SQSAC Scapa Trip 2006
SQSAC Scapa Flow Trip Report
24-27 November 2006
Warren Izzett, Stevie Adams, Dave Brunton, Joe Carson, Gavin Wilkie, Ally MacGregor
From the original Thirteen names who were down to go on this trip it came down to just six of us who were willing to brave the elements , the rest had all wimped out with various outlandish excuses.
Anyway we decided to travel up in a car and a van and a plane (Warren decided to fly up to Kirkwall as he was returning from a business trip that morning, well that was his story).
Davie and Joe had decided to travel up in Joes Van which 2 days before we were to leave promptly broke down!. As Davies van had already broke down on this trip last year they were travelling up in a hire van, and I was taking Gavin and Ally ' our Scapa Virgins ' up to Scrabster in my Land Rover.
We set off at about 11:30 am on Friday morning, and after stop at Golspie we arrived at Scrabster at about 5pm. Joe and Davie had already sorted the Trolley out
(You load your Dive Kit into a Box Trailer which is put on the boat for the journey over) we then loaded our kit and parked up the car.
Once on the Ferry we sat down and had a meal then Davie went off for a sleep while we all talked nonsense about Diving, and didnt even go to the Bar, which was a first for me!.
We arrived early at Stromness and met Warren who took great delight in telling us that after taking off from Edinburgh he had barely time to drink his Gin and Tonic before he was landing at Kirkwall. First hiccup was that we had to unload our Dive Kit at the Terminal and carry it all to the boat, as some 'jobsworth' from North Link Ferries wouldn?t let us move the trolley, then it was low tide so it was all lowered by rope to the deck. We then headed to the Ferry Inn where Warren and Joe had already got the best rooms on the Top Floor, leaving the noisy ones for Gavin and Ally and me.
We then adjourned for a few beers, but already they were all yawning and making excuses to disappear to bed , I dont know what this Club is coming to, we do have a reputation to keep up in Orkney ! at least I stayed up late to try and live up to this!.
The Forecast wasnt good but we got up to a calm dry day, after Breakfast we met on the boat at 9.30am to meet the Skipper, first Dive was to be the Brummer .As we set off down the Flow, we all checked our kit, Warren discovered his weight harness had snapped so repairs were effected, then I found I had left some O-rings out of my rebreather , a potentially fatal mistake that I only discovered by accident , after replacing them we all suited up, when getting Ally to zip me up it jammed then tore off, so with no spare suit apart from the Skippers, who is twice my size, my Diving was finished for the day. They all had a good Dive on the Brummer but more problems when Allys computer locked him out for missing a stop.
The other Divers had found some nice German 'Cod' Bottles inside the wreck (Old glass bottles with marbles for stoppers) and told me where to find them, (and Im not telling you until I get some next trip!).
After having Lunch in the Sun we woke Davie up and headed off to dive the Karlsruhe, They all came back having had really good dives, and after a cup of tea we headed back to Stromness to see if I could get my zip changed at Scapa Scuba overnight.
More bad news Ben couldnt repair my zip, so I had to hire a suit at £15 a day, which wasnt bad, but it was a neoprene suit with a cuff dump, not what I am used to, but at least I could get some dives in.
Back to the Ferry Inn, a few beers, washed changed and back to the bar to decide where to eat. There isn?t a lot of choice in Stromness . either the Royal Hotel, Stromness Hotel, Ferry Inn or Julias Bistro - where Warren likes to eat, -he was outvoted and we were off to the Royal, after a so-so meal it was back to the Bar only to be met by white boiler suited blackfaced men everywhere , it was a 21st Birthday party who had travelled from Shetland to Orkney for a day/night out, they had painted their faces black and were all wearing white paper overalls, very bizarre, after starting drinking at two in the afternoon they were all the worse for wear, we tried to go to another pub to avoid them , no luck they all arrived in there with the Spice Girls in tow, (all the Shetland girls were dressed as up as Spice Girls) after an hour of mayhem they all thankfully disappeared. Back in the Ferry Inn it was jumping, a local band was playing, which immediately sent half our party off to bed, they were quite good but very loud eventually only Joe and I were left, and when he headed off to bed I figured no point in going up to my room which was right above the Bar, so I stayed and had another couple until they had finished.
I woke to a headache and another nice calm day, so after a hearty breakfast we were on the Boat at 9am and off to Dive the Kronprinz , after jumping in I found I couldnt get down, too light, so pulled myself down the shot and hoped I could get back to the shot for the ascent, normally the shot is on the hull at 12m (all the battleships are upside down) or tied off on a gun at 20m, this shot was on the seabed off the wreck at 36m, after gathering Ally up (he was a bit narced) we set off along the wreck then ascended and worked our way up to the stern then back along the Hull to about 15m, we passed a few guns and lots of large holes with interesting bits and bobs, we could see Davies new light shining 15m below us illuminating the wreck, after about 40mins we launched delayed SMBs and ascended, I handed the reel to Ally at about 9m and tried to hold a safety stop, after 1min I lost buoyancy and surfaced Ally completed another minute and ascended then back on the Boat to a mug of really spicy soup and to discuss the dive.
Joe and Davie completed a 60min dive, after 20mins of deco they came back onto the Boat looking very cold, perhaps 20mins deco is a bit long at this time of the year.
In the afternoon we went to dive a wreck site, this was the site of the Prince Leopold a battleship which was salvaged in the 1920?s this site is at a depth of 28m we dropped in on a large mast complete with spotting top, searchlights with lots of boxes and large pieces of wreckage, you could see the large hollow in the seabed at 31m where the ship had been, we didnt have time to explore more but lots of brass lying about, looks like more goodies to find yet, we launched Delayed SMB?s and after a safety stop we surfaced under control this time. Once on the boat we were back in harbour before 3pm so after a wander about Stromness we headed back to get washed and decide where to eat out, Warren wanted to eat at the Julias again, so we ate at the Stromness Hotel and very nice it was too. After a few beers in there we headed back to the Ferry Inn for the Irish Quiz - dont ask its because its an Irishman who runs it ! again they all disappeared to bed except Gavin, Warren and Me. Gavin was immediately co-opted on to the *Johns Chickadees* Quiz team as he obviously looks more intelligent than us, he fitted in well and was 'bonding' with his team mates when I went to bed. My lips are sealed, Im sure she is a lovely girl Gav.
Anyway we got up to a wet and very windy day, after Breakfast we headed to the boat.
Joe had a sore arm and decided to get a medical opinion in case it was DCI, he was assessed and taken to the Decompression Chamber and put into the pot for a precautionary recompression. After seeing the sea state in the harbour, and getting a bad forecast we kicked about Stromness and waited to see if we could get a dive in the afternoon. At 12 o?clock we met back on the boat to get the latest weather forecast it was worse so all Diving was cancelled, we packed all our kit and lifted it off the boat.
Davie organised to take Joes kit to Scrabster and booked a room at the Ferry Inn in case he missed the Ferry. After a lunch at the Julias Bar to keep Warren happy, we all split up to kill a couple of hours and try and stay out of the Pub. At 3pm we met up and collected our Trolley, packed it and then pushed it back to the terminal.
We got on the Boat and Joe suddenly appeared, his recompression hadn?t cleared the injury so he was diagnosed as 'not being bent', and was given a lift to catch the ferry by the Doctor at the chamber.
A big relief all round that he didnt have a bend, especially for Joe and Warren who would have had to fill in the report to BSAC.
After a meal on the Ferry we arrived back in Scrabster at 6.15pm, then another long wait before our Trolley arrived, we packed the cars and headed off at 6.45pm, I wanted a steady run down the road, but Davie and Joe wanted to break 4 hours and shot off down the road. We were home at about 11:30pm, Davie 'Schumacher' was back 45mins before us, -and he did break 4 hours just ! -.
Note Davie claims he did it in 3hrs 58mins, but this is unsubstantiated as Joe was asleep....he insits he did...so the gauntlet is down to see who can beat this time next year.....ill take my time and have a relaxed journey.
So a good trip, although for me a long way to go for just two dives, I think everyone enjoyed their Diving, its just a pity the weather let us down on the last day.
Thanks to Warren for organising it again, things to note lets try the B&B at the back of the Ferry Inn so its a bit quieter, and time to complain about the ridiculous way we have to push Trolleys loaded with Dive kit back and forward along the road to the harbour. Divers bring a lot of money into the Orkney economy and time they started putting pressure on the Ferry Company and the Boat Operators to sort this out.
Looking forward to my next trip already?
*** STOP PRESS ***
WE WILL PROBABLY HIRE A HOUSE, SLEEPS 8-10 AND VERY VERY CHEAP, WALKING DISTANCE FROM FERRY INN...
Saturday 25th November
Dive 1 SMS Brummer 5600 tons Bremse Class Light Cruiser depth 36m
Dive 2 SMS Karlsruhe 5500 tons Konigsburg Class Light Cruiser depth 27m
Sunday 26th November
Dive 3 SMS Kronprinz 26000 tons Konig Class Battleship depth 36m
Dive 4 SMS Prinzregent Luitpold Wreck site depth 32m
Monday 27th November No Dives
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