Cave and Wreck diving

[Bennno]

Why do you assume that people who go into such wrecks don't give a damn about the people who died there? People go to the mass grave yards in France and gaze out at row after row after row of people who died in one battle in WWII. They do not go there because they don't care. As a soccer coach leading a team of 16 year old boys on a trip through Europe, I took them to Dachau. These typical 16-year old "we don't give a damn about anything" boys learned very much to give a damn about those thousands of souls who died there.

There is something awe-inspiring and soul-filling about visiting such places. It is by no means a lark, and those who think it is soon learn differently.

John, you can't compare visiting war and holocaust memorials to 'fun' diving a ferry boat.

Why do you assume that people who go into such wrecks don't give a damn about the people who died there?

I'm not assuming. Jim sad: 'It really does not matter if it's one or a thousand bodies... 6 months or 6 years or 600 years for that matter...'

I understand why people wanna dive truk. I would like to dive truk. IMHO it's not the same thing.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Diving the wreck, yes, but not entering the wreck. I guided a ton of divers at the Salem, but we never went into the wreck. I don't have a reason to believe that I was given wrong information by the locals.

I don't have a number. I don't know whether you have seen the Salem or not, but it's not pretty. There is not much coral or fish. The sand around the wreck is littered with suitcases, shoes, clothes and other personal items. When I worked in Safaga, the Salem looked as if she had gone down just a couple of years ago... and it's just a normal, modern ferry boat.

Your memories are more than a decade old ... and tainted by your personal beliefs. This is what the wreck looks like when I was there ... not quite two years ago. There's plenty of life ... because that's what the sea does, it reclaims that which is lost and recycles it back into the intricate web of life from which we all came ...

Yes, this ship needs a couple more decades to "heal" ... but that doesn't in any way detract from the impact of visiting her now, and paying respects to those who lost their lives there 25 years ago ... it was, as I said when I made my initial post, a sobering experience ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Bennno]

Fair enough. I can just go by my experience and as far a I know, entering the wreck was not allowed.

 

[oldschoolto]

Diving the wreck, yes, but not entering the wreck. I guided a ton of divers at the Salem, but we never went into the wreck. I don't have a reason to believe that I was given wrong information by the locals.


Jim said: It really does not matter if it's one or a thousand bodies... 6 months or 6 years or 600 years for that matter...


I don't have a number. I don't know whether you have seen the Salem or not, but it's not pretty. There is not much coral or fish. The sand around the wreck is littered with suitcases, shoes, clothes and other personal items. When I worked in Safaga, the Salem looked as if she had gone down just a couple of years ago... and it's just a normal, modern ferry boat.

Diving to a historic battleship from 80 or 100 year ago, I can understand. Diving to a ferry that 'just' sunk with a 1000 people on board and you can still see all their stuff, I don't understand. Imagine this had happened closer to your home and 1000 of your neighbours, co-workers, friends and family had died in the 90s. Now imagine tons of tourist come to see the grave of your friends. Nobody would want that.

We just look at life differently I guess.. I never meant to imply that the lose of life doesn't matter... In fact a wreck that only lost a cook would get the same respect as the ferry with a 1000 lost... Life, ALL life gets the same respect from me... I don't think mine or any others is some how worth more or less.... I always find it funny that to dig up a grave is a crime but Thousands of people flock to see mummies and the dead of Pompeii....

Jim...

 

[Storker]

A lot of people say they want to go "wreck diving," and they just mean they want to see the outside of the wreck and maybe peer in. Or maybe just do some easy "swim throughs" of wrecks with big holes. There's nothing wrong with that. There's a lot to see.

There sure is. I certified fairly late in life (middle age, children needing less attention, more disposable income) and quickly came to the conclusion that the added risk of overhead environments wasn't something I was willing to accept (I'm only half-joking that if I went and got myself killed in a diving accident, my wife would be really, really mad at me), and I have neither the time nor the energy to commit enough time to qualify for overheads. I'm really happy with open water above me and have never understood why some guides seem to think that a swim-through is something everyone wants to experience. And since - due to our winter storms breaking them down - most wrecks worth seeing in my near vicinity generally are deeper than my personal depth limit of 30m, I'm not diving many wrecks either.

I do know a few tech and cave divers, though, and I can absolutely understand their fascination. It's just not for me. De gustibus and all that.

 

[Rhone Man]

I have dived the wrecks at Truk, where not only are there human remains, but the guides love to bring them out to show you. I am no great respecter of the dead (they are, after all, dead) but even I thought that was pretty classless.

On the other hand I have dived the wreck of the RMS Rhone in BVI over 400 times; that went down with loss of all aboard except about twelve back in 1867. Never really given it a second thought.