A two week stint in Scapa Flow is any British diver’s dream. Frequently suggested as the best diving the UK has to offer it should certainly be on your to-do list if you haven’t already been, and almost certainly on your ‘must return’ list if you’ve experienced it already.
Once you’ve recovered from the drive – from Oxford it takes about 11 hours + the ferry crossing to reach Stromness in Orkney, far north of Scotland. It really does make sense to fly, but only if you can get someone else to take your kit – excess dive baggage is apparently frequently discarded when planes are overweighted. The drive beyond Glasgow is quite scenic though, as is the ferry from Scrabster to Stromness, so that helps. It is certainly even better on the way south.
This expedition to Lyme Regis was organised by John Waterhouse.
We were staying in a large house at Axminster and had both the club boats ISIS and Gemini to dive from. There were plans to also do some snorkeling, but this did not occur.
You could not have asked for better conditions: neap tides, sunshine, no wind and a perfectly flat Weymouth Bay – truely like glass.
Our plan was to have two dives on our project wreck – the Alex van Opstal – one on each day. To do this we had to leave the marina at an un-weekendly (think I’ve just invented a new word there…) 7.30am. Despite all predictions we actually left 5 minutes early and made good progress in the perfect conditions.
It was all going so well
With a little early morning fog adding to the atmosphere we were starting sense this would be a good weekend. But with a sudden CRUNCH! that all looked a bit premature. We’d hit something. With lightning reactions the skipper shut off the engine, and we sent a diver in to investigate what had got tangled on the propellor.
So the first official dive of the 2011-12 calendar (from the dinner dance in late March onwards) was in 1m of water cutting a plastic mail sack from our boat’s propellor. Auspicious indeed.
The Alex van Opstal
Problem solved we made it to the Alex on slack. We shotted the wreck and two divers started off the weekend’s diving proper. It was looking so good, until we realised they hadn’t moved off the shotline after being down about 5 minutes. Surfacing shortly afterwards they informed us that they couldn’t even see their own fins at the bottom, and despite being on the wreck had decided there wasn’t really any point in diving.
So, the mood slightly more sombre we enacted Plan B…
Lobster Alley and the Black Hawk
Not as exciting as the Alex, but with 4-5m vis we weren’t complaining. After months of being confined to inland dive sites after the weather ruled out trips it was just nice to be back in the sea. There were fish, crabs, lobsters, a slight current and all the random bits of this and that which make the sea so much fun to dive in! Plus it is around 3 degrees C warmer than the quarries, making it a lot more comfortable.
Day Two: Round the Bill
Having realised that Weymouth Bay was pea soup (possibly to do with run-off from all the Olympics construction?) we ventured West and round Portland Bill. When we headed for the wreck of the James Fennel and saw all the charter boats there we knew we must have got it about right.
James Fennel
On dive one, Steve L and I actually found the notoriously difficult-to-locate James Fennel, and were able to pinpoint it for the others to have their second dive on. I’d say this was more by luck than judgement, certainly on my part, but I think Lichy knew what he was doing once we’d started to find bits of wreckage and led me on a tour of the highlights! It really was a fantastic dive – 10m+ vis, calm water and loads of life. Despite locating the stern, prop shaft, boiler and plenty of scattered wreck, we also saw lobsters, pipefishes, conger eels, a stonefish, wrasse and so much more.
SS Gertrude
On our second dive Lichy and I tried to find the SS Gertrude, hidden amongst the bus-size boulders littering the seabed. We weren’t so lucky this time, although having located the anchor I suspect we simply needed to turn towards land rather than out to sea and we would have found it. Never mind – still a pleasant drift dive amongst the boulders, and a nice end to a cracking weekend.
On a perfect diving day we headed down to Burton Bradstock beach (Hive Beach) which is run by the National trust. Ten divers (John Beer, Kerrie, Ian, Courtney, John Blessing, Kevin, Chris, Grainne, Andy W and Howard) and one sunbather (Josh) set up camp on the beach just to the East of the cliffs that mark the more interesting seabed to the West end of the main beach. A nice set of Gabian cages formed a perfect kitting up bench there so we claimed them for ourselves.
The biggest problem on this day was basically keeping the damn grit out of our kit and suits. Just walking down to the water we found that grit got into wetsuit boots and fins. Once in the water which was nearly perfectly flat calm, we found very good vis – at least 8m in places. Dropping to the seabed there were a mixture of boulders and sandy seabed. Depth was not much more than 7m but lots of like about. We found cuttlefish, dogfish, lots of pipefish fry and several big crabs and lobsters. Depth being shallow we didn’t need to change tanks – Kerrie managed four dives on just two 12Ls. All in all in one day we managed 21 dives between 10 divers which was pretty good going. We kept going on coffee and buns from the beach cafe.
Note for future trips here – the carpark is £5.00 all day and you need change. The National trust run the place and wont let you take vehicles onto the beach so if you want boat cover you’ve got to lug them down there by hand or launch elsewhere and come in from the sea.
1st-3rd May 2010 : Diving the Farnes from Glad Tidings VII
Weather forecast Force 5-6 NE – not a great start to the weekend’s expedition to the Northeast Coast at Seahouses in Northumberland. Our Skipper for the weekend William Shiel of the Glad Tidings VII was confident we’d get out but not for all the days of the trip.
Saturday dawned with a fairly windy start but we headed down to the quayside and loaded the boat. In fact it was not so rough and we managed to get out to the islands and dive on their north side where a heap of seals watched us all enter and swim down the shot for our first dive on the Northern Hares. The water was very clear with 8-10m visibility every day, but rather cold – only 7.5C so the two real men (Alex and John B) diving in wetsuits were a little chilly. The whole seabed here is dominated by soft corals with dead mens fingers everywhere. We swum around a dropoff at 25m to the bottom well below. Not so many fish about this early in the year (May 1st) but lots of squat lobsters and crabs along wtih quite a few blue lobsters.
The second dive on Saturaday was on the Longstone near the lighthouse and here we got our first in water encounters with the seals. Diving along a cliff topped with kelp (and the BBC cameraman along for the ride….) decorated with anemones and soft corals and dropping to a stoney plateau at 20m was a fantastic experience. Seals kept coming and tweaking our fins as we moved about – often divers thought they were just touching the bottom when in fact a seal was nibbling their feet !
Sunday was expected to be a bit rough but we once again trouped down to the quayside just in case. The skipper reckoned that we were ok to dive later that day so to come back after lunch. A certain amount of tourism ensued and we (mostly) arrived back at the boat at 1pm to head out through a rather ‘sporting’ sea. Although the waves were pushing 1.5m we managed to get to the islands and have two very nice dives on the Blue Caps (a series of small islands) where diving birds met divers (or was that the other way around….?). We managed a second dive that afternoon on the Wreck of the Abessinia – a steamship wreck dominated by two huge boilers each standing 3m off the seabed. This was the deepest dive of the weekend at ~25m. Much of the seabed was covered by brittlestars waving their arms and collecting plankton.
On our last day weather was if anything worse and we were the only diving group who went out to the Islands. Due to the strong winds we dived the Blue Caps once again but this time with a much stronger current running North along the coast. Vis was spectacular but the cold winds were a challenge for divers in wetsuits. Despite them we all had a good dive and even met the seals once again. Conditions were worsening on the surface so after a cuppa we decided to return to Seahouses and head for Oxford. Pretty good weekend all in all – 43 dives and no problems apart from mild hypothermia.
On our last day weather was if anything worse and we were the only diving group who went out to the Islands. Due to the strong winds we dived the Blue Caps once again but this time with a much stronger current running North along the coast. Vis was spectacular but the cold winds were a challenge for divers in wetsuits. Despite them we all had a good dive and even met the seals once again. Conditions were worsening on the surface so after a cuppa we decided to return to Seahouses and head for Oxford. Pretty good weekend all in all – 43 dives and no problems apart from mild hypothermia.
It had all the makings of a nightmare dive trip – 12 hour minibus journeys, unpredictable October weather in the far North of the UK, the green chilly depths of Scapa flow and living aboard a trawler for a week. If it was a movie something like the theme from Jaws would now be playing in the background about now…
Saturday 3rd October
We set out early (4am is pretty early by anyone’s standards) with a round of minibus pickups about Oxford to collect the six brave souls who dared to risk all in this diving mega trip (well it was eventually seven brave souls but Iain Lingard was picked up from a layby in Manchester….). Graham Bowsher drove the bus as the rest of yawned bleary eyed at a cold night. Jude was somewhat delayed by a slight dog crisis… but we managed to get going in good time).
Driving was interesting – the speedo on the van didn’t work so it was a bit of a guess everytime we met speed cameras – and the vital need to meet a ferry at the other end of the country did mean a certain amount of lead footed driving was going on.
Regular changes of drivers, terrible tailbacks and roadworks in the black hole of the Birmingham motorway system, lots of very strong coffee and an equally large number of toilet breaks later we made it to Scotland – but were still only half way there – its a long way to Scapa flow. If you don’t know, basically it’s that little bunch of islands off the top right of Scotland that doesn’t really get a page to itself in your road atlas because nobody would really seriously think of driving there……
Scotland is certainly more interesting to drive through than England – lots of nice mountains stick up over the motorway sound barriers but we didn’t have time to stop and look at the view – that darn ferry was beginning to cause a certain amount of panic. As we made it past Aberdeen the roads turned narrow and slow and the scenery got a lot more interesting. Horizontal rain and force 8 gales made for lots of rainbows and a rather white knuckle driving experience for poor Jude who ended up with this stretch. We finally made it to Scrabster and stopped in at the local petrol station for a fill to hear from the operator that the ferry was probably cancelled due to appallingly bad weather in the Pentland Firth !
The ferry terminal was pretty empty and the weather most inclement so we hid in the warm minibus waiting for the ferry which eventually turned up a couple of hours late. Once we were all on the ferry for some obscure reason three of us attempted to have dinner. I should have realised this was a bad idea when, whilst choosing my beef stew at the counter the ship rolled so much that I had to hold onto the counter to avoid losing my tray. If you’ve ever watched people walking about whilst drunk, then imagine they are all trying to carry trays of food, in a confined space with furniture scattered about you’ve now got a good idea of what getting to our table was like. Force 8+ in the Pentalnd firth made the ferry rise and fall (at the bow) by at least 6m but as it was pitch black outside you couldn’t tell – apart from the potatoes on the plate trying to escape and inadvertently standing up whilst trying to eat when the deck, seat, table and most of dinner suddenly dropped below you. After a few mouthfuls we gave up and headed to join the others in the bar who were gamely trying to avoid baptising themselves with their pints! Phil and I ended up spending most of the trip on the rear deck watching te black waves on the black sea rising a falling about as high as the ship against the black sky whilst holding onto the rail in the howling (freezing) wind.
Once the ferry made it out of the firth the sea calmed down to merely rough and we all managed to drink and eat crisps without risking life, limb or dignity. It was a very tired seven who eventually reassembled in the van and made it back to dry land. Finally we arrived at Stromness. Finding the boat was easy and it turned out to be fantastically warm inside and we took up residence with a sigh of relief. The next day sounded easy by comparison – just get up and go diving…..
Sunday 4th October
Sunday dawned but we were all blissfully asleep right up to the moment that the skipper started the main engines at which point we were all vibrated out from our beds to end up blinking on the deck awaiting breakfast and diving – something which happened every day and avoided any of us needing to use an alarm clock. The boat, Invincible is a very nice home for the week with only one drawback (the toilets are all at deck level meaning you have to climb up out of the cosy confines of the cabins to brave the icy winds (and, one night, snow) to take a leak in the night). You basically get two breakfasts, we had toast and cereals first thing, then off for a dive before the full Scottish breakfast at around 10am.
Dive 1 was a typical Scapa shakedown dive – the battle cruiser Dresden – only 35m to the bottom and standing on her starboard side with the highest point at about 20m. Diving in Scapa is not for the faint hearted as the expectations of divers here are for deep, long dives with decompression a virtual certainty. The Dresden did not disappoint – a huge ship with lots of very good intact sections, deck guns in place and the whole bridge still projecting from the deck behind the bows. The entire wreck was shrouded in a huge school of small fish called Saithe about 10cm long and here in force. At times you really couldn’t see the wreck through the schools of fish. Occasionally seals were spotted zipping through the shoal where they punched holes in it as the fish parted ahead of them. Vis (where there weren’t several hundred fish in the way) was pretty good – in places as much as 15m or more.
On arriving at the surface after a tour of the decks and guns we had the pleasure of trying out Invincible’s double diver lift – which gets two divers out of the water and onto the deck in just under 2 seconds – pretty fast.
Breakfast was next on the agenda and we all felt pretty stuffed after eggs, bacon, beans, mushrooms and black pud, some of the divers went in search of antacids afterwards. Sadly, during breakfast we learned from Ian (the skipper) that the other boat with whose divers we’d shared the wreck on this first dive, had lost a man who was pulled unconscious from the waters of the Scapa Flow off the coast of Orkney on Sunday. It’s a sobering thought that this is not uncommon in Scapa and after this we all took a little more care with our diving I suspect.
July 24th – August 5th 2011
Weather forecast Force 5-6 NE – not a great start to the weekend’s expedition to the Northeast Coast at Seahouses in Northumberland. Our Skipper for the weekend William Shiel of the Glad Tidings VII was confident we’d get out but not for all the days of the trip.
Sunday was expected to be a bit rough but we once again trouped down to the quayside just in case. The skipper reckoned that we were ok to dive later that day so to come back after lunch. A certain amount of tourism ensued and we (mostly) arrived back at the boat at 1pm to head out through a rather ‘sporting’ sea. Although the waves were pushing 1.5m we managed to get to the islands and have two very nice dives on the Blue Caps (a series of small islands) where diving birds met divers (or was that the other way around….?). We managed a second dive that afternoon on the Wreck of the Abessinia – a steamship wreck dominated by two huge boilers each standing 3m off the seabed. This was the deepest dive of the weekend at ~25m. Much of the seabed was covered by brittlestars waving their arms and collecting plankton.
On our last day weather was if anything worse and we were the only diving group who went out to the Islands. Due to the strong winds we dived the Blue Caps once again but this time with a much stronger current running North along the coast. Vis was spectacular but the cold winds were a challenge for divers in wetsuits. Despite them we all had a good dive and even met the seals once again. Conditions were worsening on the surface so after a cuppa we decided to return to Seahouses and head for Oxford. Pretty good weekend all in all – 43 dives and no problems apart from mild hypothermia.
