Natasha Robinson, Author at Ocean View Diving Services

Achieving My PADI Dream!

Posted on December 18, 2016

Learning to Dive

On a chilly afternoon in November 2009 I phoned a shop in Lancing to enquire about learning to dive. I spoke to a very helpful chap called Graeme and recounted the traumatic tale of when I attempted to learn in Egypt a few years earlier. I was invited to come in to the shop for a chat, so a week later I was sat with Graeme listening to him explain how Oceanview could help me overcome my fears.

After about 45 minutes I was signed up for my Open Water course + Dry Suit Specialty to start in January and reserved a place on the club liveaboard to Egypt in August to do my Advanced Open Water course!!……

discover-instructor

I have happy memories of my Open Water training in Brighton Marina, in February, the water a chilly 2 degrees and ice on the ground!!………

In January 2011, as part of an Oceanview Club event I attended a “Discover Instructor Experience” with Platinum Course Director Steve Prior and Janet Prior…… I was hooked….. I wanted to be a Scuba Instructor and I wanted Team Prior to teach me!

Starting My IDC

Nearly 6 years and 500+ dives later and with the guidance, training and support of the Oceanview team, on 10th September 2016 I started my Instructor Development Course with Steve and Janet. Also, joining me on the course were Jen and Dan but this wasn’t just an ordinary IDC…. we were among the first to participate in the new combined PADI IDC (thx to casinos-uk.org tips) and OCR Level 3 Diploma in Management! Learning to instruct AND run a dive business….. why do anything by half……

classroom

Over several days and weekends (and with lots of late nights of self-study) Team Prior coached, encouraged and guided us through all the materials, questions, standards, Physics (yuk!) and practical’s to equip us with the skills and knowledge we needed to become awesome dive instructors. We learned about teaching students to perform skills neutrally buoyant (aka swimming about), how to deliver a briefing that was …. brief…… but covered what was important, cutting out the irrelevant and focusing on the necessary.

We got to design, price and plan the marketing of our own course and really get to understand what it would be like to run a dive business ourselves. Incorporating the OCR Level 3 Diploma in Management requirements gave it a different edge and Steve was really excited about new elements we could bring to briefings, debriefing and classroom presentations etc.

The Instructor Exams

Finally the weekend of judgement had arrived….. The Instructor Exam (IE) weekend…….

Confined Water

Saturday, the official start of the IE, five candidates with associated Course Directors, Staff Instructors and general moral support teams, all sat in a room at PADI headquarters in Bristol at 7.30 am eagerly awaiting the orientation briefing!!!!! The briefing detailed the weekends schedule and I began to realise it would be a long weekend!

First up was dive theory…… The dreaded physics paper. …….. I went through the paper twice…… fresh v salt, gauge v absolute, ‘the effect’, flexible v inflexible………. all the things I needed to make sure I had doubly checked and read to ensure I answered the question correctly.

Next was the pool…….confined water briefing, skill teaching and then debriefing……. gosh the pool was cold…. I would have worn my dry suit if I had known it would be this cold……

Once complete and dried off it was back to the classroom for the Standards exam followed by a Classroom presentation scenario. Phew! It was intense but strangely good fun too.

Open Water

vobster-cold

Sunday was open water day. The brief was to be at Vobster at 7.45……… I arrived at 7.20 and one of the Course Directors and 2 candidates where already in front of me in the queue. We waited and waited…… It was cold…..the car temperature was showing 1 degree…… the frost was thick on the ground…….. brrrr….. finally the gates were opened and we got ready for the orientation briefing.

The morning started with open water briefings. As soon as people started to finish their briefings they were whisked off to do their rescue scenario demo. When everyone was finished, we descended on the platform for the in water teaching skills. It seemed to take ages and the 8 degree water was starting to freeze my fingers and toes. Finally, it was my turn…… I was the last to go….. I signalled skill 1, the students performed their skills with various problems which I identified and corrected. On to skill 2, more problems, corrections and congratulations. Finally, the cut signal came from the examiner and we were up and out of the water to warm up.

All that was left was the debrief with the examiner…… my mind was racing….. had I missed something, would I fail……… I delivered my debrief and congratulated my mythical students on doing so well. The examiner then stretched her hand out across the table towards me and with a big smile, shook my hand and said ‘Congratulations Natasha, you have passed, well done!’…….. what a rush of emotions…… I had to apologise to the examiner for blubbing like a baby……. it was over….. I had realised my long term dream of being a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor!!!!

ie-vobster

The Future

Just a few last bits to complete on the OCR Level 3 Diploma in Management and that will then hopefully give me an NVQ Level 3 in Management as well!!!!!

I am really looking forward to teaching with the fabulous Oceanview team and gaining more confidence and experience. Who knows, in a few years I could be running my own dive centre in a tropical paradise somewhere……

I look forward to seeing you on a course at Oceanview soon!!

Ocean View Adventures in Scapa Flow 2015 – Part 1

Posted on October 22, 2015

Saturday 17th October

After 2 days, 758 miles and an overnight stop in Inverness we finally arrive in Stromness. The journey has been good and we even saw dolphins on the ferry crossing from Scrabster to Stromness.

MV Huskyan

We collected the car, left the ferry and drove round to the quayside for our first look at MV Huskyan. We passed Radiant Queen (our dive boat in 2013) on the way and then saw the new boat…….

Awesome!

She is a VERY big boat.

Emily is waiting for us and we are invited on board to start loading our kit. The handy new crane is used to bring all the techy boys’ cylinders and stages on-board. Crates are lowered and spots on the dive deck chosen. We received a quick briefing on what goes where and which lockers are whose. The full briefing will happen in the morning but for now everything is tidied away and we can now go and settle into the accommodation for the week.

The house is very spacious and Emily has got in a few essentials for us to get us settled in. Room-mates are negotiated, bags unpacked so the only thing left to do is relax and find the pub! Which is actually conveniently located directly opposite the house. Perfect!

Sunday 18th October

We gather on the boat at 8.00 am to finish the last bits of faffing and allow those that flew in to set up their kit. At 8.30 sharp Emily gives us the full boat briefing, dive procedures and most importantly the codes for the post dive drinks order. TM – tea with milk, TMS – tea with milk and sugar! All very easy.

9.10 the ropes are cast off and we set out into the Flow………..

Dresden

Our first dive of the trip is the Dresden. She is a light cruiser launched in April 1917 and went into service in 1918.

Displacement 5,531 tons

Engine 2 coal/oil fired turbines

Length 153 metres

Top speed 28 knots

She was built very close to the end of the war when resources were scarce so was constructed on a bit of a shoe string – no brass or bronze here. She broke down en route to Scapa as a testament to the quality of her build. As a result though, there is very little salvage damage. When the hole was blown in her deck to retrieve the turbines the low quality was discovered and no further salvage was done.

She now rests on her port side at 34 metres and is slowly turning turtle. She is definitely more over than when we saw her 2 years ago.

Emily gives us our first history lesson/briefing. These have been further improved with the use of the Epic Pen! Which means Emily can annotate the wreck drawings and 3D images highlighting exactly what is where. Photographs are then used to show what you are looking for. This is all really useful stuff as the ships are so big, it’s a little dark and you have limited time!

We are to lookout for the deck peeling away from the hull exposing the deck beams, 5.9 inch deck guns and the ship’s crest on the bow.

Gun on the Karlsruhe

We dive as a group of 4 as we are the only recreational divers, mostly on single 15 litre cylinders, in the group, which is fine as the cold generally will finish our dives before lack of bottom time. We had a 30% mix so a reasonable stay at depth.

We descend the stern shot and when we hit about 10 metres someone turns the lights out! I don’t remember it being this dark before.

Every time I equalised my ears water ran in to my mask so when I finally find the wreck at 27 metres I can hardly see. I cleared my mask just for it to slowly refill again. Seeing my gauges and computer is a bit of a struggle so adds to the stress levels somewhat. A wriggle of the hood seems to sort the mask out so I settle into the dive a bit more but not enough to use my camera.

We follow the edge of the wreck which is covered in life. We see the large railings of the bridge and then come to where the deck is peeling away showing all the deck beams like ribs. We reach the bow shot with 80 bar so decide to swim forward a little more to see if we can find the crest. The silt has been kicked up a bit so we may well have passed over the crest but it wasn’t visible to us.

We see crabs, wrasse, velvet swimming crabs, loads of star fish of all shapes and sizes and a sea scorpion sitting perfectly still on the hull. A very nice first dive but a little on the dark side.

Lunch!

Everyone safely back on board, lunch is served. It is pasta which is scrumptious and warming followed by ice cream. Baskets of various decorations and sauces are produced so we can create our own toppings. A bit like being a kid again! Yum.

During our surface interval Emily shouts from the wheel house “WHALE”……… we all run up to the bow to see. We wait patiently and sure enough, in the distance there is a spurt of water and then a dorsal fin…… we think it was a minke whale.

Karlsruhe

Our second dive of the day is the Karlsruhe which is another light cruiser. She was launched in 1916 and built to a higher spec than the Dresden. She lays on her starboard side in 28 metres of water on a slight slope. She is very broken up from the salvage of her engine turbines, condensers, the brass bridge and the cast bronze torpedo tubes.

Displacement 5,354

Engine 2 coal/oil fired turbines

Top speed 28 knots

Length 150.8 metres

During the briefing Emily shares more information about the salvaging of the ships and points out the areas of interest. 5.9 inch guns, anchor capstan and the conning tower. She draws on the maps her suggested route and what to look out for……. fabulous.

We descend the line in our buddy two for this dive. The viz is much better and you could make out the dark shape of the wreck as you descended. I decide to try and get some pictures on this dive. The use of the strobe is still new to me so hopefully by the end of the week I should have some half decent pictures.

Capstan on the Karlsruhe

We see the 3 deck guns and one of the brass plates has been rubbed clean so it shines. We pass round the conning tower, pass the lifeboat davits on the sea bed and along to the capstans. Again we see loads of star fish, crabs, and lots of fish life.

A lovely dive and a great first day.

Monday 19th October 2015

We gather promptly at 8.00 again ready for ropes off at 8.30. There is a slight breeze today so not the flat calm waters we enjoyed yesterday but the Huskyan is still a very smooth sail. It was easy to forget you were on a boat as it’s so spacious and comfortable.

There is some debate on what to dive. The Kronprinz is an option or the Coln. The decider is that the Valkyrie dive boat has got to the Kronprinz first so we decide to dive the Coln.

SMS Coln

The Coln is a light cruiser launched in October 1916. She lays in 35 metres of water on her starboard side, her topside at 20 metres with her bow tip clear of the sea bed. She is still in relatively good condition and has an almost complete range finder still in place on the conning tower.

Displacement 5,531

Engine 2 sets of coal/oil fired turbines and twin propellers

Length 155.5 metres

Top Speed 29 knots

Emily once again gives us a very comprehensive briefing. The shot line is tied around a piece of the bridge mid ship and the recommendation is to head to the bow. Following the centre line of the deck there is the bridge structure, conning tower, two gun mounts left after the guns were salvaged, anchor capstans, the hawse chain hole and then over the top to follow the line of the deck back to the shot. If you have enough time and air then forward of the shot is the torpedo box (the only complete one left in Scapa) and diagonally down from there is a smallish gun.

Gun Mounts – Coln

We descend the line in our buddy 2 again and the viz is good. The Coln is a lovely wreck which I enjoyed very much last time we were here. We follow the briefing instructions and head along the centre line of the ship keeping the deck on our left shoulder. The conning tower is huge! The gap between the range finder and the tower top is quite small so having seen the photos during the briefing really helps us identify what we were looking at. The ship is covered in brittle stars….. Everywhere seems to wriggle and writhe with legs, shoals of fish, anemones and more starfish….. Lots of life on these monsters of destruction!

Back aboard another fantastic feast is waiting. Jacket spud, beans and cheese. My favourite! Pudding today is warm ginger cake which is gorgeous.

Warmed up and refuelled we headed to Burra Sound to see one of the block ships. These ships were sunk on purpose to block some of the entrances and exits to Scapa Flow. The main entrances were blocked with chain link metal curtains pulled across by boats but the small gaps were filled with sunken boats or had roads built between them to close the gaps.

Gobernador Bories

We would be diving Gobernador Bories wich was a 2,332 ton steamer that worked as a whaling ship in Chile, Argentina and the Falklands. She was bought by the British Admiralty to sink at Scapa Flow but this didn’t run smoothly and she sank in the wrong place. She now lies on her port side between 13 – 17 metres.

We have to wait for slack water as this area is tidal and we have strict instructions to be ready to jump at 1.55. We could have anything up to an hour in the water before the current starts to run again back out to the Atlantic. The briefing is brief as this is only a small, broken up wreck sitting at about 16 metres but the viz should be excellent. There will be kelp, lots of fish and an intact propeller.

We busy ourselves with kitting up and are obediently ready at 1.55, sitting at on the benches waiting for orders.

Fighting Butterfish

Finally, the signal to jump is given and we drop in to the water, swim for the shot and descend. You can see the sea bed coming into view quite quickly and the green clears to beautiful clear water. The wreck structure is visible but very broken up and there is plenty of fish and crabs. The water feels definitely cooler than this morning. A chilly 11 degrees. Brrrrrr.

We swim slowly towards the stern, picking our way through the kelp, watching the fish and crabs going about their business. I spy 2 butterfish having a fight, trying to bite lumps out of each other. The current is starting to pick up so we peer round the stern to see the propeller and rudder and then retrace our fin kicks to the bow.

Cold getting the better of us we inflate the SMB and gradually make our way to the surface.

A huge mug of tea and cheesy puffs are waiting for us and we then head back to Stromness.

Tuesday 20th October

Kronprinz Wilhelm

Today we will start with the Kronprinz Wilhelm

Displacement 25,388 tons

Engine 46,000 horsepower turbines, 3 propellers

Length 175 metres

Top Speed 23 knots

The Kronprinz was a Konig class battleship and sits virtually upturned on the sea bed, resting on her starboard deck at about 38 metres. Her super structure is buried in the seabed but there is a lip that can be swum under to see two of the 10 inch guns, upside down on the sea bed. They are huge. It took 75 men to operate one of these guns and the shells were nearly a ton in weight.

Emily clearly explains the layout and how to find the guns – just follow the shot all the way to the seabed. Head towards the stern and you will find the huge rudders sticking up. There is a lot of salvage damage. The engines, the 5 torpedo tubes and the armoured plating from along the hull edge have all been blown off the ship. So once passed the rudders bear right to follow the line of the hull up to about 15 metres to avoid getting lost in the salvage damage.

Life on the Karlsruhe

I’m sure I we can manage that!

We wait patiently for the techy boys to kit up, clip on their different stages and jump in the water. The boat circles round again and we jump in the water. As instructed we follow the line all the way down, past where it is tied into the wreck down towards the sea bed. We peer under the lip and can see the metal sides of the guns. Another diver is heading towards me and as I turn I realise I have inadvertently swum under the lip down the side of the ship. Eek. It is dark and the viz not at its best so making out what is what is a little tricky even after a fantastic briefing.

We follow the deck line to the stern and are greeted by the huge rudders. Aahh, I remember these! They are still just as impressive even in the limited light that we have. We swim between these huge structures up on to the hull which is covered in white plumose anemones and allows us to shallow out the dive to about 18 metres to properly enjoy the white carpet beneath us. Starting to feeling cold we send up the SMB after 30 minutes and slowly ascend.

Lunch today is a lovely beef curry followed by a choice of banana cake or lemon drizzle cake. Yum. Weight will need to be removed from my BC at this rate!

Brummer

Displacement 4,308 tons

Engine twin turbine

Length 139 metres

Top Speed 34 knots

The Brummer was a fast mine layer launched in 1915. As a mine layer she was constructed longer, thinner and lighter than the cruisers and could carry 360 mines. The mines were rolled off the back of the ship in trolleys which became the mine’s anchor and the mine itself would then float up and become operational. She was armed but not as heavily as the other ships as she was never intended to be in the thick of fighting. More a nip in, drop mines, nip out kinda boat. She was also a sneaky ship with a mast that could be lowered to mimic the silhouette of the Aurora, a British ship – I remember this from the briefing 2 years ago.

Her lighter construction means she has deteriorated more than some of the other wrecks. She now rests on her starboard side at 36m with the side of her hull at 24m. The deck is slowly peeling away and only held in place by the capstans on the bow. The key things to look out for are a deck gun, the bridge structure, the conning tower upside down on the sea bed and an iris from the large flash lights used to open and close the light for signalling – I also remember we found this by chance last time.

Life on the Karlsruhe

We kit up and wait patiently again for the techy boys to attach all their bits and bobs. I sit marvelling at the amount of kit one diver can carry and pondered whether it is worth all that extra faff. Finally it is our buddy 3’s turn and we wait for the shout to giant stride in to the water. Splash. Splash. Splash….. Followed by furious paddling back again to collect my camera being passed down to me. By the time I get to the shot line I am out of puff.

We are a buddy three as another buddy pair had a couple of problems with their ascents on the last dive so one of our divers is taking a well-earned rest. We descend the line slowly, stopping to check our new buddy’s cuff dump is now working correctly and then continue down the line.

Dark, dark, dark!

We are about 1.5 – 2 metres above the wreck before we can see it. We can see the techy boys’ torches flicking around below us. We follow the deck line with the wreck on our right looking for the gun. Fin. Fin. Fin. We must have missed it. Eventually we turn back towards the shot and the bridge structure. Just as we are getting low on bottom time the iris comes in to view. I try to take a couple of rushed pictures and then we head up trying to shallow the dive. The edge of the deck is at about 25 metres so didn’t help overly with buying back some bottom time. We hit 2 mins remaining so signal to ascend.

Post dive snacks!

Back on board there is cheese and biscuits waiting with some rather tasty local cheeses.

As we sail back to Stromness the conversation turns to the weather. We are due to have some bad weather but the forecast keeps moving when it will arrive. It is now looking like Thursday could be at risk from the weather gods. Emily says she will keep us informed as things can change very quickly up here.

We will have to wait and see……

Oceanview Scapa Flow Adventures – Part 4 of 4

Posted on October 19, 2013

Wednesday 9th October

Everyone assembles as instructed on the quay side to find out whether the weather would stop today’s diving……. It’s blowing 30mph and gusting up to 40 but looking at the harbour you would never know! It’s not going to be pleasant but Emily is willing to take the boat out to try and get a dive in. She is confident the boat can handle it is more a case of can we!

Decision made…. the softy explorers agree to have a day at leisure to take in the sights of Stromness. The weather is trying to be bright but there are regular showers, followed by rainbows.

A lot of famous people have been born, passed through or settled in Stromness and blue plaques have been put up to commemorate them. A walking route can be followed from the tourist information office to the museum. It is a small museum with lots of information about lighthouse keeping, Arctic Explorers, fishing and the Scapa Flow wrecks.

Back on the Radiant Queen the iron stomached explorer heads out on the boat to dive the stern of the Dresden. On the surface the wind has really picking up and the waves are breaking overhead on the surface and it is most definitely not for the faint-hearted. With everyone safely back on board supping hot tea and agreeing that the dive was well worth the effort the Queen speeds back to the calm of the harbour.

Thursday 10th October

What a difference a day makes!…… The weather has calmed and although still a little bumpy the trip out to the dive site is much more pleasant.

Today we will dive the third and final battleship, the Konig which is 146m in length and sitting at 38m. She is the least intact due to heavy salvage work but offers the opportunity to see things normally hidden deep inside. Emily gives an incredibly detailed dive briefing and suggests exploring the engine rooms via the salvers damage on the top of the wreck which leaves a large area of the citadel exposed with lots to visit and explore if you know what to look out for!

Once again the three descend the shot line eagerly wanting to investigate the wreck. STOP! One of our explorers is missing vital equipment so must return to the boat and sit this one out (oops – dive computer!). Safely seen back to the surface the remaining two continue their descent on to the massive wreck. Emily had been very specific with her instructions on which way to go or else treasures could be missed – was it left or right she said??

Moving along, various doorways and hatches are visible leading off the main engine rooms along with lots of different pipes and rails covered in anemones and different plant life. Proceeding towards the stern at a steady pace the explorers decide not to descend any lower as it looks dark and ominous. Consequently most of the treasures that Emily had covered in her briefing were missed but never the less it is a great dive.

The conversation over lunch consists mainly of what some DID NOT see along with how much No Fly time our fellow travellers were accruing and how this would affect their diving on Friday!

Warmed and refuelled it was on to the SMS Brummer. This Bremse class mine-laying Light Cruiser displaced 4,300 tons and was 140 metres long. Emily informed us this was a sneaky ship as it was built to resemble the British Aurora cruisers. In silhouette she was a dead ringer and had an additional mast that could be raised and lowered depending on whether she was in enemy or friendly waters making this a very cunning ship indeed! She now sits in 36 metres and lies on her starboard side with the area around her engine room suffering from extensive blasting. Key things to be looking out for are the bridge and the Iris from the spotlights which are unique to this wreck.

The explorers enter the water, following multiple equipment checks, descending the shot onto the port rail just behind the bridge area and then onwards to the sea bed. Slowly proceeding forwards to the bridge wreckage, the explorers survey the sea bed for the searchlight iris.

WOW, there it is sitting on the sea bed. What a sight! And just next to it a huge whelk! Magic!

Further inspection of the bridge and the collapsed conning tower reveals the charismatic steel lattice support work that was used around the bridge area. Drifting forward past the guns the deck peels away above and then back to the shot along the port side of the ship, looking into portholes and hatches on the way. The ascent takes a little longer this time as 5 minutes of deco has been accrued!

Once all back on board the conversation once again turns to no fly time……. The explorers sit smugly smiling to each other knowing they can do two dives tomorrow 🙂

Friday 11th October

Today is the intrepid explorers’ last day on the Radiant Queen and everyone reflects on what a fantastic week it’s been…. But it’s not over yet……. Some still have two dives left!

Everyone gathers early to ensure the fliers can get a dive in and the decision is made that those who can only dive once want to end the trip on a big, deep dive so it’s back to the Markgraf!

The sea is like glass – a real contrast to Wednesday and it promises to be a marvellous last day.

With one explorer still a bit worried by “big and deep”, two brave boys plan their dive – descend the stern shot line , spend the dive inspecting her rather beautiful bottom, come up onto the top of the hull and look around before ascending the bow shot. No problem, easy peasy!!.

Once in the water and composed the explorers descend the 35 metres to the stern of the ship. Almost immediately they notice the two rows of portholes which are almost directly in front. Slowly moving towards the back of this vast vessel, looking up they see her huge starboard rudder hove into view – this is simply incredible! Once the stern has been explored they swim up between her rudders, which look as if they could steer her out of here at any moment. They continue on along the ridge of her keel and move up and past the salvage damage caused when entering into the engine rooms. Finning towards the bow, keeping the bilge keel between them the explorers bid farewell to this once graceful lady of the sea. Having been keeping a careful eye on their deco time the explorers have to spend an additional 9 minutes off-gassing.

On board Emily treats everyone to warm homemade muffins….. YUM!

United for their final dive the explorers decide on an easier dive that offers something for everyone so it’s back to the barge and the F2!

What a spectacular dive. Huge guns and tiny sea slugs…… We are even treated to the sight of a Shag diving in to the water to catch fish – AMAZING!

Once back on board kits is gathered, hoodies are purchased and plans made for beers in the evening.

Saturday 11th October

With all the bags loaded into the bus the explorers leave the Divers Lodge and head to the ferry terminal – literally just across the road. Once boarded they settle into three comfy chairs and ponder the week they have had and the 15hrs of driving still to come!

Ocean view Scapa Flow Adventures – Part 3

Posted on October 12, 2013

Monday 7th October

We arrived at the boat at 8.30 and all suits have been fixed by the Scuba elves and are hanging up ready for another days diving…… The work is so good you can’t see where the excess 2 inches have been removed!

We are quickly under way racing to the dive site. Emily explains that this morning we are going to dive the ‘COLN’, a Dresden class cruiser and sister ship of the Dresden, which we dived yesterday. She lies on her starboard side with a depth of 35 metres but extends up to 22 metres at her shallowest point.

1,2,3….. Grab the shot line, confirm no leaks and we descend. We start by looking around the bridge area. Just forward of the bridge is the conning tower, which still has most of the range finder in place (one arm is missing), with the space between clearly showing the remains of the walkway and structure. The conning tower door is open with interesting paraphernalia viewable along with the muzzle of a gun which was pushed through the side of the tower when the ship settled.

We then move along the deck towards the bow and pass 2 highly impressive gear and pivot mechanisms for the 5.9 inch forward mounted guns (which have been salvaged) before swimming on to the deck winches. Just below and above these, on the edge of both sides of the deck, are what appear to be empty chain boxes. We swim past these and follow the lower rail until we reach the bow post and admire her beautiful curves!

We are getting close to time so head back along the upper rail toward the shot line stopping to admire the smooth anchor shaped indentation on our way by.

Back on board and time for some lunch. After much discussion the decision is made to remain on the Coln and dive her stern.

We descend the same shot line and move toward the stern along the top rail, past two large lifeboat davits, until we came to a large torpedo storage locker mounted on the deck; this is now empty and you can clearly see from one end to the other. Continuing on we then come to some serious wreckage indicating the point at which salvagers entered into the engine room. As briefed we descend and follow the wreckage spill passing the stern mast laying stretched out on the sea bed. We ascend a little and swim along the roof of the officers accommodation (a deck house) which has one of the 2 stern guns mounted on top of it. This is quite spectacular, the gun is complete and the gun mounting can be viewed disappearing through the floor of the deck house into the ship below. Swimming on the second gun can be viewed on the deck directly aft of the house, carrying on around the stern and back toward the rudders via some rather lovely portholes. We tried looking for an opening that would allow us to view the manual emergency steering wheels, but we have run out of time so ascend onto the upper port rail and swim across the salvage wreckage before being reunited with the shot line.

What an awesome day!

Tuesday 7th October

Today is Battleship Day and we gather excitedly at the quay. There is much discussion about the weather as the wind is getting up and may scupper our Scapa adventures. With one eye on the weather Emily starts the dive briefing…… This morning we will dive the SMS Markgraf, a Konig class ship, 146 metres in length and weighing in at a mighty 26,000 tons sitting almost up turned on the sea bed at 45 metres. WOW! The briefing gives numerous options on how best to spend your bottom time but one of our adventurers decides this is an adventure too far so lets the brave boys explore by themselves.

The Markgraf has 10 x 12 inch guns which are completely buried underneath her in the silt and are not visible at any point. However, her starboard array of 7 x 5.9 inch casement guns are completely visible running down the side of the citadel, just off the seabed at a depth of about 38 metres. The brave decide to ‘do the gun run’ followed by an inspection of the beautiful rear of the upturned hull.

The boys descend onto the hull, just before the bow section and torpedo tube salvage damage. The shot is tied off to the anchor chain which is draped across the hull having wrapped itself around the ship as she rolled over. Having composed themselves at the bottom of the shot, they followed the chain in the wrong direction toward the far port side. Fortunately realising the error of their ways they turn around and follow the chain back across the upturned hull for 30 metres which gives an incredible feeling of just how vast this ship really is.

Dropping over the side into the ever increasing gloom, time is given for eyes to adjust and move forward to attempt to locate the most forward of the casement guns; success, what a sight! The long barrel simply appears out of the darkness. 1,2,3,4,5 guns poking out from beneath the 6.75 inch steel of the rotating turrets. We slowly ascend up onto the keel of this giant dreadnaught to the salvers damage. We spend some time looking round the gaping chasm which drops down through several decks of the engine room and view the prop shafts. Following her curves we continue towards the stern until the hull drops away in the direction of the rudders but these would have to wait for another day……

Safely back on the surface the routine of a pint of tea, warm up and briefing starts again. The wind has whipped up and the water is getting choppy. Emily once again sets about briefing us on our next dive; this was to be the Kronprinz Wilhelm, the sister ship of the Markgraf. She lies upturned in 38 metres with her keel at about 18 and the highlight of this dive would be visiting the 2 stern mounted, 12 inch gun turrets which can just be accessed on the port side of the vessel under the overhanging deck.

Now back at full complement, we descend the line down to about 34 metres before dropping the last few metres to attempt our visit to these huge 12 inch guns. From the outside you could see the upper gun lying alongside what had once been the top of the turret behind her. Moving along towards the stern ascending a little we pass a row of portholes and then give a quick pat of her pert little backside (on Emily’s behalf) before ascending over the stern to the 2 huge rudders still standing proudly above us. Having taken in the enormity of these 2 structures we ascend up toward the bottom of the ship being careful not to get drawn into the salvers wreckage as we go. As we move down the vast expanse of the hull we find a long lattice work of steel supports that held the armour plating in place before the salvers struck. As the cold starts to strike and our air is running low we signal the end of the dive and the SMB is sent to the surface.

As predicted the weather has picked up and it’s now blowing 20 mph gusting to 30 but forecasting worse for tomorrow which could mean no diving at all. Emily decides to offer a third dive in a more sheltered spot so we are in credit….. This would be the F 2, a German 2nd World War escort vessel similar to a destroyer and the YC 21, the barge that was being used in a salvage operation on the F 2 when she also sank in a storm. The F 2 measures 81 metres in length with a beam of 9 metres and displaced 756 tons. She lies on her port side and the stern has been severely wrecked by salvers over the years to the extent that it is barely recognisable as a ship. The two vessels lie 50 metres apart and are joined by a rope.

Feeling a little tired from all the exploring two adventurers decide to rest in the warmth of the Queen and send the single brave soul out to find new buddies! United with new friends the adventurer descends the line to the deck of the barge, which sits upright in 18 metres of water. Her open hold still contains the twin 20 mm anti-aircraft gun that had been salvaged from the F 2 prior to the night of the storm that sank the barge along with another single barrelled gun that lies underneath it. Emily recommended entering the hold to see the work bench with storage racking above and a large engineers vice clamped to its corner.

Having explored the barge the rope is followed to the F 2 and then the bow is investigated. The starboard anchor cable is still in place and runs from the anchor capstans, through the bow hawse and then down to the sea bed. Further along, the barrel of her 4.1 inch gun looms into view with its turret, which has an open back and the breach and inner workings are easily viewable. At such a shallow depth it is perfect for a picture to show the others what they have missed!

Back on the surface getting on the lift is a bit more challenging. Once all explorers are back aboard the Queen speeds back to the safety of the port. There is much discussion and weather checking……

Will we dive tomorrow………

Oceanview Scapa Flow Adventures – Part 2

Posted on October 10, 2013

As the two explorers descend the bow shot line the huge structure of the SMS Dresden comes into view. She is laying on her port side between 25 – 38m as she is resting on a mound. Emily suggested a dive on her bow as our first dive ‘to get our eye in’ ready for the battleships and to come back later in the week to spank her pert back side – a very shapely stern that hasn’t sagged with age!

We search out the crest on her bow and see one of her guns. As well as plenty of twisted metal there is lots of life with plumose anemones, dead mans fingers, all sorts of star fish and crabs. No deco time is running low so back to the line to ascend for lunch!

Spag Bog with lashings of cheese swiftly followed by warm carrot cake! Yum!

After lunch we rearrange our weight, drop a couple of kilos and check out the neck seal improvised repair – a knife strap. After another thorough briefing the 3 explorers were ready to dive again…. It would be the SMS Karlsruhe another light cruiser weighing in at a mighty 5,400 tons and 112m in length. She has a lot of damage as a result of being blasted for salvage. Her build quality was better than the Dresden so more has been salvaged causing the collapse of some of her structure.

1,2,3….. Would the neck seal hold…… YES…. You Beauty!

We moved forward past the 2 large winches and down to the bow which was resplendent in plumose anemones; simply wonderful. A snoozing scallop is disturbed and entertains us with its comic dance. We then move back toward the 2 forward facing 5.9 inch guns. These look magnificent in the excellent 8m + viz and we are amazed to find a crab using one of the gun muzzles as its home. We then explore the conning tower and bridge area before ascending the shot line at a leisurely pace. A perfect end to our first day……

As we motor home the boat is filled with excited chatter as everyone swaps stories about what they encountered below and how they feel the week will progress.

Scapa2013 - BoatBow

Inevitably there have been a few minor kit issues so Emily explains the overnight suit repair service offered by Ben at Scapa Scuba. As soon as we dock, we are off to see if our suits can be worked on overnight and returned to the boat ready for day 2