I wanted to share my first experience of diving on a sunken ship, the experience was so amazing that it deserves it's own post.
The wreck in question whose name I do not even know lays on Her side sloping downwards from bow to stern. Her bow is in about 80 feet of water and Her stern at 130 feet.  These depths are on the limits of most divers certification and certainly 130 feet is considered on the limit of sport diving period.

I was fully aware that this wreck dive would push me to exceed my level of training and even the level of experience I had.  The dive would not have been thinkable for me without the intense confidence I had in our Cuban instructor Julian.

The wreck is very well prepared as a dive site, the holds have all been cut open for ease of access and to allow penetration of the deeper parts of the ship.  The bridge and wheelhouse are permanently closed, and with good reason even on a ship of this size (She is over 150 feet long) the bridge is a tight and dangerous fit for a diver.

The catamaran we used to arrive over the wreck is the type of party boat you see everywhere in vacation paradise, twin hull with a covered deck and a cargo net stretched between the front of the hulls, lots of cold drinks and music.

Most of the people on board were on a day trip to Santiago with a snorkel stop close to the wreck.   The dive group was small which seemed best to penetrate a wreck.

I will never forget my first sight of Her we emptied our BC's and dropped down to 80 feet as we swam forward her bow materialised out of the dark blue and my breath caught in my throat, the scene was so reminiscent of the opening scene of Titanic that I mentally screamed "I am the King of the World" well not really but it makes for a great anecdote.

We swam forward towards the huge bulk of this ship so incongruous laying on the bottom and in many ways very sad.  We entered the wreck through one of the upper forward holds and swam through 3 or 4 separate holds all of them cut open with lots of places to see out.

After only a few minutes inside and a couple of turns we exited the wreck near the stern we were now in 130 feet of water with a bottom time in single digits, the feeling of being at such a depth relying solely on my training and the safety margins of your equipment is an experience few will ever have but I can say it is intensely satisfying and intensely addictive.

After a short stop to view the propeller we had to ascend our too short visit to the depths was over. As we rose I looked down between my legs watching Her vanish into the deep blue. I wanted that moment when She would disappear from view locked in my mind.

And it is.