Weather is here. Wish you were beautiful - and thats just the skipper, Snapper Bob. The glare of Summer is over and only the hardened divers and drinkers remain in Orkney. The monotony of the diving is only broken by the sound of Bob buying a round……………………..Its very quiet
Dear Bob,
Thank you for an excellent weeks diving, it has been great fun. All of us have enjoyed it a lot. We all love the boat and hope that we can have another trip with you again some time soon.
We have all enjoyed the diving and my (charlotte) favourite dive was the one on the Tabarka, whilst John and Emma’s favourite dives of the holiday were the Brummer. John and I have had another first on this holiday - diving with the porpoises although I only saw 2 of them whilst John assured me that they were circling around us and at one point even swam through us! Anyway, it has been a pleasure meeting you and we have all enjoyed your company all week. I can now proudly say that I am a “proper” diver after eating raw scallops that we prepared on deck. 
Thanks again for having us and we hope to be diving off the Halton (Hilton) again soon. We have all had an ace time and will be sad to leave tomorrow.
Lots of love,
the dive family
xxx
ps woof woof from jake
Day 5 began with the evening of day 4, well night, well early morning of day 5! - some decided to start their
celebrations of the week slightly early and managed to drag both Bob and Angus into their joyous (if loud!)
debauched session! (all down to a rather windy weather forecast that put all those still up off diving the next
day). ‘Hang the DJ’ resounded (or should that be strangle the cat?!) - Bob you need singing lessons! Also an
appearance from the village peaple in the form of CY in his skidders and riggers - not a pretty sight!! (Qu: why
were the socks left there?!)
7:20 arrives - Angus’ alarm goes off, wakes most except Angus - and no-one can enter the saloon due to Bob still
comatose in there - NO COFFEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
A few hours later and most were up although not all fully awake! LF & PF decided to dive the harbour - well 5m is
better than no diving (sometimes!).
Found a cave - Bob then decides that LF needs intro to cave diving - then promptly swims off and leaves her in the
cave! (was good dive though! - others tried a bit later - all agreed!!).
Final dive of the day was in a bay off the south harbour. PF now ecstatic as he found another cannon in the kelp -
going to bed a happy bunny.
The 2 troglodites went exploring and were late for dinner (again! - nearly fed the fish!!) - although we’re told it
was worth it.
P.S. - MF has nothing to add as she was sleeping off the effects of the night before all day!
Overnight someone had moved Fair Isle from a warm and sunny spot, back to somewhere between Orkney and Shetland; and
the weather had changed to suit - overcast and bit of drizzle.
The coastguard gave out a force 8 gale warning for Viking; one of the team asked which sea area we were in - left as
an exercise for the reader.
The swell on the way out caused a couple of mugs to commit hari kari on the galley floor and made conditions under
the water slightly more interesting than the previous days. On site the viz had dropped to only about 15m.
It should be noted that of items noted as lost - all but one (one of the measuring sticks) had been recovered - the
English were begining to level the score. Add the fact that a swivel gun had been located yesterday and the result
was by no means a foregone conclusion.
And a note to prospective customers: wear something very warm when diving as it can take a looooooonnnnnnnng time to
get picked up!!!
Yet another perfect day in paradise, well on fair isle.
During todays dives, a cannon from the previous survey 30 years ago was located in Leon Gulley and another at the end of Griffon Gulley.
First day diving on the El Gran Griffon site - flagship of the hulks (supply ships) in the Spanish Aramada of 1588. Conditions were PERFECT! (flat calm, sunny and 25m vis - we thought we’d been transported somewhere exotic rather than north Scotland!).
First dive was familiarisation with the site. Located the cannon (amazed at the amount of errosion to it by tides and storms) and the anchor (much better condition).
Other dives of the day started the survey of the site in earnest: a line was laid between the anchor and the cannon which provided our refernce line. The troglodites on the boat explored the caves on sheep rock (avoiding the big bad seals!) - those doing boat cover had just as much fun manourvering through the caves on the inflatable.
Arrived in Shetland following 12 hour trip on the ferry (and 10 hours of drinking - heads hurting!!!). A six day expedition to Fair Isle meant a monster shop @ Somerfield (Bob’s van just coped!).
Left Lerwick @ 3pm with a 5 hour crossing to Fair Isle to look forward to - in the end it wasn’t as bad as we all thought (gave us time to sleep off the hangovers - well it worked for some!).
Arrived in North Haven to bright sunshine.
As Bob did his customary trick of hitting the pier he announced “we’re here then”!
A dive boat with a Rayburn, not what you would expect but do not be afraid! she’s not too difficult to use - you just have to remember to switch it on a good
wee while before you want to cook. Do not do what we did and expect to cook pizza 5 min after turning her on.
On the left hand side of the Rayburn, there’s a switch and a dial.
TO TURN RACHEL RAYBURN ON: flick the orange switch down (from Heating to Cooking) and turn the dial from off to high. The oven door is front top right, and
above the handle there is a silver switch that also has to be flicked to the left from the letter H to C. On the front of the oven door there’s a indicator
needle (simmer, bake, roast), which gives you a vague idea of how hot the oven is. The dial on the left does have different temperatures written on it (in
degrees celcius), however pay no attention to it ’cause it doesn’t heat the oven to what it says on the dial, and its better just to turn it up or down
depending on the needle position on the door. If the oven isn’t heating up as fast as you would like, it can be boosted by turning on the water and central
heating for 1 hour (see the central heating box on the wall to the right of the Rayburn, or ask Bob).
The top plates are always slightly hot, however to get them hot enough to fry or boil, you need to turn on the oven (see above). The left plate is hotter
than the right and is useful for bringing things to the boil before moving them to the right to simmer.
REMEMBER TO TURN OFF THE OVEN AFTER USE (reverse the above process) otherwise, you’ll start to cook the people in the saloon (she puts out a lot of heat).
Ignore Bob when he tells you that baked potatoes cannot be done in the Rayburn - they turn out great.
Turn on the oven at breakfast and allow to heat until the needle points to BAKE. Wrap all the potatoes in tin foil, put them on a tray and shove them in the
oven for 3-4 hrs (monitor the needle and turn the dial accordingly). After 3-4 hrs remove tin foil and stick a knife in a few to make sure they’re soft,
cover them in oil or butter and shove them back in to crisp up. If you have more than one tray, you have to keep swapping the shelf they’re on. Which brings
me to the final Rayburn tip: food must be juggled around to cook properly. The 3 oven shelves have slightly different temps (hotter at the top obviously) and
so things have to be moved (especially pizza). This is also true of the hot plates.
Treat her well and she’ll cook things wonderfully for you. Treat her bad and it’ll come out raw or burnt depending on her mood.
Good luck!
Well… another great day aboard MV Halton. Started off with a nice dive - the Jane, quite shallow so great
towardes the end of the week, beautiful prop and great for scalloping, if you have had enoug before coming up. (Yet
to taste them though)!
Second dive, decided on “pot luck” on the steam back into Lerwick. This proved to be a great choice, we chose 3
different sites, wall and seals on the first, gully and cuttle fish on the second and probably not quite as exciting
on the third, but neverthe less an ok dive, by anyone’s standards.
Day finished off by super top nosh… bangers and mash with a difference, cheesy mash fit for a King and the best
oninion gravy known to man!
Posh tip of the day, do not buy the “medium priced wine” from co-op for anything but gravy. Instead forsake weight
belts for a 12 bottle case of good wine and ration it over the week! When purchasing items for consumption here the
Shetland gin is fantastic, as good or better than bombay saphire/tanqueray! Enough said.
Girlie tip of the day… smile nicely at Angus (with big eyes) and he will “haul” you up the ladder, better than any lift I’ve been on!
Vietnam fan swapping the torrid heat away from his fevered brow as the Bell Huey reverberated around the crazed mind, sat up in beg and slammed his skull against the beam. Hence the blackeyedave.
The humid sun drenched coast gave way to crystal clear sea’s. The cathederal-esque triple expansion engine of the Tonis Chandris can be viewed from 5 metres descending on to the wreck. The intact prop shaft takes you on a voyage of discovery as you head astern where the prop, disassociated form the hull lies dormant on it’s side. Over the drop off a delight of debris and brass; spare steering gear and prop are to be stumbled across.
We also did a scenic..
The posh dive trip of the day; re-brand “eggy bread” as French Toast.
0TUE 25/7/2006 continued
We spent an amusing interval bettween dives whatching the abundant seabirds about their various trades. The Gannets circled and dived with break-neck speed, Terns, wheeled, swooped and darted about, Puffins flapped their cute stumps and bumbled around in a short arsed way, Skuas avoided the annoying mobbing by crows, Fulmars zapped energetically about playing chicken with our heads and the Herring Gulls staked out the Boats shit pipe, on the off chance of a late sitting.
Our Orcadian boatman, Angus landed and claimed Out Stack for Orkney. The chance of being able to do this is very rare, we were so lucky to have a settled spell plus sun.(about time really, I’ve had too many crap UK dives lately).
While the north side of Out Stack had calmed down a bit, our skipper Bob went in for a dip to see for himself. He emerged with a huge, gratuitous grin, (not something you see too often) so it must be good. Just as well as it was our next dive.
A free descent and almost immediately found ourselves in a rock gulley running parallel to the island. Headed West into a slight current which diminished in time. I was dumbstruck,(though I did utter a few Wows through my reg) I’d never seen such variety of colour on one dive in the UK. There were rainbow coloured jewel anenomes and dwarf plumose? shoulder to shoulder covering every mm of rock. Any crevices were occupied by drifts of Dahlia anenomies all giving the impression of a well made though somewhat garishly patterned persian carpet, gorgeous, I’ll take it if you can deliver, you take plastic?
On we went, heads swinging from side to side, beneath the baleful gaze of muscular edible crabs, perched at various points like bouncers outside seedy clubs. A few dogfish came sacheying past up the gulley, all the while, just at the limit of sight the shoal of pollack kept pace. Our time like the gulley ran out and it was time to leave. Got a bit of bouncey,bouncey trying to carry out a safety stop in the turbilance near the surface. The others who went East on entry got into a washing machine again before clawing their way to the surface.
WED 26/7/2006
After a quiet night moored at Balta Sound on Unst, we nosed our way through light fog to dive the E49, a British sub that went down with all hands after hitting a mine. We were split into two groups of four, to be more manageable and not to crowd her. She lies in about 35m on her starboard side. She became visible in her entirety from halfway down the shot. Good vis! Immediately obvious was a Royal Navy Ensign recently placed on her which helped set the slightly somber tone of our visit. The outer pressure hull seemed to have gone by the number of protruding valves and cocks. Either she’s collapsing or is very nearly burried in the sand/shingle bottom. Coy Ling peeped out at us from various holes and decorated spider crabs and tiny squat lobsters occupied the conning tower. By the sound of Halton manouvreing above she was dropping the next lot of divers, time to go.
As we reached the surface it was apparent that we were in the middle of a thunder storm crashing about us, sheet lightning flashing across the darkened sky and the surface of the sea fizzing in the torrential rain.
The afternoons dive was postponed for a while so we had time to look around Unst and stock up on treats and coffee at the local stores. We discovered that it was possible to tour the Valhalla brewery, who’s product we’d enjoyed the past two nights. After a wee walk and much misdirection we found it. It was a small privately run affair and we had an interesting interlude learning the ingredients, process and packageing, plus a bottle to go away with. We even jammily managed to get a lift back to the boat.
The evening dive was around Vere Rock trying to find a wreck. As my buddies wouldn’t follow me we spent an unproductive time milling aimlessly round the kelpy shallows making faces at the timid seals and each other, while the rest of the group stumbled across the wreckage and stored images of boilers, engines and propshaft etc to taunt us back on the boat later.
We motored down to Yell and anchored in a quiet inlet for the night. No shore party tonight.
THU 27/7/2006
We motored to a spot north of Fetlar for our first dive, the JANE a steamer lying on her port side in about 25m. Two groups again, the other pair went to the stern so we headed for the bows. Hull collapsing quite a bit though still interesting. Bows a funny shape a bit like a counter stern, I had to check for a prop just in case. Alot of Maerl(a twiggy, purple coral like plant) appearing to spill out of hull splits, untill Angus set me right later I thought it was coral ballast from the ship, imagination you see. Why I’m looking at the bottom and not the wreck was because we were heading to the stern along the ships bottom, not so interesting see. The shell/sand/shingle seabed was carpeted in Brittlestars with the odd Sunstar ploughing through, numerous largeish empty muscle shells, ah the stern arriveth. A lovely four bladed prop enhanced by a healthy growth of Dead Man’s Fingers (DMF’s)(found nowhere else on wreck, well not by me). A nice space to swim through forward of this. Followed propshaft to engine and boilers. Other group descending on us so we left them to it.
Got back into Lerwick in some nasty fog and rain, I didn’t think it was possible together but it was. Afternoon dive postponed so a bit of mooching around town to be done. Back at 17.00.
Cleared a bit and stopped raining, still very calm. Off to dive the Giants Knees/Legs, a headland off Bressay with some stacks/arches adorning it. The idea was to descend and swim through, easy. Went into the first gap and had to ascend to enter. Walls pasted with anenomes and lovely vis too. Came to a dead end, this is where it gets ticklish having to turn and get past those following without damaging the marine growth or kicking the others masks off. Into the next one, this is a bit more like it, wide and sheer. Furry DMF’s, Dahlia anenomes and dwarf plumose clinging on in the surge. I rolled onto my back occaisionally to watch the bubbles trickle up. Had a steep ascent to get out of this one onto a kelp plateau. Kept rock on left shoulder and came across some wreckage, one piece a mast like object led us to the entrance of the next one. This looked like the mother of them all, like a dark cavern waiting to dissapear us insignificant bubblers. This didn’t have any growth on the walls, a pebbly base, scattered with starfish. It was pitch black, though the water didn’t go all the way to the top so we guessed the was an airspace in crap happened. Hugely enjoyable time swimming through this kind of enviroment. After about 6 mins we saw some daylight ahead, getting very narrow so ascended to see if we could get through. It looked too narrow, though there may have been a bend ahead making it appear so, what with the surge and all it was decided to backtrack out. Outside we drifted along winding down untill we must have got to the end of the headland and the currant was waiting ahead judgeing by the bent over kelp. Heck of a dive.
FRI 28/7/06
We should have been enjoying our last dive today revisiting the GLEN ISLA by popular demand but we awoke to a real peasouper so that was that. We hopped in the minibus and trawled around the southern mainland visiting early settlements of archaiological inerest like CLICKIMIN BROCH and JARLSHOF. Needless to say after we’d packed our kit away hot sunshine appeared.
Thats all, all the Best, Simon Newman.
Woke up to a glassy calm sea which only meant one thing, diving at Out Stack. We headed out in the sunshine, which rapidly faded the further out we went. The grey clouds came over, building up the tension!
First dive was impressive huge jewel anenomes and big gullys, loads of squeals and grins afterwards (and not just from the girls).
Weather was good enough to stay out for a second dive, which was a whole new kettle of fish. As the seaguls circled we descended to a world of upcurrents, down currents (we now know how a pair of socks in a wash feel) anglerfish and shoals of pollack. This was truely amazing, huge gullies that descended down to more than 50m and more jewel anenomes and crabs in more different colours.
Absolutely brilliant!!!
Fiona 08/08/06
Up, down, to the left and to the right. No, this isn’t some new dance craze, but the reality of diving Out Stack, the most Northerly lump in the UK.
The dives were good, but remove the ferocity of the surge and the usual excellent (20m) visibility would have been restored. This is not diving for the faint hearted, yet not up there with dives you wish to end. Heads must be kept and excellent buoyance mainatined to ensure a safe and happy exit.
As is usual with such high energy sites, the marine life is diverse and plentiful. Kelp can act as a useful anchor in the shallows, but deeper in the gullies (>35m) where there is no kelp, keeping close to the walls helps as surge is still present.
We’ve taken shelter is Baltasound for the evening where there is a friendly pub up the road which serves beer brewed in the local Valhaller Brewery. The most northerly bus stop in the UK is just around the corner from the pub and well worth a visit. Check out it’s website in advance for the full experience and sign the visitors book when here.
Oh, posh tip of the day, my fianceé tells me tooth paste and washing up liquid is great for shining up sparkly diamonds after the assult from salt, talcum powder, baby location (enter here any other lube used!!!).
TTFN.
Some of us (okay mostly just me!) started the day slightly jaded from the night before in the pub and wondered whether a dive to 30 odd metres was such a great idea - however on the plus side there is no options for dozing once you’re in the water.
Bob left spot on time, and we set off to dive the E49 - a submarine which had wandered into a minefield and gone down with all hands. Team Maiden was pleased with the idea of two waves of diving because once those boys with all their kit, double this, double that & a third spare just to be on the safe side, were off the boat there was loads of room. A recent trip by the RAF means that there is an ensign flying from the top of the turret of the E49 and it is an amazing dive. The visibility was incredible and Sinead confirmed that she could still see the wreck at 14mtrs it was stunning and poignant at the same time.
In the afternoon Bob promised us an exciting new site, lovely stacks surrounded by cannons & wreckage……well after a number of passes by Angus we were put in the water with strict instructions to attach a SMB to anything metallic that we found….hmmm…… Tracey was busy tapping rocks with her torch just to be on the safe side (although according to the boys that should really be done with a hammer and crowbar…unfortunately she’d left that on the boat!!) but no success. After we came up the entrepid Bob set off to claim the prize by finding the wreck, but we think he left his glasses on the boat. Another pass by Angus did find a cannon but when he returned…..these words of wisdom were noted by all “A single cannon does not a WRECK MAKE….”
So Toms curry & sponge pudding for tea chased down with sea-chilled Stella made our day.
Posh tip of the day: ensure that you keep a young boy on board to polish the salt water off the top of your can of stella. Cheers Dunc.
More tomorrow - Kat
Gwladmena or Glenisla in the morning (divers split between them). Everyone loved their dives; good viz on both sites. Afternoon dive on the Giants Legs - Mega Dive! 30m viz, you could see everyone, very disconcerting; the whole site was plastered in life. The two long arches (almost tunnels) were really atmospheric, with great views of divers Silhouetted against the ‘blue window’ of the arches. A few people also had encounters with a couple of seals.
Roast chicken for tea, with much better wine than last night! Having assessed the quality of last nights tea, and given that we have taken all of the available food storage space, Bob and Angus have joined the food kitty. No one yet drunk, despite which there has been much dancing, including duncaninhissexynewjeans and Tracey on the table.
Now heading north over calm seas with evening sunshine. Every one in good spirits (and copious quantities thereof).
POSH DIVING TIP OF THE DAY: If one finds onself marooned in the wilds of shetland without (god forbid) a cafetiere or espresso machine + barista, you can very effectively brew decent filter coffee using a funnel made from kitchem roll and masking tape, there is a plastic funnel under the sink into which the assemblage can be placed and morning coffee for 12 can be produced very successfully.
Day 1 - we’ve organised all the important things like writing up the list of who likes tea with no sugar or the
requisite 4 sugars for maintaining dive energy. Gin is stowed and emergency tonic (who remembers to buy that?) has
been bought. Picked up the weeks food from co-op that we pre-ordered by fax last week (top-tip as was all there
ready with no dash around shop needed) so more time for diving!!!!
2 dives done before 4pm despite a number of slightly dodgy regs, leaky hoses, damaged backs and a slightly hungover
skipper (what did last weeks group do to poor Bob). All slightly confused as Bob suggested dive on Gwladmena in the
harbour as shakedown dive. Harbour - normally read as crap vis, dull HOWEVER nice dive, great vis, happy divers,
how could we doubt the wisdom of Bob.
With the inertial dampers failing and vomit dribbling down Traceys chin, we came to the furthest regions of the British Isles, OutStack.
It had been said that no man had been this far out but the illuminated MacDonalds logo on top of the stack claimed something different.
Captain Jack said keep your eyes open for Davey Jones he’s around here some where. We later found him in his green grocers shop on Muckle Flugger.
We dived in two waves, as soon as the first lot hit the water the second group rifeled thru all of their kit for scraps of food and anything of value to
appease captain Jack who was sat on top of the MacDonalds logo ringing birds. Later that day a blonde and brunnet turned up for a party, the blonde Twice
Knightley was bloody good with a tatey knife, the brunnette said she could only stay for four days as she had no change of underwear.
Later that day we dived the wreck of E49 mined in the 1st W.W. This was an excellent dive with 20mtrs lateral visability it was good to see that the Ensign
was in excellent condition.
We then moored at Baltasound for the night, the boat drawing a crowd of spectators yet again, how strange. The comments from amongst the crowd which could
could be heard where mainly how short captain Jack was with his boyish good looks parrot and hook. We all turned in after an exhausting three dive day, the
boat heaved a sigh of relief as burps farts and snores echoed around our mooring for the night. Good night Out stack,goodnight Muckle Flugger Goodnight E49,
Goodnight.
Our missing team member arrived on the ferry bringing the sunshine with her so we set off back to the GWLADMENA. Managed to have a swimthrough on the bows this time,chain and cable piled around lighted by gaps in hull. Then up through deckhatch.
Diving another klondiker factory ship, the PIONERSK. On the swim for the shot my mask fell apart, start again. Down onto a kelpy platform. Saw an inviting split leading into an engine room. Turned around to check my buddy but he was gone. Backed out to find him and a fin fell off, reached to put it on and the other fell off too! After the bubbles had gone and silt settled and my fins restored I still couldn’t see my buddy. Started ascending and met him coming down, he’d had a regulator problem and surfaced to sort it. I’m glad all this happened in relatively shallow water and early in the dive. Wreckage scattered over a wide area, noticable were the gold coloured lids for tinned fish.
Simon MON 23/7/06
After a night moored in LERWICK we awoke to a cool,misty day and headed off to the GLENISLA. We found her sitting upright in about 45m.Lovely 15m vis again and no current. Went forward over break in hull(she hit a mine) passing collapsed mast and spare prop.whizzed around bows then back. passing over engines and boilers visible through skeletonised decking,noticed large, onion shaped structures sticking out, haven’t a clue what they are and neither anyone I’ve asked. On to the stern (I do like to top and tail em) which tapers up with the hull peeled away each side.Yet again time running out, hovered our way back to shot, still enjoying view of wreck below,the vis was that good.
The fog closed in and diving was postponed till 4pm while a small group of us and skipper Bob went off in the minibus for a tour of the west side to see if the fog was any better there. It wasn’t but at least we got to see a bit of the island.
Simon SUN 22/7/06
Wonderful vis, we dropped down onto the Gwaladmena dodging the occasional Jelly. What a cracking little wreck no aires or graces traversable in one dive and enough to see as a first go in Shetland. Sorry to say our objective to find the pea shooter produced a nil result.
Second dive the Lunokhods reminded me of many a south coast IKEA wreck, all flat pack. Lots of rust and suprisingly brass, masses of it. Now you wouldn’t find that off Plymouth!
Adrian 22/7/06