Pulmudai, north of Trincomalee

In the late 1990's the LTTE sank the massive Panamanian registered MV Cordiality after killing the five chinese crew onboard.

At the time of sinking the ship was loaded with limonite and also fuel.

Today, more than a dozen years later, the ship is an oasis of life.

As we arrived at the dive site we could see the State Mineral Corporation about 1.5 KM away to the west. The ship had sunk right near the coast. In fact part of the bow was protruding out of the sea. No need for a GPS to find this ship!

As we sank beneath the waves we realized that we were diving on one of the few wall dives in Sri Lanka. In some places the hull of the ship extended right from the bottom at 15M to the surface! The exterior of the hull was a macro haven. One could spend hours here just looking at the multitude of exquisite Nudibranchs, Lionfish, Scorpionfish, Butterflyfish, Juvenile Snappers and Fusiliers that swam frantically around the massive hull.

Its all wall until one makes their way to the stern. Here you find a massive archway that leads to the rudder. It is a beautiful and a magical place. The huge pieces of steel is adorned with a a respectable growth of white Black Coral. Respectable for a ship thats only been underwater little over a decade.

We gradually swim around and ascend to the deck of the ship. We had thought the dive was over.

We were wrong.

From the deck a whole new world opened up!. The MV Cordiality possessed a massive hold that lay open to exploration!

It was almost a second dive. We descend back to 10 meters of depth and observed a vast mound of limonite at the bottom of the hold. It felt like the surface of the moon. Here huge towers, pillars and twisted pieces of metal lay around. In some places one finds what appears to be huge doorways leading to other compartments in the hold. As we swam, at one point, we saw a massive piece of ship swaying precariously over our heads like a giant guillotine - its motion was mesmerizing as well as being scary.

Suddenly an immense shoal of Snappers rushed past us. In pursuit were Giant Trevally and Tuna!

Almost one hour had gone by and we had still not finished exploring the ship. But it was time to go.

After decades of terrorism peace has finally dawned on our beautiful island and new locations are now being opened up daily.

MV Cordiality is one of the first such wrecks we explored. We know there is more.

And one day we will dive them.

(There are many dive centers in Trincomalee now. Visit Dive Centers to find out who can take you to the MV Cordiality)

Go blog about Trincomalee Diving!