2 Comments to “Scapa Flow 4 spaces Oct 01st – Oct 4th”

• DCS Admin
  August 26, 2010 at 9:21 am

  Scapa Flow is a sheltered open lagoon, encircled by the Orkney islands. It contains some of the most interesting wrecks in the world. For years it was the main anchorage of the British Royal Navy, and has many relics left of British naval history. In June 1919, the interned German navy scuttled most of its High Seas Fleet to prevent them from falling into Allied hands. Despite subsequent salvage, 8 of them remain and provide excellent wrecks for interested sports divers.

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• DCS Admin
  October 8, 2010 at 2:04 pm

  I’m ashamed to admit that when I first signed up to this trip I was a bit hazy on what Scapa Flow was all about. I mean, I knew it had something to do with the world wars, the Brits and the Jerries, and ships sinking and sailors lost, but I didn’t really know the story. To be honest I wasn’t even sure where it was.

  If anyone else wants a bit of background check out these links:

  http://www.scapaflow.co.uk/

  http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/scuttle.html

  So there we were, a bunch of about 10 of us headed way way up north for the Durham City Scuba world tour of Scapa Flow October 2010. Basically you just drive north until you run out of land then get the ferry over the sea to the next bit. It was a bright and sunny autumn day as we arrived at Stromness on Orkney Mainland. Techie Tim had got us some nice accommodation just a twinset’s throw from the harbour but we weren’t here for putting our feet up. The boat diving wasn’t until tomorrow so we headed off eastwards in search of the Churchill Barriers and the blockships and a bit of shore diving…

  At this point I intended to waffle on about the dives and how great it was but it just seemed totally inadequate. When you’re up there, and all you can hear is the wind and the sea, it’s impossible not to be overwhelmed with the history, ambience and sheer magic of the place, and amazing though the diving is, it’s only one part of the whole Orkney/Scapa Flow experience. A description of a series of dives is just not enough.

  So what can I say? We dived the blockships, we drove over the Churchill Barriers (once in BIG seas), we saw the blockship that is now part of the beach, we visited the Italian Chapel, we looked at the standing stones, stone circles and neolithic burial mounds. We stood on Marwick Head and touched the Kitchener Memorial and we saw some amazing scenery. On three days we sailed out into Scapa Flow on the good ship Sharon Rose under Cap’n Kevin and his crew and dived on the WW1 German fleet (SMS Dresden, Karlsruhe, Coln, Brummer and Kronprinz Wilhelm). We saw their big guns and Tim and me set our new deco time record (35mins – ask me if I was cold). We visited Scapa Flow museum at Lyness and saw loads of stuff, including the propeller from the Hampshire and the nameplate from the Royal Oak that someone had illegally salvaged in the1970’s but was then racked with guilt and returned it. We dived torpedo boat V83 and collected scallops which we cooked and ate on the boat. One of us ate them raw.

  It’s a long way up there, but enjoy the journey and take a few breaks and it’s not too bad. The magic starts as you leave the mainland and the ferry takes you up past the cliffs of Hoy, and the famous Old Man, and round the corner into Stromness harbour and Scapa Flow.

  We’ve been back a few days now and the boat’s just about stopped rocking. I think I know a bit more about Scapa than I did, but there is still one burning question in my mind – how did Shaun get that cut on his head?

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