About the wreck (from Wikipedia):
HMS Maori (L24/F24/G24) was a Tribal-class destroyer laid
down by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, at Govan
in Scotland on 6 June 1936, launched on 2 September 1937[1] by Mrs W. J. Jordan
and commissioned on 2 January 1939. She was named after the indigenous Māori
people of New Zealand, and Mrs Jordan was the wife of the New Zealand High
Commissioner William Jordan.
Maori served with the Mediterranean Fleet, was involved in
the pursuit and destruction of the enemy Bismarck in May 1941,[2] and served
with the 14th Destroyer Flotilla during the Battle of Cape Bon in December
1941.[3] Maori, commanded by Commander R. E. Courage, RN, was attacked by enemy
German aircraft and sank at her moorings in the Malta Grand Harbour on 12
February 1942 with the loss of one of her crew. She was raised and scuttled off
Malta on 15 July 1945.
Location
The Team
Steve Wilko was our guide for the dive and I was with Yves. Also part of the Divewise team was Oz and Tom and Neil.Dive Commentary
The entry point that we chose to use was located right at the end of the road and down a short flight of stairs. Unfortunately, in the 3 months it has been since I was last in Malta and diving the Maori the local fishermen have removed the ladders that divers were using to enter a relatively sheltered area to kit up and get comfy before entering "open water" (indicated by route 1). So there are two options left for this entry point. Either, walking down the steps that enter straight into the water which look slightly unnerving to me because they are at least coloured as you would expect a slippery surface although I never saw anyone slip (indicated by route 2). Or secondly a giant stride entry to the right of this area (indicated by route 3 below).
Once we were in the water it was a quick descent although for the first few seconds I though I was under-weighted and couldn't drop down because the water was so turbulent that all I could see were bubbles and silt, but after a few seconds I had dropped below this turbulent layer and dropping down onto the reef at about 4m it took Yves a few more seconds to drop down to join us eventually.
Steve led us along the reef. On the way I decided to try and use the Go Pro that my friend had loaned me back in the UK so clearly the first thing I wanted to do was take a selfie!
Swimming along the reef at about 6m there is a moderate motion to the water so the plant life is swaying and looks beautiful, the plant life has some vibrant colours - even purple as I found here.
As well as the local fauna, there are a lot of fish on the reef. We swam along the reef for longer than necessary compared to taking a direct route but it meant that we hit the bow region. At this point I was number 3 with Steve leading and Yves in the middle.
Coming around between the forward and rear sections the main body of the wreck is on our left and we can see a large entrance for a swim through along the length of the ship. We had Yves lead, being a photographer we wanted to give him the best vis possible so he lead, I took 2 and Steve took 3. Inside the wreck I tried to take a selfie but I wasn't stable enough with my hands so the pictures are a bit blurred! If you had cataracts and a squint I suppose it might look ok!
We swam aft along the length of the ship with Yves taking pictures as he went. There is a large cylinder that runs upward - I think this could be part of the funnel perhaps? You can swim around it but it gets tight to the far left so excellent buoyancy control is needed so as to not silt up the area. Just on one of the windows of the wreck was a tubular coral.
Exiting the wreck and dropping down to the deepest point of about 14m there is a large piece of ammunition that can be found here. I was also trying to use my 21W HID light to illuminate the shell a little more and it worked I think.
I'm amazed at how well the picture turned out because whilst I was really concentrating on my buoyancy and getting myself position just right I was truly in my zone. So I'm concentrating, trying to imagine framing the image and if I'm pointing it the right when and started squeezing the button to take the picture when I feel a hand sliding up between my legs!!! Startled and nearly dropping the camera I roll over to see whats going on above and behind me - and I see Neil right there in front of me with Tom and Oz above. I looked back at Neil, and just gave him a middle finger! It was funny but crickey it scared the life out of me! Neil told me that when he saw my eyes wide he thought I was going to hit him!! Ha!
Also around here were a lot of fireworms which required avoiding.
So we swam along the outside of the wreck and then came back about to near the wheel house.
The large cylinder that was seen inside the wreck can also been seen on top. It looks like is has gear teeth along the outside of it. But with the top of it being sealed with just a small hole I'm thinking it could be a boiler. We then approached the wheel house which is very skeletal now.
Leaving the wreck we then came across part of the mid-ship that still remained after the forward section had been recovered. All that remains here are the ribs of the ship with some boarding.
Leaving here we then headed to the reef to start our way back. On the way we found a very large octopus sleeping in a very small hole. One tentacle went across the hole and you could see its body behind that. The thickness of one tentacle was approximately an inch!
I found an interesting underwater creature. It was a Brill fish. It was sheer fluke it was underneath me when I looked down, you could JUST see its outline under a thin layer of sand, despite me disturbing it, it didn't bolt off - Oz later told me that he has often used his hand to guide the fish where he wants - usually in circles!
Swimming closer to the reef again with Steve leading, Yves second and me third. Steve stops and looks towards the reef. He then looks back to where he was going, he then looks back again. He turns back to us and points - at what? Looking around I couldn't see anything of interest. So we start swimming in a line to the reef. Steve stops and, even to this day this still makes me chuckle, he grabs a handful of sand and then sprinkles it on his head!!! And then points at the reef again. Having just seen the fillet fish I thought he meant that. But swimming steadily onwards I saw nothing out the ordinary. Then all of a sudden, whoosh, what looked like a squid went shooting from the seabed across us. It turned out to be a cuttlefish - I had never seen one before so that was very interesting!
Returning to the entry point we found ourselves inside a washing machine and it was far to risky to get out, we were all in twinsets, Yves had a nice camera and I had my very big, but very delicate dive light. So we chose an extended exit. Further around the bay there is a tunnel that leads to an inland river that the fishermen store their boats in. It took about 8-10 minutes to swim there and then getting through the tunnel was a challenge because the surge meant that you were making about 1 inch of progress a minute, but then all of a sudden, you would get pulled through!
The tunnel and the right hand turn once through the tunnel are very scenic - a good place for a photograph. Swimming the length of river is quite shallow and I did have an embarrassing moment where the tide went out just as I was going over a little rise in the reef/rocks which meant I "beached" myself! I had to wait for the tide to come in again to give me the depth to get over it. The very end of river has a nice gentle slope from the beach up to the main road and then it was a long walk back to the van.
Surface Air Consumption
I am in the habit of calculating my Surface Air Consumption (SAC) rate for every dive. The calculation that I use assumes a square profile which for this dive is very very accurate, for other dives it may not be. You can compensate for that slightly if your computer can track average depth you could use that measurement in the calculation.So to calculate my SAC rate it is : 2,880 (litres of gas used) / 2.1 (11m in ATA) x 75 (dive duration) = 18 l/min.
For me that is higher than expected. I was expecting something about 15-16 l/min. But thinking about the dive, I was really trying hard to keep neutral and maintain good trim and I was really loading my lungs - what I should have done was to put a bit more gas in my wing and then I would have found it easier.
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