Diving at Zenobia

The wreck of the «Zenobia» ferry - is a legendary Mediterranean wreck diving paradise located just off the coast of Larnaca Cyprus! She sank in June 1980 after a catastrophic malfunction of the ballast control system during her maiden voyage - just in front of the pretty town of Larnaca.

She carried a load in excess of 135 lorry trailers and their cargo, these are still lying in their final resting place onboard the wreck of the «Zenobia»! Also inside the «Zenobia» is a variety of machinery - several drum rollers «Bomag», one electric forklift «Lansing Bagnall» and one light blue Soviet car «Lada»!

The «Zenobia» has three cargo decks levels, and two accommodation levels - for the entire crew and at least 140 lorry drivers. The accommodation zone has lots of interesting premises - canteen, kitchen, cabin rooms, hospital, laundry, rest area, radio room, store rooms (in one of them you can see stored crew’s Christmas tree with toys)!

The minimum depth of the ferry wreck is 16,7 metres by the starboard guardrail so the conditions are suitable for divers of all qualification levels! We also offer specialist penetration diving inside the «Zenobia» in some of her internal holds, decks and premises - suitable for properly trained, experienced and well equipped divers!

Bow

Let’s dive and check out the Zenobia’s massive «Titanic» bow. Looking from that point, you’ll be surprised to find out how big the ship is! Take a look at the tremendous top anchor, its winch and the bulb. Don’t forget and enjoy the breathtaking panorama view of the mighty superstructures with the alluring captain’s cabin and the navigation antenna on it. And how about considering the abandoned technical room through the open hatches using our fine torches?

Accommodations

Welcome to our underwater exhibition! Come in and have a cup in the Zenobia’s undersea cafeteria, swim through the mysterious labyrinths of premises! Afterwards, we will get to the ferry’s sunken infirmary and see an old, forgotten but completely preserved canvas from the «seasons» series. Just look around… The sunshine gleams through the windows, overgrown with sea creatures, and gets into the huge fascinating wreck… Want to be carefully shown all the details and stay fully protected from unpleasant surprises - required to use flashlights!

Superstructures

After we dive under the imposing superstructures of the left side of the ship you literally feel how this hulk hangs over you! Practically, most of the rooms are filled up with curious ship equipment and different stuffs of all shapes and sizes, however the entrances and windows are passable. It is also possible to illuminate some interesting details of the ferry, so you’ll be really delighted with our true «exhibition»! In the course of this dive it is necessary to function with your flippers, despite that it will be only a third of a 180 meters gigantic shipwreck…

Сaptain’s bridge

Let’s check out the striking technics now! Here we will explore the captain’s bridge with its tempting control panels and the radar consoles, covered with marine life now. Outside we shall find the survived lifeboats lying on boat davits, the huge navigation antenna, remote devices and the mighty loading crane with its control cabin, living their second, already undersea life…

Lorry & trailers

Here we shall discover a vast number of trucks scattered everywhere: on the open deck, at the bottom and in the closed part of the top cargo compartment. Some of those rusty monsters are still fixed to the deck by chains. Unfortunately, many divers visit the Zenobia just for the sake of the thrilling cargo trucks, forgetting about the major treasure! Nevertheless, we can understand them - the sight is simply incredible!

Stern

Now, we will drop to the stern part of the ship and make a traditional «on the propellers» photo… Those huge beasts will remind you of Titanic! None of the two enormous running propellers were removed from the ferry, despite their pretty high material value. On the way back we may pass under the upper pipe, looking now rather like a stupendous wing. You are await by some amazing surprises down here and be sure you’ll be touched by a deal of marine animals along the route, as around all the artificial reef named Zenobia!

Ramps

One of the distinctive features of this ship class (roll-on / roll-off ferry) is existence of ramps. They were used for the trucks to get on the top and the main cargo decks; now these great bridges are in raised position and are used as a spectacle for the voyagers of this diving utopia. You can’t pretend how monstrous they are till you swim around them and examine their powerful lifting mechanisms. Beside we’ll again see the «rusty monsters» lying on the moss-covered bottom, the load of one of which was simply chicken eggs. Dozens of those preserved «historical objects» have been waiting for you since 1980 down here!)