A ferry ride from Scrabster at the very top of Scotland puts you in Stromness. The harbour is home to a fleet of boats which take you out into Scapaflow where scuttled in June 1919 the German Fleet wrecks lie at depths of 30 to 45m and include Battleships, Light Cruisers and a Destroyer. Scapaflow also has lots of other wrecks, some offer fantastic viz and lots of marine life, some cost the lives of many men and are undived graves.

    I went with Nick Eagle a fellow Luton BSAC diver to find out for ourselves how good these German wrecks are. We weren't disappointed, from the very first dive we were impressed by the size and condition of the wrecks and the BIG GUNS! This is just as they say in the guide books, one of the greatest collection's of wrecks to be found anywhere in the world.

     It just wasn't enough time to see the wrecks in any detail. I found myself fining around much faster than normal, trying to see as much as possible in the few dives available. You could easily dive just one of the large wrecks all week. I know my photo's suffered with my rushing around and hopefully next time I'll settle down a bit! Scapaflow should definitely be on your list of dive sites to do. It is a long way, taking me 15 hours from my front door in Northampton to the boat in Stromness harbour, but well worth it. Yes it did rain but we had a few spells of sunshine and it wasn't that cold. The diving was all done in Drysuits and even on the longest dive of 75 minutes I can honestly say I did not get cold in the water.

    All our diving was done from M.V. Sharon Rose a great boat nicely laid out for diving with onboard compressor and Oxygen tanks for Nitrox fills. We were lent twin twelve's for our diving saving us bringing our own, a great help. Kevin our skipper refilled them between dives for us. The great thing about hard boat diving is once your kit is set up at the start of the week it can just stay there. A wonderful relief from RIB diving and breaking it all down every night and taking it away just to rebuild it in the morning.

    Many thanks to Ingrid at Scapa Charters for sorting out our booking and accommodation. We had a great time in Stromness and can definitely recommend the RIB's at the Stromness Hotel and the Beer at the Ferry Inn.