Diving in Alexandria: Amphora

The diving in Alexandria was truly amazing. I got in contact with a local dive center and went diving with them to all of the archaeological dives in the harbor and right outside of Alexandria. My first dive was a bit outside the harbor, where an ancient Greek ship had capsized and dropped amphora all over the seafloor. While most were broken, many were in pretty good shape, and it was really cool to see these artifacts underwater, left scattered where they fell. The ship's huge anchor also remained underwater. This was definitely not my favorite dive in Alexandria, but it is hard to beat giant column bases from a wonder of the ancient world and pieces of sphinxes. Still, this was a really interesting dive. 

The large anchor

Amphora

Amphora

2 Amphora

Amphora

Amphora

Amphora

Amphora

Amphora

Amphora

Amphora

Amphora

Many amphora

Amphora scattered across the seafloor

It is a little overwhelming to see all these amphora just sitting underwater, when I've seen so many displayed in museums. Sure, these are mostly broken, but they're still really interesting cultural heritage, left underwater so only divers can see them. They're not even the main underwater cultural heritage attractions in Alexandria--those would be the lighthouse and city ruins. It's strange to see these just scattered underwater, with many broken apart. However, one needs to consider the sheer number of amphora in the area. There is another region a bit farther away from Alexandria which also had many amphora-filled shipwrecks, leaving the seafloor covered with ancient amphora. Lots of these artifacts have been removed and preserved for museums, but it's not worth the cost to raise up and preserve every amphora in the waters near Alexandria. These amphora make a great diving destination for divers interested in archaeology, but the underwater cultural heritage here is not being particularly protected against the elements or promoted as significant history in the community. 

~Kristine