Category: Diving

Vera K Shipwreck

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Location: Pafos (Paphos) Harbour

Type of dive site: Wreck

Depth: 11 metres

Visibility: 25 metres

Access: By boat

Qualification Required: Open Water (OW)

Features: Two large archways and narrow tunnels are suitable for experienced divers to explore with plenty of marine life to observe, including grouper.

Interesting Facts: This Lebanese freighter ran aground in shallow water in 1972 and was initially used as target practice by the army. It was later declared a hazard to other ships and blown up in 1974. It now rests in a crater created by the explosion. It is in four main sections with the bridge still fairly intact.

Vera K Dive Site by visitcyprus on Sketchfab

White Star Shipwreck

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Location: Pafos (Paphos) Harbour

Type of dive site: Wreck

Depth: 14-18 metres

Visibility: 20 metres

Access: By boat

Qualification Required: Open water (OW)

Features: The ample loading bays of this site are home to groupers, breams and other marine life.

Interesting Facts: This former Russian fishing vessel (built in 1954) sank at sea, close to Pafos Harbour in 2006 as she was being towed to Lemesos to be completely scrapped.

Devils Head Diving Site

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Location: Akamas Peninsula, Pafos (Paphos) region

Type of dive site: Rock

Depth: 11 metres

Visibility: 20 metres

Access: By boat

Qualification Required: Open Water (OW)

Features: A combination of caves and interconnecting tunnels with a variety of marine life make this an interesting dive. Fortunate divers may also spot Green and Loggerhead turtles during the turtle season.

Interesting Facts: Green and Loggerhead turtles nest in Akamas and are a protected species under the Council of Europe’s Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention).

Amphitheatre

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Located next to the Church Bay dive site at Coral Bay, the beautiful underwater landscape of Amphitheatre takes its name from its natural rock formation that resembles an amphitheatre, cut out by the undulating sea currents of two thousand years.

With a mostly flat, sandy surface, the site is perfect for beginners – and even snorkelers – and provides interest with a topography of holes, arches and overhangs.

Notable features include the valley walls where huge, colourful sea snails dwell, and a second amphitheatre with a ‘skylight’ created by a vertical opening.

Starting with the groups of squid that are sometimes spotted inside the large sandy patch of the bay at the beginning of the dive site, divers will also see bream, cuttlefish, flounders, grouper, moray eels, octopi, trumpet fish, wrasse and the occasional sighing of a turtle.

Location: Coral Bay, Pafos
GPS Coordinates: 34°51’21.06″N 32°20’44.64″E
Type of Dive Site:Rocky and Sandy Bottom
Depth:16 metres
Visibility:20+ metres
Access:Shore
Qualification Required:Open Water
Dive Category:Recreational Diving

 

Amphitheatre by visitcyprus on Sketchfab

For the Amphitheatre diving route click here

Alexandra Wreck Diving Site

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Location: Larnaka (Larnaca) Bay

Type of dive site: Wreck

Depth: 32 metres

Visibility: 25 metres

Access: By boat

Qualification Required: Advanced Open Water (AOW)

Features: The site features the same marine life with schools of fish including grouper, barracuda, kingfish, jacks and trigger fish, as well as moray eels, stingrays, turtles and octopus.

Interesting Facts: The Alexandra was a wooden Egyptian fishing vessel that sank in 2006 and measures 37 metres across.

MS Zenobia Shipwreck

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The MS Zenobia deservedly ranks among the top 10 wreck dive sites in the world and boasts the richest array of marine life on the island.

The Swedish Challenger Class roll-on-roll-off ferry was carrying 108 articulated lorries with a diverse array of cargo when she sank off the coast of Larnaka in 1980 on her maiden voyage, thus naming her ‘the Titanic of the Mediterranean’.

Due to a malfunction in her computer-assisted stabilising system, the ferry slowly inclined over the course of a few days before finally sinking on her port side where she now lies on a flat bed of sand and rocks, inviting divers to explore her rich treasures. As there is so much to discover, it is highly recommended to take two dives to fully experience all the Zenobia has to offer.

Among the highlights of this famous must-dive are: 100 trucks that float in eerie suspension within the huge cargo bay; the engine room; two enormous propellors, and of course the cargo itself, which was estimated at £200 million at the time of sinking. The immortalised freight includescars, military equipment, games, telecommunication systems and food. There are even intact hen eggs!

Among the incredible marine life is a shy, resident moray eel and visiting turtles, whilst many other marine life is in abundance, such as barracuda, breams, grouper, jacks, kingfish, lionfish, octopi, sea slugs, sponges, star fish, stingrays, trigger fishandtube worms.
Tour the dive virtually here.

Location:Larnaka Bay

GPS Coordinates:34° 53’31.80″N 33° 39’16.20″E
Type of Dive Site:Wreck(also suitable for scooter diving)
Depth:16– 42 metres
Visibility:25+metres
Dimensions:172 metres long / 28 metres wide
Access:By boat (1.5km from the shore)
Qualification Required: Advanced Open Water / Boat Diver
Dive Category:Recreational and Technical Diving


Zenobia by visitcyprus on Sketchfab

For the Zenobia Technial click here

For the Zenobia Dive Route 1 click here

For the Zenobia Dive Route 2 click here

For the Propeller Zenobia Shipwreck click here

For the Trucks in Zenobia Shipwreck click here

Lady Thetis Shipwreck

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The Lady Thetis wreck is one of two wrecks that make up the Dasoudi Marine Protected Area (MPA), alongside the Costandis wreck, with both sunk in 2014 to create an artificial reef and enrich marine diversity, further assisted by a series of concrete structures sunk at the MPA in 2016.

The vessel was originally a coastal passenger vessel named Reiher (built in West Germany in 1953) and then a Cypriot passenger ship. She now lies just 200 metres from the Costandis wreck, making the site perfect for scooter diving, as well as for any level of diver and especially as an introduction to wreck diving.
Offering easy swim throughs and penetration options for the more adventurous diver, the wreck sank in a such a way that she is now ‘dug’ into the seabed, offering a deeper depth inside, close to the keel. Other points of interest include the deck with the remains of small tables that anemones now favour – a throwback to the vessel’s time as a small cruise ship, as well as the windowed dining room. Colourful sea plants now colonise the staircase.

Marine life at the reef is rich and varied, with species including bream, damselfish, lionfish, moray eels, nudibranch, parrotfish, sea slugs and tube worms, as well as amberjacks that pass through seasonally.


Location: Dasoudi, Lemesos
GPS Coordinates: 34°40’55.78″N 33° 5’1.99″E
Type of Dive Site: Wreck (also suitable for scooter diving)
Depth: 19metres
Visibility: 20+metres
Dimensions: 
Access: By boat
Qualification Required:  Advanced Open Water / Boat Diver
Dive Category: Recreational Diving
 

Lady Thetis Shipwreck by visitcyprus on Sketchfab


For the Table click here

For the Tower click here