Zenobia (shipwreck)

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The Zenobia was a Swedish RO-RO ferry which sank close to Larnaca Cyprus in July 1980. On her maiden voyage, a computer problem caused her to develop a list. Unable to enter the Larnaca harbor, she was forced to anchor some 3 miles to the south east. The list continued, and eventually the vessel capsized and sank. She now rests on her port side in 42 meters of water, approximately 1 mile directly offshore from Larnaca airport and is a popular dive site.

As a dive site, the Zenobia provides a wide range of challenges to scuba divers, from a fairly simple dive to 16 meters depth along the starboard side of the ship (suitable for newly qualified divers); moving up to a more advanced dive inside the upper car deck; right up to extremely adventurous dives within the lower car deck or the accommodation section (which are only suitable for very experienced divers).

Although all hands were safely taken off the ship before she sank, the lives of a few scuba divers, who didn't treat the wreck with the proper level of caution, have been lost in the intervening years. There was also a truckload of animals on board who also died when the ship went down; their bones can still be seen in one of the wagons on the main deck.