Shipwrecked diving adventures
I was surprised to see Goa listed as a place for shipwreck diving attraction, in the January-February 2022 edition of the Conde Nast Traveller magazine. I had never heard of any local shipwrecks all my Goan life. Yet there it was. I do have a fear of water and drowning and I can barely get my face underwater in the swimming pool, leave aside diving deep sea for ship wrecks, scuba diving or for that matter even just swimming in the open sea.
So logically, an article about exploring sea wrecks in Goa featuring under any tab of the localgoan.com was out of the question. But the write up by Newton Sequeira in the Times Goa Edition of 15th January 2023 caught my attention. It has served as the content for this post as I do not think I would ever have first hand experience about this experience being so fainthearted. Yet it may be an interesting curve for the bravehearted who would love to explore this side of Goa.
In the 1960s, a 425 foot long, U.K. built cargo vessel SS Rita believed to be carrying railroad tracks capsized just off the coastline of Vasco near Grande Island. Now known as Suzy’s Wreck, it is the most known ship wreck diving site and supposedly the easiest for even beginners. The stern of SS Rita, lies away from Suzy’s Wreck, when the vessel first hit some rocks causing it to break and sink. The place where the stern lies today is another spot, which is called Davy Jones Locker.
More challenging spots are the wrecks of INS Prahar, Double Boiler and Abyss. These require more in depth study before being on the radar of recreational diving and hence only very professional and technically sound divers may attempt to get to them. Now as usual there are tourist operators not having adequate knowledge who may entertain such trips at a budget but one should not even consider putting one’s life at risk for there is a chance of a misadventure occuring and the price of life is not worth it.
Following safety protocols is important not only for the diver but also for the marine life around these wreckages. Barracuda Diving India is reputed for such dives and also offers certification courses. You can read more at http://www.barracudadiving.com/divedestinations.php#grande