This was the big day - the day we were to dive the world renowned Thistlegorm, but first we headed for another wreck, The Kingston. She was an 80 meter long steamer which went down in 1881 on the delightfully named Shag Rock.
She lies in just 18 meters depth, and is very overgrown with hard and soft corals, and has deteriorated quite badly, with both masts and funnel long gone. The prop is still intact and makes for some great photo opportunities, making divers look small in comparison. There was a strong current, and we drifted along the reef marveling at the huge table corals and we spotted a swimming moray eel, before being collected by one of the RIBs, using our SMB's to help them spot us. This was a good long (56 minute) dive.
As soon as all the divers were out of the water we headed off to Thistlegorm, which we would dive three times over two days. The skipper had planned things well, as we arrived as many of the day boats were leaving. Thistlegorm has had a mooring system fitted around her, which means boats like us can tie straight onto blocks, and for us that meant an easy descent off the stern of Whirlwind straight onto the bow of the wreck.
The Thistlegorm is 126 meters long. She was just a year old when she was sunk, and she was carrying essential supplies and equipment for the 8th army at Tobruk, as well as two steam locomotives bound for Egypt, which were loaded on the deck. Waiting her turn into the Suez Canal, she was at a "safe" anchorage overnight, when a Heinkel bomber spotted her and dropped two bombs, which penetrated number five hold, which had a great deal of ammunition in it. Both locomotives were tossed into the air, and a huge hole was blown in the side of the ship, with the decking peeled back towards to bridge. In all nine sailors lost their lives. The wreck was discovered by Jacques Cousteau in the early fifties, although he didn't reveal her position, and she was found again by chance by some divers in the 1990's.
This is the most dived wreck in the world, and within a few minutes of arriving aboard her, I knew why. She sits upright on the sea bed, and is basically a museum of world war two. Swimming through the holds, we found row upon row of Bedford army trucks, with motorcycles and sidecars, shells, small arms ammunition, wellington boots, bren gun carriers - it was absolutely amazing, and everything still in good condition. The bow section of the ship is still pretty much intact, and you can stand there and almost imagine you are at sea, rather than under it - all the winches and blocks are there, and one anchor is stored and one deployed. Each hold has two "decks" within it, so you gradually go deeper to check out the second deck.
Over to one side, we encountered one of the steam engines, lying on the sea bed, and remarkably upright. The stern of the ship is canted over to one side, and swimming along the hull you can see where the explosion ripped her apart. We penetrated the captain's cabin and the bridge, both of which seemed as thought they had been inhabited until just before we arrived. Our dive time for this first dive was 49 minutes with a maximum depth of 29 meters.
As we kitted up for our night dive on Thistlegorm, we saw a turtle on the surface, and we were told that he lives in one of the holds, underneath an overhanging locomotive tender. A night dive on a wreck like this is both challenging, and a little scary! But it was amazing, and very different to during the day. There was a lot more sea life around, with dozens of Lionfish, and we swam with the turtle around "his" hold, which was a stunning experience. Swimming along the side decking was particularly strange, it really felt to me as if I could sense the sailors running up and down.
Our night dive lasted 46 minutes and we stayed on the decking, without any penetration, so our maximum depth was 21 meters. It was an incredible day, and I went to bed excited that we had one more dive to do on Thistlegorm the following morning!
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Scuba Mike's Red Sea Trip - Part One
Submitted by Scuba Mike on Sun, 18/01/2009 - 16:35.
I was lucky enough to be invited by a UK dive club last year to join them on a liveaboard trip to The Red Sea. Termed a “wrecker’s tour” we would be diving most of the best known shipwrecks in the northern part of the sea, based on Tornado Marine Fleet's flag vessel Whirlwind.
Scuba Mike's Red Sea Trip - Part Two
Submitted by Scuba Mike on Mon, 19/01/2009 - 19:27.
Six AM and we were heading to the check dive site in calm sea and already the temperature was up to 25 degrees. We assembled for the dive briefing, and were told that the main purpose was to check our weight for the salty water and get used to the conditions. With four dives a day available, we all elected to use Nitrox in order to keep our decompression times to a minimum and to help prevent fatigue. This would be my first time using enriched air in anger, as I had passed my PADI course shortly before the trip.
Scuba Mike's Red Sea Trip - Part Three
Submitted by Scuba Mike on Fri, 23/01/2009 - 16:10.
The following day dawned bright, clear and warm, as they all did during our trip. It is worth packing a light fleece though, as evenings and fast crossings can be cool.
I had started this trip determined to do every dive on offer, but this was the day I failed in that task. Even as someone who dives pretty much every week, I was feeling the pace of the four dives the day before. But here are the dives I did:
Scuba Mike's Red Sea Trip - Part Four
Submitted by Scuba Mike on Thu, 05/02/2009 - 19:16.The first dive that morning was to be on the Rosalie Moller. This was to be a deep dive, so we switched to a lean 28% nitrox mix, to avoid any oxygen toxicity. I sensed at the briefing that something was wrong - we were told to stay with the guides at all times and not to enter deco. Some of us were a little annoyed about this - at the time I was one of the less experienced divers, and I had over 200 dives to my credit, with well over half of those at 30 meters or more! Deco diving is something I do most weeks, so we knew already that this was going to be a short dive.
Scuba Mike's Red Sea Trip - Part Six
Submitted by Scuba Mike on Thu, 19/02/2009 - 19:05.This was our final day aboard Whirlwind, and I elected to do just one of the two dives on offer. This was because my right ear finally gave up after all the diving, and I was having problems with it. I finished on a good one though!
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