Tabarka

I'm diving in Orkney this weekend.

This morning we dived on the gun turrets from a Bayern class Battleship. The ship turned turtle as it sank and the gun turrets are embedded in the mud. When the remains of the ship were salvaged the turrets were left in the mud with the part that used to be embedded in the ship sticking up. The ball-bearings that allow the turret to swivel to aim at its target are one of the most interesting features - the balls are about 10 inches across!

This afternoon we dived the Tabarka, one of the blockships in burra sound. These were deliberately sunk to block access to Scapa Flow, especially for U-boats. Huge tidal currents flow through the sound, so the water is crystal clear. The Tabarka is only in about 20m so there is plenty of light and in places it's really open so the light inside can be spectacular. We had a lovely dive! When we came out afterwards the tide had started running hard, so we had a good drift as we headed for the surface...

This is Gavin at one of the more open sections of the Tabarka.