SCUBA December 2021 Issue 121

RRight and below : A 10-metre adult

humpback approaches the photographer xcited anticipation was building as I walked out to the headland with my wife Rachel and our 17- month-old boy Jack . We were scanning the sound between Yell and Fetlar in Shetland for the large vertical blow of humpback whales . We had just returned from a family visit down south and while away four humpback whales had been seen here almost daily . To say the least , I had been desperate to get back home to see the whales and potentially have a go at getting some underwater images .

As we neared the headland , we spotted two large white vertical blows about a kilometre away , followed by two more . Then we had the biggest bit of luck – two of them headed straight towards us and within a few minutes were no more than 10 metres out from the headland we were standing on . They looked big … very big ; they came so close even Jack got to see and hear them – truly amazing . We watched them until darkness fell .

Luckily , the forecast for the following two days was excellent – sunshine and no wind – a rare treat in Shetland in the middle of December . A quick call to my buddy Brydon Thomason and we formed a plan to get out on the best-looking day . I couldn ’ t wait to try to get into the water with them , although I did feel g

Above

: Descending into the cenote at Dos Ojos

windswept archipelago with a diving jewel at its heart . Under the waters of Scapa Flow lie the last remains of the German High Seas Fleet . Of these , the three most significant wrecks are the remaining König class battleships .

The turbulent times that created these bellicose behemoths saw the first Great War rage across Europe and shape modern history . These machines were the pinnacle of engineering technology of their day , expensive enough to bankrupt nations but , ironically , obsolete almost

PHOTO : ELAINE WHITE

before their conception . There are very few places in the world where you can visit the guns that fired in anger at the Battle of Jutland at sports diving depths .

People come to Scapa Flow to go diving

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The very definition : A group of divers going diving for a purpose

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300 metres back in a Mexican cave , I reflected that if you had shoved me here at the start of the trip I would have been very , very unhappy . After a week of carefully structured , progressive training from Lanny Vogel at Underworld Tulum , Rob ( a very nice chap from Birmingham who cremates pets for a living ) and I were perfectly happy gently sculling along looking at the spectacular stalagmites , stalactites , columns and organ pipe flowstone formations that surrounded us , one eye on the permanent cave line , the other slowly moving the light around to look at the surroundings .

The beginning of the week started with a cavern dive at Dos Ojos , where we swam around a couple of pre-laid lines , all of the time within the blue glow of a daylight exit . We were looking at the beautiful rock formations made when the water level was lower and the caves were just dripping rather than

but leave knowing they have touched history . Although they are wrecks like all the others in the sea , these battleships have sat at the top table of modern world events and played a part in shaping modern Europe . The three König class battleships have earned a pride of place

Left : The beautiful colours of a curled octopus in the jade waters of Pembrokeshire flooded . We surfaced in a cave full of bats when following the ‘ bat line ’ and saw a mildly disturbing ex-Barbie doll being mauled by a toy crocodile on the ‘ Barbie line ’. While this was very pretty , I was here with Nick Lyon to learn all about shoving ourselves up Mexican caves on an Intro to Cave course . Sadly , Nick had to bail , as on Day 1 he was bitten by an insect that caused his face to swell ( I am not a monster – I ’ m a MAN ) and so he wasn ’ t comfortable with full cave diving .

Rob and I had both previously done a GUE Fundamentals course , so were pretty evenly matched when it came to the basic platform of skills in a twinset- valve drills , donating the long hose and the five propulsion techniques to stop us from kicking up the silt or breaking the delicate cave formations as we moved about . Intro to Cave has some limitations – no deco , no passing through restrictions , use ¹ / ₆ of your gas for the initial penetration , and you need to be proficient at propulsion and have really good buoyancy and trim to move around in the caves . It ’ s a very specific

in modern naval warfare and are a prompt to explore the history books to understand better the follies of men that led to their final scuttling .

Most wrecks are pretty straightforward to explore and give up their secrets with a little investigation . These battleships , by

Below left : Pato the pooch – too wriggly for hand luggage

Below right : How you learn a back kick in a jungle

Bottom : The darkness beckons at Kukulkan

PHOTO : ELAINE WHITE

Above : The mighty bow of the Markgraf rises from the seabed

contrast , can be the first step to a lifetime ’ s reading and occupy many a long night on the internet . Their importance rewards the long hours of investigation and gives rich returns to underwater explanation .

To start at the beginning requires a gentle introduction to the technical battleship .

LOCATION : Skomer Island , Pembrokeshire , Wales DIVE TYPE : Reef / boat dive GPS : 51 ° 44 ’ 48 ” N 005 ° 17 ’ 58 ” W , 20km from launch at Dale SLACK WATER : Two to two and a half hours after low water Milford Haven DEPTH : around 38m

FOR ME , THE GARLAND STONE CAPTURES THE IMAGINATION . ARRIVE IN JUNE ��

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Above : Sports Diver gets you taking on more responsibility for your own diving with a buddy , and can be a springboard to expedition diving

Below : Sometimes an appealing location can be the best way to work towards a grade – Lundy Island , in this case

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MEGAFAUNA

Once in a lifetime

Richard Shucksmith and Brydon Thomason , both from Zetland BSAC , had a priceless experience in their home waters and came away with the first underwater photographs of humpback whales taken in the UK

Go to page 82

TRAVEL SPECIAL

Galapagos Islands Pelagic partytime !

SCUBA Editor Simon Rogerson reports from the Galapagos Islands – can this legendary big fish destination live up to its reputation ?

Go to page 90 Go to page 102

Helpfully , my connection with the Sunday Times newspaper won me an invite to Blue Planet II ’ s premiere at London ’ s Imax Theatre , where I managed to blag all the details and background images I needed to give SCUBA readers the most comprehensive backgrounder on the coming series . It was heartening to see all the young producers enjoying their moment in the sun , and even more pleasing to note the absence of rival diving magazine editors amid the audience . The resulting feature , Inside Blue Planet II , was published in November 2017 .

Probably more care goes into producing SCUBA ’ s Learning Curve features than any other part of the magazine . It is important , after all , to get these things right when you are working with the sport ’ s Governing Body . Over the years I amassed a small group of highly experienced instructors who have proven themselves adept at conveying training issues onto the page .

Louise Whitehouse , Gordon Procter , Marg Baldwin and Luisa Smith formed the core of this team , and to represent their brilliant work I have selected a feature by Luisa Smith , How to Ace Ocean Diver , which came out in May 2018 . As with most of our skills features , the idea was not to mirror the available materials , but provide a helpful guide for those navigating their way through a BSAC course .

By February 2019 we were back with SCUBA ’ s premier humourists , Nick Lyon and Woz , as they joined forces for a cave diving venture into the Mexican jungle . The resulting feature You Want it Darker ? ( and its mostly dreadful photography *) made me wish I had accompanied these good-humoured deviants into the Cenotes . [* We used some beautiful cenote photographs by Elaine White to complement the ones of Woz and Nick looking sweaty in the jungle ]

2019 was also the year of the Scapa Flow 100th anniversary , one of the biggest events on the UK dive scene in my time as a dive journalist . I knew we had to get it right , so I made a trip to Orkney the previous year to do some research and , of course , dive the famous wrecks . I concluded that we needed

expert authors for this issue , so I turned to several Scapa charter skippers and other leading lights . In the end , it was arguably the most cohesive , well researched issue we have ever published , and we renamed the magazine SCAPA for that one-off issue . I timed its publication a bit early , so that our rival magazines would have time to have a good look ... and come to terms with the fact that they couldn ’ t do anything half as good !

The two centrepieces were detailed photofeatures on the cruiser wrecks by Emily Turton and the battleship wrecks by Bob Anderson . Emily ’ s feature is subject to copyright restrictions , but it ’ s my pleasure to present Konig-class battleships of Scapa Flow by Bob Anderson . Bob has played a big role in my understanding of UK diving ; he has been a great friend not just to me , but to the wider BSAC .

The latest date I include is March 2020 , leading up to the first lockdown . This was SCUBA ’ s 100-issue anniversary , and we celebrated with a special issue [ this is the end of anniversary issues until we hit 200 ... I promise ). Among the starry line-up of contributors was Anita Sherman , who had become a mainstay of the magazine with her detailed guides to British diving areas . I asked her to write a compilation feature of her favourite UK sites and it is reproduced here , Anita Sherwood ’ s Top 10 UK Dives .

Finally , from the same issue I include a feature by Andy Hunt : Learning Curve – Expedition Learning Skills . Andy is a long-time supporter of this magazine , and I ’ m proud to have worked on several features sharing his insights . He has moved on from overseeing First Class Diver and is now BSAC ’ s Expeditions Officer . Of course , expeditionary diving often makes for a great story , and that ’ s why we feature so much of it in these pages .

We are here to share the club ’ s stories , to celebrate the depth of BSAC culture and training , and the places they can take us . As we ( hopefully ) begin to emerge from the pandemic , take a moment to look back on these snippets of our happy past , and know that the future is full of promise . �

TRAVEL SPECIAL

You want it darker ?

We ’ re not saying Alex ‘ Woz ’ Warzynski and Nick Lyon are natural born cavemen , but we couldn ’ t think of two more appropriate divers to check out cenote diving in Mexico

SCAPA 100

War machines

The König-class battleships of Scapa Flow

The battleships are what makes Scapa Flow special in the world of diving , with unique sights for those qualified to visit their hidden features . Story and photographs by Bob Anderson of MV Halton

ust off the top of Scotland lies a

The Scapa obsession

British dives to thrill and inspire

Leading an expedition :

What skills do I need ?

In charge of rebooting the BSAC Expeditions Scheme , Andy Hunt has some progressive training tips for new Expedition Leaders

How does the Diver Training Programme help ?

Part one : In which Woz embraces his inner troglodyte

To celebrate this 100th issue of SCUBA magazine , Anita Sherwood and her friends from Worcester BSAC choose their Top 10 UK dive sites . Here they are , in no particular order …

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The Garland Stone

Garland Stone

Eilean Donan

SS Sphene

Loch Carron Slip

Hatt Rock

Assessing personal skills

HMS St Dunstan

TRAVEL SPECIAL

Go to page 114

Greenend ’ s Gully

SCAPA 100

Go to page 122

MFV Fraoch Ban

Black Carrs

SV Royal Adelaide

SCUBA100

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LEARNINGCURVE

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SCUBA December 2021 Issue 121 | Page 49

Once in a lifetime