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Le Polynesien – diving in Malta with a French taste

By Mark Dove (MAD)

Last Sunday was hardcore. Last Sunday was for boys and their toys.

Last Sunday we dived the wreck of Le Polynesien, and nearly all of us came back to tell the tale.

Our story begins, dear reader, at a very civilized time of 9:45, by which time some less laid-back divers have already done their first dive and are necking back Kinnie and pea-cakes. We had other plans, and they called for taking more cylinders than you can shake a stick at, down to the Deep South (or Marsascala as it is also known), a dangerous trek of at least 20km on Maltese roads (here be potholes).

Once at the jetty, and having waited for the navigationally challenged to join us, the boys proceeded to bring out their toys. Before long I was suffering severe cylinder envy – I had only brought two! OK, so one was a whopping 15 litre, but the other was a mere 7 – hardly worth mentioning, although it was filled with that magical substance “enriched air” which would not only bring me back safely, but also cure my hangover and trim my beard into the bargain. Everywhere around were twinsets (no, not Marks & Sparks: two big cylinders joined together and fixed to a big, manly backplate with a huge, engorged wing attached), and rebreathers (plain yellow boxes with highly technical gubbins hidden away inside), and all over the place were plenty of extra stage cylinders to be dangled from all parts of the torso.

My buddy and I tagged along with our plain vanilla open-circuit scuba, and one of us even had a snorkel!

After a quick trip on the RIB (basically a floating bouncy castle, and just as much fun) we were there. Where? Well it looked suspiciously like the middle of the ocean to me, but the GPS assured us that underneath lay an enormous French liner, 152 metres long, and last afloat in 1918.

Entry to the water was as simple as falling off a boat, although the skipper organised us into a synchronised ballet of men and machines falling gracefully backwards into the sea’s warm embrace.

Sure enough, 35 metres down the shot line, the wreck started to appear from the blue. It took another 20 metres before we could reach out and touch it, and by this point the sea was anything but warm (15C brr), although the warm and fuzzy effects of nitrogen narcosis meant that even the shorty-wearing snorkeler didn’t flinch.

With nearly 100 years of undisturbed growth, the wreck is stunningly beautiful. Every surface is covered in sponges, reds and yellows, growing like fingers or miniature organ pipes. The deck is at such a jaunty angle that it is possible to see half of the wreck and still stay comfortably above 60m. The bow is complete with a deck-mounted gun, again encrusted in beautiful colours. The size of the ship means that even after a dozen dives you could still see something new: for my buddy and I, both Poly virgins, it was enough to swim around the fore-deck then over the starboard rail to see the hull, back over the bow and along the deck again, seeing hatches and companionways begging for future exploration.

All to soon our 15 minutes were up, we returned to the line and began our slow, slow, ascent which took another 15 minutes. Once at a depth of 10 metres it was time to hang on to an underwater trapeze and practise our gymnastics, although I decided to change to my puny/pony 7 litre cylinder instead, and let the wondrous enriched air chase the pesky nitrogen out of my bloodstream. Now it was payback time: in order to experience the marvel 50m below us we were forced to hang about, inching our way up to 3m deep, for the next 30 minutes. Deco trapezes should come with DVDs, or even better, Internet access.

Sadly I must report that one of our numbers did not return, and is sleeping with the fishes as I type. I can say no more at present, although the missing party is made of strong stuff, is only 50cm tall, and will hopefully be rescued shortly. If anyone would like to take an Advanced Search and Recovery course, contact Scubaworks – your hardcore underwater partner.

Tags: deep diving in Malta, Deep wrecks Malta, Le Polynesien, Le Polynesien Malta, Le Polynesien Marsascala, Tech diving in Malta