Open Question to the Whole Forum

[Helen F H]

Ok here is mine.

We enter the water in gale force conditions, the tops being blown off the building waves. You enter the water with all of the air out of your suit and hope to sink like a stone. I dip my face into the water and 12m below me the wreck is moving faster than i ever thought possible. I duck dive and splat (starfishesque) into the rusted plate surface. The current scrapes me off the edge and i fall (now very negativley buoyant)and land on a pile of divers all rearranging masks, fins etc in the lee of the wreckage.
Once we have scraped ourselves off the bottom, i realise i have no buddy, so i just meander off by myself - there are plenty of divers around - all 12 of us. The vis is forever - at least 20m. The water, the palest aquamarine, the colour of the life hardly touched by the depth.
We enter the cavernous hull to find there is no current where we are protected by the remaining plates. The holes look like windows into the blue, light streams into the wreck, giving everything shadows.
Inside it is dark, but incredibly open. Like a sunken cathederal. The boilers are studded with cushion starfish, and wrasse punctuate the scene. Open sections join the covered parts of the wreck - here the stone ballast likes in heaps, in the shadows urchins shine out, their whiteness like stars in the black velvet of night.
Outside of the wreck the underwater gale has slowed to a mere light breeze and we are joined by a cormorant. The bubbles stream off the now gray plumage as it searches for morsels to steal away.
I make my way along the length of the vessel, the passage between the ribs marking the different compartments. In the now roof is the tunnel where the propeller shaft was housed. There in the dark, is one bright red cushion starfish, and one fantastic purple anenome. Alone in the darkness.
All too soon im down to 50 bar in each tinnie. Reluctantly we blob off into the current, and are swept away into the green.


The Tabarka, Scapa Flow.

[Narked@50]

Where is this porg? It sounds remarkably like a block ship dive in Scapa?

James

[Helen F H]

Yep, the Tabarka is a blockship. Very nice it is too.

[Simon TW]

Originally Posted by Porg

Yep, the Tabarka is a blockship. Very nice it is too.

What barrier is it on?

I've dived No2 5 or 6 times but it's all in my old log book.

[Gizmo]

Bump, cos I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on favourite destinations. Busy building a very long to do list!!

[nigel]

Well mine was diving in Venezuela last November the sites are untouched as diving is in its infancy.The dive boat consisted of a canoe with one small outboard motor no radio,phone or o2 the dive cylinders looked like they had been salvaged from a crashed plane the dive weights were home made and if it went tits up you were on your own!
But to balance it up I dived sites that had spectacular endless vis and more marine life then the Maldives most places had only seen a couple of divers a year. My only regret was not doing more dives as I did the Jungle trek to Angel Falls. I would go back again.

Nigel

[pearldiver]

So far, it's a close call between the Justicia and the Flying Enterprise, but I think the Justicia just wins. Fantastic viz, so freefalling down the shot we could see bubbles from the other divers stretching out for acres, and once on the wreck, torches only necessary to look into holes etc. And it is so darned big! 20 minutes bottom time just allowed us to do the bow section - and then as we came up the shot, we could see the lights of divers waaaaaay back towards the stern. Immense, huge, - words don't do it justice (no pun intended!). Like going out into space but not so far....... if you see what I mean. When people whinge about the cost of diving, I think... how else could you get such a mind- blowing experience for so little?

[Mark Chase]

Most exciting dive ever was the Arch at the Blue Hole Dahab. It was just an awesome experience in a stunning location. As far as wrecks are concerned I have dived some great wrecks including the Illinois and the Rotarour but every time I think about it I remember just how blown away I was by the humble Duke. All that China and glass the fish life and the propeller still in place, an amazing dive.

ATB

Mark Chase

My best wreck and secenic dives were both in the UK.
Best wreck dive was the Murree mid channel not too long after she sank, sheer scale and viz made it an immense dive. Looking down to the main deck from the bridge and seeing all the containers on the deck below was mindblowing.
Best scenic was last month off Cape Wrath, small rock 1/2 mile north of the lighthouse called Duslic Rock. 40m+ viz and so much life it was like being in an aquarium. Beats even places like the Red sea hands down.

[BJ]

Best dive location? Without doubt Bikini Atoll. It has the wrecks and the dramatic channel and outside the lagoon, untouched reef walls.
Alas, the apres dive life is not very good, unless you like counting coconuts. Bikini means Land of many Coconuts.