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08/11/2013: We start the season with a deep dive to the SS Worcestershire (57M), a wreck recently identified by Dive Sri Lanka as the World War I armed merchant sunk by the German Commerce Raider SMS Wolf in 1917. As usual the sighting of Adams Peak from the edge of West Coast heralds the season after the tumultuous monsoons which saw extremely rough seas, that even altered the shape of some wrecks in Colombo. The seas have now calmed down completely. The visibility has not yet reached the peak best and we have seen large Jellyfish in almost all our dives during the first week of November. This is rather unusual as these creatures are rarely sighted in these large numbers.

Diving in Colombo is now possible to all through two dive centers! See the Dive Centers page for more information!

19/09/2013: In our first expedition to the uncharted territories of the extreme east, we visit the town of Kalmunai and dive in search of two ships purportedly the HMS hollyhock and the SS Athelstane. Both were which were sunk by the Japanese Airforce during the attack of Ceylon on the 9th of April 1942 at the height of world war II.

In our first dive we are not disappointed. At a precipitous drop off at the edge of the continental shelf we find a magnificient dive site resplendent with marine life and perhaps with deep roots to history. This could be the HMS Hollyhock.

15/07/2013 - The Pecheur Breton (popularly known also as the Cargo Wreck until its name was found) is one of the most popular and best wreck dives in Sri Lanka. Over the years the 90M wreck sitting at 32M has yielded to us a wealth of marine life! Giant Stingrays, Big Groupers, Eagle Rays, Dolphins and even a Whale Shark!

So it is with great delight that we introduce to you Louis Houtermans. A sailor from Netherlands who worked on the Pecheur Breton when it was known as MV Echo when it was owned by N.V Maatschappij Vriesvaart. While researching into the ships origins we managed to trace Louis and he has written back to us with the following message:

"I wish you and your friend divers a happy and safe diving around the Pecheur Breton. For me the time onboard the Echo was one of the happiest times from my life”

Thank you Louis for sharing your story with us and wish you all the best!

29/06/2013. At the site that is presumed to be the H.M.S Diomede, We finally manage to dive an area larger than that of last year. The delayed monsoons billow strong winds across the mountains and while the inshore seas are calm and pleasent; the conditions are very choppy far out in the sea. Visibility is not very good too and at 42M we explore a patch of debris and find about six large cannons.

For the second dive we travel to Swami Rock a few kilometers away. Here, under the majestic face of a giant rock wall we do a quick survey dive.
The visibility is better and among the rock boulders one can find various species of macro life and occasional fish life. However this time we are unable to see the small statue of Lord Ganesh which we first saw and photographed in 2004.

12/03/2013 - Colombo: Just few kilometers of the shores of Colombo, we introduce Bora! Bora! an exotic rock outcrop that harbors an excellent profusion of marine life including hard to find macro life. Bora Bora is a collection of "little" rock outcrops. Each separated by a few meters. Perhaps five or perhaps ten. Its also great fun to explore around and find new outcrops at the edge of what we thought was the last outcrop. Beautiful and colorful soft corals and trees of Black Corals adorn some of the rocks. Each rock is full of fish life including Glass fishes, Cardinalfishes, small Groupers and in some rocks little white eyed Moray eels.

We also dive the Pecheur Breton, or the Colombo Cargo Wreck. One of the most popular wreck dives of Sri Lanka. The top zone visibility is excellent and the west coast continue to enjoy calm seas, little currents and great visibility.

A Flathead in the sands of Bull Dog Reef

White eyed Morays

16/03/2013 - Kalpitya: The Sri Lanka Sub Aqua Club organizes a trip to Kalpitiya. A team of over a dozen divers participate in the club activity. Two dives are conducted at the Bulld Dog Reef and the Coral Gardens. Here is an account of the great macro dive site Bull Dog Reef. We have a great day out there in the sea and see Napoleon Wrasses, A big Bull Ray, several large Octopus's and excellent macro life in these shallow reefs!

Also we bring a report from the past. In 2010 wild life enthusiast was on a Dolphin watching trip in Kalpitiya when she encountered a small pod of Killer Whales! Here is her account which is one of several highly unusual sightings of Orcas in Sri Lankan waters and this seem to happen only off the shores of Kalpitiya during certain times.

At the stern side of the ship we strongly believe to be the Perseus (1917)

The towering stern in clear blue water - at 40M visibility of 40M

02/03/13 - 09/03/13: We conduct several expeditions to the World War I ships in Colombo; the Perseus and SS Worcestershire sunk in 1917 by the German Mine Layer Wolf that was prowling around Sri Lanka during WWI with the insidious intentions of destabilizing the British regime. Wolf was highly successful in its game of stalking and killing and later became a legend in Germany. We have a series of absolutely great dives. The sea becomes an absolute dead calm and there is no current. These are generally the usual conditions of the season however the good tidings of this season come late. At Perseus we enjoy 40M+ visibility and are overwhelmed by the pristine beauty of the wreck lying on clean white sand. Its a massive ship requiring many dives to explore fully. We focus on the stern side and the unusual massive wheel that dominates the deck on the stern. We believe it to be a gun mount.

At the Worcestershire we also have great conditions. The fish life is amazing. Huge shoals of Snapper and Trevally engulf us along the myriad of reef fish that flutter around the corals of the badly deteriorated ship. Based on the last photograph to be taken of the Worcestershire we predicted a fracture in the hull near the stern side of the ship and this exists! In subsequent dives we also explore amidships and identify the broken masts that are still left standing upright at the stem to this day.

We also explore the small but still deliriously interesting Wallet Wreck. A small mysterious and oddly shaped wreck that is not far from the Perseus. It has an excellent growth of soft corals adorning its two platforms that give the ship great symmetry.

13/02/13 - For years we have been searching for the location of the S.S Worcestershire a British Armed merchant sunk in 1917 by the German mine layer Wolf. After many frustrating dives to nothing but sand in the hope of finding this ship, Finally two years ago, we were guided to a location of a large deep ship by fishermen and conducted several survey Tec dives on it. For the moment we called it B2633 based on the local dialect for measuring depth. Given the proximity to the last known of Worcestershire (within 5KM), the size and the deteriorated condition of the ship, we strongly suspected this to be the ship. Subsequently we mapped several features of the ship to the archived images of the Worcestershire and also measured the width of the beam and provided strong circumstantial evidence that this was indeed the ship! However further research dives continued to find an inscription of the name "Worcestershire" somewhere in the ship.

Today we found the next best thing! In a 100 minute long Tec Dive to the 57 Meter deep ship we discovered a mug at 53.4 M with the inscription "Bibby LIne"!

The immediate significance of this inscription was overwhelming! Bibby Line (Est. 1821) owned the S.S. Worcestershire and no other Bibby Line ship is known to have sunk in the vicinity of Sri Lanka. This can all but be considered few of the last nails in the Coffin of doubt that this great ship is not the S.S. Worcestershire! Read more!

27/01/2013: Subsequent to the letter by Geoff Sponner in April 2006 about how the Admiralty Floating Dock sank on the night of August 8th 1944, a gentleman by the name of Peter Horsfall from the UK wrote to us about an account of how part of the dock was salvaged in 1971. and also along with it pictures captured by his father Mike Horsfall.

Here is the full story! and another piece of history documented for posterity!

Tec dives to the 57 Meter deep SS Worcestershire...

...and the 45 Meter deep Battery Barge

06/01/2013: Vision for 2013 - Going deep.

And we started the year with Tec Dives. Exploring the 45M battery barge and conducting more exploratory dives on the 57 Meter SS Worcestershire.

The seas were choppy yet the visibility was great and as usual prolific marine life at the Battery Barge and the Worcestershire.

A great way to open a deep year!