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In 1981, the Yolanda, a ship
carrying a cargo of hotelier supplies including amongst other items,
baths and toilets, sank to the south of Shark Reef, situate in Ras
Mohammed National Park, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. There she remained
for approximately five years on a shallow southern reef until a
storm plunged her deep into the depths leaving only the remnants of
her cargo as testament she had ever lain there at all.
In December 2005, Mark Andrews and fellow British technical diver
Leigh Cunningham undertook what is believed to be the
world’s deepest wreck dive and descended to 205 metres, where they
discovered what they believe to be the wreck of the Yolanda.
The project began in May 2005, when the pair who had
previously trained together for deep record dives started their
training at the Far Garden dive site by getting used to ‘big
rigs’ consisting of between five and six 12-litre aluminum tanks
over a period of two days.
Then followed four days at Yolanda Reef, where the pair made a
series of dives along the wall along which the Yolanda had
plummeted in 1985, with each dive taking the pair progressively
deeper.
On their first dive, which was between 60 and 83 metres, the pair
found wreckage and several large ship containers. On a subsequent
dive they noted a deep scour at approximately 92 metres in the sea
bed from where the pair believe the ship must have built up speed
before ploughing to a halt in the sand.
At a depth of between 145 and 160 metres, on a 45-degree slope and
almost entirely covered in sand, Leigh discovered the forward
section of the wreck and other strewn wreckage.
In mid December 2005, the pair revisited the Yolanda supported by a
team of 10 support divers. Over a five day period, three of which
were spent acclimatizing to deep air diving and surveying the
wreckage trail, the pair completed one trimix dive to the bow of the
wreck lying at approximately 155 metres and a further and final dive
to the stern of the wreck which lies at 205 metres.
Whilst Mark and Leigh acknowledge to date they have been unable to
positively identify the wreckage as the Yolanda, it is highly
unlikely that the wreck is not the Yolanda as no other ships are
known to have sunk in this exact area. |
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