Читать книгу Into the Abyss. Diving to Adventure in the Liquid World онлайн

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As we waited at the slip for the cox’s to return, we talked excitedly about the Port Napier. She lies on her starboard side in about 20 metres of water just 300 yards offshore from an uninhabited part of Skye - facing towards the Scottish mainland. It is only a short ride out from Kyle in a dive boat, of some 10 minutes.

With such a large, substantially intact, wreck lying in relatively shallow water so close to mainland Scotland she has become one of Scotland’s most popular wreck sites, drawing countless divers to her slowly rotting remains each year. She is regarded as a safe wreck dive - because of the relatively shallow depth and also because the Royal Navy had obligingly removed her uppermost port side hull plating during the mine recovery operation. If divers penetrate into her interior down at depth and something goes wrong, then they can rise up to a clear surface inside her instead of being trapped inside.

Additionally, the open side of her hull lets lots of ambient light penetrate down into her innards lighting up her inner recesses which would otherwise be cocooned in eternal darkness. She is many a diver’s first taste of wreck diving. She would also be my first taste of a relatively intact wreck.