In The Zen Zone

Post date: Oct 28, 2009 1:37:59 PM

My trip to Cyprus

by Chris Odell

Julie and I had booked a holiday to Cyprus with Martin & Carole and had planned to do 2 days diving on a ship wreck that Martin had been going on about since he dived it back in 2008

Prior to leaving the UK Julie did a little research via the internet and even rang BSAC HQ overseas dive school manager Mike Clack for information on diving schools in Cyprus. The one that seemed to tick all the right boxes was Alpha Divers in Larnaca. We sent an e-mail and received a reply straight away which we took as a good sign. As it turned out, Alpha Divers turned out to be a great choice!

On arrival in Cyprus we rang the dive centre and were invited to meet the owner at his boat which was moored in Larnaca Marina and was very easy to find. Once we had located the berthing point we found a very bubbly chap called Chris Martin (not the same Chris Martin of Coldplay fame). We told him we wanted to do two days diving on the Zenobia wreck and he said “no problem”. After determining our diving qualifications he suggested a series of penetration dives increasing in technical demands. This was exactly what Martin & I had hoped for so we of course we agreed. Further enquiries established that it was ok to take the girls on board as non-divers for an extra charge.

Thursday

The next day the four of us turned up at his dive centre on the outskirts of Larnaca. There we joined some other divers and set-up our kit and put it onto the back of a couple of 4 x 4 crew cab pick-ups and off we went down to the marina. There we parked our cars in a free adjacent car park and proceeded to load the gear from the truck onto the hard boat. In no time at all we were heading out of the marina for the short trip out to the first dive site.

The other divers, part of a BSAC club from Chiswick were doing their first dive of the day on a wreck called the Alexandra so we had to wait. After an hour or so when they were all back on board we motored the very short remaining distance to the Zenobia and picked up a buoy attached near to the bow of the wreck. The skipper briefed us on the wreck and the dive we were going to do and after we had donned our wet suits and conducted out buddy checks we entered the water from the rear of the boat. First amazing things first - although we were wearing full wet suits the water was warm enough to just use a shorty! Next amazing thing - as soon as we put our heads under the surface we could see the wreck shimmering some 18m below us. As we descended it became apparent just how huge the wreck was. We swam towards the stern of the wreck and down over the side. Because the ship is on its port side (left hand side) the two massive props are situated almost one above the other, just enough apart so that we could drop down between them passing the rudder on the way down to the sea bottom at 42m.

Swimming right around the stern of the wreck we found ourselves looking up at the massive loading doors with articulated lorries lying on their side spilling onto the sea bed.

As we entered the wreck we found ourselves on a deck full of lorries all chained to the deck structure. It was very dark now and we were pleased Chris Martin knew where he was going. I switched my torch on and my light beam found his white tank a few meters in front of me. I checked behind me to see if Martin was still with me, he was as I could see his torch flicker. After travelling for a while we came to a bulkhead. To put the size of this wreck in perspective - it was a great big steel wall and it felt like we were swimming in a large commercial hall. Chris led us through the maze of lorries first turning right and down a few meters. At regular intervals I turned around to give Martin an ok signal with my torch to check he was ok. At the end of a long swim we emerged from the wreck through a lift shaft (picture below) which is now lying horizontal and found ourselves near a crane astern of the bridge.

Checking our computers we already had 5 min or deco so made our way back to the shot line which was easy to spot through the clear water, ascending slowly on the way. As we hovered doing our safety stop at 6m we could see the wreck below in clear detail....amazing!

Thursday 2nd Dive

After an hour’s surface interval we made our 2nd dive and explored more of the decks, travelling inside the lorry deck passing over dozens and dozens of lorries which had been left in various positions dependant on how well they had been chained down for the ferry crossing.

Saturday

The sea had just the slightest ripple today and it was possible to see the Zen from on board the boat we were in on the surface! After our checks, entry and descent we entered through a porthole on the starboard side. By a porthole I mean an opening the size of a household door! This dive had lots of twists and turns as we penetrated right into the midst of dozens of large truck all thrown sideways by the sinking. We dropped down into the middle vehicle deck turning right then left and across to an opening on the far side. Dropping down and left across some more lorries, and again down through a narrow gap between the lorries. We were able to see inside some of the trucks at their various cargos.

We continued up and over the length of a deck which must have been over 100m long over the top of dozens of trucks whose names could be read printed on their canvas sides. We then rose to an exit through a cage-like structure which was very tight especially for the “larger frame” and into an upper deck room with an exit porthole. Because of the depth and length of this dive by the time we got back to the shot line and had done a couple of deep stops we had 15 minutes of deco to spend gazing down at the Zen which was now becoming a familiar sight.

Sat 2nd dive

After an hour surface interval we dropped down the starboard side along the keel to the bow which we passed under (remember the wreck is on its side) and up to the chain locker where we entered (I said it was a big ship didn’t I).

Turning right along a narrow gap we entered another part of the ship and eventually into a lorry deck where we moved left and then right through the confusion of vehicles which had all been thrown together by the violent action of sinking some 30 years ago. This eventually opened into a large space with a porthole above us where we exited.

We then re-entering the wreck at the captain’s cabin which led us up and by turning right into the upper accommodation area and then into the upper car deck passing vehicles full of cargo and up and out vertically along the lift shaft and up to the top of the wreck and back to the shot line.

Monday

Today we had been promised we would be going where very few divers manage, deep into the hull of the ship and into the engine room. We had ordered 15L cylinders and after checking the Nitrox mix at 29% we kitted up, did our checks and entered the water in eager anticipation for the dive ahead which we hoped would be the best of the series of dives we had paid for; we were not to be disappointed!

There were just 3 of us Chris, the dive centre owner, Martin and myself. We entered the wreck with Chris leading and Martin on point duty, this time via the middle car deck towards the stern. We dropped down, twisting and turning through lorries and cargo before reaching a doorway on our right i.e. deeper into the hull. As I entered I shone my torch and its beam picked up the first of the seven cylinder heads of the massive engine – we were in!

Passing the engine and through a 1m gap in the pipe-work we swam one by one through the room following Chris. At one point I had to twist sideways at 45 degrees and immediately turn left to negotiate the pipes and machinery all picked up in my torch beam as the room was totally dark! Checking regularly to ensure Martin was following I was a little disappointed as I could not make out if his smile was as big as mine, but the main thing was he was OK and just behind me. We eventually turned left and squeezed through a small hatch with a little help from Chris who stood by to ensure neither of us caught any dangling kit. We immediately dropped down again and along a narrow passageway and through another door into the top part of the upper car deck along which we swam towards a small blue light which grew a little larger as we approached but still looked very small to exit by.

Before we had chance to try it, Chris gave us a thumbs up sign and we popped up into an air pocket. Chris took out his regulator and we followed suit and found ourselves talking like we had just inhaled helium due to the depth (+30m). Regs back in and we tackled that exit hole which was a real squeeze. With everything tucked in, octopus, gauges, lights & tummies, we all managed to squeeze through and after traversing sideways to the left we made our exit and ascended to the shot line to complete our decompression requirements and yes Martin did had the biggest smile on his face I have ever seen! A truly awesome dive!

Monday 2nd dive For the last dive we were joined by two other divers that Chris had rung to invite along. He had explained that out of every 1,000 divers he only takes maybe 6 on the type of dives we were doing today and because there were just two of us he had invited another instructor from the East of the island together with one of his more advanced students who had been waiting an opportunity for Chris to take them on a deep penetration dive (but not as deep as we had just done earlier into the engine room). Whilst not so deep into the wreck the distance covered would make this a long dive! Once again we dropped down into the middle car deck with Martin & I at the rear and passed a selection of lorries. Down still further through a narrow gap in the trucks and then up into the comparative open area of the top of the middle deck passing the opening to the engine room which we had entered on our last dive. Swimming the length of the deck we exited through an opening where the rest of the divers left us because they were running low on air. We had plenty of gas however so we continued on our own right to the bow to look round the massive bow-wave restrictor (an enormous protrusion at the bow below the surface on large ships) and up to the top of the wreck and back to the shot line. Martin insisted on doing some deep stops which was sensible because with only 1.5hrs surface time between dives we had picked up some considerable decompression time....but that meant we could hover around the shot line for a while taking in our last sight of the fabulous Zen! Don’t even think about – go and do it! Chris Odell Oct 2009

NB. One of the guys on the first day was doing his 94th dive on the Zen and he still had more to see!