Öland Expedition 2003

Monday, may 19th

Dansk

Another fine morning arrived. And with almost no wind blowing the sea had calmed so much that we decided to make the 3 hour steam to the "Director Reppenhagen". We arrived at "Reppenhagen" shortly before noon. The wreck was quickly located and the first team went in to take a look at one of the best wrecks in the Baltic Sea. Everyone on board had been told quite a story about the wreck so expectations were high. They were not to be dissapointed.   After 30 minutes of diving the first team was back. All laughs and with a comment like "this is the best"... Following this my own team got ready and we went in for a nice time on the "Reppenhagen".   During the descent I reflected on the dives I did on the wreck in 2002. And I was really looking forward to see it again. This time we were using nitrox providing us with a lot more of bottom time and less potential narcosis. We arrived in front of the bridge where the shot was secured to a large winch. The visibility was impressing permitting us with a true 3-D effect during the entire dive. Approaching the bridge I turned back and looked at the shoot. From my location I could see the bow completely eventhough it was more than 30 meters away. And when I looked a bit upwards I could easily see two divers slowly descending towards the wreck more than 15 meters abowe me. This could not be better. Forget blue water diving with dolphins and sharks. Öland has it all and add some !   In the front of the bridge we easily located the skylight through which it is possible to swim into Spiegels cabin. Later I learned that a large whole had been torn in the front of the bridge allowing an easy passageway into the cabin and further back into the interior of the wreck. But this had to wait untill we had visited the bow. During the traverse we looked into the two large cargo holds and finally we arrived at the bow area. After a quick sweep we headed back to the bridge. We entered the cabin and took a good look inside the wreck. Swimming through Spiegels cabin was easy and soon we found our way out in the open through the collapsed engine room. As we ascended we could easily see the boilers standing below us. Well time was almost up for this time and we made our way back to the shot line. During the ascent I watched the wreck for the last time untill it finally dissappeared in the dark green water.   A couple of hours later we were back again for more on our second dive. The current (light) had changed so the shotline has shifted to the opposite side of the wreck. No problem with navigation in this viz ! We wanted to take another look at Spiegels cabin and slowly entered the area with our HIDs turned on. The second team passed above us and took a the long swim to the stern area. They also discribed their dive as one of the best ever.   "Reppenhagen" is still my favorite Öland wreck.

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