By Tom Knott
Editor’s Foreword
And so, a year on, we returned to the same villas and the same training bay/underwater museum and wrecks. We were a smaller group and a slightly nervous one as we headed out, never quite sure whether a wild post on Truth Social would result in us being stranded close to a war zone. As it happened, it was very much a matter of ‘nothing to see here’ and even Easyjet took off on time and landed early!
Here is Tom’s take on his first experience of ‘open water’ …
Be prepared
I started diving late in life, being 65 when I went for a try-dive at the pool in October 2025.
The intensive training sessions that followed each Thursday were hard but rewarding work, and the extra sessions working on buoyancy and trim turned out to be excellent and necessary preparation for this trip. It all started to make sense in Cyprus, and helped stop me floating out of control to the surface.
Obtaining the recommended 7mm wetsuit was a bit of trial and error and luck for me. A couple of ebay purchases later and I still didn’t have one that fitted. One returned, and the other now for sale (size XL54), then Stefano came to the rescue with the suit he used in Cyprus the previous year.
The diving
Four days’ diving, two dives per day.
Four instructors, two Sports Diver trainees and five Ocean Diver trainees.
The first two days were shore-entry days, getting changed and kitted up around the cars very near the water, then staggering under the weight of everything into the shallows.
The water was not cold and very clear, and we started with the old favourite, removing and replacing the mask under water. A Clidive staple.
The 45-minute dives got progressively further out and deeper and more enjoyable, practising buddying and glimpsing a bit of wildlife – a few fish, including lionfish.
After two days of shore dives from a couple of locations it was time to head out on a boat for some deeper dives.
Changing in a building site car park next to the Marina was a novel experience, as we prepared to board, trying not to leave anything behind.
Somersaulting backwards off the side of the boat only to surface to Nick’s smiling face, and the OK? hand signal, we knew we were in for a treat.
Following the steep shore face or exploring some seabed sculptures, while working on trim and control, was great fun.
On the final day we dived two wrecks both at about 20m depth. The first was a long, simple and not so interesting barge, but just being at depth, with so much water above and all around was a fantastic new sensation for us Ocean Divers.
The second was the Nemesis, a fishing vessel sunk as a diving attraction. It was very cool to swim around its masts and cables and to peer into the cabin and hold. Phil, our instructor, even allowed me to pretend I was leading him on this dive.
The dive really brought home why we were there, under the sea, at the edge of a whole new world waiting to be explored.
The place
I guess we didn’t really see much of Cyprus, apart from the few who stayed on to climb, etc, but that didn’t matter.
The two adjacent villas were comfortable and the company very friendly. We mostly ate together, with pizza, pasta, BBQ and left-overs nights around the outdoor tables next to the unused swimming pools.
Entertainment was supplied by the Sports Diver group with what looked like tag-wrestling, although they claimed to be practising casualty rescues.
Anyway, they seemed to enjoy it, so, as Lucie would say – “It’s ‘orses for courses!”
In summary, the trip was a wonderful experience, with wonderful people and a really good introduction to open water diving. A huge thank you to :
- Lucie – organiser & instructor
- Elaine, Nick and Phil – instructors
- Maru, Mo, Nico, Oli, Stephano and Thomas – trainees
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