Sardinia is for lovers.

Sardinia is for lovers and not only for honeymooners... cave and wreck lovers get their fair share too. Over the centuries several ships sank along the Sardinian coasts, among them even Roman and Punic vessels. Yet it was World War II that made things really interesting for divers. Dozens of ships were sunk; German, Italian, British and American. Fighter planes like the Corsair F4U or the Boeing B17, submarines like the HMS Turbulent or the P311 not to mention a whole lot of cargo vessels and warships.

Right: Diver on the Isonzo stern. (Tom Feiden)

Some of these wrecks lie in shallow waters, like the two airplanes mentioned above. Others can be found a little deeper, in depths that are still accessible by divers who have the right knowledge and the right equipment, like the Italian submarine Machalite. The 400 ft hull of the Machalite rests off Capo Spartivento, where she was sunk by the Royal Dutch submarine Dolfjin. While her stern has been devastated by the explosion the rest of the hull is still in good condition.

Following the armistice on September 8th 1943, Admiral Bergamini the commander of the Roma, the most powerful Italian battleship in WWII, wanted to escape the German forces and surrendered to the Allied forces. The Roma however, was spotted in the Bocche di Bonifacio, North of Sardinia and hunted by German Do 217 bombers. Struck by two special FX 1400 rocket bombs the Roma exploded, broke in two and sank to a depth of 1000ft South West of Capo Testa. She was located in the late nineties and an ROV was sent down to film her remains. There are still a lot of wrecks from the WWII era waiting to be re-discovered around the Sardinian coast.

A torpedo-hole covered in colorful gorgonian fans on the wreck of the Loredan. (Tom Feiden)

The British submarine HMS Safari was very successful in hunting German and Italian cargo vessels in the Mediterranean Sea. She sank 34 ships altogether, over 85000 tons. Several of those ships were sunk along the Sardinian coasts. The KT 12 and the Nasello off Orosei and on the 10th of April 1943 the Entella, the Isonzo and the Loredan off Torre delle Stelle. Today it is only a ten minute boat ride to reach these wrecks and the dives are spectacular. The Entella almost reached the shore after the first hit, when the second torpedo hit her and she sank in 50ft of water, only 50 yards from the rocky shore. She carried coal and the remains of this cargo are still scattered on the seafloor and lead you to the wreckage of her battered remains.

Much more interesting are the Isonzo, laying at almost 200ft and the Loredan at 220ft. Both are in a very good condition, although today the bridge of the Isonzo, which is resting on her starboard side broke off and is lying on the sandy floor.

I fell in love with these wrecks eight years ago and wanted to take a closer look this time. We started taking photos from the outside of the wrecks. Diving on air, we had to limit our bottom time to just fifteen minutes, thus making it necessary to make separate dives to the bow and the stern sections. The bow of the Isonzo is spectacular and its large gun is still in place. The aft gun is the same size and here we made our first penetration into the rooms of the rudder construction. What followed were several penetration dives to take pictures of the large engine room and the area from the cargo holds to the captains cabin. Diving the Loredan is special too because of the incredible variety of sea fans in all the colours of the rainbow that cover her hull. Access to the inside is easy, as the explosion blew the ship apart and the stern section is completely gone. Nevertheless the bulkheads are tight and taking a camera there isn’t easy.

Right: Divers exploring the beautiful Bue Marino cave.
(Tom Feiden)

Unfortunately these wrecks are at the southern coast of Sardinia and the caves are in the North East, almost two hundred miles away. Given I am in love with cave diving, the distance couldn´t keep me from taking a peek. So I made a deal with Toddy, the owner of ProTec Sardinia dive shop. He promised to take me to a breathtaking cave and I promised to get some good shots of it for his homepage. So after a four hours drive I met him at his facility. The dive briefing was very intense, as Bue Marino was our goal and it is a sump dive.

We got there by boat, geared up in a huge cavern and did our in water safety checks. First we had to swim through a halocline for about twentyfive minutes, passing several T´s. Then the water started clearing up and we headed towards the sump. It was breathtaking, with flowstones hanging down from the ceiling and Stalactites everywhere one looked. We surfaced several times to plan the next shot before we finally reached the dry cave.

The air chamber inside Bue Marino cave. (Tom Feiden)

Here we took off all our gear and went deeper into this fascinating world. Carefully we climbed up and down and made our way deeper into the underground. After almost six hours we left the cave and the trip was done. Given that there are many more beautiful places like this I know love will bring me back to Sardinia soon!

Click on the SLIDESHOW tab above to see more of Tom's beautiful pictures.