Krzysztof Starnawski - diving in Sri Lanka

Many of you are probably wondering what’s going on with our chief cave explorer and CCR diving record holder Krzysztof Starnawski? When will we hear something new about his ongoing projects? What does he currently do? These questions will certainly be answered to some extent by a post on his Facebook page.

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“The winter season was over and we had to go somewhere warm to warm up our ankles. Sri Lanka was the best place to do it, especially since one of the four sunken aircraft carriers lies there. The Hermes is a British warship sunk by the Air Force during the Second World War. It lies at 60m 10km offshore in an area of strong currents.

Unfortunately the visibility was not the best, but inside you could not feel the current and the clarity was much better. On an aircraft carrier, which has several decks, there is a lot to explore and I must admit that for such an old wreck it has a lot of interesting things inside.

Diving in and out of the wreck was often a real struggle. We were hanging like flags in the current because it was a bit scary to let go. There were a lot of fishing boats in the area and who knows how they would treat decompression buoys. For now, a few photos from the trips and the diving base, and in the near future a video from the wreck.

The whole team dived into HH’s rebeatherah

Krzysiek Starnawski”

HMS Hermes was a British aircraft carrier in service from 1924 until she was sunk in 1942. It is interesting to note that Hermes was the first ship to be built as an aircraft carrier from the outset, rather than being the result of adapting a ship of another class.

Measuring nearly 183m, the vessel was used for training purposes and for a long time as a guinea pig. Over the years she underwent a series of alterations and improvements before being put in reserve and anchored at Devonport in 1937. Her fate changed with the outbreak of World War II.

Already in November 1939. Hermes was sent to patrol duty in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. From 1941, the aircraft carrier supported the Allies in operations in East Africa and Somalia.

HMS Hermes had a very spectacular end. While scouring the Indian Ocean for Japanese troops, it was detected by the enemy on 9 April 1942 and attacked by a force of 50 aircraft from the carriers Akagi, Hiryu and Soryu. She took 307 crew members to the bottom.

You can find more information about Krzysiek’s activities and Irena’s photos on facebook.pl/dual.rebreather

Source: wikipedia.org
Photo: Krzysztof Starnawski