Dive
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Steve Mowat
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Dive
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Steve Mowat
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Come and "Dive Scapa Flow" with the Stromness Diving Centre. Under the direction of Steve Mowat, the centre has been offering professionally-run dive boat charters for many years, and the comfortable and well-equipped "Triton" is ideally-suited to getting the most from your diving expedition. Steve has a wealth of experience of Orkney's diving waters and is willing to share his knowledge to make your diving holiday especially memorable and enjoyable.
 "Triton"
is a well equipped and professionally converted 58ft MFV. Maintained to
the highest standard, she is the ideal platform for divers to explore
all of Orkney's waters. Below deck there is a heated changing room, a
six-berth cabin and a storage hold. There is a large
deck saloon with a table and ample seating for
a full party, plus facilities for making hot drinks and snacks. There
are shower and toilet facilities on board. The wheelhouse is fitted with two radars, two VHF radios, private ship to shore
channel, two coloured depth sounders and both terrestrial and satellite
electronics linked to a colour plotter. Facilities provided free of charge
include: air, weights, cylinders if required, and hot drinks etc. The
onboard compressor is a 15cu ft Bauer plus an additional shore based compressor.
Nitrox is carried only for those qualified to pump it. Full LSA and BOT
skipper. Small Commercial Vessel Certificate No. S97MV0170090. |
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Burra Sound, first and second world war Blockships are only 20 minutes steaming from Stromness. They lie in about 10 - 15 metres and make very interesting and popular, slack water, shallow dives. Compared to the German Fleet, these wrecks are a more comfortable and identifiable SIZE with lots of marine life and excellent visibility. 1. Tabarka. 2,624 tons a 1909 steamer. 12 m, slack water only. This wreck is upside down and is a challenging dive for experienced divers. 2. Doyle. 1,761 tons, 1907 steamer. Slack water dive. Lots of wrasse, crabs, lobsters and the possibility of a wolf fish in the bows. 3. Gobernador Bories. (see drawing) 2,332 tons. Slack water only. A most picturesque wreck. Swim the whole hull length inside. The fish are very tame and will follow you to be fed with sea urchins. Lots of light inside.Visibility 30m and lots of sea life. A camera here is a must. Other wrecks here dispersed by 5001b mines include: Budrie 2252 tons, Rotherfield 2831 tons, Ronda 1941 tons and Urmston Grange 3423 tons. There is much other wreckage scattered over a wide area. Most divers visit Burra Sound often and take home some of their most pleasant memories of diving Scapa Flow from here. |
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 We also organise fishing charters - please ask for further details |
"The Flow" boasts other wrecks and "scrapyard" sites too numerous to mention in detail, but diving in Orkney would be incomplete without a visit to some of the more scenic sites. Stanger Head with a deep drop straight off the cliffs, enormous rocks on the bottom with big caves and a swimmable passage right through the headland. The Old Man of Hoy is on the Atlantic side of Orkney. To reach this world famous rock stack, the short voyage around the red sandstone cliffs of the Kame of Hoy and St. John's Head is quite breathtaking. At 1200ft St John's is the highest vertical cliff face in Britain. Weather permitting, it's possible to dive at the "feet of the Old Man". Inganess is a dive to explore deep gullies with their own undersea ecosystem. With an amazing variety of marine flora and fauna lnganess is a must for a scenic dive. In first class visibility, this is the place for crayfish. |
How To Get To Orkney By Air. British Airways and Loganair fly daily services into Kirkwall Airport (except Sundays) from London, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester,Glasgow, Edinburgh, lnverness & Wick. By Sea: Northlink Ferries operate a daily RoRo Ferry (the Hamnavoe) to Stromness, from Scrabster, near Thurso on the Scottish mainland. Northlink Ferries also operate a RoRo Ferry leaving Aberdeen for Kirkwall several times a week. There's also Pentland Ferries offering a Ro-Ro service between Gill's Bay (nr John o' Groats) and St Margaret's Hope in orkney. In summer a passenger ferry operates between John 'O Groats & Burwick. By Road: Head north using the motorway system for the A9. Roads to Thurso, Wick and John 'O Groats are well signposted, By Rail: Scotrail stations are located at Thurso & Wick, you may have to change at Inverness. Accommodation Stromness offers camp site, youth & private hostels, self catering apartments, bed & breakfast and hotel accommodation. Please contact us or view information on Orknet. Steve or Jean Mowat of the Stromness Diving Centre will be pleased to help you with queries of any kind. Please email, or write or phone to the address above. We look forward to seeing you! | |
