At night (or when the water has a lot of particles in it, i.e. poor viz but great dive!) the Cargo wreck glows. What looks like slightly boring, if colourful, stubs of coral during the daytime come alive at night. Known as Tubastrea coral, these are non-reef building coral which do not host photosynthetic algae within them like the coral we are most familiar with.
These are usually found in deeper waters and in areas where they are exposed to currents. The polyps extend tentacles into the water during the night and feed. The effect is quite startling with entire sections of the wreck appearing to wave to and fro, shimmering in the torchlight as the corals feed. It is an unforgettable experience night diving with these corals.
I still remember the moment when it hit me, when I realized that I wanted to start a dive shop in Colombo. The water was freezing (14 C) and visibility didn't extend beyond my hand. The place was Anacapa Island and I was on one of my infrequent visits back to the US. I had decided to visit the Channel Islands for a day of diving and was swathed in a 7mm wetsuit, feeling like the Michelin Man. What a difference from my usual rashguard and boardies!
As I swam past a kelp tree in the murky green waters, the occasional bright orange Garibaldi flashing past me, I couldn't help but compare this to diving back home in Colombo. The immensity of the Cargo wreck which even in the worst visibility was throbbing with life, soft corals festooning the wreck and tuna hammering bait balls. It was then that the idea for Island Scuba came to me, that the wrecks and reefs in Colombo lay largely isolate apart from one dive shop and us enthusiasts who dived from fishing boats and photographed and explored the areas.
On my return to Sri Lanka, I was quick to contact Nishan, a marine biologist friend of mine who had introduced me to diving in Colombo and who had showed me the way in underwater imagery. Conveniently enough he had the same idea so we set about trying to set up, finding the money, location, etc to start what eventually came to be called Island Scuba.
I won't go into the painful details of how hard it was to start, endless negotiations to find capital, walking up and down the beach in the blazing sun to find a location, or even when we found the location (which is beautiful by the way), the gymnastics we had to go through to fit everything into a limited space. Then there was the hassle of getting permits, etc (trying to start a small business in Sri Lanka can sometimes feel like pulling all 32 teeth).
In the end we were up on 18 December and now it is close to two months of operation. It's been a tough ride and it won't get any easier but the best part about the ride so far has been seeing our customers' faces when they see our wrecks and the fish life on them and to know that they feel like they are diving with friends when they dive with us. After all no-one knows Colombo diving like we do!
