UK Dive Trip
Scapa Flow is one of the jewels in the crown of UK scuba diving. The remains of the German fleet still lie in the flow, heavily protected from any sort of salvage or interference by divers. Their legacy is some of the best scuba diving in the world, the behemoths of the battleships rising from 45m to 22m, guns pointing into the green, seemingly on eternal patrol. The stricken cruisers on their sides, their superstructures slowly falling to the seabed after nearly 100 years underwater.
MV Valkyrie - Length – 22.1m, Dive Deck at the Bow and a diver Lift.
The galley is situated at the stern and is accessed via a watertight door on either side. It has two refrigerators, a cooker, microwave and the all important hot water urn which is on all day for as many cups of tea as you can drink. One huge table allows all 12 divers to eat at the same time in comfort.
The Valkyrie in her previous days as a trawler had a large hold. This was converted into six cabins which are accessed via the lounge area. Each cabin has two full size single bunks fitted with memory foam mattresses. A small sink with hot and cold running water, a heater and two charging sockets and every bunk has a small reading light and main light. All bunks come with a duvet and all bedding, plus two pillows. A small towel is also provided.
The lounge is situated midships and is accessed via a door into the shelter deck. It has seating with lockers underneath, a large widescreen television, DVD player, stereo, a large selection of DVD’s and books and a large table.
There are two toilets (proper loos, not marine heads), one in the shelter deck, one on the port side. Two showers are also fitted, one below decks in the accommodation, the other with the port side loo, both are electric showers.
Used in both world wars as protection for the British Fleet, the islands became home to tens of thousands of service personnel. At the signing of the armistice the German fleet was interred with skeleton crews at Scapa until its fate could be decided. Admiral von Reuter mistakenly believed war was about to break out, so on the 19th June 1919 he gave the order for the fleet to be scuttled. This was carried out swiftly while the British guarding ships were out on exercise and could not stop them. In the end 51 ships went to the bottom of Scapa Flow, others were run aground to prevent them sinking. Scapa also offers fabulous diving on the blockships and more.
(Max depth 45m) A Konig Class Dreadnaught, launched in 1913. With a length of 177 metres, she displaced 25,400 tons. Heavily armoured and armed with 12-inch main guns. The Markgraf now lies upside down on her port side. The top of the hull is at 19 meters.
(Max depth 38m) Another Konig Class, displacing 25,400 tons, she was launched in Kiel in 1914. The Kiel Canal had to be widened to get her to open sea. Lying upside down to her starboard side, the hull starts in about 16 metres and her main guns can be seen at the seabed in 38meters.
(Max depth 42m) The Konig was the flagship of the Third Battle Squadron at Jutland and was the name-ship of her class. She was built at Wilhelmshaven in 1913-1914. She now lies close to the island of Cava upside-down with a list to port. Top of the hull is 21 metres. Badly broken in places by salvaging she still makes for a great dive outside and with care inside
Diving in Scapa flow can be challenging and requires a level of experience to enjoy the diving here. Because of this you will need the following to be able to book onto this trip.
• PADI Advanced Open Water Diver (or Equivalent)
• PADI Deep Diver (or Equivalent) minimum of 10 dives in deeper than 18m
• PADI Wreck Diver (or Equivalent)
• PADI Nitrox Diver (or Equivalent)
• A minimum of 50 logged dives
• UK sea diving experience
• PADI Dry Suit Diver (or Equivalent) minimum of 10 dives in dry suit
• Tec Basic
• Tec 40
• 12lt and pony bottle
• Dive Knife
• Dive Torch
• Whistle
• SMB and Reel
• BCD, Reg’s etc…..
This includes Accommodation, Air and 2 dives a day (weather permitting)
£450pp
£200 deposit needed to book your space.