Six of our intrepid explorers ventured up to Orkney for a week of diving in the incredible Scapa Flow.
After a long time coming, the trip to Scapa Flow finally came around in October 2023. It was a long drive, but what a week it was, battleships, cruisers, great food, great company and a storm! We were on the Valhalla which is based out of Stromness (https://mv-valhalla.co.uk/) which is a great boat to be living on for the week. The boat housed 11 of us in total which we dove from and slept on overnight. If you want to read more in depth (no pun intended!) about these wrecks why not visit https://www.scapaflowwrecks.com/.
Day 1 – The Start
We got straight into the High Seas Fleet with the SMS Karlsruhe, a cruiser laid down in 1915. This was a great dive to start to the week, not too deep that it pushed us too far to start, but a fantastic wreck to get us into the swing of things and a nice shakedown. It was also a great way to make sure all the kit was working perfectly.
The second dive took us to the F2 & Barge, this is a WW2 wreck and the barge that tried to salvage it, this sank next to it in a storm which provides a great dive on 2 nice wrecks. On the barge the anti-aircraft guns from the F2 can be seen in the hold pointing towards the sky. Really interesting dive.
Day 2 – Cruiser Day
On our second day we ventured to the SMS Brummer for our first dive, a mine laying cruiser of the High Seas Fleet. This is a firm favourite in the Scapa Flow wreck list, its largely still in tact at 35 meters.
The second wreck of the day was the SMS Dresden, a light cruiser that lies on an incline so a depth can be chosen to suit what is wanted. We got to 32 meters on this with lots to see.
Day 3 – Battleship!
Our first wreck we witnessed our fist of the battleships in Scapa Flow, the SMS König. You can’t describe the sheer size of these vast ships. You drop down the shot line and all you can see is this beast as far as the eye can see. The fact this ship fought at The Battle of Jutland is alone enough to make this an amazing dive.
SMS Cöln, that’s all that needs to be said. This (for me…) was possibly the best wreck dive that you can do, around Britain anyway. There is so much you can see that is still distinguishable, 150mm anti-aircraft guns, the last remaining torpedo tube above the high elevation guns. The armoured control tower can easily be made out with the gimbals still in tact which the sighting optics would have been located. This is a must do when up there, an incredible dive.
Day 4 – Wind, wind, wind
Well, its October in the UK, so obviously the weather took over and this blew us out for the day. We took the opportunity to explore Orkney and see some of the historical sights it has to offer. Speaking from experience, if you go to Orkney in October, make sure you take a coat!
Day 5 – The last dives
On our final day of diving we first headed to the SMS Kronprinz. This is another battleship, the sister ship to the SMS König and an opportunity to see the massive 12″ guns that these massive ships had. We descended down to the wreck, and thankfully some good person has tied the shot very close to where these guns are as this again, is a massive ship which would be hard to find anything. You drop down under the ship which is upside down and see these barrels sat there looking so peaceful, but these enormous guns had also fired at Jutland which is just a surreal thought.
The last dive of the week we had a choice where we wanted to go and it was decided to go back to the Cöln, there was so much to see we just had to see it one last time and to get some more great footage on the GoPro.
Where will 2024 take us? Would you like to learn to dive? Already a diver and looking for a new diving home? Why not get in contact with us and come down to meet us.
