The wreck now lies upright at a depth of 28-42m. Externally, the entire hull is intact; however, the bridge and the forward funnel are missing while the aft funnel has toppled over. Both of the propellers have been salvaged, but the rest of the stern is not damaged at all.

Most visiting divers are more interested in diving inside the wreck: there are plenty of places in which to enter the ship and lots of features still present, including intact portholes, baths, sinks and urinals that are all easy to identify among the silt.

 From the moment I first dived the Blue Hole, Azure Window and Inland Sea in 1980, I had also marveled at the diving sites of Malta’s neighboring island, Gozo. Many thousands of dives later, I still find them as good.

In Malta a dive is of exceptional quality - at 20, 30, 40m, every ripple could be spotted on the surface, and underwater life went on. Octopuses scurried over the reef. Morays with their ever-opening and closing jaws eyed us with suspicion, and grouper floated motionless, always about 4m away, and considered us with shy inquisitiveness.

As shoals of damselfish moved to and fro in an hypnotic dance around us, I was moved to a state close to drunken euphoria. Then, in seconds, all life was gone. Too soon, the dive was over. It seemed as if only a few minutes had elapsed since we had left the confines of the Blue Hole, but my computer indicated that we had spent 50 minutes down below.

For many years the Maltese islands have enjoyed a vast influx of divers from all over Europe. With shore-diving giving immediate access into 30m-plus depths with drop-offs, caves, natural arches, reefs and of course wrecks at a number of locations, it’s easy to see why.

A number of World War Two wrecks lie in deep water (the S-class British submarine HMS Stubborn in 60m, a Blenheim bomber in 42m, a Spitfire in 50m and the “Freighter” wreck in 65m) and they are dived only infrequently, but there is still much wreckage from this period to dive at less demanding depths.

The Maltese government has initiated an artificial reef program which to date has scuttled six ships, including two car ferries, an ocean-going tug and the 5390 ton, 109m-long merchant tanker Um el Faroud, a shore dive from Wied iz-Zurrieq.

Malta and Gozo offer good diving suitable for all grades of qualification and experience, while the non-diver should never feel neglected, as there is much to see and do around the islands.

What Malta can offer is some of the best diving available in the Mediterranean, in a safe location, within three hours’ flight-time of the UK. It’s comparatively cheap, and divers are warmly welcomed everywhere.

The volcanic island of Tenerife harbors unique underwater rock formations and rich marine life boasting more than 500 species. Tenerife is one of seven islands in the Spanish-owned archipelago located just 60 miles off the northwest coast of Africa.

Divers can wear shorties almost year ’round in the Atlantic waters of Tenerife, as water temperatures stay in the range of 68 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Visibility is generally about 60-80 feet plus.

Marine Life

Divers can see a wide variety of rays: Atlantic rays, stingrays, butterfly rays, eagle rays, and more. There are lots of eels, octopi, jellyfish, scorpion fish, jacks (tuna) and cuttlefish. Anemone and urchins are plentiful, along with arrow crabs, starfish, shrimp, grunts, barracuda, puffer fish, parrot fish, and trumpet fish. Angel sharks can be seen in winter, and there are lots of dolphins, whales, and other sharks. The green turtles can get frisky at some dive sites as they are used to being hand fed by divers.

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 In a little dusty office hidden somewhere along the impossibly congested streets of Athens is a priceless map that shows the location of an ancient shipwreck. In the ship’s hold is rumoured to be a spectacular treasure, both historically as well as monetarily valuable. The Greek authorities zealously guard the map, for fear of opportunistic tomb raiders getting their hands on the treasure.

Sounds like the premise of a bad Hollywood action movie?  Nope. This is real life.

Sunken treasure within reach

Actually, the priceless map shows the exact location of not one, but over 1,000 shipwrecks scattered along the vast Greek coastline. Unlike most of the shipwrecks previously found, the majority of these are located in deep water. In fact, the ships are so deep that their locations were only found using sophisticated electronic surveying equipment.

These ships didn’t run aground, or hit a reef and get ripped apart as is common in shallow water wrecks. They often simply floundered (took on too much water) and sank down intact. In such deep waters, strong tidal currents or waves wouldn’t have battered the shipwrecks to smithereens. Their fragile contents wouldn’t have suffered from the high oxygen content of shallow waters, but would have been preserved by the anaerobic conditions of deeper waters. At these depths, most of the wrecks are also out of reach of all but the most sophisticated diving crew — or the fortunate net of a fisherman — and so have remained virtually untouched by human hands. They are, in fact, almost perfectly preserved. The possibilities are enough to get any treasure hunter salivating with desire.

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Cyprus has rapidly grown in stature to become one of the most prominent scuba diving locations in the world. Surrounded by the warm waters of the Mediterranean, it’s no surprise that many flock here to dive off the Cypriot coast.

Whether you are a beginner or an experienced diver, you’re likely to find plenty of dives to interest you. Beginners can learn the ropes at many locations around the island, with dive centres catering for those wishing to dive to depths of up to 50 metres.

One of the key attractions for many is the opportunity to dive to see the wreck of the ship Zenobia, which lies close to the harbour at Larnaca.

Seeing the wreck is a truly astonishing experience. The ship, which sank in 1980, was carrying a large cargo at the time. It’s an amazing experience to see the ship quietly resting at the bottom of the sea, with its cargo having been enveloped by the water.

For those looking to dive elsewhere, you’ll find that diving instructors can point you in the direction of underwater tunnels, plus numerous caves. There’s a great range of dives here - one of the features that has made scuba diving so popular in Cyprus.

With the water being warm and incredibly clear when compared to some parts of the world, Cyprus is likely to remain as one of the most popular scuba diving centres on the planet.

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Scapa Flow, the body of deep water surrounded by Scotland’s Orkney Islands, has been a sheltered anchorage for war ships since at least Viking times. It has also witnessed some of the greatest and most tragic naval events of two World Wars. Today the Scotland dive site is a magnet for experienced divers and naval history buffs drawn to its battleship graveyard and its famous WWI shipwrecks.

The sinking of the German Fleet

After the Armistice of World War I, 74 ships of the German High Seas Fleet were ordered into Scapa Flow to be held while negotiations on the surrender continued. They remained for 10 months, becoming a tourist attraction.

As the signing of the formal surrender approached,Admiral von Reuter, the German commander, prepared to destroy his navy rather than see it fall under British control. On June 21, 1919, with most of the British fleet away on exercises, he gave the order to sink the ships. All 74 went down in minutes. It was the greatest scuttling of naval vessels in history.

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