Zenobia

[Scubee]

Last week, I crossed another ‘must do’ dive off my list. With only a week in Cyprus, it took a bit of careful planning to persuade my son that a day consisting of sitting on a bus and a boat was a much better plan than playing in the pool. We had a very early start – leaving Paphos at about 7.30am for the long bus ride to Larnaca. After a quickish transfer to Pirate we left the harbour, gearing up on the way out.

As a lone diver, I am always wary of who I am going to be buddied up with. Today, I was lucky. I was buddied with another UK diver who had done similar types of diving to me, although he had twice as many dives! We got on well, chatting about the diving we had done and wanted to do.

As we got to the dive site, I looked over the side to see the Zenobia lying out below the clear waters. Ours was to be the last group in and I was itching to get my kit on and wet. Finally, we were ready and made our way to the shotline to begin our descent. The shot we used is attached near to the funnels. The guide gathered his awestruck clients and off we went, dropping over the hull heading towards the stern. We had a plan to stick to a maximum depth of 35m, which was OK, until we got to the huge props. With the Zen lying on her port side, one of the props is on the seabed. I was tempted, but restrained myself somehow. I did have a chuckle when I realised what was on the seabed next to the prop…. Obviously, someone had been doing some extreme ironing.

From the props, we went round the stern past the huge cargo doors. Beyond were lorries lying on the seafloor. We were now at about 20-25m in the superstructure. Looking down, more lorries and big winches came into view. We swam along stairways, corridors and deck space to return to the shotline just beyond the funnel.

Reluctantly, we ascended. We had avoided any deco obligation, which would have compromised the plans for the second dive. This was to be around the bow section, and would involve minor penetration, into the cafeteria and, if possible, the bridge. Using the same shot as on the first dive, we turned forward, towards the anchor. This is still in its place on the hull. The bow thrusters show little sign of 20 odd years under the sea. From the bow, we turned towards the superstructure and we entered through what was once a window into the cafeteria. The tartan carpets hang in tatters from the ‘walls’. Deeper penetration looked possible, but we ascended a few metres and exited through a side window. We swam along the superstructure, taking in more sights. A broken liferaft, deck railings which once held her nameplate, and again the funnels appeared in front of us.

We completed safety stops and surfaced. Getting back on the dive boat we were all in agreement that the Zenobia deserved it’s place in the top ten wreck dives. Two dives weren’t enough. I for one will go back to spend time on her.

[Tricky]

Great report. It's on my 'to dive' list too - next year hopefully

[DonnaA]

Indeed it is a fantastic dive and one we never tire of doing! And its only takes us half hour to get to the dive site from our home

Glad you enjoyed it

Donna

[SoggyFox]

I did my MOD1 CCR on it this year and i so want to go back and get some more time on it. Hopefully going to go back and do a wreck penetration course sometime. Its definitely a wreck i could spend some serious time on.

[Scuttler]

I dived the Zen four years ago and it's an awesome wreck. I was fortunate enough to have been staying in Larnaca for 10 days with work (well that's what i told them anyway ) As I flew into Larnaca airport I looked out of the window and you could see her then.

You can dive her a thousand times and still not see everything. It's a truly amazing wreck.

I'd give a big thumbs up to Dive-In the outfit that I arranged my diving with at the time. Very helpful and professional outfit.

My only disappointment was the tourist submarine that kept buzzing us when we were there.

Looking forward to going back again one day soon

[Jim Shaw]

It's a fantastic wreck, I dived it 3 years ago, and loved every minute of it, ( well apart from the bit when I got back on the surface and I only had 10 bar left in my tank but me and my buddy was aware of my air situation, and he was shadowing me from 40 bar, with his octo out ready to give it to me, he had about 80 bar, and we did a 4 minute saftey stop )


but as I was a pretty inexperienced diver at the time,( only about 20 dives ) I'd love to go back and do it again, but just don't fancy the other diving in cyprus, so long weekend would probably be perfect for my next visit.

[Scubee]

Yep... I have a plan to do a long weekend hopefully next year. Logistically, I think it will be a nightmare, I will be chatting to Dive-In at the show in October.

The sub appeared towards the end of the first dive - I guess if you can't dive then that is the only way people will get to see it. And its about the only place in Cyprus where there are any fish!

[Sipadan]

I'm in Cyprus at the moment, relaxing after a nice week on the Zen. Just to let you know, the Cricket and the Alexandria are also worth a dive. The Cricket is a WWI river gun boat and the Alexandria is trawler that has literally just gone down. We found some nice goodies on the latter.

[Jim Shaw]

Originally Posted by Sipadan

I'm in Cyprus at the moment, relaxing after a nice week on the Zen. Just to let you know, the Cricket and the Alexandria are also worth a dive. The Cricket is a WWI river gun boat and the Alexandria is trawler that has literally just gone down. We found some nice goodies on the latter.

yeah the HMS Cricket was a nice wreck too, I enjoyed that one.

[Lichwolf]

I dived it back in May - truely excellent - managed 4 dives, but hope to be back next year

incidently you can see it a a 'shadow' complete with dive boats on google earth - start from the airport and its not too hard to find