Scapa Flow

[OneDragons]

I am hoping to organise a trip to Scapa in the next year or so and was after some advice.

Is there anyone, boats or companies or anything to avoid or musts for this trip?

I believe there is a museum there, is it any good?

I have heard of some trips being run where someone gives a talk on the history, is it worth it?

Sorry for some of the obvious questions but since Ive never been there not sure where to start.

Thanks

[Nigel Hewitt]

Is there anyone, boats or companies or anything to avoid or musts for this trip?
I've been going back to Valkyrie for the last few years.
Not good if you can't afford to put on half a stone or more, otherwise excellent.
I believe there is a museum there, is it any good?
It's normally on one of you midday off gassing layovers. Worth a visit but not a 'must see'.
I have heard of some trips being run where someone gives a talk on the history, is it worth it?
I doubt it. The history to rather too simple.

The Germans ran out of money to fight the war and went for an agreed deal.
The French wanted to gloat so dragged out the negotiations.
If the agreement wasn't signed the British were going to grab the interned fleet anyway.
The Germans guessed.
Nobody told Admiral Reuters that the negotiations has been extended by a couple of weeks to keep the French on team so when the date arrived he did the decent thing and scuttled the lot.
The British jumped up and down and did the Toddler Tantrum thing saying they weren't going to do anything like grab the fleet (we have their orders now so we know that was tosh) but if some daft jobs-worth had not delayed Reuters mail and passed him the newspapers he would have known what was going on.

Most of the good ones got salvaged for scrap but there's still lots left.

It's not actually very interesting diving because there's nothing new to discover but, like walking an 12th Century Cathedral, they are really impressive on size alone. I keep going back. The vis is almost always good to reasonable (scooterable!) and it's a bit sheltered so they can almost always come up with a dive site.

Definitely do it as a live-aboard with everything done for you.

[SoggyBottoms]

Kieran Hatton helps run a history week at Scapa.
I have not been on one myself but a couple of mates have and they have glowing reports
There's a linkey here to Kieran and if you search a little you will find dive trip reports about last years wreck history week

http://www.divingindepth.co.uk/the-scapa-flow-history-week

Charlie

[ChristianG]

I've been going back to Valkyrie for the last few years. Not good if you can't afford to put on half a stone or more, otherwise excellent.
I've (of course) not been but I immediately thought Valkyrie myself. I also love your comment regarding weight gain.

I doubt it. The history to rather too simple.

The Germans ran out of money to fight the war and went for an agreed deal.
The French wanted to gloat so dragged out the negotiations.
If the agreement wasn't signed the British were going to grab the interned fleet anyway.
The Germans guessed.
Nobody told Admiral Reuters that the negotiations has been extended by a couple of weeks to keep the French on team so when the date arrived he did the decent thing and scuttled the lot.
The British jumped up and down and did the Toddler Tantrum thing saying they weren't going to do anything like grab the fleet (we have their orders now so we know that was tosh) but if some daft jobs-worth had not delayed Reuters mail and passed him the newspapers he would have known what was going on.
Compressed history 101. Wonderful stuff. :D

[OneDragons]

Many thanks guys, some good info there!

[Roz]

When we dive Scapa we tend to drive up in as few cars as possible and we split the fuel equally. Also tend to load all the kit into a container at Scrabster (think you need to book this before hand) and go as foot passengers. And get collected from Stromness by the boat.

Have always dived off John Thornton's boat and wrote this piece awhile ago for Scottish Diver. http://www.scotsac.com/html/scottish-diver/2005/SD_0508/0508_scapa.pdf. Have heard nothing but good and big weight gain about Valkerie.

Worth stopping at Hoy and seeing the Cemetery and Visitors Centre. They used to sell nice Chocolate Cake.

Tabarka is still a treasured dive.

As an aside I worked on this book http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/simon+mills/ludwig+von+reuter/m-l-+gunn/i-m-n-+mudie/scapa+flow/4493787/ and as a result was deeply honoured to have dinner with the Son and Grandson of Von Reuter. They told me how on the 21st June Von Reuter would hold a cocktail party at his home to celebrate the sinking of the High Seas Fleet and how the top brass would attend including Admiral Donitz.

Hope you have a wow of a time!

[Maria]

I can recommend Radiant Queen - a dayboat with an excellent skipper. Her dive briefings are first class, illustrated with sidescan sonar images, photos etc so you know what to look out for.

[Paul Burgess]

I can recommend Radiant Queen - a dayboat with an excellent skipper. Her dive briefings are first class, illustrated with sidescan sonar images, photos etc so you know what to look out for.

Ditto recommendation for Radiant Queen for all of the above points. Their accomodation is onshore ~100m from the quay and a lot more spacious than on a boat.

We had cars, so visited some stone circles, Highland Park distillery in Kirkwall and the Kitchener memorial - basically a clifftop walk. That last one was my favourite - we went on a beautiful evening and watched the sun set into the sea... nice.

Plenty more to do: e.g. get your photo taken by the Twatt sign:D

People are still exploring new stuff inside the battleships - just don't expect to be doing it if you are only there for a week.

[Woz]

Our club has done both onshore accom and the Val. You'll be fine with either. The museum and cafe at Lyeness is very interesting- you'll probably moor up there at lunch one day.

Take kazoos for the fuel bunker.
http://www.kitfondle.co.uk/images/sexywoz.wmv

Helen on the Val will try to eat you into a diabetic coma. Do not resist. Her chocolate cake has more calories in it than C4.

If you are going to have a "bendy Wednesday" then the cost of hiring a car is about the same as taking one across with everyone else as foot passengers. Lots to see- Ring of Brodgar, Skara Brae, Yesnaby Cliffs, and of course the Twatt road sign. If you would like a flavour, there is a trip report here:
http://www.nusac.info/trips/2006/scapa.php

[Hamish]

You could of course try a trip around the outer isles as we did. See here for my trip report;

http://www.bsac.com/diverreports.asp?itemid=7722&itemTitle=Diving+the+Northern+Orkney+Isles+on+Jean +Elaine&section=1248&sectionTitle=UK

We had a fantastic time.

Hamish