Yellow Submarine at Puerto de Mogan
This is a bit of a fraud if you are a committed wreck diver because you wont get wet. But when I saw this sub in the pretty little Port I just had to have a go.
This tourist sub carries about 40 people and descends to 21 meters just out side of Puerto de Mogan. It has a safety buoy and a small boat shadowing it, so that it can't be rammed by surface boats with when it surfaces. The bottom was sand and rock, pretty sparse but with some shoals of small fish and a couple of Tuna. The Skipper got the buoyancy a tad wrong so we bumped around on the bottom for a bit until he sorted it out. Inside they played the dramatic bits from Phantom of the Opera with a few asdic pings and lots of shouted commands. Very scene setting.
The big surprise was the shipwreck. It appeared to be a medium sized fishing boat. no one on the crew knew its name at the time, but looking on the net, I came across this great site that runs diving tours (wet ones) on it.
www.canary-diving.com/site4.shtm
The wreck is called the Cemona 11, a medium sized trawler, and it was deliberately sunk in March 2002 by the yellow submarine company to enhance their attraction. It was lying on its port side, still reasonably intact, and home to a large variety of marine life including large shoals of baby sardines which hide from the tuna and jacks that seem to constantly patrol the wreck.
All the while there were taped commands about changing course and being caught in strong currents, all to the tune of the Dying Swan from Swan Lake. Very atmospheric, and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. As the sub got ready to surface it resounded to the taped commands to shut all vents and klaxons going off as we started to surface. All the while you could see what was happening as the sub surfaced and dived on the little monitor under the porthole along with a depth gauge. Very entertaining.
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