Drying my suit at Eyemouth
It was suggested to me before this trip that Scapa Flow diving might test me a little as I had only been diving a few months. It did! We went to Eyemouth first to dive close to the Marine Reserve. I was surprised by the wild life we saw in four dives
edible crabs
swimming crabs
Pollock
Top Knott
Leopard spotted Goby
butterfish
scorpion fish
Pipe fish
nudibranch white
fluffy nudibranch
hermit crabs
lobsters
starfish
white coral
orange coral
cod
Ling
We then dived at the Churchill barriers on Orkney. Barrier 2 was disappointing as the visibility was atrocious. We then moved to Churchill barrier 3 a total contrast to the earlier dive good visibility and a wreck or three to explore. The Empire Seaman, Martis and Gartshore are all Single Screw Steel Steamers lying in water a maximum depth of 12m and form part of Barrier 3. Sun streamed through the shallow water on to the weed hanging off the the wrecks that could be entered – swum through – and there was a variety of fish. These two dives alone paid for the long journey. As a bonus I saw a number of flatfish on the way out to the wrecks.