The Liberty 'A' Wreck

There is a new wreck to dive in Cyprus and it will provide a much welcomed new dive site for Cyprus and especially in the Protaras/Paralimni area.

On the Friday 22 May 2009 at 04.30 'The Liberty' made her final voyage from limassol to the protaras/pernera area and at 8.30pm local time, with Famagusta in the background, The Liberty sank to her final resting place at the bottom of the med, in a depth of 24 meters.

The sinking of new wreck will hopefully attract an abundance of new marine life to our shores and also provide a fantastic new training ground with easy access for divers on the island.

The Liberty wreck was a 226 tonne Russian cargo ship that used to carry frozen cargo from port to port.  It's length is approximately 37 metres long with a width of 7 metres.

For more information about diving the new Liberty wreck in Cyprus and to learn more about some absolute must scuba packages for this year, please join our FREE newsletter by clicking here.

    


The Liberty Wreck A Few Months On


There had been much speculation about the new wreck and especially it's location. The question was whether to sink the wreck near to the shore to make it more accessible as a 'Shore Dive' or to sink it off shore, so that it would become a 'Boat Dive'.

No matter what decision was made, it was always going to spark controversy!

Now that The Liberty wreck has finally found it's resting place, some people feel that it would have been better to have sunk the wreck closer to the shore. There are a number of good arguments for both sides.

It is fair to say that The Liberty wreck is nothing in comparison with The Zenobia.  Afterall, The Zenobia is one of the best wreck dives in the world!  Maybe we have been spoilt and take it for granted that we have such a magnificent wreck in our backyard. There is no way on earth, that any 'artificial wreck' could ever compete with something as big as The Zenobia and anyone that believed The Liberty wreck was ever going to be another Zenobia or who tries to compare The Liberty wreck with The Zenobia, would be foolish to do so.

The Liberty wreck is simply the remaining shell of a Russian cargo ship. Yes, it is also fair to say that had the wreck still had the bridge attached, it would have made for a better dive. This would have allowed divers the opportunity to swim through the wreck, making the dive more exciting.

At least the municipalaties have actually kept their word and provided us with a new wreck and new dive site, which in itself is progress and can only be a good thing!

Maybe people will criticise the Municipalaties by saying they might as well not have bothered sinking The Liberty but if this had been the case, these same people would have only criticised the Municipalities by saying "they promised us a wreck and haven't provided anything!". I guess there is no pleasing some people!

Many people have expressed their concern regarding the location of The Liberty and how it would not attract marine life for many years due to it being sunk on sand.  Many people still believe this and continue use this negative point about the location and sinking of The Liberty  but these are people that have not yet even dived The Liberty wreck and have no knowledge to what is now living on the wreck.

Despite these negative comments and beliefs, just 2 months on and already there are signs of marine life on The Liberty wreck.  We dive The Liberty wreck on a regular basis and have been amased at how quickly marine life have started to inhabit the wreck.  On one of the ropes at the back of the wreck there is a large cluster of fish eggs.  Also at the back of the ship is a resident trigger fish with lots of Pixel and Damsel fish surrounding the wreck. 

The bottom line is very simple, The Liberty wreck has been sunk and is now there to be dived, should anyone wish to dive it. Whether you choose to do so, is obviously your decision!

If you are a seasoned diver in Cyprus and have dived all of the dive sites in Protaras, then The Liberty wreck is new and something a little different. You can make up your own mind as to whether you think it is worthwhile.