NO ONE LIKES TO BE IGNORED. But, as usual, it was difficult to judge.
As we drifted down, the first visitors of the day on a regularly dived but far from overcrowded Corsican wreck, it was hard to tell to what extent our arrival was being noted by the local marine life. Were the packs of sea bream, and clutches of damselfish and rainbow wrasse inhabiting the companionways and massed above the crooked bridge, checking us out - either in a mood of curiosity or of wariness? Or was it a case of business as usual, with ourselves merely part of the scenery?
It was difficult to escape the feeling that the resident fish population was putting on a small early-morning display for our benefit. Nevertheless, the loosely packed clouds parted easily and dispersed as we settled onto the wreck.
My buddy and I headed straight for the stern holds, exploring their black extremities with our torches. As we cautiously probed each in turn, we shivered at the sharp drop in temperature. We were looking for the hefty groupers which usually lurked in these rather unwelcoming places. But this time the big fish were already out and about. Other divers from our group said later that they had come across one or two on the superstructure of the hulk, but we never saw them.
"It's the one dive here that I still find exciting every time," said our guide Adam after we surfaced.
His attitude was understandable. The Alcione C, a 54m Italian supply ship torpedoed by the Allies in 1943, stands upright on a 34m seabed. Substantially intact, it is wrapped in a rich cloak of bright soft corals and encrusting life, and is a magnet for fish. But did his words also suggest that the rest of the local diving wasn't that special?

CLUB STRUCTURE
Perhaps so. But to understand the relative appeal of the underwater experience in this north-eastern corner of Corsica, it is necessary to know the character of the holiday of which it formed a part.
This was an "all-inclusive" stay at one of 10 beach resorts which operate in the Mediterranean and Aegean under the Mark Warner banner. In a club-like environment with a very English atmosphere, guests can choose from a range of sporty activities.
There is tennis, aerobics, volleyball and five-a-side football but the emphasis is on watersports - water-skiing, windsurfing, sailing - with tuition offered at no charge. Diving is available as a paid-for optional extra at all the resorts.
As well as flights and transfers, the holiday price includes three meals a day, wine with lunch and dinner, evening entertainment, and a comprehensive "club" structure designed to keep children - from two-year-olds to teenagers - amused for much of the day.
The packages are not cheap, but they are popular. So how does the diving fit in? San Lucianu, the resort I visited with my wife and three sons, 14, 12 and 6, operates from mid-May through to the end of September. During the school holidays, the emphasis is firmly on family groups, while outside this period the appeal is more to couples, singles or groups of friends. Either way, diving can be a key element.

SAND AND EELGRASS
"I learned to dive with Medway BSAC in the late '80s but never qualified," said Geoff from Tunbridge Wells. "The club experience seemed to involve an awful lot of time travelling to and from the coast for just a short dive, and I never completed the open-water part."
Geoff had taken his PADI Open Water and Advanced Diver courses at San Lucianu during a holiday with his wife and young family the previous year. His qualifying dives had been carried out on the Alcione C, the shallow local reefs, and the various WW2 aircraft wrecks which are scattered around the mainly sand-and-eelgrass seabed off this part of Corsica.
Now he was back, fitting in a further half-dozen or so dives, plus plenty of windsurfing, and already planning another family holiday with a bit of diving on the side, perhaps to Mauritius.
Mike and Hilary Poyntz, BSAC instructors with Weston-Super-Mare branch, were looking for a similar diving component in their holiday. They had children of three and five years old.
"It was the diving facilities at San Lucianu that made us opt to come here," Hilary told me. "We're really enjoying the opportunity to dive together while the children are being looked after."
Several resorts, including San Lucianu, have their own on-site dive centres. Operated by a company called InDepth Services, these offer PADI courses ranging from Bubblemaker to Rescue Diver, and seemed to add an attractive element to the holiday for many guests.

SECOND WEEK TO RELAX
"I had been thinking of learning for a while because I have colleagues at work who dive and clients abroad in places like Israel," said one woman in a group of half-a-dozen adult Open Water trainees. She was finding the course quite hard work, but felt she would still have a second week in which to relax.
"It's well organised here, and a really worthwhile addition to the holiday," she said.
Meanwhile, a younger Open Water group comprised Emma and Alex Findlay (13 and 16) from London, and my older boys, Jack and Max. Instructor Alex Heroys seemed to be making easy, cheerful going of the theory and practical sessions alike.
Jack, whose training with his school dive club had, he felt, involved a disproportionate amount of fin work in the pool, and Max, who had been waiting to take the next step following a Discover Scuba course in the Red Sea, were delighted to get properly qualified.
After the course, we dived together. The site to which Alex took us was ideal. On a patch of sand some 20 minutes up the coast from the dive centre was the wreckage of two US WW2 P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft. The remains of the single-engined fighters lay close together at 17m, but their position was something of a mystery.

CRIPPLED FIGHTERS
Why had they ended up in a small wilderness of sand amid hundreds of acres of boulders and eelgrass? Had this barren area somehow attracted the aircraft, or had it developed because of them? And why did the wrecks, one of which was virtually intact, lie so close together?
The neighbouring seabed was too shallow for them to have fallen from, or been dumped by, an aircraft-carrier or other large ship. A mid-air collision was plausible, but that the crippled fighters would have ended up within 10m of each other on the seabed seemed less so.
No one had the answers, but the dive, a comfortable 45-minute amble around the remains of the two muscular machines, was none the worse for that.
We examined the twisted propellers and tarnished cockpit canopy glass, watched a small grouper and a large peacock wrasse swim around a disembodied engine block, came across some encrusted ammunition and, hanging on the shot at the end of the dive, were treated to the sight of vast silver storms of baitfish pulsating just below the surface.
There were smiles all round as we headed back to the beach.

on the shotline

Mediterranean soft corals


the junior Open Water group in action


shore-diving on the house reef


shoaling sea bream


loading the boat for a dive on one of several sites within easy reach of the resort

GETTING THERE Charter flights go to Bastia from Gatwick (2hr) or Manchester (2hr 40min). Coach transfer 30min. DIVING DETAILS: InDepth Services (01707 665184, e-mail info@indepth.net), which also has on-site centres at several other Mark Warner resorts. ACCOMMODATION: Air-conditioned rooms, all with bath, WC and telephone. In addition to San Lucianu, there are two further Mark Warner resorts in Corsica, and others in Sardinia, mainland Italy, Turkey and Greece. Mark Warner, 08708 480 480, www.markwarner.co.uk. MONEY: French francs/euros. FOR NON-DIVERS: On site, everything from aerobics and archery to watersports and sunbathing; mountain tours, walking and horse-riding inland; excursions to nearby Bastia, the largest town on the island. BEST TIME TO GO: San Lucianu resort opens mid-May and closes at the end of September. July and August offer the most stable weather, and are the busiest months. WATER TEMPERATURE: 17-24°C. DIVING SUITABLE FOR: Everyone, but particularly trainees and the less experienced. COST: Adults £564-£1046, children £338-£866 for one week, £819-£1603/£491-£1331 for two, including flights, full board, most activities (with tuition), and comprehensive childcare/junior club facilities. InDepth prices, including equipment: PADI Open Water Diver £299.

PROS: Good for training. Enough activities to ensure that every member of a family or group is catered for. Some good wreck dives. All-inclusive, so no surprises.

CONS: Diving well suited for trainees and the less experienced but might not offer enough variety or challenges for more advanced divers. This is a summertime only resort.