Cyprus
offers good, virtual year-round diving, with the wreck
of the ZENOBIA ferry, considered to be one of the world's
best wreck dives, just 35 minutes drive away from Protaras.
In 42m, the Zenobia offers an ideal training platform
for Technical Wreck and Deco/Trimix training. Locally,
we have easily accessible shore-dive sites, all within
5 minutes drive of the dive centre. Our main shore site
also has depth markers placed, from 35-50m.
For
instructors and groups, we will organise everything
for you, except the flight! Hotel or apartment accommodation,
car hire (special reduced rates) and airport transfers,
and we have all the equipment and teaching aids available
to suit your requirements. We will have your gas mixes
ready for the days diving, help to build your dive/training
itinerary, supply support divers and anything else you
may need. Talk to us with your requirements and we'll
put together a favourable package
Shore
Diving
There are several easily accessible shore-dive sites,
all within 5 minutes drive of the dive centre, suitable
for technical training. The Green Bay site offers ideal
sheltered water conditions for skills & drills,
and has easy beach access/egress, with gently-sloping
seabed to 10 metres.
The
Cyclops site offers easy water entry/exit, with natural
rock platforms at 1.5m & 6m. The seabed slopes to
55+ metres, and also has linked depth markers placed,
from 35-50m, offering easy reference and orientation
for deeper training up to Normoxic Trimix level.
Boat
Diving
A new dive boat operating on the East Coast of Cyprus is currently investigating new areas to dive and new dive sites. With the Konnos coast line being opened up to divers, we have the potential to find new, deeper sites with reefs and, who knows... more wrecks?
Zenobia is a roll on roll off ferry that sank on her maiden voyage from Sweden to Syria. She never reached her destination, as computers problems with the ballast system caused her to begin to list not far off the coast of Cyprus. A distress call was placed to the cypriot authorities but by the time the authorisation to dock in Larnaca arrived, there was nothing but bits of ship floating on the surface.
Thankfully all crew and passengers were able to evacuate the Zenobia before she sank but she did go down with 104 fully loaded articulated trucks with trailers and no salvage has since been completed, making Zenobia a haven for scuba divers of all level.
Zenobia is the perfect wreck for all certification levels of diver as the top of the wreck sits at 18m, the water is warm and the visilbility is good. However, we do recommend that divers are a minimum of PADI Advanced Open Water diver before they dive Zenobia as they can then drop to 30m and see the cargo and the trucks on the side of Zenobia and also have the confidence and experience to enjoy the dives more. Equally, the bridge and Canteen offer nice swim-throughs but these are found at around 27m.
We
specialise in offering long technical dives on the Zenobia
(70-90mins+) with staged decompression and including
penetration (depending on cert), giving you a better
choice for dive planning. Explore the cargo on the seabed at 42m, visit the engine room and investigate two of the lorry decks (one is 70m long while the lower lorry deck runs the whole length of the Zenobia, which is 172m long).
Our charter boat offers plenty of shaded deck space and solid kitting-up
benches, leaving port at 9am. Generally, we are back
at the dive centre by 3pm.
For more information regarding Diving the Zenobia, click here
