Real guide to Cyprus

Clear water at Cape Greko Photo: Gavin Anderson Cave dive at Cape Greko Photo: GA Truks on Zenobia Photo: GA Octopus Photo: Gavin Anderson Cafe on Zenobia Photo: Gavin Anderson

The third largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily and Sardinia, Cyprus is an island of contrasts, with fertile valleys full of citrus and olive trees, mountains stretching some 2,000m and long, sandy beaches interspersed with stunning sea cliffs and sheltered bays.

Cyprus is a great place to learn to dive. The water is warm, the visibility exceptional and prices for courses offer incredibly good value. The island still retains a real British feel – a throwback to when Britain ruled from 1878 to 1960 – so you’ll feel right at home and more than likely end up with a British instructor.

For those divers who are already qualified, the Zenobia wreck located off Larnaca in the southeast makes a good starting point. Some divers spend their whole holiday here – the wreck is that good!

However, there are plenty of other diving areas to explore on the island. Paphos is a two-hour drive west of Larnaca and offers reasonable diving, but is exposed to westerly winds and dive sites can be blown out. A better option might be Latchi, half an hour to the north of Paphos, on the Akamas peninsula. Here there are lots sheltered sites and good diving around small offshore islands. For party animals Cape Greko in the southeast of the island is close to Ayia Napa and offers some fun diving in caves and tunnels.

If you are bringing a non-diving partner or coming with family, Cyprus has a wealth of topside activities. From skiing and mountain biking, trout fishing and hiking, to golf, clay pigeon shooting, shopping and clubbing – there is something here for everyone.

Cyprus is one of the last strongholds of the green turtle in the Mediterranean and one can snorkel with both green and loggerheads from late May onwards at several beaches and reefs, including Lara and Latchi in the west. Another attraction is the concentration of ancient historic sites some of which date back to the Stone Age.

Cheap direct flights and almost guaranteed sunshine, mean that British tourists flock to Cyprus throughout the year. Paphos on the western side of the island has regular flights to and from the UK and is popular with both seasoned travellers and those on package holidays. A variety of dive shops offer competitively priced courses, often run by British Instructors. Two small wrecks, the Achilleas and MV Vera K, which both sank in the 1970s and lie in less than 12m of water, offer a great introduction to the novice wreck dive, while Octopus Garden is an easy dive close to the old Roman harbour wall. Here, local marine biologist Dave Lennon has constructed small undersea apartments to help encourage octopuses to take up residence.

For experienced divers there is a fantastic shoal, known as Jubilee Shoal, about the size of a football pitch, which drops from 20m to more than 50m, where divers have the chance to see large grouper, barracuda and sometimes shoaling tuna. The site is located 2km off Episkopi Bay, around an hour’s drive along the coast from Paphos, it is, however, not a regular dive.

When the westerlies blow, the small fishing village of Latchi offers good sheltered sites. Located an hour’s drive from Paphos over the mountains to the north coast of the Akamas peninsula, during the summer it is a good place to spot turtles, barracuda, amberjack and the occasional tuna.

Larnaca is probably the busiest diving location, due to the popularity of the Zenobia. There is another wreck that is occasionally dived, the HMS Cricket. This First World War river gun boat unfortunately rests upside down, but it is covered in red encrusting sponge and makes a relatively easy dive to 30m in good visibility and with no current.

Further east, off the beautiful Cape Greko, a series of caves and tunnels make for a great fun dive in 16m. Encrusting red algae and lace coral add a glorious splash of colour to the cave roofs. Painted combers, two banded-bream, damsels and, if you’re lucky, the odd octopus can be encountered on this dive.

THE ZENOBIA

At 178m long, totally intact and lying on its port side in a very diveable 16–43m, the wreck of this 10,000-ton Swedish-built roll-on roll-off ferry is rated as one of the world’s best wreck dives. An entire industry has been built up around the wreck since the ship sank in 1980. On board were 104 huge lorries with trailers full of cargo destined for Mediterranean and Middle Eastern markets.

The Zenobia left Malmo in Sweden on 4 May 1980, on her maiden voyage to Syria. She initially developed problems with her computer-controlled water stabilising system mid-way between Crete and Athens. A check discovered that the pumps controlling the water ballast system had put too much water into the ballast tanks. After four days in Piraeus, the water was pumped out and it was thought the problem was solved. However, on 3 June while anchored in Larnaca Bay in Cyprus, the problem returned. On 4 June she was sloping to a 45-degree angle, the operational problems of carrying out a repair became impossible and the ship had to be abandoned. The captain’s pleas to run her aground in shallower water were ignored. It took two days for the Zenobia to eventually sink with more than £200 million worth of vehicles and cargo lost.

Descending onto the Zenobia is an eerie experience. Cloaked in algae and seaweed, the wreck seems painted almost in one colour. As your eyes adjust to the dark, shady objects on the sea bottom and round the lower areas of the wreck, you realise you are looking at complete lorries resting where they toppled sideways as the wreck sank. Until recently a few still hung from the chains that secured them to the ship’s deck, but the chains have now rusted through and most of the lorries have slid about as far as they can towards the sea bottom.

Most divers can dive this wreck although it’s best to have some experience. The top of the wreck is in just 16m and there is almost no current to be concerned with. The bridge, caféteria and lifeboat deck are all very accessible and can be visited without dropping below 30m.

Although no one died when the ship sank, several divers have since lost their lives – losing their way inside the deeper sections of the wreck. One diver found an air pocket and remained there for two hours before rescuers found her.

If you are counting lorries on the outside of the wreck, you won’t reach much more than 20 – most remain inside the upper and lower lorry decks. The lower lorry deck is definitely for experienced divers only, and you will need a guide as it involves a 40m dive in the dark with no visible means of exit. As well as lots of lorries, a bright yellow digger and a solitary car can be seen on this level.

The upper deck is relatively safe to explore. Some light filters through from a small exit hatch, so you feel relatively safe despite being in darkness for most of the time. If you shine your light above as you swim through, you’ll notice some of the cargo from one of the trailers – bottles of ethyl alcohol have spilled out and now float seemingly in mid-air. To enjoy the full impact of the wreck, you need to make at least one sortie to the sea floor. Here, you can swim alongside most of the accessible lorries, and you can see the thousands of eggs which spilled out from one of the trailers and now lie on top of each other! You may also come across air-conditioning units, close to the back of one of the trailers.

In summer, amberjack, tuna, and barracuda cruise around the wreck, often joined by a yellow submarine full of waving tourists. Throughout the year dusky and golden grouper hang out here, safe from spearfishermen. There are also large shoals of bream, little rainbow wrasse, scorpionfish and nudibranchs.

The Zenobia is a classic wreck dive and you could spend a whole week just diving this site.

READERS VERDICT
Mike Austin,
experienced diver

When I first dived it, I found the wreck of the Zenobia extremely eerie – clothed in seaweed and totally intact with all its lorries. It’s amazing how the ship has ended up, you couldn’t have put the wreck in a better place. As the top of the Zenobia is in only 16m, open-water divers can practise their skills here while experienced divers can cruise deeper and swim through the lorry decks. Every year I dive here, I find there is more and more marine life and you can now see large numbers of grouper, schooling barracuda and kingfish in the summer months. This is a classic dive.

When to go

All year round, but May through to December is best with air and sea temperatures ranging from 19 to 27ºC. It can get very hot in the middle of summer. September and October are the best but busiest times to go. Marine life Mid to late summer is best for pelagics and turtles. Equipment A 7mm semi-drysuit in the spring and either a 5mm or 3mm in the summer and autumn. From January to April a drysuit is recommended. Key dives The Zenobia is one of the world’s best wrecks.

DIVE CENTRES

Alpha Divers
00 357 24 647 519
http://www.alpha-divers.com

Buddy Divers
00 357 25 328 385
http://www.buddydivers.com

Cydive
00 357 269 34271
http://www.cydive.com

Dive-In
00 357 25 311 923
http://www.dive-in.com.cy

Dive Point Paphos
00 357 26 937 740
http://www.divepointcyprus.co.uk

Dive-Tek Cyprus
Tel: 00 357 99 110249
http://www.divetekcyprus.com

Octopus Diving Cyprus
00 357 24 646 571
http://www.octopus-diving.com

Polis Dive Centre
00 357 99 034 963
http://www.polisdiving.com

PW Marine Divers
00 357 99 127019
http://www.pwmarinedivers.com

Sunfish Divers
00357 2372 1300
http://www.sunfishdivers.com