Tabarka

Tabarka is a steamship blockship lying upside down on clean sand in Burra Sound, Scapa Flow, at a maximum depth of 15 metres. She was deliberately sunk to block the channel and now rests with large holes in her hull that allow access into the holds; the boiler and engine rooms are reachable through gaps in the bulkheads, and light filters into the interior through numerous smaller openings eaten away by fierce tidal currents.

The wreck suits intermediate divers and rewards those who can navigate an inverted hull. The accessible interior spaces and broken structure give the dive plenty of interest at a relatively shallow depth, though the upside-down orientation is a significant navigational consideration and should be treated as a hazard.

Conditions in Burra Sound are dominated by extreme tidal flows that can reach 10 knots in the narrow channel, making this strictly a slack-water dive only. Visibility is generally good when the tide is not running. Marine life on and around the wreck includes anemones, caprellid shrimps, ghost shrimps, and crabs.