Diving the Salem Express

Red Sea 2004

Having read recent articles about her and spoke to those who had dived her before I was slightly uneasy about the prospect of an afternoon dive on Egypt's most controversial wreck.

Having listened to the briefing and the obvious look don't touch policy and zero penetration war grave approach I was not sure what to expect.

Swimming over her port side moment later I was beginning to wise up. The vessel had hit the reef at full speed and it was easy to spot the large crumple of metal around the bow. Everything looked an eerily silver grey colour despite the 30mvis and clear water. As we dropped over the bow to the 32m sea bed the great silver hulk rose sheer above us. Items of everyday life littered the sea bed, a shoe, a fire extinguisher covered in coral a sports bag. It was like swimming through a house someone has just left. We looked in windows and doors but despite my usual wreck ferret approach I felt no urge to penetrate this tomb and even questioned my decision to dive her.

We swam towards the stern looking at the benches still attached to the deck and the huge amounts of blue plastic sheeting and corrugated iron now littering the sea bed. There job of providing a sun screen long finished. Passing the twin funnels bearing her crest we arrived at the large wooden? Stern door. The whole ship was reminiscent of the Zenobia but smaller and perhaps more basic given her 1960's construction. Up over the stern we completed a circuit along her port rail looking at the advance of coral over her fittings and the fish darting in and out of her interior. A few portholes provided glimpses of upturned beds and long empty corridors. The bridge lay ahead with fan coral keeping a look out over the empty forc'sle.

As the buddy teams returned to the surface we were left alone swimming over the wreck with the sun fading and the silence returning. Having spent over an hour on the bottom the obligatory deco pushed our time to 86 minute resulting in some disquiet from the dive guides as we weren't allowed to do deco and the captain was getting concerned about the fading light. Had a maximum dive time been specified I would have planned accordingly, perhaps that briefing could do with changing