The sun is back!

We left Rockall Bank a couple of days ago and steamed back inshore (past foggy Rockall!) to a new site at the Hebridean Terrace Seamount which is about 50 miles or so west of the Outer Hebrides where we've been conducting a short survey for JNCC. Underwater the site looks pretty cool, with some impressive cliffs sticking up from the seabed and it looks like a completely different set of fish as well. It's not going to be possible to tell whether the differences are caused by depth (the seamount is much deeper than our previous sites, at 1200-1800m compared to 800m) or by the different habitat, but it's very interesting to see.

Unfortunately, the surface is less exciting and we've had barely any sightings of anything since we got here. Even our entourage of fulmars and gulls has left us now, so I've spent much of the weekend wondering what the hell to talk about today. In true British style, it turns out I'm going to rely on that old classic: the weather!

Well not really, but just enough to say that the clouds finally lifted last night and we were treated to the first clear(ish) sunset in almost two weeks which brought out the scientists and their cameras!

Sunset over the north-east Atlantic 

Watching the sun go down

Some silhouettes work out better than others!

See you on Wednesday for the last blog I'll make from JC073!

Rockall in the Fog

Well, we steamed past Rockall itself last night and I thought you might like to see it:

Can you spot it?

No?

Let me photoshop that for you.

So, seeing Rockall in the fog was probably not the most spectacular way to see it, but it was definitely there, with breaking waves and everything! It's pretty amazing to think that anyone actually managed to stay on that rock for any amount of time, but it has been done!

In some other news, some more photos have gone up over at the official cruise blog, and you can check out those galleries for some photos from the ROV and a few of mine which are up in the Week 3 Gallery.

Thanks also to Dom and Rick who identified those mystery birds as a Pomarine Skua, Arctic Skua and Blue Fulmar (which is an alternative colour morph, not a different species).

Have a good weekend, and see you on Monday!

Plankton blooms, Strange birds and More Macro Photography

Well, we left Rockall trough yesterday and moved to a shallower site further north on Rockall bank to try and escape the storms which are swirling around the south of the UK at the moment, which seems to have been a good move as we’ve managed to get some good, long ROV dives out here so far!

Interestingly, we seem to have arrived right in the middle of a coccolithophore bloom which has turned the water a tropical milky green colour! Coccolithophores are a type of phytoplankton with a calcium carbonate skeleton, and are one of the most obvious blooms to see using satellite imagery because they are such a bright green.

A coccolithophore bloom has turned the water bright green

We’ve also had a few interesting bird visitors lately. I’m not actually sure the bird from the last blog really was an arctic skua, and we were visited by a yet another skua two days ago which I’ve not seen before. I've no idea if they're the same species with different plumage or are completely different, so if anyone can help me out it would be greatly appreciated! We don't have a particularly good ID book out here so getting these right at the moment is more or less guess work.

Another mystery skua passing by the ship

I also spotted this little fulmar amongst the crowd, showing very different colours from normal, but I don’t know if it’s just a young bird or on in winter plumage? I’ve not seen fulmars in different plumage before so any help would be much appreciated!

I've never seen a fulmar with this plumage before. Is this common or something weird?

With the return to ROV dives we’ve also had some more guests for the photography aquarium. To get around the issue of the unbalanced lighting I made a homemade reflector out of tin foil and a random piece of plastic and it seems to be working pretty well so far. See what you think of these:

A little squat lobster on a hydroid. 

The hydroid itself was full of little amphipods (crustaceans similar to sandhoppers)

Eunice norvegicus is a polychaete worm which builds its tubes inside Lophelia reef framework.

A gorgonian (a type of soft coral) commonly seen growing in Lophelia framework

A tiny crinoid or feather star, found clinging on to a little piece of coral.

We're heading off to the Hebridean Seamount tonight which means we're heading back towards the Outer Hebrides and land and starting to meander homewards. We'll be passing Rockall itself this evening at about 9pm, so we'll hopefully get there for sunset (if the clouds lift a little!).

Squishing cups at 800m!

Well, we got one day out of the ROV at least before the weather turned lumpy again and we had to put the work on hold again. It’s unclear what we’re going to do for the last week of the cruise, since the weather forecast and the sea state are both changing so rapidly it’s difficult to know what the best decision will be to get the most out of our last few remaining days.

Between writing my cruise report and working on my thesis, I’ve got plenty to be getting on with, so having a bit of time to really focus on writing and analysis is great for catching up on some things. Of course, being disconnected from constant Facebook access means that we have to come up with slightly more creative ways to get distracted from working, and with deep-sea work going on, that generally means decorating polystyrene cups and sending them down to the seabed to be squished by the pressure. Interestingly, the ones we're sending to 800m are about the same size as the ones we sent to 4800m last year, which makes me wonder what the minimum depth is for maximum squashed-ness... My science-sense is tingling and I can sense an experiment coming on! Anyway, here’s a few I made earlier:

Teeny weeny squished cups

In wildlife news, there hasn’t been much change really. The gannets, fulmars, kittiwakes, gulls and skuas are still following us around, but the gannets still haven’t been diving for us and it’s been too rough for successful whale spotting.

Fulmars run over the surface of  the sea before they take off, leaving little footprints in the water!

I did see my first ever Arctic skua yesterday though as it swooped by the ship! At least, I think it’s an arctic skua.... It’s a pretty terrible photo, but I’m going to share it anyway.

The first Arctic skua I've ever seen (I think!()

200 hungry seabirds & the Jubilee

Well, the weather brightened up yesterday and the swell has decreased pretty nicely so it’s looking like we’ll be back on track with the ROV work from today which is good news! Still it’s been pretty cool out here with the heavy weather and although there hasn’t much going on in terms of wildlife that we could really see (except the pod of 20 pilot whales which I missed! Bah!).

Making celebratory Jubilee hats

The bad weather did give us a chance for some hat-making sessions for the Queen’s Jubilee weekend though!

What are you looking at?

Considering that there are 54 people on board the ship, we throw away relatively little food. Meals are one of the daily highlights so people tend to eat everything they’re given anyway, and the kitchen will recycle any other leftovers into new meals for a few days as well so very little is actually wasted. So it’s pretty incredible that we’re currently being followed by an entourage of about 200-300 gulls, fulmars, gannets and skuas, which are apparently getting enough food to make it worth their while to tag along with us. I’ve no idea how much these birds need to eat, but I would have thought a fishing boat would have made a better target for discards and a free meal than us. Still, it means that feeding time for us is quickly followed by feeding time for the birds which inevitably means a few scuffles between the birds and some good photo opportunities for me!

We're being followed by a LOT of birds

This must be worthy of a caption competition!

Fulmars racing for some scraps

Two gulls scuffling over some leftovers

A (far away) skua intercepting a gannet mid-dive.

 I saw my first shearwater of the trip today too, which is nice since it means they’re definitely out there somewhere! I’m still trying to get a good photograph of one, but they’ve been making themselves scarce this trip which is a bit unusual considering they’re usually a fairly common sight. Still, I’ll keep an eye out for them and hopefully they’ll come back over the next few days before we leave.

Guide: Diving Scapa Flow & the Northern Isles

Scapa Flow and the Northern Isles

The Orkney islands lie approximately 10 miles off the north coast of Scotland, and have some of the best dive sites in the UK, particularly if you are fond of shipwreck and with over 70 islands forming the archipelago, there is no shortage of coastline and dive sites to explore. Broadly speaking however, there are two major areas to dive in – Scapa Flow in the south, or the Northern Isles in the north.

Divers completing a safety stop in the clear waters of Scapa Flow

A diver making his way to the bows of the Koln

A diver swimming alongside the Koln

Fish school around the wreck of the Koln. 

Gun turret on the F2 (WW2)

Gobernador Bories

The Oceana is fairly broken up now, but is covered in marine life

A diver inside the Endeavour

The outside of the Endeavour is covered in soft corals

Divers on the James Barrie

The bows of the James Barrie

The bridge deck and winch mechanisms still in place on the James Barrie.

The Jean Elaine coming to pick us up 

Scapa Flow is a sheltered sea area surrounded by the southern Orkney Islands, the largest of which are the Mainland, Hoy and South Ronaldsay. These islands keep the Flow sheltered from the worst of the weather, effectively creating a natural harbour which has been used by people for thousands of years to find shelter for themselves and their vessels. More recently it was exploited by the British navy during both the first and second world wars, when it was used as a major naval base to control access to the northern North Sea. The ships that sank during those conflicts and still remain under the waves in Scapa Flow are probably the greatest attraction to the divers who visit the islands every year.

To see more underwater photographs, and pictures from Scapa Flow, have a look at the Underwater gallery.

  

Map of the Orkney Islands and Scapa Flow

From Wikimedia Commons

The northern isles by comparison have no such military history, but have plenty to offer in their own right. Outside the shelter of Scapa Flow, the waters in the north of Orkney are subject to stronger tides and are more exposed to the weather meaning that diving is not always possible in all places. However, these currents serve to keep the water much clearer than could be expected in Scapa Flow and maintain a great variety of marine life to keep the biologists and scenic divers happy. There are plenty of shipwrecks around the Northern Isles as well, and while they might not be steeped in the history of the military wrecks of the flow, can still be absolutely stunning to visit.

Wrecks of Scapa Flow: German High Seas Fleet

The most famous wrecks in Scapa Flow are probably the seven remaining battleships and light cruisers from the German High Seas Fleet which was scuttled following the end of World War One. After the armistice was declared in 1918 at the end of World War 1, the High Seas Fleet of the German navy was interned in Scapa Flow with its fate to be decided by the Treaty of Versailles. The peace talks lasted months, and eventually in May 1919, it was declared that the German fleet was to be surrendered to the allied forces much to the displeasure of Rear-Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, commander of the German fleet. He immediately began making plans to scuttle the fleet rather than hand it to the allies, but didn’t have an opportunity to carry them out until 21st June 1919 when all but two of the British vessels that had been guarding the interned force left Scapa Flow for training exercises. Staffed only by skeleton crews, the allied forces did not consider the German navy to be any further threat to them and not worth keeping under constant heavy guard. The message took about an hour to pass between the German vessels, and they acted shortly after. Over the course of a single morning, 74 warships were scuttled and sank.

Following the end of WW1, most of those vessels were salvaged for scrap, with only seven of the 74 warships now resting underwater in the Flow: the cruisers Karlsruhe, Dresden, Brummer and Koln, and the battleships Konig, Kronprinz Wilhelm, and the Markgraf. These wrecks now lie in approximately 30-45m of water inside Scapa Flow and more information on each of the wrecks can be found on the photo pages themselves. Because they are in sheltered waters, they can be dived at any state of the tide and aside from the depth, are relatively easy to dive. That’s not to say that anyone can dive these wrecks – most dive trips to Scapa Flow last a week and decompression requirements can quickly add up, meaning that anyone wanting to dive here needs to be well prepared and a skilled diver. All seven of the wrecks are still in relatively good condition, but my personal favourite of the group is the Koln. This particular wreck is more or less intact, lies on its starboard side, and seems to be a particularly attractive spot for shoals of fish. I have dived it several times in the summer months, and each time it has been swarming with shoals of juvenile fish, which were sometimes so densely packed that it was impossible to see the wreck for the fish even if we were only a couple of metres away from it! I admit, I am generally more interested in marine life than wrecks for their own sake, but when you can have both, it makes for some excellent diving. 

Blockships

The blockships were merchant vessels that were commandeered and deliberately sunk by the British navy to try and block the entrances to Scapa Flow from German U-boats during the Second World War. the three remaining vessels lie in Burra sound, and are the wrecks of the Doyle, the Tabarka and the Gobernador Bories. They all lie in about 10-20m of water, but must be dived at slack due to the very fast currents in the sound. However, the increased tides do make for some nice visibility, and these blockships are usually clearer dives than the other wrecks in the Flow.

Of the three, the Tabarka is generally regarded as the best. I dived this wreck for the first time about 5 years ago, and it was stunning. There's typically a LOT of current on the blockships, but after battling our way down and dragging ourselves through the kelp over the top of the ship we made it inside what appeared to be a giant underwater barn. The visibility was about 30m with sunlight streaming through the sides of the wreck. Unfortunately, the wreck seems to have deteriorated quite badly in the last few years, and when we dived it in 2008 and 2010 it was a real squeeze to get inside what were once wide, spacious holes along the sides. And that was after 10 minutes trying to find them! The marine life is still really nice along the outside of the wreck though, with loads of filter feeders and anemones covering the edges.

The Gobernador Bories and Doyle are still quite intact around the stern and boiler rooms, and the bow of the Gobernador Bories is still intact as well I believe.

Wrecks of the Northern Isles

I dived in the Northern Isles for the first time in 2008, and was really surprised by the quality of the wrecks outside of Scapa Flow. Outside of the shelter of the Flow, many of the shipwrecks around the Northern Isles lie in quite tidal areas and have to be dived at slack water. However, the benefit of this is that marine life thrives in tidal conditions and the visibility can be excellent. There are dozens of wrecks around Orkney that can be dived, but the ones we visited were the Oceana (tug), Endeavour (trawler), and Loch Garry (boom defence vessel). Of these, the Endeavour was by far the most memorable, being covered in dead men’s fingers and full of fish with around 30m visibility. It was also easy to enter inside the bows of the vessel, and was a great setting for some wide-angle shots. The Oceana was also quite a nice, atmospheric wreck for photographs, but was much more broken up with only the skeleton structure remaining.

One wreck which is worthy of special mention though, and which can be dived as part of either a Scapa Flow or Northern Isles trip is the wreck of the James Barrie. This wreck lies in about 42m of water in a highly tidal area making it probably one of the most advanced-level dives in the area. However, if you can get the right tide and the right group to dive with you will be rewarded by a dive on an intact 60m trawler with visibility up to 30-40m. The ship itself lies on its starboard side and since there are still nets in the forward holds it is worth approaching it with a bit of caution! But the view on the ship itself is stunning. I’m not sure these photographs really do it justice, but I hope you enjoy them! 

Getting there

To get to Orkney, you can travel by ferry either from Aberdeen (about 3 hours north of Glasgow) or Scrabster (around 5 hours north of Glasgow) to Stromness. I believe there is also the option to fly, but this is much more expensive, and more hassle with dive kit.

There are a huge number of dive boats to choose from, but our club have generally dived from the liveaboards MV Jean Elaine or MV Sharon Rose (http://www.jeanelaine.co.uk/index.htm) for the last few years, and they have always provided excellent service, diving and advice.

All images shown in this article and more can be seen in the Underwater gallery.

A Day in the Life... On a Research Cruise

There’s nothing quite like the combination of fog, rain and a big swell at sea to really limit your options for photography! The weather yesterday and today has been too poor to put the ROV in the water and too foggy to get any decent photographs so we’ve had a quiet couple of days to catch up on some writing and data processing in the labs. But, all work and no play makes scientists at sea go crazy, so I thought today I’d write a little bit about a typical day on a research cruise and what we get up to out here to maintain some semblance of sanity!

Bet you can't spot me!

I’m writing this during my third offshore cruise, and during each one the scientists have been put on (usually 12-hour) shifts so we can keep working around the clock. The RRS James Cook costs about £50,000 per day to hire (including fuel, consumables and crew wages etc.) so it’s important to try and make the most of every hour we can get on board, especially since the chance to participate in a research cruise often represents a one-off opportunity to get your data. Unlike other fields, with deep-sea research it’s not like you can just pop 300 miles back offshore if you forget something or lose a sample! With that in mind, even working for 12 hours or more through a night shift doesn’t seem quite so bad.

So regardless of what time you actually wake up, a typical day will start, as it does anywhere, with breakfast and a coffee in the ship’s galley before checking in with the shift leader to see what the programme of work will be for the day. The shift leaders are responsible for keeping things running through their shift and will liase directly with the expedition’s Principle Scientist and to make sure that everyone gets the samples they need from the trip. They are also the ones who will be at the forefront when plans need to change to allow repairs to be done on a piece of kit or if bad weather comes in and forces us to rethink what we’re going to do for the day.

Nothing like a giant bucket of mud to keep everyone happy!

Since every research cruise is designed with a particular purpose in mind, the type of work being done will depend very much on what the aims are. The cruises I’ve participated in have mostly focused on ecological surveying using ROVs, towed cameras or trawling for example, but we’ve also done plenty of mud sampling, box coring, water collections and acoustic mapping as well. Regardless of what type of cruise it is though, one of the things I really enjoy about working on these ships is the real sense of camaraderie that develops from joining in with the deck work in particular, whether it’s carting buckets of water around for the on-board aquaria or being up to your elbows in abyssal mud at 2am on a pitching ship!

But like I said, you can’t work for 14 hours a day for 4 weeks straight without needing some downtime, and fortunately the cruise ships I’ve been on have been well-supplied in terms of entertainment. The James Cook for example has a video room for watching films in, a small library full of novels, a good-sized social area for watching TV and even a Wii with a few games! For me as well there’s also the photography to keep me busy, whether it’s shooting the wildlife or shooting photos of the work that we’re all doing.

Wii tournaments can get pretty intense

So that’s more or less it really for a typical day at sea! The weather has just kept on getting worse and the captain’s ordered the decks secured now while we head to our next station through a 3-4m swell (about 10-12 feet I think), but the birds seem to be thoroughly enjoying themselves so I’m off to try and get some shots of the stormy seas!

Thanks to Karl Attard and Millie Sharkey for providing today's photos :)