Colm Lowney
I’ve always wanted to go to Croatia… And when the message from Michelle came through as I was sipping a pint of plain, I was onboard in a flash. Who wouldn’t love a bit of wreck diving, fine weather and fine wine in Croatia. Michelle had reached out and secured accommodation and diving on the beautiful island of Vis, about 2 hours by ferry from nearby Split. With flights booked, and deposits paid we were soon counting down the days and seeing who’s bringing a 3mm suit, and if I need to bring stage regs etc. And then the day dawned and we all found ourselves in Dublin airport boarding our flight to Split and, in a blink, we were off to Croatia!
After a pleasant flight and a short walk from the airport with our bags we were secured for the night in a few apartments on the coast ahead of our ferry crossing the next morning. With a few drinks to hand the chat and craic started to flow and you just knew it was going to be a good week…
Crossing to Vis and diving
The next morning broke and we gathered for coffee’s taking on beautiful seashore just down the coast from Split. With the arrival of our taxi’s, we were off to the ferry and soon on our way to Vis and our ultimate destination of Kozima which would be our base for the weeks diving. Once we landed, we jumped into taxis to cross the small but very mountainous island. As we crossed over a mountain pass, the taxi stopped to long enough to take in the spectacular view of Kozima, nestled in the bay. A descent to the village and we were soon settled in our accommodation.
After transferring our equipment to the dive centre, were we sorted out gear and paperwork, and the techies readied their rebreathers, a few of us went for our first shore dive. Unfortunately, Leo the guide failed to notice the larger dredger breaking rocks nearby and the water turning a Sandycove shade of tea. But it was a nice shakedown dive and good to get back in the water.
Day 2 – The ‘proper’ diving begins
With a couple of sore heads, and coated in sunscreen we headed downtown Kozima, picking up breakfast and lunch at a spectacular bakery. Onwards to the dive centre where we began to get our gear ready and load the boat with 15lt bottles. A quick brief and we headed off to a reef called Seka Reef.
Unfortunately, Jean & Steve as they were diving on rebreathers would be diving on a different boat with other techie divers who had driven down from Germany, Poland and Slovakia. But it would be exciting as they’d get a chance to use their rebreathers to the full.
For the open circuit crew, the dive was a nice reef with eels and stone fish etc. and the dive centre made sure we got our money’s worth with a 51 min dive. The guide Dominique was very good and navigated us to the where the boat was moored, and soon we were up the lift and chilling out onboard.
For our second dive we were going to dive a wreck called the Vassolios T, a Greek ship which sank under mysterious circumstances but was intact and lying on its side. Steve and Jean had dived it earlier that day and said that we wouldn’t be disappointed and boy were they right. Descending to the bow, which was at 15m and we rounded to the decks and the massive cargo holds. The wreck was in great condition, and there was loads to see. Steve and Jean did a reef on their second dive so the day ended well with the obligatory post-dive debrief pints, followed by dinner and relaxation.
Day 3 – A few more reefs
Up bright and early, we hit the bakery for breakfast and lunch and then we were off. Today it was reefs again to the northwest of Kozima. Again crystal clear waters and nice topography the reefs of Gujilina and Dubenica were nice to tackle with us logging 45min dives. Back at base we asked about some more wrecks but it appeared that the dive shop were watching the wind as the hard-decker rolled abit and they had concerns about us getting onto the lift in a pitching sea. As we headed back to base we found a nice beach bar which became our post-dive debrief headquarters.
Meanwhile our techies, Jean and Steve had hit the jackpot, diving on the wreck of a B-17 ‘Flying Fortress’ bomber which ditched in the sea during World War 2 in 1944. The wreck lay at a depth of 72m and was the jewel in the crown for them. This was a spectacular dive, while people are used to seeing fish swimming around shipwrecks it seemed very odd to see fish in front of an aircraft. The plane is so intact that the guns are still in place and magazines of bullets are still visible inside the aircraft!
Day 4 – Back to the wrecks
Today we’d be diving an interesting wreck called the Teti which ran aground in the 1930’s and the local fishermen rescued the crew which is a bit of history that Kozima is proud of. We geared up and headed out to a small island like the Muglins which even had its own lighthouse on it where the wreck was located. The wreck was carrying large paving blocks when it sank and they are still lying in the hold. The wreck was relatively intact and the deepest point was the stern at 35m. Teaming with life there was quite a bit to see and it was a great dive. After lunch we were back on a reef very close by and it was a relaxing dive, which was discussed at length during our post-dive debrief drinks.
Back to the technical wing of the group, they dived on a B-24 ‘Liberator’ bomber which had an interesting history which is in more detail below and they were able to see both sections of the aircraft, though they are some distance apart. We were hoping that we’d get the chance to dive the B-24 based on their reports so we were watching the weather with great interest.
The Tulsamerican…
This B-24J was the last one produced in the Tulsa factory and it became a community icon. The citizens of Tulsa, Oklahoma community and the factory workers purchased that plane to buy war bonds. They named her Tulsamerican, took smiling pictures next to her, and signed their names on her fuselage with messages and wishes to the soldiers she was flying to help. It had a unique art design on its nose with a copy of the art on handmade scrolls at each of the crew’s stations. It became a community icon and remains so to this day.
On December 17, 1944, Tulsamerican was on a bombing mission against enemy oil refineries at Odertal, Germany. It was sent along with every available plane to attack oil refineries to support the Allied forces in the Battle of the Bulge. 527 B-17s and B-24s launched that day with 300 P-38s and P-51s to escort them. Badly damaged from Luftwaffe attacks, Tulsamerican had to ditch her bombs and turn for home in Italy, but the crew knew they wouldn’t make it so attempted to land on the Allied airfield on Vis which was closer. She was unable to land because it couldn’t lower its nose landing gear due to damaged hydraulics. While circling the island, the aircraft lost its 3rd engine on the second pass and the pilot crash-landed it onto the sea. Due to its design, the Liberator, cartwheeled upon impact and the tail section broke off and landed some distance away from the wing & nose section.
Seven out of ten crew members survived the crash and floated in life vests before being rescued by the local fisherman. The remaining three crew members were killed in the crash and were lost in the bomber’s sinking at the time. One is believed to have drifted away while still on the surface, but the pilot and the navigator are thought to remain within the wreckage to this day.
As the wreck had cartwheeled, it sank upside down and one of its wheels is still in the down position from the wing. The wreck was fairly battered, but it is only made of light alumimium but it was great to see and well worth the few minutes of deco…
We paused for lunch and did another reef dive afterwards which included some beautiful caves, but it was hard to beat the B-24…
For the rebreathers, on the last day of diving they were diving a reef called Sika 6 which has the biggest colony of Gargonia fans at approximately 50 metres followed by a beautiful ascent to between six and ten metres full of inlets, caverns to meander through and explore during the decompression.
The last day on Vis
For our last day on Vis, some people did some more diving and for the others Michelle had arranged for a military tour of the island and we enjoyed some off-road driving in 4 x 4’s taking in the old Yugoslav bunkers and gun emplacements on the island. Our guides took us deep underground and explained what went on in the bunkers and the history of the island. We taken into a command centre that was deep inside a nuclear bunker which lay in a labyrinth of over 2km of tunnels. Surprisingly the tunnels were open and anyone could just wander in and get lost deep in the tunnels but thankfully that didn’t happen. Onwards to a vineyard for lunch and refreshments and back to Kozima. We packed up and got ready to depart tomorrow, spending some time in beautiful Split before flying out.
The holiday was brilliant. Michelle did a great job organising everything making it all run smoothly and enjoyable, relaxing and great craic!