Discovering Shetland Diving

[triplefin]

I dont normally write trip reports. Being very lazy I usually just add a few pics onto someone else write up. However having recently returned from what I can only say was some of the best diving I have experienced in the UK I feel I just have to share!
It seems like Shetland has it all, great viz usually between 15-20m. Huge variety of wrecks and wreckage. Fabulous scenic dives and some super cave dives where you often meet the odd seal.

The two weeks spent diving off MV Halton doing dive after dive in all these fabulous places was amazing.



Having worked for many years up in Shetland for part of each year, Bob knows these waters very well and will take you to some really awesome places. Quite a few people on here have been on Halton trips with its skipper Bob Anderson (who is also a member on here) and will probably remember the lovely Rayburn in the kitchen that provides a lovely warm cosy feel to the galley area.
The first week saw us working our way up and back the east side of the Shetlands diving a variety of different types of sites, wrecks, scenic, caves etc and one of my favourites was a superb dive done on the northern side of Out Stack. This is the most northerly lump of the UK,....after Out Stack its just all sea.



Thats the lighthouse on Muckle Flugga just behind it.

With his usual expertise and precision and dispite the heaving water Bob was able to drop us in in exactly the right place so that we could swim down into this most amazing gulley that he had discovered. Reaching a depth of around 32m the walls were absolutely covered with life, jewel anenomes growing on horizontal planes and not just vertically were a good indication of the nutrient rich environment here. There was a huge variey of filter feeding life making the most of the fast flowing currents that come through here.
These are just a couple of pictures to show you just how smothered with life the walls are.





Other outstanding dives in the first week were some of the dives round Noss Head. The little Isle of Noss is a bird reserve and on the eastern side the cliffs are covered with nesting gannets.



As Bob takes you right in close to the cliffs to drop you off for some fantastic wall and cave dives you get the chance to see the amazing sight of these cliffs covered with nesting birds with dozens of gannets in flight all the time.



Its a little surreal to look up at the end of the dive and see these birds whirling about above you when you surface.



We also did five wreck dives that week The Glenisla, Gwladmena, Toni Chandris, E49 sub and a lovely steamship wreck called The Jane!
For this first week I had joined a group that were from Bristol (mostly) there were also a few other extra people like myself. One of these was Simon Rogerson from Dive magazine and he will be writing up the trip for the mag so you will get a professional trip report with some outstanding photos. His pictures were to die for, he really is a super photographer and got on well with everyone.
The second week was very different as the group was comprised mainly of local Sheltie divers and the emphasis was on going to look at rarely dived wrecks and seeking out new dive sites which was very exciting. Although I personally wasnt able to spot them on every occasion many huge cannons, cannon balls and even musket balls were found. These photos are not particularly good but show you some of the stuff that was on the site of The Evstafii 1780 a transport ship of the Russian Navy. With the enthusiasm of a dog chasing a rabbit the divers drove into the kelp where these cannons and cannon balls were and raised so much detris and silt it was incredibly impossible to get any decent pictures. Even being careful it would have been difficult with all the little white organisms that grow on kelp, just brushing them with your hand raises bits that fly everywhere.






We also found some lovely new scenic dives. Using Bobs extensive knowledge of Shetlands geology and the seas surrounding the islands and an uncanny instinct for what might be a good spot we were able to find several new dive sites as well.

Like many people I had had some crap diving so far this year with many disappointments, canned dives and crap viz so this fabulous fortnight made up for that.
Unfortunately due to the recent death of my old computer and whilst I have the new one up and running I cant get the Raw Plug in to work yet and most of my pics were taken in Raw. So I'll try and post a few more when I've got it sussed....................could be a while!

[ShinyD]

Nice report Jane and brilliant photos! Please do post more if you manage to get the raw plugin to work.

I'm astonished at the variety of plant and animal life that was growing offshore from where I grew up and just didn't appreciate it.

I'd love to go back and dive the Shetlands to see it for myself, but it's an expensive trip...

[BobAnderson]

Originally Posted by ShinyD

I'd love to go back and dive the Shetlands to see it for myself, but it's an expensive trip...

.......450 per head for the week if you are interested.

Have spaces for individuals week 17th - 22nd Aug 08 or full weeks for full groups for first two weeks in July.

The diving is for competant sports divers and above who can handle expedition diving. To be fair, there is no one single dive that would make the trip to Shetland worthwhile (as there is at Scapa for eg) but as a package, the sum total is superb.

Email me if interested.

bob@mvhalton.co.uk

[Buoyant Babe]

Fab report and, as ever, fantastic pics Jane.

Love Hxxx

[DIVE BUDDHA]

thanx for the link jane and again some lovely pics ! and a great report

ps i hope ya mannage to get the cs3 raw pluggin sorted !

best wishes and dive safe leigh

[jorawley]

Great report Jane - and lovely to see you in scapa again.

[triplefin]

Having now sorted all the pics here is the link

Photo Sharing by MyPhotoAlbum.com :: MyPhotoAlbum :: The Shetlands on Halton

Also the link to my blog which tells a little bit more about the diving. As it is really written for family and friends you might like to skip the first bit which is about shetland land stuff

jane » Blog Archive » Visiting Shetland and Diving - Aug 07