Today was always going to be a day of wrecks. I like wrecks, I’ve done a few. I find them
atmospheric.
Today’s wrecks in reverse order of fame and coincidentally diving order were:
Both Dunraven and Kingston were from rhibs, while the
Thistlegorm (discovered by famed privateer and oceanographer, Jacques Cousteau) was off the back of the
live-aboard.
The Dunraven was nice enough without providing much
excitement. By way of contrast, the Kingston was a negative entry (my first
ever) into a seriously strong current that meant if you landed on the wrong
side of the wreck you had very little chance of exploring it. Knowing this I never took my camera, which I
instantly regretted!
The life on the Kingston wasn't any more spectacular than
anywhere else, but I did love the table corals on the neighboring reef and
well, it was just a nice looking wreck.
However, the highlight of the day was meant to be the
Thistlegorm. It’s the “most beautiful wreck in the Red Sea” apparently. It is
certainly interesting with its assortment of wrecked cargo. The WW2 ruined
cargo includes:
- Motorbikes
- Rifles
- Tanks
- Trucks
It was all interesting enough but for me the highlight was
diving it at night. The Zookeeper who has dived it at least 5 or 6 times opted
to stay on board. So my buddies for the evening were the Lawman and Bridget (also accompanied by Sergeant Chris, Smooth Criminal and Al-chemist (so named due to his inexhaustible supply of medicinal compounds).
We started at the rear working our way up the starboard side to
the bow before heading back down the port side.
I was just bumbling about taking snaps of
scorpionfish, a crocodile fish and some nudis when suddenly it went
from being fairly quiet and atmospheric to being like Sauchiehall Street (for
non Glasgow readers it’s a busy shopping street – you can really substitute in
any busy street name).
We were in a melee
of around 20-30 divers from three different groups. I laughed as I saw divers
with some very expensive photographic toys bumping into
chunks of metal, lose control of their buoyancy and all the stuff that you see
– you know what I mean. I just kept low avoided being clattered and kept an eye
on the Lawman’s fins. Eventually, we burst free from the crowd and encountered
a really nice crocodile fish.
Reaching the line we went up. I pondered it the days events
on the safety stop. What goes up must come down, but what goes down doesn’t
need to go up. However, divers do, sadly.
.JPG) |
| Nudibranch |
.JPG) |
| Motorcycle |
.JPG) |
| Scorpionfish |
.JPG) |
| Nudibranch |
.JPG) |
| Crocodile Fish |
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