Scapa Flow Day 6 - Achilles & Hector - 14/06/2018

There are few dives on the planet where your maximum depth is below the seabed. There are fewer like that still that you'd also dive in the midst of a storm. The weather forecast hadn't been great with Storm Hector passing through. We had a limited time window. The plan was to dive the SMS Bayern gun turrets, like the Markgraf the day before according to a pretty strict plan. We plopped in and dropped down on the main turret. We looked about for half an hour, dipping below the seabed to have a look inside the turret, before very slowly heading back to the surface.

At the surface the weather was changing. The sea was slowly changing in into a lumpy mess that was enough to convince most divers on the boat to skip out the opportunity to dive the F2 - a nazi built WW2 wreck.

Despite the maelstrom on the surface, beneath the surface it was calm, shallow and scenic. For the first time in the week I was leading. 

Back on the surface I looked into the storm and I felt a little like Achilles calling out Hector.

Scapa Flow Day 5 - The Mighty Mighty Markgraf - 13/06/2018

The SMS Markgraf and SMS Brummer wre our targets for the day. The Markgraf would end up our deepest dive of the week and the point at which I started putting my limited technical dive planning skills to use.

The dive was the deep wreck, highlight of the week.Which was weird because it was followed by the worst - the SMS Brummer. I won't say anything about the Brummer. It really wasn't worth the O2, but it ticked a box. The SMS Markgraf however....

The dive started near the bow where we followed a heavy chain down to the seabed and started working our way to the stern and the phenomenonally huge rudders. before returning along the upturned keel back to the rope care of a very pleasant drift.

It's really hard to explain the scale of the wreck, or how pleasant it was to dive.

Plan the dive, dive the plan

Scapa Flow Day 4 - Battleships & Butterfish -12/06/2018

Our fourth day on ‘the Flow’ saw us dive our first Battleship. The SMS Kronpronz Wilhelm was the the target followed by a ‘shallow’ dive on the SMS Coln.

I was starting to notice my desat times were getting higher and higher, much like my deco penalties. As such it was probably the first day when I consciously took my foot off the diving gas, opting to no deco the Coln as I’d been there before. 

The Kronprinz W. was to be my first glimpse of one of the famous 12” guns. I liked it, though not as much as the Wylie Fox who proved to be a real fan of the big guns. 

I was particularly moved by the way nature had paid no head to the death and destruction mayhem of the guns and had instead used them to grow sea squirts and dead men’s fingers. There’s a metaphor there for life, I think. I was also starting to realise I was more interested in butterfish than battleships.

Scapa Flow Day 3 - Mary Poppins - 11/06/2018

Day 3 on board the MV Karin was going to follow a very similar pattern to the previous day. 

Step 1. Dive a German High Seas Fleet Cruiser

Step 2. Eat

Step 3. Dive a a blockship

Our plan was therefore to dive the SMS Coln and then dive the Tabarka blockship.

I was settling into the routine, the diving while deep and technical was actually pretty straight forward.The Coln passed without incident for myself and the Wylie Fox. It was impressive and to someone who isn't a 'wreck guy' was fairly recognisable. We had spent about 40 minutes below 30m before starting to come up doing around 20 minutes of deco. Simple.

However, it was the shallow Tabarka that through me for a spin and reminded me how things can change quickly. Diving as a four, we had waited for slack water. I had WF's advice ringing in my ears - just get to the wreck an meet me there. 

So, I junmped in and got down. I was joined by the Landlady then the Barrman. We headed as a three towards the wreck where we met up with WF. We explored the inside, saw the boilers of the old steamer then headed towards the exit. The kelp was flat and the tide was running fast. 

The skipper had mistimed the tide and so the dive plan needed to change. WF and I put up an SMB as did the others. We emerged on the leeward side of the tide at which point WF's SMB acted as a sail and swept her away with the surface current. It was almost magical, a bit like Mary Poppins. This left me in a bottom current going the opposite direction and effectively on my own. I watched the others struggle with their own SMBs before deciding to go it alone.*

I popped up my own SMB and enjoyed the instant feeling of being whisked away. It was fun. Some time later I surfaced. It had been quite a ride. 

Coln Gun

Nudi

In the Tabarka

In the Tabarka

* I don't recommend solo diving, but myself and WF had agreed that as we both had redundancy the usual look around for a minute didn't apply. It's debatable if it's right or wrong, but we work on the presumption that we're solo diving anyway.

Scapa Flow Day 2 - SMS Dresden & the Copa Cobana - 10/06/2018

OK, there is a slight possibility I misheard the name of the wreck when I was informed of the day's itinerary. However, my error made the second dive of the day feel a little more tropical. However, I'm getting ahead of myself. 

The SMS Dresden was to be our 2nd ship of the High Seas Fleet to be ticked off. It is deeper than it's sister ship the SMS Karlsruhe and in better condition. So I was prepared for the wreck action to really start to heat up. To compliment this I'd bought an additional Fourth Element thermal from Scapa Scuba because I knew that long deco stops = cold Frewbowski.

The SMS Dresden was definitely more like what I expected. Even I could recognise the guns and enjoyed numerous easy swim-throughs that allowed you to feel that you were exploring something a little bit special. Thanks to my top I also definitely stayed warmer as WF and I racked up around 20 minutes of decompression.

It turned out our second dive was a blockship - the SS Gobernador Bories. She was a pleasant little boat in the shallows surrounded by kelp and nudibranchs. Lots of nudibranchs - including some of my favourites! 

The wreck also provided a confidence boost to the Landlady who was a little reluctant to swim in an overhead environment. She and the Barrman joined #teamdeeppenetration and never looked back after this point enjoying her first wreck penetration, first drift dive and first nudibranch.

I was genuinely excited by the volume and variety of nudibranchs around the wreck. I'm not sure I'd ever seen such a concentration. I briefly thought of Jester who'd of been burning his camera battery at the sight.

With that, diving was done for the day.

Dresden 5" Gun

Aplysia Punctata

Janolus Cristatus

Sea Lemon

#teamseeppenetration

Looking through

Drifting

Deco stops

Scapa Flow Day 1 - Karlsruhe-ins - 09/06/2018

As a club we had decided to go to Scapa Flow. When the idea was first mooted there was considerable excitement, but with the horsetrading of life in the end just three of us were making the trip. In addition, I'd asked around my diving buddies and found another willing participant. That made four.

Now Scapa Flow is one of the jewels in Scotland's diving crown as it is home to the scuttled WW1 German High Seas Fleet. Despite being well north  (8 hours by car and ferry) of Scotland's Central Belt in Orkney it remains quite accessible for those prepared to make the trip. Beyond this I won't give you a detailed history or geography lesson there are websites for this information.

Myself, the Barrman and his Landlady had arrived off the first ferry on the Saturday morning and met the Wylie Fox at our home for the week - the MV Karin. I lucked out and got a cabin to myself.

Our first dive (a check dive) was to be one of the cruisers, the SMS Karlsruhe.

WF was my buddy for the week. She was an experienced veteran of Scapa Flow having dived it around 20 times. I'd therefore be in good hands.

We dropped down the line to around 25m and began exploring. It was a jumble of wreckage suitably described as the "most broken up of the wrecks". We plodded around for 45 minutes before making our way to the surface. We took around 8-10 minutes to surface then headed back to port to get the divers who were coming late in the day. It was a decent enough check dive and allowed me to iron out a few kit wrinkles.

Kit wrinkles

More Than One Direction - 02/06/2018

Amidst the nonsense of training, my buddy (Walker Texas Ranger) and I decided to mix things up and swim in the opposite direction of where we'd conventionally dive at Drishaig Reef. We didn't think much would come of it.

We had expected the reef to end and a silty seabed to stretch on forever. For much of the dive it did. then, as we gave up hope the seabed unfurled its skirts and revealed a curious reef. Small, and stretching over a few square metres it contained a variety of life.

Multiple dogfish lazed amongst the seaweed. Large nudibranchs slugged across the rocks. While highland dancers gently laid their ribbon eggs. It was quite remarkable to see so much life in one small bit of reef.

We surfaced and wondered how many people had ever rebelled against the dive guide. It would seem sometimes there is more than one direction.

Highland Dancer

Flabellina Lineata

Catshark