Liveaboard to the TUSA Wreck |
Text and photography
by David Oldale |
Within weeks the trip was arranged through Turkey’s premier specialist tour operator Anatolian Sky in conjunction with Mehmet the owner of the Seahorse Diving Centre that operates a liveaboard out of Fethiye, Turkey. Anatolian Sky arranged our flights out of London Gatwick on Thomas Cook Airlines with part of our group (which by now had swelled to nine) staying for 1-week and the remained for two weeks which would include a week spent in the very comfortable Oreo Hotel and diving with BT Diving in Kas (about 90-miles south of Fethiye). The arrangements for the trip must have proved a nightmare for both Anatolian Sky and Thomas Cook Airlines as we had people coming for the first week, some coming the second week, some staying for both weeks and then we had a mountain of excess baggage (specialist-dive, camera and film equipment) which I might add Thomas Cook Airlines wavered all charges! If that wasn’t enough Thomas Cook Airlines had allocated all the front rows seats on the aircraft both inbound and outbound and everything proceded without any hassle – I still wonder to this day how they accomplished this feat! All things considered Paul and Sheila arrived at Heathrow from Tenerife with us all meeting at Gatwick for the mid-morning flight down to Dalaman, Turkey. An on-time good flight, good in-flight meal, plenty of free lemonades with comfortable seats and three and a half hours later we had arrived to the 35°C heat of Turkey – in mid-May. Forty-five minutes after leaving Dalaman International Airport the Anatolian Sky mini-bus had us delivered to our liveaboard in Fethiye Marina for our first night on board. With our sailing departure being scheduled from the marina the following day we all were out and about for eats and drinkies that evening in Fethiye – Mehmet knew a good place – and it was good, at a very reasonable price!
I will not dwell on the subject of our first dive nor go into any details of our diving prior to arriving at the wreck-site as we were using these dives as a build-up to make sure that all our underwater communications equipment was working without problem together with the film-cameras (both video and still). However, after the first dive within the Gulf of Fethiye it was found that the on-board compressor was not functioning as it should! I must mention that this was the maiden voyage of Seaborn Legend so… slight problems were to be expected. Luckily Paul diagnosed the problem – a hairline crack in one of the couplings, with a new part being ordered by ship to shore radio, which would be waiting for our arrival when we docked a few days later in Marmaris – it was! After leaving the Gulf behind, Seaborn Legend anchored for the night in the shelter of islands close to Dalyan. After a good meal on board we settled down in our cabins for an early night, as the following morning would bring a first-light departure for the final leg of our journey – north to Marmaris. It was during the night that I felt the boat begin to rock and with it some commotion from the upper deck – I took little notice and rolled over in my bunk to venture back into a deep sleep
Unknown to me at the time, during the early-hours the wind had got up which had forced the crew to up-anchor and steer the boat to a more comfortable position. After an early breakfast Mehmet steered Seaborn Legend out from the lee of the protecting islands towards the open sea. All at once the boat began to rock an’ roll in a choppy sea with high swell – I moved aft to the comfort of the soft cushions of the open saloon, propping myself into a corner to watch the antics of crew, boat and sea!
We spent another night in the lee of the islands awaiting parts and repairs, which were completed the following morning. In the meantime the wind subsided with the sea going flat calm. By lunch we were on our way with an expected docking at around 1730 hours in the harbour at Marmaris. The journey went without incident except for the sighting of a Swordfish basking on the surface very close to the boat in the open sea just prior to us sailing into the Gulf of Marmaris. And then, whilst I was giving an interview to camera with Paul a Dolphin leapt from the water in front of the bow of a passing day-cruiser (within the Gulf). After anchoring and tying up in the harbour Mehmet was quickly ashore to collect the part for the compressor – which took just a few minutes to fit. Meanwhile Paul, Sheila and myself went for a walk around the smart harbour cafes, restaurants and bars that adorned the walkways around the harbour. With Sheila filming we were invited into a restaurant that was overlooked by Marmaris Castle to the rear and looked over the water to the front. Another interview to camera but… not before the restaurant’s owner insisted he laid our table with sumptuous food and drinks – all on the house!
I left the surface to glide gently down the reef into 20-metres and just above the silt seabed. Two minutes into the dive I wasn’t sure if this was right… Three minutes and I was sure as the forward anchor came into view. Paul’s voice echoed through my headphones, ‘Are you sure this is the place?’ ‘Well if it’s not – we’ve found another wreck, can’t you see that bloody-great anchor in front of us?’ I replied.
After a sufficient surface interval I was back on the wreck with Paul and Sheila whilst Steve would guide the other divers again over the wreck-site, but it would not be until the following morning that we would get to work with the constructed at the last minute makeshift airlift. One person in our party had brought along an underwater metal detector that would also be put to use on that next dive. We had made a number of deep dives prior to arriving on the wrecksite (as I had, had concerns about whether the full face-masks would supply sufficient air at depth and how long our air supply would last bearing in mind that when commentating underwater you literally eat air at a rate of around 4-times normal) – With some tweaking the full face-masks would deliver a sufficient air supply, however nothing could be done about our air consumption and not-speaking was an option that could not be considered. By virtue of previous and many deep-dives I also noticed that we were getting less and less time over the wrecksite due to the build up of Nitrogen. The following morning dive saw us equipped with the sand airlift. Looking at it I wasn’t at all impressed with the somewhat unsophisticated makeshift contraption hastily constructed by Paul and Mehmet. However after a brief examination I decided that we would loose nothing by giving it a try. All things considered, it had one thing going for it – a workable venturi-action. Hell, this thing might just work – perhaps! Paul settled into position close-in to the supports for the deck rail, with Sheila and myself on station about a metre away. Whilst applying the nozzle to the slit around and close to the supports he switched on the air supply. Great clumps of ‘muck’ shot forcibly toward the nozzle and up into the pipe – only to be deposited 6-metres away in a cloud just over Paul’s head. The cloud drifted slowly down to engulf one and all – visibility zero! I could contain my laughter no longer. ‘Why don’t you try the airlift over the cannon and balls,’ I suggested, still chuckling. ‘Will do buddy,’ Paul replied.
After a long surface interval we went back down the wreck and I was shocked! The airlift had done a pretty good job of clearing a quantity of silt from the two locations it had been used upon. With a larger bore pipe that was also long enough to take the muck away from the wrecksite we could have quite easily cleared silt from a very large section of the wreck – perhaps next time! Back on board after that last dive I had a quiet word with Tim concerning the results of his survey of the wreck with the metal detector. It seemed that with the detector set to discriminate non-ferrous metals – he received a great many worthwhile hits from within the silt-buried hull. It makes you think – doesn’t it! That early evening after a superb dinner on board Mehmet gave the order to up-anchor to begin the long journey back to Fethiye. On the way we would dive a few more locations – but that is another story for another day. However, a one-hour DVD/Video is available covering the whole of the adventure from sales@holiday-diver.com entitled ‘Ottoman Odyssey’. Location: Aegean Coast, Marmaris, Turkey. GETTING THERE: Anatolian Sky Holidays arranged this trip in conjunction with the Seahorse Diving Centre and Thomas Cook Airlines. The flight was from the UK (Gatwick) to Dalaman Airport, Turkey. Flying time approx 3.5 hrs To be followed by a 50 minute transfer: Baggage Allowance (Thomas Cook Airlines) – 20 kilos plus FREE 10 kilos dive equipment allowance and 5 kilos hand baggage. DIVING & ACCOMMODATION: All the diving mentioned in this text was with the Seahorse Diving Centre (PADI, SSI), Fethiye, Turkey (Liveaboard only) Tel: 0090 532 452 6834 WHEN TO GO: May to end of October destination. Average temperature from 25 to 40 degrees C. Sea temp: from 18 to 30 degrees C. |
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Perhaps the events that initially followed my return to the UK are of no interest to my readers but suffice it to say that I was contacted by both Paul and Sheila (who had taken an interest in my story of discovery) and wished to be included in the trip (to film the event) when I was to make a return to the TUSA wreck site. 
Seaborn Legend was due to depart at 1200hrs; Paul and Sheila however were missing! They had gone off filming somewhere in Fethiye. Eventually – one-hour later than expected we set sail – nearly! As the boat left the marina Captain Mehmet managed to entangle some line around Seaborn Legend’s prop – whoops! After a bit of too and fro-ing Mehmet managed to clear the line and we were heading out of the Gulf of Fethiye towards our first diving destination (before heading north towards the TUSA Wrecksite).
About 4 miles out in a heavy sea and strengthening wind all hell seemed to break loose when Seaborn Legend’s forestay snapped with a loud crack and the boat lurched violently. Mehmet carefully steered Seaborn Legend back towards the safety of the islands we had earlier left. From the worried look on the faces of captain and crew I had the feeling that there was a chance that we were going to loose the mast before we could reach safe anchorage – with luck we didn’t but, there was no chance of us going anywhere until repairs were completed!
In the morning we at last set sail on the final leg of our journey to the Tusa Wreck site. Whilst it should have taken no more than 30 minutes to reach the location off Sedir Island I was by now not quite sure of exactly where off the Island the wreck was to be located. You see, our dive of discovery had been made some years before, we had only dived there the once and then I had laid many false trails to deter the wreck-robbers! Armed with only a photograph showing the topography of the Island close to the wreck-site (that may or may not have been correct – it may have been a red herring – I couldn’t be certain) Mehmet cruised slowly around Sedir Island. I was looking for a sloping group of three giant boulders with four trees. As we rounded the last tip of the Island I recognised similar features as seen on the photograph… Paul, Sheila, my son Steve and myself kitted up for the dive. The remainder of our party would stay on board – awaiting our return with information that this was or was not the wreck’s location. 
I don’t think I need state his reply but suffice to say – he saw it! Following the line of where the rock-reef met the silt I led our group to the first cannon and stone cannon balls. After continuing along the intact side of the wooden hull (barely covered by silt) to the stern or bow (as yet undetermined) we passed over more cannon, pottery and artefacts before returning to beneath the dive boat. Above our heads the water erupted as we were bombarded by divers who had given up awaiting our return – and just wanted to get in the water. I signalled to Steve that he should lead them down to the wreck before joining us back on board.
Here he met with rather more success but it would not be until the afternoon’s dive that we could assess his stalwart efforts, or not as the case may be!