Club holiday 2001 to Scapa Flow

A diving holiday was arranged this year by Dave W.Whitlam to Scapa Flow from Friday 15th of June to Saturday 23rd of June. His mission was to take 9 divers and 2 sightseers over 1400 miles there and back, accommodate them, provide a boat and skipper, and a weeks diving all for under £300 (each) !!

Dave W.Whitlam trying to beat the rest down to the wrecks in Scapa 1996

The group was made up by the following people

Dave W.Whitlam
Karina Littlejohn
Simon Boor
Dave G.Whitlam
Dave Audsley
Glynn Conolly
Roger Willis
Roger Gowen
Irma Eggenkamp

Bob Raby (not diving)
Jackie Egan (not diving)

Dave and Karina drove around Lowestoft picking up members of the party between 5 and 6 am on the Friday morning and we met up with Dave Audsley and his van, which was filled up with the diving gear, at the McDonalds just outside Beccles. We picked up Bob and Jacks at the Ferry Bridge services and continued heading north. After a few more stops to stretch our legs we arrived in BRORA at 7pm. We had to drive around the block several times to find the Bed and breakfast and even after a phone call we still had to do one more lap. The group stayed at 2 separate places in the same road, Tigh Fada and Glenaveron, both were really nice and they made us feel very welcome.

We set off from there at 9am on Saturday morning and arrived at Scrabster at 11 to catch the P&O ferry the St. Olah. The ferry trip took nearly 2 hours and we eventually arrived at Stromness at about 2pm. We met Ian Trumpess the skipper of the M.V. Radiant Queen at the quayside and loaded all our diving equipment onto the boat.  Our next stop was the bunkhouse where we were staying for the week, which for £50 a week each wasn't too bad. After wondering around the shops in Stromness in the afternoon we all met up in the Ferry Inn (were Bob & Jacks were staying) and had a meal there.

Every day Dave and Simon made breakfast for everyone and on Monday and Wednesday we also had evening meals at the bunkhouse with a seafood starter courtesy of Glynn and Roger Willis. On Tuesday evening 7 of us took a trip in the mini bus to look at the Italian chapel and the Churchill barriers and picked up some fish and chips on the way back.

 Wednesday afternoon some of us paid a visit to the Stromness museum. Thursday evening we all had a tour of the Highland Park distillery and were shown how they make single malt whisky, after that we went to a Chinese restaurant in Kirkwall. On the way back to Stromness we stopped and had a walk around the standing stones at Brodgar as it was the summer solstice. On Sunday and Friday we eat at the Royal Hotel in Stromness. Most evenings were rounded off with a few pints in the Brays Hotel which was in walking distance of our accommodation and had a lovely open coal fire.

Most lunchtimes we went to Lyness and the Scapa Flow visitors centre. On the few days that it wasn't raining we managed to walk to the naval cemetery and an old abandoned military HQ on the hillside which had a good strategic view of the flow. The only time we didn't go to Lyness we stopped at Hoy and walked the long way round  (half way up a mountain and back) to the Hoy Inn. We found a short cut back which only took 5 minutes compared to the 45 minutes it took to get there.

Everyone enjoyed the week and the only thing there was to complain about was the weather which was mostly cold, wet and windy, while it was hot and humid back home. We did 2 dives a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, all of us diving on air. Every day when the boat returned to Stromness at least one of the party had to pay a visit to see Ben at Scapa Scuba for a suit repair, one of his best customers was Dave Audsley. Ben did a first class job and the suits were always ready for us the next day, there would have been a few more non-divers in our party if he hadn't been there. Here are the wrecks we dived on throughout the week.

SMS Karlsruhe (light cruiser)

YC21 (barge) & F2 (escort vessel)

Kronprinz Wilhelm (battleship)

Gobernador Bories (blockship)

SMS Koln (cruiser)

Seydlitz (battlecruiser)

SMS Markgraf (battleship)

SMS Konig (battleship)

SMS Dresden (cruiser)

SMS Brummer (light cruiser)

James Barrie (trawler)

V83 (destroyer)

"I had a very enjoyable week and I'd like to thank Dave for all his time and effort he put into organising it for us. There was plenty of space on the boat and like it says on the website it was 'designed by divers to be used by divers'. It would have been nice to stop somewhere else apart from Lyness for lunch because by the end of the week I was sick of vegetable soup."

Simon Boor

"Despite having been several times before, it was well worth another visit. The wrecks appear more broken up than they were 15 years ago.
Criticism The dive boats seem to follow one another along and dive on the same wreck at the same time despite there being plenty of other wrecks to choose from.
Observations The dangers of diving boats coming in to drop off divers when divers were waiting to come up. John Thorntons boat "Karen" was noted to be doing this despite being asked to stand off and wait by our skipper."

Dave Audsley

"In my opinion it was pleasing to be taken out on a dive boat by a skipper with a good attitude towards his customers. Every effort was made to ensure that diving was to our satisfaction and all our requests were met wherever practical. This was supported obviously by a great deal of background knowledge."

Glynn Conolly

"I liked the skipper because he was a good old boy and he was fairly laid back."

Dave G.Whitlam

"First time in Scapa and apart from the weather I enjoyed every bit of it. Impressive wrecks and a skipper and deckie who made sure we enjoyed ourselves"

Irma Eggenkamp

"Even though some of the wrecks are very much broken up there are still many interesting things to be seen."

Roger Willis

"Having been my 3rd time in Scapa over the past 10 years the whole dive package stills holds the same ore of excitement. The best skipper and boat package I have found in Scapa."

Dave W.Whitlam

"As this was my first diving holiday it lived up to all my expectations and more. I liked the boat and Ian and Kevin were very helpful explaining the pros and cons of each dive and I felt that I was in safe hands because they knew what they were doing. They always gave us plenty of time to get kitted up making it an enjoyable experience. Certainly beats the hell out of diving a double decker bus in Gildenburg. I've definitely got the diving bug now and I'm hooked. I saw some great sites but one of the most memorable was on the Gobenora Boris when Simon appeared at the bottom of the shotline with the two buffs caught up behind his head looking like Mickey Mouse, laughing underwater is very difficult."

Karina Littlejohn

"The visit to Scapa for me was the achievement of a long held ambition. It exceeded my expectations & I have memories of the trip that will stay with me forever.
Although I am not a member of the Lowestoft BSAC I was made welcome in the Group & it was this as well as the Boat, the Skipper & the diving that made this a very special experience for me."

Roger Gowen

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