The first I knew that a trip was being arranged to Scapa was when Steve sent out panicky messages about getting deposits in to Chris, he was correct to be anxious as all 12 places had gone in a matter of days, Scapa is one of those places many divers like to tick off their “been there and done that” list.  This was to be my second trip and I suspect Chris and Steve have lost count of the number of times they’ve been, if you like wreck diving it isn’t hard to understand.

 

The journey was made easier by having five of us in the car, good conversation helps the time slip by, aided by making fun of Isi who had forgotten sleeping bag, camera other assorted items, a brief shopping trip in Aviemore put that right.

Sunrise is a decent dive ship, the covered deck serves to protect you from the elements whilst delivering blows to the head to aid as a memento of the trip, I knew I was in for trouble when people like Tracey were hitting their head!

The diving was as good, 8-10 metres of visibility, having longer run times this trip (now on a rebreather) my only complaint was the ice-like and non-functioning condition of my fingers by the time I got out, a small price to pay though it made eating the cooked brunch more challenging (I’m going to practice by eating all meals with boxing gloves on from now on).

It was nice diving wrecks and recognising features from the last time I was there, in particular the big guns on the Kronprinz Wilhelm which are truly astounding in size.  On the cruisers it is noticeable that the decking and hull is beginning to disintegrate, after a bit of wreck penetration on one dive Steve lifted a lump of rusty metal sitting on the back of my unit that was the size of my head, it must have dislodged and landed there when I was in the wreck.

Other than Martin’s zip coming apart from his dry suit (amazingly good service from Scapa Scuba to get it sorted by the next morning) the only other significant incident was Stuart’s attempt to put his head through the bottom of the boat (with skipper’s assistance) which went to show that even when you do everything by the book there’s always a spanner (in the wheelhouse!) waiting to gum up the works, thankfully he was ok.

I’m glad we took two cars over as it meant we got to look at other sites such as the standing stones, really atmospheric.  Talking of atmospheric I’m banning Steve from eating beans ever again, and as for the laddish behaviour with ketchup on the inside of neck seals (resolved by a ketchup based hair lotion) and the like I’d like to assure everyone that the smell of garlic in Martin’s duvet will probably fade over the coming years.

I’m grateful to Chris for his excellent planning of the trip and thanks to everyone who made it such a fun time in and out of the water.

To see more pictures from this trip visit the Excalibur Photo Gallery here.