this point and in hindsight we should have stayed inside the wreck, but hey ho! We found the cobble path and followed it and found something with a large boiler and a gun barrel but it wasn’t the Doyle! Anyway we had a couple of minutes mooching around here before deciding to have a drift dive in the still running tide. I was to launch the blob, which I did but it slipped out of my fingers but didn’t go too far above me. Wilbo, quick as a flash, got his out as backup, but in the process it unclipped and dropped into the kelp, doh! After a quick rewind it was neatly back in his pocket and I was winding in the spool. On reaching the surface it was obvious, as we weren’t going anywhere, that slack was about now! Oh well, it was a nice dive and we saw the inside of the Tabarka along with a load of snorkelled silt kickers!
This dive was the only chance that Rob and I had to compare the Heser and new PT LED upgrade; despite having a slightly yellowed reflector due to the battery solution, the PT was as bright and tight as the Heser and well worth the £48 from Knakcers (when he gets them in stock).

Gaynor with her big smile

The diving over, we quickly stripped things down and sorted out kit before loading the trolley that we had liberated. The wheels did look a little flat when we finished loading all the tins into one trolley! Off out for a few pints in the Ferry Inn before going around to the Royal for a final meal. Lots of stories related and funny pictures taken, which will no doubt make it into this thread, including the one where Gary, pissed off at having his photo taken, managed to format Nic’s card while in the camera. It’s a good job there are file recovery programs out there…

Day 10: 19 August.

Nursing some sore heads, we pushed the loaded trolleys half way to the ferry before Ian pitched up and towed them the rest of the way. A few tearful goodbyes and onto the ferry to start the long journey home. Some of us made detours, stop-offs but everyone made it safely back by Sunday night.

This was my first trip to Scapa and I am already booked on a trip for next year with some like minded souls. Hopefully I will have a Tech 1 ticket by then and the majority of the others will also have mix tickets, so we can explore the deeper wrecks with a clearer head. It was a great experience, meeting some nice people, diving some great wrecks and just generally having fun.

A big thanks to Fiona for excellent breakfasts, Ian for being a sound skipper and giving us nice decent fills, the weather gods for being lenient on us, Wilbo and Rob for being part of my team and the rest of you for providing me with some entertainment, Gary for eating the Orcanian supply of cheese, Jeremy for providing hours of entertainment with his fluorescent yellow hood and gloves, Gaynor and Paul for being so chuffed to be there and having the energy to cycle to Skara Brae, Justin for providing the evidence in the sea urchin murder case being brought against Paul and NickB for trying his best to beat Gary to death with a pillow to shut him up and finally thanks to Nic for providing some interesting South American video clips but a big boo to the sea-gods who gave us pants (by Scapa standards) vis. I have just received a text from Porg who said she can see the barge from the F2 

Safe diving everyone…

[GLOC]

The Week 2 Dive Gods....

Hope you managed to get this far....

[Howard Payne]

My God they're an inbred looking bunch - do they do drysuit boots for cloven hooves? Your photos - as always - are absolutely stunning mate. Stick me down for next year - bored to tears with the Red Sea

[Paul Oliver]

Nice report

Gary should really not be allowed out in public wearing those shorts

[Adrian Kelland]

Originally Posted by Paul Oliver

Nice report

Gary should really not be allowed out in public wearing those shorts

Thank the gods he doesn't drop them.

Sorry Gary.

It certainly looks like the vis was a little improved on what we had.

Adrian

[milldog]

excellent report and some really good pictures to boot.

team photo looks like a criminal escape committee

[Justin Owen]

Cracking photo's Gareth and good report! Not looked at the photo's from the pub yet but sure there'll be a few good ones to embarass people with - I think I even have one of Gary without a plateful of cheese...

[Tricky]

Originally Posted by Justin Owen

I think I even have one of Gary without a plateful of cheese...

Surely not, must be a fabrication...

[Welshdiver]

Top stuff Gareth. Loved the photos, especially the group shot, I'll nab a copy to keep for posterity if you don't mind.

I'll try to get some Skara Brae photos up in a bit since you've got the diving more than covered. I know we go to the Orkneys to dive, but it was a good day nonetheless