Diver Holiday Guide 97
High spots on the wine-dark sea
When Homer spoke of the wine-dark Mediterranean, he spoke of the sea as a battleground. Now it is one of the world's great playgrounds, nowhere more so than on its many islands, the tips of ancient mountains breaking its sun-warmed surface. We start our holiday guide with a look at the diving off seven Mediterranean islands...
and one rock
Gateway to the Med - Gibraltar
Modern Majorca
The quiet life of Menorca
War wrecks off Sardinia
Corsica, a mountain in the sea
The Med's little England - Malta
Oh so Gozo
Cyprus, north and south
DIVER Holiday Guide 97
THE MEDITERRANEAN has been labelled the playground of Europe. It was here, some half-century ago, that Jacques Cousteau first experimented with the aqualung, and since then many have followed in his wake to experience their first breath under water.
The Mediterranean is very deep, which means it is barely affected by the tide, and you can safely dive at any time of day. However, currents can be strong, particularly where headlands are close to channels. These sites provide the most exciting diving, with shoaling barracuda and other pelagic fish, but sadly they tend to be few and far between.
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In the eastern Mediterranean, fish stocks have decreased as a result of fishing over thousands of years. However, you can still encounter species from the Red Sea that have been carried up through the Suez Canal as larvae and plankton. For example, the "clownfish" common around Malta and off the Tunisian coast are not clownfish at all, but a sub-species of parrotfish, which have learned to live on something other than true tropical corals. As you move west, species from the Atlantic can also be found.
During summer, air and surface water temperatures soar, and holidaymakers can swim without any thermal protection. However, the water is subject to thermoclines, so the comfortable surface temperatures extend only a few metres down.
If you are diving in summer to a depth below 20m, you will need a full wetsuit or semi-drysuit. Shortie suits are suitable only in mid-August, and only if you are staying fairly shallow. In winter the water can be quite chilly, even at the surface. At the coldest time of year, between January and May, you might even consider a drysuit.
The Mediterranean is not always the limpid blue pool depicted in the travel agents' brochures. Even in summer there can be sudden and violent seas. Early morning is usually calm, but as heat rises off the land during the day, it invokes an onshore wind and choppy water.
It calms down again in the evening, once the land and water temperatures are back in equilibrium. For this reason, the sea is often at its worst during summer in the heat of the afternoon, so it is best to dive early in the morning and late in the afternoon.
Countries bordering the northern coastline of the Mediterranean offer a variety of cultures. They all have first-world infrastructures, so you can enjoy a trip with all the facilities you would expect at home.
Gateway to the Med
THE ROCK of Gibraltar stands 450m high, dominating the narrow strait into the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean. For centuries, to control "Gib" was to control all passing marine traffic.
Long ago the Spanish competed with Morocco for ownership of Gibraltar, but in 1704 the British took it from under both their noses. This has been a bone of contention between Britain and Spain ever since, even though we are now all part of the EC.
British expatriates make up one fifth of Gibraltar's population, and they are fiercely patriotic (they even have their own Marks & Spencer). However, the close proximity of Spain means that a huge number of Spaniards cross the border every day to work in Gibraltar, and they inevitably have a strong cultural influence.
Because it is so close to the Atlantic, underwater visibility is not as good here as you can find further east, and sometimes it can even be reduced to British summer levels. Diving is concentrated on the western side of the Rock, in the Bay of Algeciras. The marine life benefits from planktonic nutrients, which means the area is teeming with both Mediterranean and Atlantic species. The BSAC is represented by a dive centre here, and there are regular direct flights into Gibraltar airport from the UK.
As you would expect, Gibraltar has plenty of wrecks. There is only one Royal Navy wreck visited regularly by leisure divers, which is surprising as this was the world of frogman Commander Crabb, who became a naval war hero here for his part in defending allied warships against attacks from Italian navy frogmen during WW2.
A mooring barge was intentionally sunk in Camp Bay in 1990. It lies in 17m of water, with its steam engines and winching gear still intact. This site is known as "428", and is now home to several large moray eels.
The ss Excellent was a commercial schooner, 80m long and displacing 1600 tons. She sank after a series of disastrous collisions in 1888. Her upside-down hull lies at 30m, inhabited by conger and moray eels. A gentle current sweeping over her has led to the outside being covered in small gorgonia.
A larger wreck is that of the 3500- tonne ss Rosslyn, which went down in 1916. Her remains lie in 22m of water, smothered in sea fans and soft coral-like sponges. Thousands of small black chromis hover in the water. Her bow rises to within 10m of the surface and she is still more or less intact. Divers can still see the remains of her engine and boilers.
Also in Camp Bay, a group of six barges, together with several cars, a few tyres and a wooden fishing boat were deliberately sunk to form an artificial reef. This makes a good training dive and is easily reached from the shore.
Europa Reef is found within the protection of Algeciras Bay at depths ranging from 15-40m. It has plenty of animal life, and anchors of all ages that have become wedged in the rocky bottom and abandoned.
Out in the Strait of Gibraltar, there is a vertical wall plunging to more than 60m, known as Los Pecos. You can find large pelagic species here, but the site is prone to tidal currents caused by the nearby Atlantic, so it is suited only to experienced divers.
Modern Majorca
THE western Mediterranean is an exceedingly deep body of water. It was created 400 million years ago, when the isthmus between Eurasia and Africa was breached and the Atlantic Ocean spilled into what was a prehistoric valley. Only the tops of a few mountains were left above water, and some of these became the Balearic Islands, with limestone caves full of stalagmites and stalactites.
With San Son Juan airport now the biggest and most modern holiday-destination airport in the world, there are always plenty of cheap flights to Majorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands, which is less than two hours from most European departure points.
An influx of foreign money has made Majorca rich. This is reflected in a very modern infrastructure with motorways, trans-mountain tunnels, modern hospitals, telecommunications and everything else you would expect in the most modern country including modern European prices.
Majorca is blessed with fine weather. The steep cliffs of the mountain range along its west coast cause an updraught that keeps the clouds off the flat plains where the major resorts are. This coast offers some of the best diving on the island.
Diving is relatively new to this part of the world, as local regulations and bureaucracy restricted its development. In the past you needed a permit, issued by the local port authority, to dive. Now, provided you have suitable certification and can produce evidence to show you are insured for treatment if you have a diving accident, you have all you need.
However, if you want to dive from a boat, it must be licensed, insured and operated by someone with an EC certificate confirming competency (such as an RYA certificate). This usually means you need to dive with a local dive centre, as all the good diving is inaccessible from the shore. Since Spain joined the EC, 11 new dive centres have been established on the island, but few of these will supply air for private diving.
The best area to dive is undoubtedly the south-west corner of the island, not far from the madding crowds in the Bay of Palma. It is the part of the coastline between the isle of Toro and San Telmo.
You will find dive centres close by at Port Adriano, Santa Ponsa, Port Andratx, and San Telmo. The best dive sites are usually found off the numerous headlands like La Mola, just outside Port Andratx, and Punta Llebeitx at one end of Dragonera.
You will see shoaling barracuda, dentex, amberjack and sunfish here. You may also see rays, anglerfish and the like. Moray and conger eels are common, and can be found in spectacular numbers on the wreck of a small fishing boat in the centre of the channel between San Telmo and Dragonera, at 33m. This is an oft-visited site, and is as memorable as any you will ever visit, teeming with large and active eels.
The area is marked by numerous undersea caves. This is also true of the eastern seaboard, for example near Porto Colom and Cala Ratjada. At Colonia San Jordi it is possible to take a boat to the totally unspoiled island of Cabrera. This reveals some of the best diving in the Mediterranean. However, it is now being actively preserved by the Spanish authorities, who are limiting the number of visiting boats. It is usually necessary to book several months in advance.
The quiet life on Menorca
On Menorca, the second largest of the Balearic Islands, scuba diving and recreational cave-diving have been developed side by side. Most of the regularly visited locations are positioned around the southern coast of the island. There are BSAC/PADI dive centres at S'Algar and Cala 'n Bosc.
Dive sites include the famous Pont d'en Gil Cavern, a cathedral-like opening under the cliffs, with an entrance so large it is lit with diffused blue daylight for most of its length. Another site, Tom's Belfry, has two entrances and masses of limestone structure. The Moon Pool has an inner cave, and the S'Algar Funnel has a spectacular chimney system. The Drinking Fountain Grotto is also worth a visit.
The little Isla del Aire (Windy Island), just off the south-east corner of the main island, has many sites to offer. These include West End Reef, the Giant's Playground, and the Spike, which are all as exciting as their names imply. Cavern dives include Orion's Cave and the Coral Galleries, where you can find thriving and false corals.
There are a couple of wrecks, including the ss Malakoff, a French-owned freighter which sank in about 1929. She originally displaced around 7000 tonnes, and her cargo lies scattered on the seabed in 27m of water. You can still find the remains of sewing machines and china.
Like Majorca, the sea around Menorca abounds with shoaling barracuda, amberjack, dentex, and dolphin. If you are very lucky you might even see a swordfish. The rocky reefs and the small caverns formed within them are home to groupers, moray and conger eels, scorpionfish, many octopus and the occasional spiny lobster.
Menorca is part of the EC and enjoys all the benefits that implies. It has its own international airport at Mahon, with regular flights from all over Europe. It is also possible to connect through Majorca's capital, Palma, which is only a short hop away. If the worst happens, top-class medical facilities are available on both islands.
An influx of Europeans has made the island quite cosmopolitan, and all the main European languages are widely spoken. The island also has international cuisine.
Nonetheless, Menorca lacks the sophisticated nightlife of its larger sister. Development has been mostly residential, so villas and apartments are more readily available than package-holiday hotels. This island, only 50km long and 15km wide, caters for those who prefer a quieter time, and the natives are a little less brash than their richer neighbours.
War wrecks off Sardinia
With substantial mountain ranges and huge inland lakes, Sardinia, 100 miles wide, is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean. It feels more like a country than a mere island, yet it is relatively unfamiliar to the British. Most divers probably know it as the site for the ongoing tussle between the giants of the breath-hold diving world, Jose "Pipin" Ferreras and present record-holder Umberto Pelizzari.
Most of the dives centres seem to be located in the north of the island, near some of Sardinia's own satellite islands. Madalena, Caprera, Santa Maria, Razzoli, Budelli and Spargi are all near the town of Palau - not to be confused with that other diver's heaven in the Pacific.
Between Sardinia and Corsica is a chain of some 16 islands and the marine reserve of Lavezzi, which is famous for its abundance of almost tame Mediterranean groupers.
Washington Rock, a sea mount discovered by divers in 1985, has now become one of the most popular dive sites in the area. It is 30m deep at the bottom, coming up to within 6m of the surface, with a gentle current pushing its way through the Strait of Bonifacio. This brings nutrients to feed a mass of gorgonia, false corals and colourful sponges, and you will find the whole gamut of Mediterranean sea life here.
Wrecks include the mv Angelica, a freighter which sank in 1982 when it ran aground in a storm due to defective steering gear. Her propeller is at 20m, and her superstructure breaks the surface. An even bigger shipwreck is that of the ss Cogliano, an Italian freighter carrying ammunition which was sunk by allied aircraft in 1943. When she was blown up, she came down again in many pieces which are spread over a large area in 16-19m of water.
The wreck of an Italian submar- ine, scuttled after the war, lies upright in 40m or more. It is mainly intact and has become an artificial reef, suitable only for the more experienced. There are several other wrecks of freighters and fishing boats, notably the wreck of a German armed freighter in the Gulf of Orosei sunk in 1944, and a larger Greek cargo ship, the mv Chrisso, intentionally sunk in 1978 and found at the technical depth of 70m.
An easier dive can be made on the remains of a World War II Corsair single-engined fighter plane, which crashed into the sea in the late 1950s. It is lying in only 6m of water and about 300m from the shore at Capo Comino, on Sardinia's north-east coast.
In case you run into trouble, there is a modern hospital equipped with an up-to-date and routinely staffed recompression chamber on the central island of La Madalena.
A mountain in the sea
CORSICA rises like a mountain from the sea, creating a coast of steep cliffs and countless creeks, interspersed with tiny deserted beaches, and washed by crystal-clear water. These elements make for the perfect diving territory, particularly given the climate, which keeps the surface water temperature above 20°C for most of the year.
The island's beauty is in its wild untamed character. Only under-water do its massive rocky contours begin to adopt rounder edges, thanks to the sea's softening touch.
Superb water clarity makes Corsican diving particularly attractive to photographers. The underwater landscape often reflects the mountainous nature of the island, with steep drop-offs, vertical reefs, and huge granite boulders forming caves, passages and archways. All types of Mediterranean fish can be found in abundance, especially in the protected areas, although diving is restricted in some of the marine reserves.
Most of the coast offers interesting diving possibilities, but the more rugged west coast is blessed with some of the best sites. The east coast, between Bastia and Porto Vecchio, is more attractive to those seeking golden beaches and conventional tourist facilities.
At the southernmost tip of the island and overlooking a harbour lies the cliff-top town of Bonifacio. This is the launching point for diving in the Straits of Bonifacio and the northern coast of Sardinia 10km away. It is also the starting point for diving in the famous Lavezzi Islands, an area of golden granite boulders and rich red gorgonia.
These islands are protected by a marine reserve. The area has seen a resurgence in the grouper population, reminiscent of the days when groupers could be taken for granted in the Mediterranean. One unmissable dive here is the "Merouville", but take note that you are forbidden to feed the groupers. This is to prevent them becoming dependent on divers for their meals.
Bonifacio is one of several points in Corsica where professional diving for red coral is still practised. During the summer months, divers descend each day to 70-100m to collect coral for use in jewellery. Traditionally this diving has been carried out using air, but diving with mixed gases is beginning to find an application here.
Propriano lies on the Gulf of Valinco, on the south-west of the island. The bay is sheltered between Pointe de Porto Pollo and Pointe de Campomoro, and has spectacular reef dives on rocks which come to within 5m of the surface and plunge down to 45m. One of the most beautiful dives here lies just 100m south of the Scandola marine reserve at Punta Rossa. This reef benefits from the presence of the reserve, as it is a photographer's dream, with an exceptionally rich variety of marine life.
Ajaccio is the main point of arrival for those travelling by air, and is home to an excellent hyperbaric centre staffed by experienced diving doctors. Just 20km to the south lies Porticcio, where you can join dive trips to many sites around the Gulf of Ajaccio.
On the north-west coast lies the ancient town of Calvi, protected by a citadel that dominates approaches to the Gulf of Calvi, and looks directly down on one of its most popular dive sites. Just below the citadel at a depth of 29m lies the well-preserved wreck of a B-17 bomber that failed to make its landing after limping home on one engine following a bombing raid on Verona in February 1943.
The port of Calvi is known for the richness of its rocky reefs, valleys and drop-offs covered in gorgonia. Just a little further along the coast is the town of L'Ile Rousse, another excellent base for exploring the north-west coast. The northernmost point of Corsica, Cap Corse, and the tiny island of Giraglia, are accessible from the tiny fishing villages of Centuri and Erbalunga.
Our tour of Corsica ends at Bastia, which has several shipwrecks and a number of aircraft wrecks. These are easily accessible, including a Messerschmitt 109 at Campoloro and a P47 Thunderbolt lying intact in 19m off Bastia.
Several tour companies fly to Ajaccio or Figari, from where you can arrange to be met by a dive operator. If you hire a car, it will give you the freedom to tour the island, which is only 180 km long. Regular car-ferry services operate from Marseilles and Nice on the French mainland to Calvi, Ajaccio and Bastia, with a new fast service now available which cuts travel time in half.
The Med's little England
Going to Malta is like going abroad without any of the hassles of dealing with foreigners. It has a very comfortable Britishness about it. The people speak English and everything around you looks British. The cars, trucks and buses are British, and so is the plumbing. They drive on the left, they drink British beer, and they inherited their cuisine from the Catering Corps!
Naturally, Malta is an island where scuba diving has flourished, and it burgeons with dive centres. The island is surrounded by clear deep water, and is home to as many large groupers as manage to escape the speargun.
Because of the British connection, Malta was one of the first places where the BSAC became established abroad. Now, nearly every operation is a BSAC school, and many also provide training through other agencies. There is a concentration of schools around St Paul's Bay, Mellieha, and St Julian's.
Most of the diving is from the shore, as you can step off directly into deep water. About 100m from Marfa Point and 34m down, you will find the Rosy, a tugboat intentionally sunk in 1992. At Marssamxett, one of the creeks near Valletta Harbour, lies the HMS Maori, a destroyer sunk to 12m by enemy action in 1942. Other well-known sites include the Blue Grotto, often visited on the surface by tourist boats, and the cave system at Gharlatzi.
Malta is a great place to learn to dive, and judging by the number
of instructor courses of different denominations run each year, it is obviously a good place to teach people to teach people to dive!
It is also a favourite with film- makers. Many underwater se- quences for major feature films were shot here. Anchor Bay contains a popular dive site where the film set for Popeye was built, and much of it remains.
If you prefer to dive from the comfort of a boat, many of the dive centres operate small vessels that visit sites near the island of Comino, including its submarine caves. Alternatively some half-dozen power boats sail on diving safaris around the islands. One is the mv Princess Du Da which carries up to 21 passengers. She was built in the 1960s as a small German freighter. She has been imaginatively converted into a spacious and stable vessel, ideal for those who wish to do no more than dive, eat and sleep.
Oh so Gozo
NEXT to Malta lies Gozo, with a rocky sun-blasted landscape contrasting dramatically with Malta's urban sprawl. Gozo must be a replica of what Malta was like a century ago. The towns are as modest as the numerous church domes are extravagant.
You can get to Gozo by a regular car ferry from Marfa to Mgarr. There are plenty of dive centres on Gozo, most of which have strong connections with the BSAC. The dive sites here are becoming as often dived by Brits as Swanage Pier.
The Blue Hole is a dramatic crater set in a cliff, with access to the sea through an underwater arch. It is very seductive after a long hot climb down to the water. The Inland Sea is a shallow saltwater lake with a swim-through 150m long to the outer and inaccessibly steep cliffs.
Fungus Rock is a pinnacle of rock surrounded by water so deep as to be well beyond the limit of scuba divers. Wrecker's Reef near the salt pans at Marsalforn sorts out the "sheep from the goats". You can either make an awkward climb across uncomfortable rocks, or enter fully kitted from the top of a low cliff. Either way you come back in the same (sheeplike) fashion. It is said that one local dive centre puts a ladder in for its guests.
All the dives have one thing in common - visibility so clear it often stretches horizontally for more than 40m. This is because the sea is so deep here. Detritus sinks way down beyond the range of the plankton that would feed on it.
You can dive independently on both islands, and just hire what gear you need. However, because it is all shore diving and the sites are never close to town, you will need to hire a car. Be careful to get one with good brakes, and be advised that local drivers often eschew the facility of effective braking. The buses are very cheap to ride on, but do not try to get on a bus with an aqualung.
Cyprus, north and south
TUCKED away in the furthest corner of the Mediterranean, close to Turkey and the Arab world, lies the island of Cyprus. Its distinctive shape sits on the map like a cowhide laid out in the sun to dry.
Its neighbours may be exotic and eastern, but Cyprus has a very British feel about it, thanks to its long history as a British possession, and an on-going military presence on the island. Many Brits have chosen to retire here, and equally many Cypriots have close ties with Britain. You may even find that the local barman in Cyprus knows north London better than you do!
Cyprus is large and diverse enough to accommodate sun-lovers on classic Mediterranean beaches while offering snow skiing for much of the year on its Trudos mountain range. The four main towns are Larnaca, Limassol, Famagusta and Pafos (Paphos). Most have dive centres associated with both BSAC and PADI.
Pafos was the original Roman capital, once used by pilgrims visiting Mount Olympus and the Shrine of Aphrodite. More recently it has evolved into a busy and popular tourist resort, with its own airport fed by frequent charter flights from the UK.
Pafos has long been established on the diving scene, and many well-respected British diving instructors started their careers here. Today many new divers blow their first bubbles while checking out the inhabitants of the octopus gardens, a study project run by local marine biologist Dave Lennon near the remains of the original Roman harbour wall.
Nearby lie the wrecks of the mv Achilleas, a small Greek freighter sunk in 1975, and the mv Vera K, which ran aground three years previously. They are both easy dives, in less than 12m of water, which make a good introduction for the novice wreck-diver.
Twenty-two miles off the coast are the Jubilee Shoals, with undersea cliffs varying in depth from 20m to 60m. This is where divers from Cyprus come to see big fish - if you are lucky you will see tuna shoaling.
Laatchi and the Akamas underwater nature reserve are an hour's drive across the mountains. Aphrodite is reputed to have brought her lovers to a natural spring, the Fontana Amoroza (Spring of Love), which you will find along the coast here. Today the local dive centre brings lovers of the underwater world in groups, either by boat or by ancient four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Here it is not unusual to see barracuda, kingfish and large tuna. The tiny offshore islands provide dives with interesting drop-offs to about 40m. In summer you often stumble across turtles, which come up on the isolated beaches to lay their eggs. The sea around this area is littered with amphorae, which ancient mariners cast overboard as offerings to the gods.
On the seabed outside Larnaca, the wreck of the roll-on roll-off ferry Zenobia lies on its side at 38m, where it sank after a fault was detected in its buoyancy tanks. The passengers and crew were safely evacuated, but the ship went down with a cargo of more than 100 lorries still shackled in place.
The wreck is a gigantic 178m in length, originally displacing more than 10,000 tonnes. To get the most out of this dive you must go deep, as the most interesting material ended up on the bottom. The wreck has enormous windows, which were intentionally broken after two divers got trapped inside. Despite this attempt to improve diver safety, we do not recommend you enter the wreck, as much of the interior partitioning is collapsing.
On this dive, it is possible to follow no-stop dive plans using either air or nitrox, but it is an ideal place to do a safer "technical" dive, switching gases and decompressing on a rich nitrox mix on the way up (nitrox is readily available in Cyprus). A far less daunting but equally enjoyable dive is provided by the remains of an army scout car sunk in 6m of water, close to a jetty where a British Army sub-aqua club is based, on the way from Larnaca to Ayia Napa.
The fish have been fed here for years, so they are countless in number and as friendly as the squaddies you will meet in nearby discos and bars.
The northern part of Cyprus has been divided from the rest of the island since 1974, when Turkey invaded the area to protect the interests of Turkish Cypriots. Kyrenia is occupied by Turkish forces and it is not possible to cross the border, so to reach the north you must go via Turkey.
This part of the island has attracted far less investment in tourism, but if you want a quiet time, it could be the place for you. The Turks certainly grabbed the bit with the best beaches, but be aware that a Turkish stamp in your passport might deny you entry to southern Cyprus.
The diving in the north is less well-known than elsewhere on Cyprus, but the dive centres tend to be well set up, and there is at least one BSAC and one PADI school. Dives tend to be scenic and typified by the reef at Zephyros, with depths between 10m and 30m.
Just a little distance from Kyrenia harbour is the site of one of the oldest shipwrecks yet discovered. You can see the remains of the wreck, thought to date back to 300BC, excavated and preserved in the castle at Kyrenia. There is not much left on the seabed except for some discarded paraphernalia from the archaeologists and a few amphorae, which are quite common in the Mediterranean.
Due to its geographical location, Cyprus has a mixture of cultures. The primary language is a Greek dialect, except in the Turkish enclave, but everyone seems to speak English as well.
The major international airport is at Larnaca. Getting to your destination from the airport can take some time, given that Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily and Sardinia. For example, it takes more than three hours to get to Pafos.
Once you reach your resort, be sure not to miss the typical Cypriot meze. You sit at the table and your host brings you small plates loaded with local delicacies until you can eat no more.
Appeared in DIVER - January 1997
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