Scapa Diary Day 5 - Gobernador Bories and SMS Coln

By Jane Wilkinson on 26 September 2008

A later start today gave everybody the chance for a lie in and an opportunity to drop into the cafe en route to the boat and have an egg and bacon burger for brunch. Still thinking about the fact that I was unable to get into my old dry suit, I declined! The day had started with some watery sunshine but this was already beginning to disappear and get a little gloomy as we got ourselves ready for the days diving.

Local names

We were doing a reverse profile today for a variety of reasons and had to be at our first dive site to catch slack, otherwise we would be in danger or getting whizzed off the wreck by the tidal rip and end up miles away in the Atlantic – it has happened!. Our destination was the Gobernador Bories or go bananas as it was fondly known by the locals! She is an iron steamer built in 1882 and sunk in Burra Sound as a block ship in 1915. At low water she lies in about 16m of water but due to her positioning in the sound she is subject to anything up to 5knot currents swirling round her, which is why she must only be dived at slack. However the currents also wash away the silt that is so common in the flow and bring rich nutrients for the anemones and filter feeders that coat some of the wreckage like a carpet of white and apricot coloured flowers. With promises of excellent visibility I took my WA lense which I rarely use in the UK as I don’t have sufficient strobe power to light things. However like all good plans it was not to be, generally it just seemed to be one of those days where things go wrong.

Thrashing around

Having jumped off the boat my buddy and I gave each other the thumbs down signal and proceeded to descend, or that was the idea! I thrashed around and finally starting to swim down. Not sure why I was experiencing so much trouble descending I assumed that I had some extra air in my legs. However, a tap on my shoulder made me turn to my buddy and realise that I had actually got tangled in the shot. As the marker boys had gone sailing past my buddy he suddenly realised I was dragging the whole lot down with me! After a quick untangle I then proceed with a more elegant descent but minus about 30bar I had used up thrashing around!

Although we didn’t have the 30m viz that is occasionally reported here it was around 15m with practically no water movement as evidenced by the stillness of the holdfast that seemed to be clinging to every reasonable sized surface. Many wrasse were swimming in and out, these have become used to being fed by the divers here. Congers were later reported as having been seen as well except not by us. We had been warned that the current could pick up quite quickly and kept expecting to be dragged off the wreck by the tidal rip and go hurtling off at any moment. However on this occasion, keeping an eye on the movement of the kelp fronds, it was only a gradual movement that indicated the change. With some air still left we decided to drift off the wreck and were surprised at how slow the current was until once again it was time for the boat to pick us up.

SMS Coln

As the plan was to do the Coln at a maximum depth of 36m it was decided to have a long surface interval and today the entertainment was fishing! Much to the delight of those who were fishing they easily caught both Pollack and Mackerel, these were quickly gutted and cleaned by Hazel. Later, on emerging from the water we were to find that while we had been enjoying the Coln, Helen had been cooking these fish along with some potatoes!..fish an’ chips, you couldn’t get much fresher if you tried!

Descending for our second dive to this amazing ship we understood why it is such a popular wreck. A light cruiser of around 5500 tons and at around 500 ft long she is immense. Being virtually intact with only the forward guns, propeller and anchors salvaged and a large hole blasted in her stern she is very impressive. The ravages of time have been a lot kinder to the Coln than the Dresden and her disintegration is not so evident. She lies in 35m of water resting on her starboard side, because of this position it is only around 20m to her port side. Once down it seemed that every surface possible was covered in brittle stars, in places these were even heaped up on top of each other; their hairy legs seemed to protrude from every orifice. The colossal size of the ship prevented us from doing a whole circuit before time and air dictated that I must once more leave my buddy and head up. Although we didn’t see it a seal was reported afterwards by one of the other divers. Apparently it had been cavorting round the wreck shooting out of one of the many holes and then later peering over the hull at the divers.

This is one of those wrecks that I want to go back and dive again!..and again!.and again!!.

Contact

Author: Jane Wilkinson
Email: info@travel-dive.com

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