Hot Spot

WAR BOOTY It was dawn on April 9, 1942 when Japanese reconnaissance planes found their quarry. Below them, the British aircraft carrier H.M.S. Hermes and her Australian escort H.M.A.S. Vampire were cutting south through the crystal waters along Sri Lanka's east coast. Alerted to the peril, the Allied crews scrambled to action stations. But at 10:35 a.m., off Batticaloa, 70 Japanese dive bombers attacked the Hermes. Within 10 minutes the ship had taken 40 hits. It capsized and disappeared beneath the waves with 307 of its crew. The Vampire survived two near-misses and tried to counterattack with antiaircraft guns. But it was hopeless: as the crew abandoned ship, a direct hit split the destroyer in two and she sank.

Sixty years later, the Hermes is just one of the wrecks that forms a divers' paradise around Batticaloa, 132 kilometers south of Trincomalee (the wreckage of the Vampire is yet to be found). Sunken ships and other detritus of war litter the sandy bottom along the coast—including remains from more recent conflicts. Little more than a year ago, Tamil Tiger suicide bombers blew up a government warship, killing 26 people and injuring 60.

Until last year it was only possible to dive the east coast if you were accompanied by the Sri Lankan navy. "You had to bring your own equipment and be a pretty confident diver," says Mick Smith, an Australian-born Colombo resident. "But the wrecks are something special." Today, dive operations are springing up along the coast, and divers in the deep harbor are rewarded with a glimpse of infrequently visited iron skeletons. Always go with a registered guide or dive master familiar with the area, however, as in many places live ammunition still lies scattered on the seabed. War booty apart, diving in and around the pristine waters off Trinco yields untold other treasures. Manta rays and dolphins are regularly seen, while whales venture close to shore. All that, and not a dive bomber in sight.