DESTINATIONS
Aggressor Fleet
Bikini Atoll
Galapagos Islands
Gozo
Grotta Giusti
Lipari
Maratea
Palau
Red Sea
Scapa Flow
Scapa Costs
Scapa Info.
SCAPA FLOW
"Relax as hard as you can!"
A Delayed SMB and an Independent air source are recommended. e.g. Pony Cylinder.
(these can be hired from the Valkyrie)
Brief Itinerary
We advise that you take 1 vehicle over on the ferry to transport gear and people
across to Orkney. It may be necessary to take additional transport. On the island we will arrange a
taxi to transport those that can't fit in the vehicle to and from Stromness.
Saturday
Meet for lifts etc and drive to Aberdeen and catch the 17:00 ferry to Kirkwall.
Arrive Kirkwall 22:45 and drive to Stromness to check in to the B & B.
Sunday - Friday
Board the Valkyrie and unpack dive gear.
Dive. We should be able to arrange more than 2 dives a day, with the possibility
of some night dives for the keen divers among us.
Friday night
Drive to Kirkwall to catch the 23:30 overnight ferry to Aberdeen.
Arrive Aberdeen Saturday 07:00 and return to Edinburgh.
MV Valkyrie
 |
 |
The MV Valkrie is a 72-foot dive charter boat maintained to the highest
standards which has been operating in Scapa Flow for many years. Recently
renamed and refitted by Hazel, she sets a very high standard.
All cabins are centrally heated and have hot and cold water. There are 2 toilets
and 2 showers. There is a great galley / dining area and also a living area with
TV, DVD and PS/2. The changing & storage area is warm and spacious.
The MV Valkyrie is a registered passenger vessel licensed to carry up to 12
passengers. Although Stromness is her home port she is able to operate out of
any harbour around Scapa Flow.
The skipper, Hazel Weaver has been operating the Valkyrie
since 2006. Prior to this, she ran the excellent day boat MV Stormdrift
Diving facilities
The MV Valkyrie is a fully equipped dive boat with the following features:
air and nitrox are both pumped on board;
25 cubic ft compressor;
12 litre steel cylinders, lead weights and air are provided free of charge.
VHF, depth sounder, radar, GPS Plotter and colour echo sounder; emergency and
first aid equipment are onboard as a matter of routine.
Scapa Flow
Just how many ships have sunk in Scapa Flow is anybody's guess. This area of
sheltered water has been used as an anchorage for as for as long as anyone can
remember and where there are boats there are wrecks!
History sharply focused her attention on this water with the dramatic events
that culminated on 21st June 1919, when the entire interned German High Seas
Fleet was scuttled on the orders of one man; Rear-Admiral Ludwig von Reuter.
Isolated from accurate news as to the status of the armistice negotiations
following the end of World War 1, he scuttled the fleet rather than let the
ships fall into foreign hands.
Many of the seventy or so ships sunk this day were subsequently salvaged in
operations that are a story unto themselves. Many, however, remain and
contribute to the greatest wreck site in Europe: most notable are the Light
Cruisers (Brummer, Dresden, Karlsruhe and Koln) and Battleships (Konig, Kronpinz
Wilhelm and Markgraf). For a fuller account of the scuttling and detailed
descriptions of the diving we would recommend reading Rod Macdonald's book "Dive
Scapa Flow" (ISBN 1-85158-983-X) which is in many ways the definitive guide to
the Flow (indeed, the skipper has been caught with her nose in it a couple of
times).
The second World War and many disasters since have increased the tally of wrecks
and left a living archive etched into the landscape of Orkney.
The Diving / Minimum Skills
It can be hard to gauge the sheer size of most of the wrecks. With bottom times
of around about the half hour, it is tricky to truly get a measure of these
ships. Imagine if they were still floating and tied up at a quay: an afternoon
could quite easily be whiled away exploring all the nooks and crannies.
Another misconception that many folk seen to bring to Scapa Flow is that the
wrecks are all deep, dark and out of the range of less experienced divers. Scapa
holds so many wrecks, in such a wide variety of sites that all levels of
experience can be catered for, from an Open Water diver to Trimix. The trick is
to match your diving to where you want to go. It may be sacrilegious to even
mention scenic diving when there are so many
wrecks about, but there are even sites that appeal to the "beastie divers"
lurking amongst us! The visibility in Burra Sound is rarely less than 20m,
whilst the wrecks are a haven for all kinds of wildlife, from wrasse to
nudibranchs.
Typically on a first visit to the Flow, we try to put divers on as many of the
cream of the crop as possible, working in a schedule to suit tides and weather
conditions. Repeat visits are left more to the whimsies of the divers themselves
as folk broaden their horizons. Many of the scrap sites appeal to these people
and include places like the mast top "spotting top" left from the Kaiser, the
four gun turrets left from the Bayern, the gun from the Sedlitz and a run down
Gutter Sound to collect bottles and scallops. Stanger Head and the west coast of
Hoy offer spectacular scenic dives, a mixture of steep drop-offs and underwater
pinnacles.
We all dive the wrecks regularly and are on hand to offer
first-hand experience of the best places to go, where the shot lines are,
Maximum Operating Depths, what the visibility is like and a myriad of other
details. Beside this, we are keen to open up new ground and often go exploring
for new sites. Guided dives are another option, available on request.
Useful
links
Valkyrie , the Kronprinz Wilhelm, The Koln, The Dresden, The Brummer, The Karlsruhe, The Tabarka, The Gubernador Bories, James Barrie