Totnes BSAC at Scapa Flow - 1999

In 1999 Totnes BSAC revisited Scapa Flow after a break of 4 years. We took the week 17th - 24th July 1999. We used the John L again, this time ably skippered by Robert Swanney and managed by the Diving Cellar. We followed a similar diving pattern to previous years - ie. cruisers, battleships, the F2 and blockships.

What did we find?

• The most obvious change was the Inverlane blockship. To our dismay this wreck is no longer diveable. The winter storms of 1996 damaged her mid section and she slid down and turned round. Further winters have increased the damage and it looks likely that more will follow. However, the Gobernador Bories was just as good to dive and the strong tidal streams hadn't changed at all.
• The German cruisers have deteriorated slightly. The decks of both the Brummer and Dresden have opened up a little which makes entering the wrecks a little easier than before.  The Dresden seems to be leaning over a little more.
• Not surprisingly the battleships seemed as hardy as ever. These wrecks are going to last for a long time to come.
• In 1995 few divers used Nitrox. In 1999 nearly all divers were using it. Most of the dive boats supplied Nitrox and the John L was no exception. The favoured practice was to dive on 15 litre air cylinders and then to use 3 litre ponies with 40% or more Nitrox for decompression. We all used air computers rather than dive to Nitrox tables. My logbook for 1987 tells me that 10 litre cylinders were used. On the Markgraf this gave a dive time of 11 - 15 mins. In 1999, this time had more than doubled although part of this was due to the more leisurely deco time.
• Stromness now has hyberbaric treatment facilities. Although we didn't see the chambers apparently they are located just behind the Stromness Hotel. The Coastguard has given new instructions to the dive boats in case of diving accidents. This is a considerable improvement to the old system where bent divers were helicoptered to the hyberbaric chambers in Aberdeen.

Who went?

Derek Pearson was the organiser. The divers were Malcom Rahn, Malcolm Nimmo, Richard Woods, Richard Knights, Gary Thompson, Ian Brookes, Peter Butcher, Simon Temple, Allen Murray, Marcus Smyth.

Here's some photos.

What was the water like?

Well Scapa water is cold. In July the water temperature was 12 Centigrade. In June 10 or 11 Centigrade is usual. If you add this to the typical Orkney weather then good dry suits and wooly hats are a must - even in high summer. Water visibility was good - one memorable dive on the Kronprinz gave 15m vis. From the surface we could see the hull back just 12m below us. The tidal streams of Burra Sound gave us 20m plus visibility. In the Flow tidal streams are hardly existent. Although we could feel a slight fetch on the Markgraf this was no problem. Burra Sound is quite different. Tides are very strong here (6 knots and more), and the  slack doesn't last for long. When we dived the Gobernador Bories we had to pull energetically down the shot line and get into the wreck quite smartly. Within 10 minutes slack arrived and we could swim around the wreck with no problem. 20 minutes later and an opposite current rapidly developed.

What was the weather like?

Sometimes a little overcast and unsettled and sometimes really sunny. Orkney isn't hot. Mind you, July is high summer in Orkney so it wasn't biting cold either, although many of us were reluctant to discard our woolly caps. Only once did the weather stop us diving - and that was only for a few hours. Here are some of us enjoying the wind driven dunking at the stern of the boat. Ian is so happy at getting wet that he's singing.

The days were long since sunset comes late at these latitudes during summer. The colours and light were particularly noticeable. Orkney is a place of great beauty and it is easy to see why painters and artists fall in love with the place.

What's the marine life like?

Good. The German wrecks are strangely lacking in fish - maybe because of the oil and explosions that they experienced years ago. But there are plenty of encrustated species like soft corals covering parts of the wrecks, and the battleship hulls support large and active colonies of brittle stars. But where you expect to see congers or wrasse then you don't see many. You dive the German wrecks for the wrecks - not for the fish. The blockships and the F2 are quite different. These wrecks are throbbing with fish life. The F2 supports loads of friendly Ballan Wrasse that approach the diver hoping for a meal. There are lots of ling, cod and conger on this wreck.

On the seabed queen scallops, scallops, horse mussels and sea urchins are abundant. It is easy to collect scallops for a evening meal.

In shallower water we saw lots of jellyfish. They made the 6m deco stop more interesting. On most dives we would be surrounded by hundreds of  Common Jellyfish (Aurelia aurita), with quite a few Cyanea in attendance. There were also lots of transparent medusae and smaller plankton.

Here's a picture of Malcolm Nimmo decompressing with a jellyfish above.

What was the boat like?

In a word - excellent. The John L is a sturdy vessel with plenty of room to accommodate the needs of divers. We could kit up easily on the deck, and there was plenty of room to manoeuvre. Below the decks there was a 'wet room' where we kitted up. It never got wet though. The cabin area was fine. Tank filling was straightforward since all the bottles were centrally racked. Nitrox filling was also easy to do with this arrangement.

The John L was good at picking up divers. As the boat approached the diver was easily guided towards the ladder. The boat handling of Robert Swanney was excellent.

What else did we see?

There's a lot to Orkney. Apart from eating, drinking and shopping in Stromness we were able to drive around Mainland courtesy of the van provided by the Diving Cellar. Some of us "got historical" and took time off to visit the ancient sites of Skara Brae and the Ring of Brongar. These sites are quite atmospheric - especially in the light drizzle - and are well worth visiting. We also drove from Stromness right down to the southern tip of South Ronaldsay via Kirkwall. As well as seeing Scapa Flow from the land, we went over the Churchill barriers, saw the impressive Italian Chapel and realised that Orkney supports a thriving population of birds and cattle. These islands are fertile and prolific despite their Falklands profile.

Most days, between dives, we visited different places. One day we went to Lyness to see the Naval Base and graveyard - always a diver's favourite. We walked further up the hill and found the old oil storage depot that was used to refuel the navy ships. These oil tanks have been carved into one of the Hoy hills and to see them means that you have to walk down a long dark tunnel before you find them. There are six of them and they are huge and cavernous. Hoy has other attractions - notably the Old Man of Hoy and Rackwick bay. We landed at the small jetty of Moaness and took a taxi around the hills of Hoy to Rackwick. On the way we stopped off to see the Dwarfie Stane - a rock cut tomb 5000 years old. This is splendid country. To get from Rackwick to the Old Man means walking along the cliffs for about 40 minutes. The views are superb, and all around seabirds wheel and squeal. Kirkwall - the main town - was another visit. Although the town is quite small there is good shopping to be had here - not least, the mandatory sweat shirt from Kemp's shop. The cathedral of St Magnus is an old red standstone building of great charm. It is well used by Orcadians and unlike some other venerable piles in Britain, has a lived in feel about it. Close to is the Earl's and Bishop's palaces. The Earl's palace in particular, is a fine example of Orcadian renaissance architecture.

Where did we stay?

We stayed in Stromness in the accommodation supplied by the Diving Cellar. This is near the RNLI boat station and consisted of a number of pleasant rooms well arranged for divers. Being B & B we were well catered for breakfast, whereas in the evening we ate well in the various pubs and restaurants in Stromness.

What's Stromness like?

Stromness is a nice town. It seems to have been initially settled around 1500 but really began to develop in the 18th century. In the 1770's whaling ships bound for Canada called in to Stromness to take on crews as well as hiring agents. In the 19th century herring became the commodity for the growing town. By 1900 Stromness was burgeoning with herring. In the First World War Stromness became a naval HQ, and during the Second World War the town was an important part of the naval operation that was based around the flow. Today, Stromness hosts the busy ferry service from Scrabster and many visitors to Orkney base their stay in Stromness. The town is quite charming and consists of a narrow main street that curves through the tightly packed town. There is little traffic and quite a few small shops that sell the basic commodities as well as more 'artistic' produce. To the south of Stromness lies the Ness - an an open area that supports an active golf club and some splendid views of Hoy and the sea approaches.

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