The Decomp Stop

About the Wreck

Article by Paul Tan editor of The Decom Stop October 1997

My BCD was fully deflated and my camera was securely attached to it - I made sure of that this time. A final check to make sure all my gear was in place, a quick check with my buddy and we were ready. When our turn came, it was a giant stride entry followed by a hard fin, without surfacing, to position ourselves. We were aiming for the buoy line emerging from the blue below. I grabbed the line as the current swept me past it. Only did I turn back to acknowledge my buddy, Julia. I saw her grab the line too just as I turned. A quick OK and the two of us pulled ourselves down the line, hand over hand, against the raging current, to get to the wreck 37 metres below. We were in control this time. Yesterday was a different storey. We were down at Tenggol Aqua Resort over the National Day weekend. And so were the divers from TDI. The first thing I lined up was a dive to what is known as the "Cement Wreck". It was after reading the "mission impossible" story in the last issue that made me want to try the wreck for myself. So what happened yesterday? We were the last two divers to get in. The diver just ahead of us must have forgotten to deflate his BCD and, as a result, floundered on the surface for a while. This not only delayed out entry but also caused us to miss the line as the boat was swept into the buoy as we entered. We couldn’t even see the line as we entered, much less head for it.

The boat has to pick us up and head 2 minutes up current for our second attempt. The second attempt was better, but the current had picked up and as one hand on the line, the other was holding on to my camera. I was not going to be able to pull myself down with one hand. I resigned myself to the aborted second attempt, let go and drifted back to the boat. I sat on the deck to regain my breathing and composure. Julia sat opposite me, quiet and dejected. I was not willing to let go yet. "Want to try again?" I asked Julia. That smile she flashed back said it all. I went to the boatman at the wheel. "Lagi satu try, boleh?" (One more try, all right?) I asked the old boatman. Creases began to appear on his beaten face as his mouth turned up into a huge smile. We kitted up quickly and, much as I hated it, I left my camera on board. The moment he gave the signal, we went in.

The other divers were already doing their decompression stop on the line as we headed for it. To avoid any long and impractical explanation underwater as to what we were doing, I just signalled to the leaders (Michael and Tony) that we were OK and started pulling myself down. Julia followed suit. We must have left a lot of puzzled faces above us. At about 30 metres the wreck open up to us and the current slowed down significantly. It was all that they said it would be - huge and intact. It was lying on its starboard side and we landed on the side of its second dock at 35m, just outside the wheelhouse. The wreck is a 240 foot cement carrier resting on a sand bed at 45m. We looked into the wheelhouse; much of it was still intact. We swam down on the deck; the cargo holes were open and inviting. I resisted the urge to explore. We swam over the funnel and along the top of its third deck, all the while accompanied by a school of extremely curios bat fish. They were so closed we could not resist the urge to reached out and touch them.

The circuit took all of 9 minutes and all the bottom time we were allowed by our computers. We headed back up along the line to begin our slow ascent. At about 25m, we felt the current again. All our stops had to be done horizontally hanging on tightly to the line as the current swept pass. When we finally surface, our computers registered 24 minutes. The first thing I asked Michael when I got on board was whether he was doing this wreck again! That was yesterday. Today we were a lot more controlled. All the more so as conditions were calmer. We got to the wreck without a hitch.

There was very little current on the wreck. I released my camera and started down the deck, worked my way towards the stern and the propeller, my camera working furiously along the way. I encountered a large school of yellow tails swimming in and out of the wheelhouse and the port holes. The wreck was very well encrusted but its shape could still be discerned. I reached the ship’s huge propeller at 44m to find it just encrusted. I snapped away as I had nearly no bottom time left. We came back to the line again to start our ascent at the end of the 12 minutes bottom time. We were again swept by the current at 25m and above. When we finally broke surface, we had been down for a total of 28 minutes. It was a good dive. We had manage a good look at the entire stern portion of the wreck. It has been a long time since I have seen the dive location unfold itself from season to season. Tenggol is doing just that. The TDI divers tell me that there are still quite a number of sizeable unexplored wrecks in and around Tenggol. Looks like things will still be unfolding and happening here for a long time to come. As for me, I still have the bow portion of the Cement Wreck" to explore. And that is for another time and dive……..Right, Julia?

Asian Diver - http://www.asian-diver.com/themagazine/tenggol.html