Within minutes of landing at Larnaca we found ourselves discussing
the days ahead with Mus whilst eating delicious and very large Cypriot
kebabs filled with sheftalia, pastourma, haloumi, chicken and pork and
washed down with our beer of choice for the trip: KEO. Mus’ enthusiasm
for diving the Zenobia was only beaten by his enthusiasm for the food he
had planned for us to eat, in particular the burgers at San Pedro’s
burger shack next to the dive centre, though for himself he assured us
‘the diet starts tomorrow’ since after two weeks on Cyprus his drysuit
was too tight and trousers too small.
At 7:30 next morning we were all at the dive centre signing forms and
putting our kit together. Heads and bodies were a little jaded given
our food and dive discussions had continued through a few more KEOs. But
before long we were sat in the big yellow 10m RHIB, Eleni R, with its
two 300HP engines making very short work of the the mile or so ride out
to the Zen.
Dive-In is a great operation. Our twinsets, stages, and Mus’
rebreather were taken from us once gasses were analysed and regs
assembled at the dive centre. They were put onto our backs moments
before we dropped in to the refreshing 18 degree deep-blue water of the
Mediterranean. Our only task was to walk the two minutes from the dive
centre to the harbour.
Dive 1 took us down the bow shot line where most of our dives ended
in deco. around the trapeze maintained by Dive-In. This dive took us on a
tour of the outside of the Zen down to the seabed at 40m then winding
back up and along the superstructure peering through windows and doors
at what lay beyond. Visibility was at least 25m and it was easy to get a
perspective of the wreck’s layout.
The Zenobia was a 178m RORO ferry with three cargo decks and an
accommodation level. She capsized in 1980 on her maiden voyage due to
problems with the computerised ballast system. No lives were lost as the
ship had been evacuated. She lies on her side so floors and ceilings
are now walls and walls are now floors and ceilings. The 106 trucks and
one car on the Zen are either piled up on the port side of each cargo
deck or hanging precariously from chains on a wall that was once the
deck. Trucks on the outside decks tumbled to the seabed. Very little has
been salvaged from the wreck so these treasurers occupied our remaining
five dives.
Dive 2 was to be our first inside the wreck. But first we descended
the stern shot line onto the two huge prop’s and made our way around the
stern to the trucks lying on the seabed. These include the famous egg
lorry whose ovoid cargo is piled up on the seabed with barely a crack…
though somehow all of us swam right by without noticing all the eggs.
Our eggselent guide, Alan Timmins, couldn’t believe it. The following
day after another spotting failure we forced him to take lessons in the
kind of underwater signage we expect in order to notice the blindingly
obvious. After the trucks, we ascended the superstructure and entered
the accommodation block at the top of the wreck. We followed a corridor
through the ship back to the bow with cabin portholes and bathroom
fittings above us. As we approached the bow this corridor opened into a
deep space below us that had been the restaurant. A soft blue light
could just be seen through the windows at the front of the
superstructure lined up below us.
Day 1 diving was complete so eating could start. Since San Pedro’s is
closed on Sundays we made do with a huge lunch of lamb kleftiko, red
mullet, pork chops, bread, hummus and taramasalata washed down with KEO.
A short siesta later we reconvened in town for beers, cocktails and a
small dinner that was anything but small. Away from the most touristy
areas we found cool bars and a friendly bustling atmosphere that kept us
going longer than the 7:30am start next morning warranted. Luckily
right next to Dive-In is a 24-hour coffee shop, The Coissanterie, which,
amongst other assorted delights, serves delicious triple chocolate
croissants as well as strong sweet coffees which were very much
required.
Dive 3 took us into the darkness of Zenobia’s cargo decks. The upper
deck is entered at the bow though a post box opening that was once a
door to the forward deck. It took a minute or two to get accustomed to
the dark cavernous space lit up only by our torches and the occasional
flash of my camera’s strobes. We descended into the dark onto the
colourful wreckage of trucks and cargo below. This wreckage continues
unabated all through this deck. Eventually a large blue opening
materialises in the distance where the upper deck once opened to the
elements. What looks like a gantry lies across this large blue window.
But it is actually the remains of a truck that was carrying cattle
carcasses and the bones of those cattle are piled up deep on the floor
of this truck. To Alan’s bemusement none of us saw them despite him
swimming slowly over them and shining his torch on them. Following this
dive we ‘helped’ him develop the signs none of us could misinterpret for
the next must-see items.
Dive 4 took us right into the still darkness of the enclosed middle
cargo deck. It is entered by the small Pilot’s door on the vast
starboard side of the Zen that is now a sunny meadow populated by tasty
looking Bream. After a bit of a squeeze through the entrance and a
minute or two to get accustomed to the dark we descended to the wreckage
and wound our way towards the stern between the trucks and their cargo.
At the end of the deck is a forklift truck. Alan made the agreed signs
and we all saw both that and the jumper that is lying against one wall.
Surrounded by darkness the colours of the trucks, their tarpaulins and
cargo are still vivid after all these years under water and are now
mixed with the inevitable bright orange rust.
We had truly earned our San Pedro burger and as promised it was dive
food extroadinaire. And large. The siestas that afternoon were a little
longer and the need for evening food a little less. But that didn’t stop
us heading to a fish restaurant where a fish mezze was more than a
challenge for just us and so the local stray cat population happily
joined our feast. Don and Joli proved a very soft touch when it came to
fluffy animals with big feed-me eyes.
Dive 5 was an adventurous tour starting at the bottom of the
restaurant and ascending past the serving station with its tray rails,
coffee machines and food bays still in place, and the brightly coloured
tartan carpet still mostly in place on the floor that is now a wall. At
the top we rejoined the accommodation block corridor from the second
dive. But a little way along this we tuned back down into the wreck and
picked up a lift shaft which took us through to the upper cargo deck
again. With an obvious and slightly rude sign agreed for ‘bone’ we
headed back to the beautiful blue window at the stern end of this deck
and duly took in all the cattle bones before returning the length of the
upper cargo deck looking at features on the deck’s starboard walls that
are now the roof. These include a cargo of blue plastic bottles that
have floated from their containers and are trapped bobbing against the
roof.
Our final dive was back into the darkness of the middle cargo deck.
This time we turned towards the bow of the ship and passed through more
colourful wreckage including a cargo of sleeping bags mostly still
rolled up. Our target was the only car on the ship, the captain’s blue
Lada, which luckily ended up on top of all the trucks instead of below
them. None of us missed it as it emerged from the darkness. The
atmosphere on this dive was more intense because of the amount of diesel
floating like smoke in the water giving a distinctly other-worldy feel.
The contrast as we emerged out of the little Pilot’s door into the blue
Mediterranean was vivid.
Three days wasn’t enough. The Zenobia is huge and there is so much
more to come back for. Mus had been there for a week and also saw the
lower cargo deck, main engine room, auxiliary engine room and tool shop.
Most of our dives inside the wreck maxed out around 35m and outside the
wreck at 40m. Dives are an hour long with 5 to 10 minutes deco on 50%
nitrox.
All that remained on this trip was more food. Lunch at our new
favourite restaurant, Portokalis, which is run by a man from Mile End,
included the largest pork chops I have ever seen, more chicken kebabs
and a rich Moussaka. A long siesta prepared us for a night out with
Cypriot friends of Don’s after a ‘light’ meal of the hugely delicious
and deliciously huge kebabs, washed down by some with a bottle of
Zivania and by others with KEO. The night was long and probably
memorable.
Huge thanks to Mus for organising the trip, Chris W for being my dive
buddy, Don and Joli for being Don and Joli and Go-Pro footage, Alan for
being our brilliant guide and lugging our kit around, Dan for
skippering us and lugging our kit around, Dave, Robert and Wes for
lugging our kit around, and Chris D and Sheri for running such an
excellent dive operation.
As I sit here on the plane home following another lunch at Portokalis of
tasty grilled Bream with chips, bread and dips, and a hangover beating
shandy I can confirm that the diet really does start tomorrow…
