Open Question to the Whole Forum

[Mr T.]

Here's a question that often sparks debate like few others can. It also brings back both good and bad diving memories AND (more importantly for those newer members of the forum and those that are not either moderators or those members of the hard-core YD that dive with each other regularly) allows the whole forum to revel in some of the funniest stories ever told.

It also has the benefit of allowing divers that might not yet have dived or visited any given site in question to get a potential heads-up before making a decision of whether to go there or not. YD providing another service to its users if you like.

OK, here goes:

Q1. What is the best (I know it's subjective, but that's the whole point) diving venue (globally, inc. UK) you've ever dived and why? Give reasons and cite examples.


If you don't feel like answering in the positive, change the rules and write about the worst (giving reasons) gig you've been on.

So, just reading aloud off the box:

"Light blue touch-paper and stand well back..........."

(Edited by Bren Tierney at 6:29 pm on July 7, 2002)

[Davey Willo]

Good post Bren

Pity you didn't start us off though, what with you being a man so well travelled... never mind, I'll start with one.

I'm still relatively new and so my array of various dive sites is still a little limited, altho I've been very impressed with lots of them but I may be very easy to please... who knows..... Anyway, without doubt one of the best sites that I've dived would have to be the Zenobia RO-RO Ferry in Cyprus.

This ferry sank on it's maiden voyage, it was full of passengers, articulated lorries, and other vehicles when its ballast computers went belly up and the whole ship started to list, it was sailed into Larnaca bay where all of the passengers disembarked and then they backed it out into the bay where it turned on it's side and sank leaving a spectacular wreck for we rubber clad individuals who like to breath underwater.

The wreck sits on its side in 43m of water but the first part you hit at the bottom of the shot line is the side of the ship which is pretty wierd cos its so big you kinda feel that your swimming along on the seabed as you watch all of little fish picking at the algae growing on this predominantly white base, then as you swim over the side theres a moment of vertigo as the whole things drops away below you and you can see all of the way down to the sea bed at 43m....
Now as this holiday was my first time in waters this clear I got the strangest momentary sensation of I was going to fall to the bed and my stomach flipped, but of course that was gone in a second and we just hovered over the edge and slowly exhaled drifting slowly down and down to 35m.

It felt fantastic... I could see so far in all directions that I felt that I was hovering stationary beside a large building, it stretched away in both directions, the actual sea bed littered with wagons that had fallen from the top of the ship as the chains had rusted and become too weak to hold the weight of the mammoth artic units and trailers

Our guide just hovered and watched over his brood as we buzzed around taking in the mass of this whole bloody thing before he led us off on a bit of a penetration thru the wreck, its a good job he did cos I was so tempted to swim down and grab one of the eggs that filled the back of a trailer on the sea floor.... woulda got my wrist slapped for that one.

Swimming thru the Zenobia was very cool and exiting out of a side door which was now the top of the ship meant my head came up out of what I first descibed as looking like the seabed... it was the white side of the ship... with just my head sticking out it was like I was buried in sand upto my neck and able to do 360s.... lol!! very cool..

We did two dives on this magnificent wreck and my only regret is that I didn't book another two.

If you ever go to Cyprus, no matter where you are on the island you MUST book at least two dives off a nice h/boat onto the Zenobia

Here's a link to a site I've found, I'm sure looking at some of these pics that this is the boat I dived from, Hubert is the guy who's dive centre I used so I imagine it is.

http://www.herbiesdiving.com/english...frameunten.htm

[Mr T.]

Hey Dave,

Top post mate, you've made me quite jealous!! Not done the Zenobia yet, but will do at some stage. There's plenty of Med diving I want to do, including the old French Navy Sub (the 'Rubis') off St Tropez. She was put down deliberately in 1958 (if memory serves) so that Franch Navy divers could learn their craft. She's still got her deck cannons and torpedoes on the deck and she's about 38 - 40 metres down. She served under Royal Navy command during WW2 and saw action in the Western Approaches, Norway and the North Sea. The pictures of her look amazing.

You're right about the vertigo-like feeling you get when glancing over the side of a big ship to the sea-bed - as I'm doing my DM a the moment, I often tell my students on their 1st wreck dive (which can be the lowly Podsnap) that they might feel one of two sensations as they descend the shot-line and the wreck hoves into view through the gloom: either that they might feel that they are going to drop like a stone on to the wreck or, conversely, that they might feel that the wreck is gonna rush up and meet them!

You mentioned that you'd have liked me to have kicked off proceedings with a piece of my own. OK, let's make a deal, I'll write at least one piece on dive sites global for every one piece from any member of the forum for any site they want to write about. Fair?

[Davey Willo]

Erm..... well why don't you just write a couple anyway, since you thought of the idea, lets hear ya :biggrin:

[Eddie]

My best dive site and why? would have to be the local lake back in 1980, my first open water dive! muddy, cold, not much vis but, what an experience, I will never forget that day, my introduction to diving the outside world! the feeling of freedom, excitement, the buzz of breathing underwater for the first time in my life! seeing things like a fish for the first time in their natural habitats! wonderful.

[Jay]

Good idea - just a reminder from our extensive legal time to please ensure that any 'bad' experiences are factual and as objective as possible. Cheers!

And my best dive? I haven't got one yet - had lots of good dives but not experienced a GREAT one (yet - in Ireland for a week in August and Red Sea in September so will hopefully find at least one to tell you about.)

[PaulC]

Do you know James Bond Island in Thailand? Not that I dived it, but imagine the sheer sides dropping down into the sea...and what's beneath? Well, Ko Dok Mai off Phuket is like that. We approached as near as the skipper of the dive boat dared to the cliffs, and then (in what I thought was a very organised fashion for a bunch of day boat divers who didn't know each other) jumped and descended immediately to minimise the effects of a gentle (1/2 to 1 kt) current.
The waters were clear, vis 8m (according to my log book, but that's a minimum, seems like more than that now in hindisght) and it was possible to descend the completely vertical wall to 22m where about 8-10m below you could see the cliffs just disappear into the sandy bottom...quite bizarre. The wall was studded with morays of all sizes and the usual lionfish etc were about. As we swam round the island the sun came out (well, you know what I mean) enhancing the vis and making for a pleasant ascent to the other side of the island where the switched on skipper was not far off waiting on our SMB's (yes, a bunch of warm water divers with SMB's! Impressive eh?) What a great dive and the beers in Patong that night were nearly as good!

[Mr T.]

Sorry Guys,

Forgot and posted my Tobago gig on the Recent Trip Reports forum.

[parahandy]

O.K. Surprisingly enough its in the uk and its ST KILDA,
Clear Blue oceanic water,dramatic volcano like peaks, underwater arches at 30m. Fantastic life sea birds swimming by underwater at 30m. Night diving at 1 am and its daylight.

Went to the Seychelles the week after, you've seen one brain coral you've seen them all, not very impressed.:biggrin:

[Eddie]

ST KILDA sounds interesting, is that the isle of St Kilda? on the Scotish west coast?