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Halton Charters

Diving Charter Boat (English)

Service:
  • Air
  • Liveaboard Diving
  • NITROX
  • Vacation Holiday Scuba Diving
  • Wreck Diving
Company description Skippered by Bob Anderson, the Halton is a 70ft dive boat offering diving charters in Scapa Flow.
Halton Charters offers day-boat or live aboard charters to divers in Scapa Flow and beyond, mainly operating from Stromness. Built to withstand the worst of the weather for her former life as a trawler, the Halton is now a sturdy, capable dive boat. She is just short of 70ft in length and 17ft in width, so there is plenty of space for 12 divers to kit up and then to relax after the dive.
She was originally built in Denmark in 1973 in the distinctive Danish style. In the winter of 2002/3 she underwent a major conversion, moving the wheelhouse forward so as to allow space for a galley/saloon above deck whilst six twin berth cabins were fitted out below deck. Halton Charters is now able to offer full live-aboard charters in the Flow and further afield: trips have sucessfully run as far afield as Shetland, Sule Skerry, North Rona and Kyle of Tongue.
The main engine is a 232hp Gardner diesel that pushes the Halton through the water at a steady 7kts. The engine room also houses the compressor and silent running generator. The wheelhouse is fully equipped with the usual electronics, including colour sounder, GPS, radar and VHF.
Emergency and first aid gear (including oxygen) are carried on-board as a matter of routine, though divers are advised to bring their own emergency oxygen.
The skipper/owner is Bob Anderson. Originally Bob came north to Orkney in 1993, attracted by the allure of Scapa Flow. He worked as a commercial diver for four years before becoming a dive boat skipper in 1998. After three years on other boats he finally took the plunge in November 2001 and bought the Halton.
``As an owner and skipper, I will be on the boat for the whole of your week: no delegation of duties here! On busier weeks and away trips, I normally enlist a crewman to help with the work load, especially if the trip involves overnight passages etc. I have an MCA Boatmaster ticket for Scapa Flow, a RYA Yachtmaster Offshore ticket for 60nm off land, an HSE Commercial Diver qualification and an O level in Ceramics.
I am a diver too so hopefully can give a fairly accurate impression of what you are going to dive. I try to dive most of the sites that I put divers in for that very reason... certainly I have explored the vast bulk of the dives in Scapa Flow. The summer of 2003 saw me tick off a dive that had been on my wish list for a good while: Sula Sgeir.
Location description: Some of dive sites that we can visit:
Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow is the top wreck diving location of the northern hemisphere and home to the scuttled German High Seas Fleet.
On the 21st June 1919 more than 70 ships, almost the entire German Navy, were scuttled under the orders of Admiral von Reuter. Isolated from any source of current news, he feared that the armistice negotiations would break down and took this drastic action rather than let the ships fall into British hands.
Today these wrecks lie between 20-50m below the surface, most in close proximity to the small island of Cava.
Also dotted around Scapa Flow lie the remains of other ships, casualties of different circumstances.
Being almost fully enclosed by a ring of islands, there is a sheltered site in Scapa Flow in almost all weather conditions: the diving season runs from March to November.
Brear
January 1993 was one of the most stormy months of the 20th century in the Northern Atlantic: during one of the storms, on 5 January 1993, the oil tanker Braer became stranded on rocks off Shetland in a severe gale, causing one of the biggest oil spills ever and creating a major environmental disaster in an internationally known wildlife area. The ship was carrying almost double the amount of crude oil that was aboard the Exxon Valdez when it ran aground in Alaska in 1989. The Braer finally broke up completely during a subsequent storm on 10-11 January 1993 which established a record central low pressure of 916 hPa for the north Atlantic and which is the lowest recorded mean sea level pressure in the world outside of tropical storms and the centres of tornadoes.
Fair Isle
The diving around Fair Isle is worthy of a book unto itself with wrecks ranging from the Spanish Armada ship the El Gran Grifon lost in 1588, to the Norsemans Bride, a trawler sunk in 1975. The vis is usually clear but the wrecks are often very broken due to their exposure to the elements. A week could be spent exploring Fair Isle itself.
Jane
The Jane was an iron steamship of 840grt that ran ashore on 19/07/1923 due to a navigation error.
The wreck now lies on a sandy seabed in 20m of water in an area of strong tide, keeping her clear of silt and covered in marine life.

Website: Preview http://www.mvhalton.co.uk/ by Thumbshots.org http://www.mvhalton.co.uk/
Offers dives to the scuttled German fleet at Scapa flow from a 70` dive boat. Includes information on boat and dive sites. Based in Stromness, Orkney.

Contact information:

Phone: (01856) 851532
Street Address:
3 Ness Road
Stromness
Scotland
United Kingdom
KW16 3DL
Spoken language(s): English
Open: from 09-00 till 17-00
Local time:  Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) London, Edinbourg, Lisboa
Note: No guarantee is made to the accuracy of these details.

If you are a representative of Halton Charters , you may update your options or details in our scuba diving directory. Please use contact form or email us at info@divingfinder.com.


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