When the 172 meters long Swedish ferry MS Zenobia left in 1980 from Malmo, Sweden for her maiden voyage, no one could imagine she would sink before it could reach its destination, Tartous, in Syria. The ship was carrying cargo destined for the Mediterranean and Middle East, but the captain noticed steering problems before her stop in Larnaca, Cyprus, where she eventually capsized and sank, allegedly due to software errors in the pumping system.
As she is lying at a 45 degrees angle on her port side, it occupies today a big column of water surrounding Cyprus, making the dive possible at several levels. Beginners can dive the starboard side at a depth around 16 meters, while more advanced divers can descend to the upper car deck and tech divers can reach the engine room at the bottom, which is located at a depth of 45 meters.
Penetration dives are at their best inside the bowels of this sunken ship, with three lorry decks full of cargo from Europe, Africa and Arabia. The captain’s quarters and engine rooms are the deepest areas of the wreck, recommended only to experienced divers.
Ranked as one of the top 10 wreck diving sites in the world, the Zenobia, only 1.5 km from Larnaca, can be reached via a quick boat ride. She is surrounded by schools of fish including groupers, tuna and barracudas. Nudibranches and sea-slugs, along with moray eels, turtles, and all sorts of crustaceans, make the place a heaven for photographers.