After stowing our kit and some snatched sleep we woke to a cup of tea in the boats’ saloon, where we met our skipper Andy and crew Ronnie. After the introductions were made we discussed the weeks’ forthcoming dives, being guided by Andy. He suggested we dive away from other parties, which worked well as we had all the main German wrecks and block ships to ourselves with one exception. We saw two divers from another group during one dive throughout the whole week.

Our first shakedown dive on Sunday the 30^th August was on the cruiser Koln, which was scuttled in about 35 metres of water, max depth, on its’ starboard side. The top of the wreck was in about 20 metres of water. As this was our first dive we went no deeper than 26 metres. We swam along the port gunwale and through openings where plates had rusted away and we couldn’t see much of the ships’ structure at this depth as it was mostly below us. As with all diving on the big wrecks we seldom saw any other divers from our party.

After de-kitting from our first dive we sat down in the boats’ saloon to one of Ronnies’ monster breakfasts, consisting of the standard fry-up plus extras and all the tea we could drink. Then, with three hours rest and relaxation behind us, we kitted up for our second dive, on the cruiser Karlsruhe, which we dived again on the Friday. It was scuttled in about 24 metres of water and lies on her starboard side. The shot line was attached to the bow section near the big guns. The mid-section is quite broken up and we managed to ‘swim through’ in a few places. There were plenty of urchin and starfish; every time I touched the wreck several starfish attached themselves to my glove. Toward the end of the dive we saw a very large winch, which still had thick steel hawser wrapped around it.

Back on board the ‘Jean Elaine’, whilst de-kitting, a cup of tea was thrust into our hands and a packet of biscuits was opened. This was our routine throughout the week, tea and toast, dive, monster breakfast, rest and relaxation, dive, tea and biscuits, then home for tea. In spite of all the food we ate, some of us still lost weight!

 There is no tidal current in the flow itself, therefore we were not restricted by time when diving the main wrecks, which made for extremely relaxed diving. On the other hand, diving the block ships at the entrances to the flow was dependant on tides and time. On Wednesday the 3^rd. September we planned to do a drift dive, taking in three wrecks, the Gobernador, the Tabarka and the Doyle. We planned to dive the three block ships with the tides taking us from one wreck to the next, but by the time we got down the current was running quite fast and those that made it onto the wrecks had a fast roller coaster of a ride. The water was a warmish 14’c and the majority of the time the weather was sunshine and calm seas.

 The main diving for the week was the German fleet and on the Monday we dived the Dresden, the named type for the class of cruiser. It lies on its’ port side in about 36 metres of water. My buddy, Pete Bradshaw and I swam forward towards the bows and swam through a hole in the hull and out across the seabed a few metres. We turned around and saw a magnificent ‘picture’ of the bows, raked back in the old design, with the anchor chain sagging from the bows and out across the sea bed. On our way back through the main part of the wreck we saw a conga eel in the breach of one of the deck guns. 

The second dive on the F.2. and barge. The F.2. is quite broken up mid-section and the mast is easily visible, pointing out across the seabed. A rope was attached between the F.2. and the barge, which was only about 20 metres away. On the barge we swam through the workshops, up through the decks and out round the hull of the barge. The visibility was generally clear except for the usual problem of silt being kicked up, but on the whole, an excellent dive.

The deepest and, for me, one of the best dives was on the Kronprinz Wilhelm, which lies in about 37 metres, virtually upside-down. The visibility was not a good as usual, about 4 metres max. As my buddies, Sue and Graham and I swam aft, towards the stern, hoping to locate one of the 12-inch guns it gradually got darker and the visibility decreased, which made it almost impossible to see under the wreck. I just managed to make out one of the big guns. When we reached aft the stern and rudder seemed too small for the size of the ship and as we swam up the hull we got an idea of how big the ship really is. At 575 feet in length, 97 feet in the beam and displacing 25,388 tons it really is a monster.

The last dive of the week was on the Doyle, a block ship, sunk in about 17.5 metres. The water was crystal clear and the colours of the sea life were so vivid, bright reds, blues, and yellows. The wreck lies on its’ starboard side, the decks have disappeared, but the internal steel structure remains. We swam through the engine room, up between the decks and squeezed out through some holes in the bow section. The visibility was such that had the water been warmer, we could have been diving on any Mediterranean site! 

The average dive times were about 40 to 45 minutes, with the majority of the party breathing Nitrox from twin 12s or 15s and side-slungs, which presented no problems as far as decompression was concerned and we all dived using computers. Sue was the only wetsuit diver. We were asked by people from the local decompression chamber in conjunction with Edinburgh University to take part in a survey of dive profiles over the week. Some of us happily took part, filling in forms of daily profiles. So far they have 80,000 profiles, but hope to get half a million. It is hoped that when the results are published that the causes of some diving incidences can be highlighted and eradicated. 

We owe everything to our crew, Andy and Ronnie, on the ‘Jean Elaine’ for what was, for most of us, the best diving we have done. It makes all the difference when the skipper and crew know exactly what divers want, from having breakfast after the first dive, to filling cylinders, especially Nitrox, between dives so the gas can be planned for the dive rather than the other way round, as is common on other dive boats. On behalf of everyone that took part in the expedition, a big ‘thank you’ to Andy and Ronnie.