The last time I visited Bolonia on a diving capacity, I spent a considerable amount of time searching for an ancient 2600 year old Roman Merchant Vessel. Unfortunately, I realised after many hours, that the wreck had been buried under the shifting sands during winter storms!
The week previous to going to Bolonia this time, I saw that some of my dive buddies, from another local club in Gibraltar, had visited the area. I was told by them, that the Roman Wreck I was searching for, had now been uncovered and visible to photograph. Three of us, went the next few days after hearing this news and went straight to the location. Within minutes we found the wreck, but actually, it wasn’t completely uncovered, most of it was still buried in the sand, other than some of the wrecks “ribs” and cargo.
Despite the disappointment, it was very impressive to see that 2600 year old wood still in perfect condition. It must have been protected under the sand for thousands of years! The cargo the merchant vessel carried was marble slabs. Some of these were visible during our dive. We did a bit of excavating whilst on the wreck, and managed to uncover a few more slabs of marble and ribs. Hopefully another storm will uncover the rest of the wreck again, and not burry it again!
It was getting a bit late in the evening, but it was a hot summer’s day, the hours long and the sunset quite late… so we decided to do a second dive! We were taken by quad bike to another dive site off the beach of Bolonia. A new one to me, the roman village! Ruins of roman houses are in close proximity to the shore entry, and at shallow depths. Still many artefacts are found here every year, even ancient roman coins!
The day ended with a lovely BBQ at the dive club!