Part three of Gary Green’s account of the Deptherapy Red Sea Military and Forgotten Wrecks liveaboard expedition.

Day Four: Ras Gharib – MV Aboudy

Through the night when we had all been snoozing, the boat had travelled to Ras Gharib, a wreck laying in strong currents. With the currents blowing, we had a swim line connected to the mooring line so that we wouldn’t get swept away, which throughout the course we had learned was easily possible. The moor line wasn’t connected to the wreck itself, so once we were about six meters down we had a short swim to the bottom of the wreck which was completely on it’s side; this kept us in the ley of the current. As we reached the stern of the wreck, we found a load of medicine bottles along the sand, which had all come from the wreck itself.

When we turned to the structure of the wreck, we had the full view of the wreck as it appeared out of the blue. As you swim slightly away from the wreck you get an idea of just how big these ships are, especially when the bow and stern are still intact. The thing I was most interested in was that at the bow of the ship was the hull, which we were told was difficult to navigate and it was ‘optional’ whether you wanted to try and penetrate it; of course, I wanted to penetrate it!

I have some pretty intense footage on my GoPro from this dive as we penetrated some pretty narrow gaps. A couple of the entry points we penetrated  had only a couple of inches gap between us and the wreck and there were points I had to tuck my kit away so that I was able to pass. It was by far my favourite dive to date. We moved up decks through a passage where we had to pass back on ourselves. We actually found the engine room deep inside; the gap was just too small to pass through however we got our torch right inside and had a look around. My instructor told me afterwards that if I had been more experienced, he would have de-kitted and passed through; just the opportunity of that excited me. Having the honour to be able to experience a part of history that is unseen and untouched by such a large percentage of the population puts me into a small category of honoured people.

Day Four: MV Qtmos (RIB Dive)

After some very skillful searching by the on board team, they managed to find the MV Qtmos which had only ever been dived by two other teams. The wreck only sank last year and only a few people know its existence. The location is not actually mapped by anyone and is only noted by a few local fishermen. I do know that it is located very close to a few oil rigs and the vessel itself was a cargo ship for the rigs. As we drew closer to the location the sea was full of supply ships.

To get to the location we had to travel by zodiacs (RIBs) as it was so close to the oil rigs. This was a new and exciting experience in itself; this was to be my first RIB dive and I must admit the feeling grabbed me. It’s how I had seen diving done before, rolling off the back of the boat straight into the water. We had gone through embarking and dismounting drills in preparation so that nothing came as a surprise to us. However some must have listened more than others, as Luke Morrison found out. They were on the zodiac next to us and as they counted down from three, the group rolled backwards, everyone apart from Luke. The group were in the water looking up at him and he was still sat in the RIB on his own; we did have a good laugh at his look of confusion.

We rolled off of our RIB, as a team I might add, and as soon as our heads hit the water, we were in sight of the fully intact ship. We dropped to the sandy bottom (sounds like something you would get from sitting at the beach). We swam around to the front of the wreck where the whole of the intact super structure could be seen; there didn’t seem to be many penetrating opportunities but there was a lot to see. As we got to the bridge we could see that there was still glass in the windows, broken but still where it should be. Also something that we all found amusing, there is a lead hanging out of the window that is connected to a telephone. It doesn’t work despite my efforts to try and order a pizza delivery to our boat, although I think all of us had a selfie pretending to speak through it. After we had looked around the entire wreck, we headed out to the patches of coral that were all around the seabed.

Fish will always amaze me, I can honestly look at them for hours just watching their behaviour. I got some pretty footage of a baby red sea anemone fish with (what I assume were) its parents. I kept my distance and didn’t stick my camera right in their faces; I believe it scares them and antagonises them for no reason.

Another sea creature that I found absolutely terrified me and although I have footage of it, no one could identify it. I call it the sea tarantula, I poked my head just inside a tyre to see what was there, possibly the only reason you would go sticking your head inside a tyre I guess. What was inside I can only describe as some sort of giant underwater spider! It looked like something from a horror movie that had been sent to kill all of mankind. It was kind of crusty which would suggest it was a shellfish or urchin of some kind, even the pros on board could not identify it. It had six legs and moved slowly with a really thick body, it kind of looked hairy as well. I have no idea what it was and I never want to encounter it again. I suppose it may have just been a tarantula on a scuba diving holiday 🙂

Day Four: SS Scalaria

Our last dive of the day concluded on the SS Scalaria. Again there was a strong current that meant we had to follow a shot line onto the bow of the wreck. Once we were there we were still fighting quite strong currents and had to swim in between points of the wreck to make the swim easier. In our team we had three amputees, two that had both legs missing and one that had an arm missing and for this reason we had to be especially cautious of the currents. It’s amazing to see how they move in the water as they use about 400% more energy than we do. Some of the currents even the ablebodied divers struggled with, yet on every dive Ben Lee and Chris Middleton performed heroically under the water.

The wreck itself was in very bad condition and the middle of the ship was almost completely destroyed. The life on the wreck though was absolutely phenomenal. There was a giant free-swimming moray that moved below us from one part of the wreck to another and the whole group was completely captivated by the sight of it.

There is a calmness with fish in the water, the sound of the outside world disappears, and I believe it’s that calmness that transcends into divers. My mind is chaotic above the sea, yet as soon as my head goes under the water, the mind stops. When I’m looking down into the reef there is almost nothing else on my mind, except maybe checking my depth and air. It’s almost a barrier on top of the water surface, which as I enter the water stops the outside world coming with me; an instant remedy for all the troubles on the surface of the water.

The wreck was steeped in history and it was like a 3D documentary. There is a sadness with any wreck as it highlights the fact that something was alive and is now dead. You certainly have to bear in mind that there were fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters on these ships. It’s a solemn gift; you are only entitled the privilege to see the site of the wreck because of a tragedy that befell the people on board.

Once back on the boat we were all four days into diving and also four days institutionalised back into our previous squaddie language. Looking in on the group you would think that we were speaking a foreign language.

For example:

Squaddie 1 – “I saw a fish” – redundant conversation I know and strictly for example purposes.

Squaddie 2 – “What puka gen?” (Translation – did you really see a fish?)

Squaddie 1 – “yeah gen up” (yes I did see a fish)

Squaddie 2 – “f***g gleaming that” (oh ok)

Squaddie 1 – “wanna square some scoff away?” (Shall we sort out some food)

Squaddie 2 – “f***g roger” (yes we should)

Squaddie 1 – “be jack to not get other bods” (it would be selfish to not let the others know)

Squaddie 2 – “roger that” (yes you are correct)

A bad example to be honest but it’s just funny to see how after a short time together, after God knows how long talking in a professional tongue, that it all comes flooding back as if we were still in the forces. It’s that comfortable environment though that’s so important, completely conversing with some of the only people in the world that honestly understand you and what you are going through.

Come back tomorrow to read Part Four…

Donate to Deptherapy or find out more about their work at www.deptherapy.co.uk

Thanks to Dmitry Knyazev for the incredible photographs.