There is probably only a single place in the UK that ever makes it onto lists of the best places to dive in the world: Scapa Flow. I can’t think of many other places in the UK that international divers genuinely talk about and want to visit.
Don’t get me wrong, I love diving in the UK, but it’s more about the atmosphere, freedom and sense of adventure. So it’s the vibes rather than out-and-out blockbuster dives. However, Scapa Flow is the exception and, to my mind, it’s the only true bucket-list diving destination in the UK.
It’s somewhere that’s been on my list for many years. However, a great destination needs good dive operators, something that shouldn’t be taken for granted everywhere in the UK. For my first trip to Scapa Flow, I’d be spending the 5 days diving aboard Huskyan, a boat with a reputation almost as strong as the wrecks it visits
So, after booking over a year ago, I finally made the long pilgrimage up to the Orkney Islands.
Scapa Flow
The Orkney Islands are located approximately 10 miles off the northern tip of Scotland. A ragged collection of these islands forms a large, sheltered natural harbour: Scapa Flow. Its importance as a naval base reached its peak during the First World War, when it held a strategically crucial position for the Royal Navy and its attempt to keep the German Navy contained.
When hostilities ended, the German High Seas Fleet, consisting of some 74 vessels, including 11 battleships and five battlecruisers, was interned in Scapa Flow. The German fleet awaited its likely fate of being divided up as prizes between the victorious powers.
In a final act of defiance, the Germans scuttled their fleet rather than let it fall into the hands of the Allies. In the subsequent years, the majority of the fleet was raised for its valuable metals, but a number of ships were left. The ships that remain make Scapa Flow a wreck diver’s paradise.
Huskyan
Arriving to load our kit at the quay, it was quickly apparent that things on board Huskyan happen in a certain way. We were instructed to assemble our kit before it was carefully craned onto the dive deck and put in our allocated position.
Built in 2015, Huskyan has been designed from the ground up for diving, and you can tell. Stout and beamy, Huskyan handles the conditions well and is a comfortable boat to dive from. The dive deck is spacious, thoughtfully laid out and well specced for diving. Cylinder filling (air, nitrox and trimix) happens in situ, so there’s no need to change cylinders between dives – which is a great setup.
Huskyan is owned and skippered by Emily Turton, who has built an enviable reputation as a historian, wreck diver and all-round guru of Scapa. Her enthusiasm and knowledge of the subject matter, and this patch of water in particular, is extraordinary.
Huskyan is a great boat, but it’s the organisation and precision with which it’s run that make it a great dive boat. After the first day’s diving, you quickly appreciate its unique rhythm and rules. Drysuits must be hung on your allotted rail, divers aren’t to move around the deck unaided, and transgressions are likely to receive a swift reprimand from Emily – normally the short, four-letter kind.
The Dreadnoughts
Three battleships escaped being raised and can be dived in Scapa: the König, Markgraf and Kronprinz Wilhelm. All are sister ships of the same class and share the same design. However, as attempts were made to salvage parts of the wrecks with differing levels of success, all have unique features worth investigating.
Our first of the dreadnoughts was the Kronprinz Wilhelm. Emily delivered the first of what she is famous for: the most comprehensive dive briefings I’ve ever heard. Using screens in the galley area, Emily walked us through the wreck using detailed 3D sidescan sonar models, photographs and photogrammetry, calling out points of interest and offering potential routes.
At 175m long and 25,000 tons, these wrecks are massive, and acclimatising yourself to their scale is a real challenge underwater. Without this level of detailed briefing, it would be easy to miss key features entirely or overlook details obscured by 100 years of growth and gradual decay.
With a clear plan, we entered the water and descended the shot line, landing on the flat, upturned hull of the Kronprinz at around 22m. All three dreadnoughts turned turtle when they were scuttled and lie upside down, but slightly canted, on the seabed.
The sense of scale was immediate. Visibility was a comfortable 5m, though the overcast skies, depth and scale of what you’re trying to see made it feel limiting.
Making our way across the hull, we reached the ship’s side, where we made a further 10m descent towards the seabed and the exposed area of mangled deck fixtures. Our target, and the unique feature that is only accessible on the Kronprinz, was her main battery of 12-inch guns.
You need to swim under the upturned wreck to see them, but given her size, it is more like entering a cave than squeezing into a shipwreck. Our torches cut through the green twilight, and my buddy and I easily entered to inspect the massive turrets and barrels.
The Markgraf proved to be my favourite of the big ships. We dived her twice using two different routes. The first dropped us onto her stern, where her two colossal rudders protrude from her hull towards the surface. Then, moving forward, we dropped down into a huge space that was once her engine room. Salvage work has left a huge chasm, but the remnants of propeller shafts, shattered pipework and valves are all still visible.
Our second dive on the Markgraf was my favourite of the trip. This time, taking the forward shot line down onto the hull, you are met by her huge anchor chain lying wrapped across the wreck. The massive chain serves as a useful waypoint and a guide towards the ship’s side and her seven casemate-mounted 15cm guns. This route is aptly named the Markgraf Gun Run.
If the Markgraf were lying upright, the starting point would be slightly forward of the superstructure. Moving aft along the wreck at around 39m, you come across the guns. The first two are easy to spot, but they become increasingly obscured amongst the slowly collapsing wreck. We managed three before turning and heading forward towards the bow.
This huge ship eventually converges into an almost delicate point at the bow. Floating above it, the sheer sides drop down into the green gloom.
Our final battleship dive was the König, the most broken-up of the sisters. The salvagers were not kind or delicate as they tried to access her assets. Though still clearly identifiable, she is the most consumed by marine growth, with features that would be obvious on the Markgraf or Kronprinz now abstracted. Her shallower sections now appear more like a vast metal reef than a shipwreck.
The ‘Other’ Wrecks
It’s easy to get drawn into the scale of the dreadnoughts, but the other wrecks of Scapa Flow are excellent dives too and, by any measure, impressive.
The light cruisers Karlsruhe, Cöln, Dresden and Brummer (technically, she was a minelaying cruiser) all share similar dimensions. At around 150m long, they are still sizeable, and their scale is far easier to appreciate when diving. They all have particular details to keep a lookout for: armoured conning towers, 15cm guns or minelaying equipment.
However, for me, the best of the rest isn’t even a whole shipwreck. The battleship SMS Bayern was one of the ships successfully salvaged in the 1930s, but it didn’t quite go to plan. During the salvage operation, while being raised from the customary inverted position of a sunken battleship, her four turrets detached and lodged themselves deep in the seabed.
The turrets are arranged as a perfect relief of the original ship, perfectly aligned from forward to aft. Each turret housed two 38cm guns. Unfortunately, these and the gun houses are buried and inaccessible to divers. But much of the inner workings of each turret remain, with shell hoists, hatches and breeches all visible. The aft pair stand 3–5m proud of the seabed, making them a haven for small shoaling fish.
Accommodation
One of the advantages of booking onto Huskyan is that it comes as a package with its Divers Lodge. The self-catering accommodation is perfectly located, just a five-minute walk from Huskyan’s berth in Stromness Harbour.
As UK diving accommodation goes, it feels almost luxurious. The six bedrooms, which include a spare snorer’s room, are spread across three floors, with the ground floor dominated by a spacious open-plan kitchen, dining and living room. The kitchen has been designed for large groups, with two ovens, multiple fridge-freezers and good washing facilities. The accommodation echoes Huskyan itself: well organised, with a clear attention to detail.
Getting There
You have two options to get to Orkney: by ferry or by flying. The ferry departs from Scrabster on the Scottish mainland and takes just over an hour. It takes cars and foot passengers and is probably the most reliable route to get to Scapa. If you’re driving, remember – it’s a hell of a drive from basically anywhere in the UK to get to Scotland, so plan your journey carefully.
Flying is by far the quickest route but has the traditional challenges of cold-water diving and baggage allowance. I’ve heard first-hand stories of bags being delayed or coming on later flights, so bear that in mind.
Final Thoughts
Scapa Flow is the pinnacle of UK wreck diving and somewhere that justifies its reputation as one of the best places to dive shipwrecks in the world. It’s not a cheap place to get to or dive; when travel and gas are included, you can easily be spending as much as you would on a liveaboard in the tropics. However, there are very few places in the world where you can dive wrecks of this quality, quantity or size.
If you’re a competent cold-water diver, Scapa Flow has to be on your bucket list.
5 days diving on Huskyan with 6 nights accommodation in the divers lodge costs £1160. This is based on a whole boat charter with 10 divers.
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