On September 14, 2010, together with Alexander, we are going on another diving trip - this time to the southern coast of France - Cote d'Azur. The main target is ships sunk off the coast of the French Riviera. As usual, the departure is delayed, around 14:00 Alexander comes to me, we load all the luggage in the car and the journey can begin. In front is a nearly 3,000-kilometer road through Europe.
When we drive out of Riga, I remember that I forgot the bag with fresh meat patties. Call the company and wish the employees to eat them. Alexander drives to the Latvian border, Lithuania - mine. Lithuanian police have to pay a "road tax" near Kaunas. It turns out they have laser radars…
I stopped the car until Suwalki, then Aleksandrs was behind the wheel. Not far from Lomza, around 2:00 at night - wants dinner at a roadside restaurant. We continue to drive all night without stopping.
The next morning we are already near Berlin and turn off the 9th motorway in the direction of Nuremberg. After a few hundred kilometers, Alexander "falls" on the German police. This time - 90 EUR, we have exceeded the speed by 25 km / h. It looks like the trip will be expensive…
All over Germany it rained and overcast. After Nuremberg comes Karlsruhe. We are driving as fast as possible. Germany is followed by an equally rainy France. We enter France near Mulhaus, then Bizanson. The girls are "excited" - it doesn't look like the sunny Mediterranean. The weather only starts to improve rapidly when we pass Lyon and are less than 500 kilometers from the Mediterranean. Evening is approaching, dark outside.
Alexander is behind the wheel again. Before Marseilles, we make the mistake of choosing a motorway and instead of getting to our destination quickly, we enter the center of Marseilles and have to meander through gloomy Marseille. The city is as described to us - in the dark of the day much more dangerous than our "mask". Around a lot of dark houses can not understand - they are inhabited or not. It is good that the road leads without significant stops, almost without traffic lights we cross Marseilles more underground than above ground. On the right - the Mediterranean Sea. Toulon is a few tens of kilometers behind Marseille.
Around midnight we finally reach our destination - Hyeres. Another 10 kilometers and we drive to the narrow gate, behind which our campsite is located in a bamboo bush. The first impression - has lived even in the best conditions. But now we are not sure where to spend the night, toilet, shower, small kitchenette - what more do we need?
The biggest plus - a few tens of meters to the sea shore, where you can sunbathe, swim, there are also our boats. We meet Sergei, Dmitry and others. We agree not to dive anywhere tomorrow, first we will sleep well, swim, sunbathe and paint our strength.
The next morning, of course, everyone will be off by 10:00. When we wake up - immediately to the sea! Water is super, around 22 - 23 degrees. I take the mask and swim right by the shore. Depth - up to about 4-5 meters, clear, clean, surrounded by a lot of fish… It turns out, in France, underwater hunting is allowed without restrictions. There are also some "hunters" in our group. However, after the adventures of Norway, I am no longer attracted to such entertainment.
The day goes by laziness. In the evening we go to the nearby supermarket to "fill up". Prices, of course, expensive, but you can do without. Large selection of cheeses and everything in the sea.
September 17 the morning comes overcast and rainy. Today the first lobe in the Mediterranean. Let's dive on the ship "Le Marcel". In general, nothing particularly interesting, depth - up to 32 meters. The wreck was quite badly destroyed, standing there since 1895. It's hard to even understand who's where.
The second lobe is already more interesting - we dive to "Le Michel C". It's already bigger, better preserved and also more decent in depth - my VRX shows 41 meters. I even find a place where a twenty-meter-long, narrow tunnel has turned out of debris and I walk along it. In any case - than complicated.
Slowly, an understanding of the French language developed. It turns out, everything is very simple - consider the following:
Bon jury - Hello (can also be used in the morning and evening)
Oops - Yes
Bon - OK good
Messier - Address for men, "gentleman"
Madam - form of address for women. I still don't understand if it can address both a 150-kilogram tantuck and a young Frenchman
Merseyside - Thank you!
Plunger - diver
Pardon - Sorry (you have to say if you hit a tantuck in the supermarket that carries a shopping cart full of eggs and the eggs are broken)
Merde - rude lame word (should be used if tantuks have run on top of you in the supermarket and broken your eggs. It is not recommended to use against Negroes who exceed you live weight at least one and a half times)
All other French words are made from Latvian, Russian or English words known to us, preceded by "Le- ”. So our balloons here were called “Le-asparagus"But the beloved whiskey -"Ļa-Tulamōr"(Note that the letter" o "is longitudinal. It belongs to the real Marseille dialect)
September 18. Today in the plan "Le Ville de Grasse". It has been a small wheeled tug, of which only the wheels themselves and the steam engine in the middle between them have survived. The other outlines of the case have already disappeared. As the depth is quite polite - 48 meters - divers are not too much. Already sitting in the boat, you can see that the stream is not a joke this time. We throw markers three times, all unsuccessfully. Finally, with the fourth something comes together. Alexander and I go down first. Going down than nothing. Only our anchor and rail in the sand are visible, which indicates the direction of drift. We go through it until after a while the outlines of the huge wheels appear. The trolley is really huge, about 4-5 meters in diameter. We can stay down for about 20 minutes. We film, safotograph and get up. As a "prize" - ten minutes at a depth of six meters at the oxygen cylinder. The others, of course, slipped out much faster.
Next day - September 19 - "empty day". The sea is too bumpy. In the morning we swim a little and sunbathe, but around noon we go to see the center of Hyeres. We leave the car in the "Casino" parking lot and go uphill. Across the whole old town rises a mountain about 190 meters (if you can believe my GPS), which is decorated with the ruins of the fortress and the viewing area. Climbing takes about a couple of hours, the streets are narrow and winding, at times it is difficult to understand where another winding street will take us. It must be said, however, that the Croatian town of Rovinj, which was kept in a similar architectural style, was much cleaner and tidier.
In the evening, Alexander "performed" in the kitchen - there will be basma at dinner!
Monday morning September 20, as on a real Monday, we go to "work" again. Today, the most beautiful wreck near Hyeres is planned - the 78-meter-long steamer "Donator". True, this is not his real name, although he is known by that name in all diving guides. The real name of the ship is "Le Prosper Schiaffino" and he sank on November 10, 1945, running into a mine off the south coast of the island of Porquerolle. This wreck was dropped by drivers who found a ship calling on it with the following name…
The sea is still quite "bumpy" after yesterday, but with a little effort we make about 8 miles long around Porquerollei and around 10:30 we join the many dive boats and boats moored at the stationary buoys. By the way - the second most beautiful wreck here - "Le Grec" is located right next door, a few hundred meters away. There is also activity in it. The current is not small, but diving through stationary buoys is completely different. When descending to a depth of about 20 meters, the stern of the ship opens. Immediately descend to the propeller - maximum depth - 50 meters. Alexander settled behind the propeller and shows me to photograph him, but… baaaccc !!! The glass is fogged! You don't seem to see the water inside, but nothing comes of photography and filming.
Well, if not - then no. Let's enjoy the beautiful way, with our eyes and hands. The ship stands on a straight keel and is in perfect condition. Only the bow, which is a few meters away, is broken, but our time is limited, so we can't look for it. Instead, we crawl the tanks. Of course, finding something here is as real as five lats in the market square. One side of the ship is overgrown with beautiful gorgonians flowing in the stream, justifying its name. Also a lot of fish around. Twenty minutes pass as if unnoticed, here too an hour down would not be enough…
Time to get up. As I took off, I watched the French divers nearby. It can be seen that the training is perfect, for our OWD and AOWD it is still far to go - both 12-14 year olds and 70-year-old tantukes dive here… In addition, although they are not techno-drivers, they can be seen to dive in decompression mode more than "three minutes in five meters". Next to me, their guide rises to the top in the red hydr - buoyancy is generally ideal, despite the current.
However, when we pop up on the surface, it turns out that everything goes not so smoothly for them either. Sergei, who has stayed upstairs in the boat, says that a moment ago, a diver without signs of life was highlighted on a nearby boat. Either with a portable barcode or for evacuation…
In general, a little should be said about the French diving system. They do not recognize "our" PADI, and it seems justified. Their CMAS stands out with much better training. Formally, their "one star" corresponds to our OWD, "two stars" to our AOWD, and "three stars" to either our AOWD + Deep or Rescue. They dive in the air up to 60 meters, although I do not know what the depth limits are for which level. However, they are not friends with techno diving - when we became interested in diving clubs for trimix, we started eating - with it very little diving, we do not benefit, strict legal restrictions - in short, "consumer diving" is a national sport, but no great they probably don't have a techno driver.
As the second lobe Sergei offers us diving in caves. Well, of course - this is something new and unprecedented for us - Go! Previously, one group had died - really cool! But we will try in another place… When we get to the right place, one French boat is already anchored there. We moor nearby and go to the water. Dmitry remains on the boat, who has a fairly rough idea of this site, which is taken from the manuals. I dive in and head in the direction of the cliff. The entrance seems to be about 8 m deep. I swim here and there, I find nothing but a grotto about 5 m deep. In full techno divers' equipment, I swam to the nearby diver's boat and asked where the cave was. These, a little surprised by my equipment (which really corresponds more to caves at least a few hundred meters deep), point to the same grotto… probably themselves laugh at Latvian divers, who come to the 5-meter grid with two balloons, two lights and coils sp The result is such fuss with a maximum depth of 14 meters. Oscar swims right there in the introdive of one of our sons. I photographed and filmed them and dragged them back to the boat. Abloms!
/to be continued/
