The picturesque little port town pearls of the of Komiza is the home of the mediterranean Manta Diving Centre Tito’s bastion Text by Harald Apelt and Wolfgang Pölzer Photos by Wolfgang Pölzer If there is any hidden secret in the From a distance, they just looked like a yellow Mediterranean, it is the island of Vis. variety of a gorgonian, but as I got closer, the real secret of this drop-off revealed itself in the For many years, it was a forbidden beam of my lamp. The remarkable growths in and restricted military area. It was front of me were black corals, a very rare spe- not until 1991, when the iron cur- cies of cnidarian in the Mediterranean. tain finally came down, that it was Scientists assume that these beautifully col- oured polyp colonies can reach the age of opened up for tourism and diving. 1,800 years, and as such, are one of the long- On Vis, small picturesque port towns est living sea creatures in the world. Inspired, I and spectacular wrecks, drop-offs began to position my lights. These corals were and caverns are waiting to be dis- not only scientifically interesting, but also a beautiful photo subject. covered by divers. Some minutes later, our dive guide Lorenz signalled us onwards. He wanted to show us The drop-off a grotto full of red corals. And indeed, not far Although I have had several hundreds of dives from the yellow corals, a cavern entrance big in Croatia, I have never seen a drop-off like enough to contain three divers, opened up this before. It is not just the vertical fall into a few meters into the rock. Unbelievable, but the deep blue, but the unbelievable natu- true, the ceiling of the cavern was completely ral growth that impressed me. Between the covered with precious red corals. As the bub- numerous red fan corals, I spotted what I first bles from our exhalations rose to the ceiling thought were other bright corals and bushes. and brushed against the furry white polyps, they retracted, leaving their fire red skeletons The precious red coral can be discovered even naked and exposed. For thousands of years, in depths that can be reached by scuba divers 71 X-RAY MAG : 23 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Josip Broz Tito pearls of the Croatia Josip Broz Tito was the they have served as raw materials go to twice the leader of the Socialist mediterranean for making jewellery. These growths depth to find Federal Republic of remind me of gnarly fingers, as them. Yugoslavia from 1945 they stick 10 cms out of the ceiling. But we do until his death in 1980. After a couple of quick shots, not have much During World War II, it was time to start our ascent. time to listen to Tito organized the anti- In shallow water, we had a final Marovic’s tales fascist resistance move- glide through the spacious tunnel of his work as ment known as the before being picked up by Lorenz a commercial Yugoslav Partisans. Tito Marovic’s dive boat. diver. Aniska, his was the most prominent wife and able leader of the Anti-Fascist Coral diver helmsman, has Council of National This Croatian, who is also fluent in swiftly brought Liberation of Yugoslavia English, has constructed his ves- the speedy dive (AVNOJ), which in 1943 sel from the bottom up. Marovic’s boat back to established the basis for boat design includes a large dive their dive centre, Josip Broz Tito post-war organisation deck and a decompression cham- which they run of the country, making ber, which is included not only as together. it a federation. In Jajce, Tito was named a matter of safety, but also to sup- President of the National Committee of port Marovic’s professional as a Island history Liberation. On December 4, 1943, while commercial coral diver. In Croatia, We are on the small Croatian most of the country was still occupied Marovic is one of just a dozen who island of Vis, which is located on by the Axis, Tito proclaimed a provisional are licensed to harvest and sell the Dalmatian coast not far from democratic Yugoslav government. genuine red coral. the Italian border and about 45 km After Tito’s communist partisans stood The biggest specimens that we off the main coast. This strategically up to intense Axis attacks between saw on our last dive could possibly important position has secured Vis January and June 1943, Allied leaders bring in 200 Euros, which is, howev- a place in history books, not always switched their support to the partisans. er, hardly worth considering. “Real” for the better. King Peter II of Yugoslavia, American red corals would bring in ten times In the 4th century B.C., Vis President Franklin Roosevelt and British as much, but you would have to became the first Greek colony in Prime Minister Winston Churchill joined the Eastern Adriatic. In Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in officially a short time span, the recognizing Tito and his partisans at the island developed into Tehran Conference. This resulted in Allied a prosperous demo- aid being parachuted behind Axis lines cratic city-state and to assist the partisans. The Balkan Air an important centre Force was formed in June 1944 to control of commerce, which operations that were mainly aimed at soon founded its own helping his forces. colonies. It wasn’t until On 5 April 1945, Tito signed an agree- several centuries later, ment with the USSR allowing “temporary during the 7th and 8th entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav ter- centuries AD, that the ritory”. Aided by the Red Army, the par- Croatians arrived on tisans won the war for liberation in 1945. the island, where they At the end of the war, all external forces mixed with the existing were ordered off Yugoslav soil after the population of Greek end of hostilities in Europe. Later, he was and Roman origin. The a founding member of Cominform, but original name of the resisted Soviet influence, and became island, Issa, was soon one of the founders and promoters of the ABOVE: One of the colourful drop-offs covered with col- “Croatiafied” to Vis. Non-Aligned Movement. He died on May our changing gorgones and the rare black corals. INSET 4, 1980, in Ljubljana. SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA ■ RIGHT: “Iaaaahhhh”: Stubborn mule, but historically, the most reliable transportation mode in the pathless hills 72 X-RAY MAG : 23 : 2008 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED Harvest: A Vis farmer Red Coral Jewelry pearls of the brings in heavy grapes for the tasteful Vis In jewellery, it is corals such as Corallium involves divers going down and harvest- wine “Plavac Mali” rubrum and Corallium japonicum that ing the sensitive coral branches. After mediterranean are used. The unprocessed hard skeleton that, the branches are cleaned, sorted of red coral branches is naturally matte, and processed by means of saws, knives, but can be polished to a glassy beautiful files or drills. Coral is not usually ground or Tito’s shine. cut on a wheel. Bastion Red corals resemble small leafless It is often porous, full of holes or cracked, It was not bushes up to a meter tall. Their valuable and in these cases it is of lesser quality. until the skeletons are composed of intermeshed Coral of that kind is sometimes filled with Croatians spicules of hard calcium carbonate, col- coloured wax to improve its appear- arrived on oured in shades of red by carotenoid ance. High-quality coral is of an even the island pigment. colour and free of cracks, blotches, stria- that it Even if red is thought of as their typical tions and holes. Since genuine untreated became an colour, corals come in a wide range of coral is rare, it does fetch good prices. important colours from red to white and from blue For that reason, anyone being offered navy base in and brown to black. The most popular what appears to be high-quality coral the Eastern are the red hues from pale pink, or salm- cheaply should be sceptical. The best Adriatic. on, to a deep dark red. Black corals and thing to do is to purchase one’s high- Countless gold corals are very much in fashion, quality coral jewellery from a reputable bloody bat- whilst the blue ones are extremely rare. merchant. tles and changes of power took place The white of the angel skin coral, suffused Like the pearls, these are also organic here, and later, during World War II, it with pink, is regarded as particularly pre- jewellery materials. It certainly is an inter- regained its strategic importance. Vis cious. Other well known colours are the esting fact that both of these are prod- became a base for Allied Air Forces and rich red Japanese Moro coral, the pale ucts of the water, chemically closely Navies, and was, at one time, also the pink “Boke” and the red “Sardegna”. related with each other. Both consist of headquarters for the staff of commander Red corals grow on rocky sea bottom more than 90 percent calcium carbon- Josip Broz, more famously known as Tito, with low sedimentation, typically in dark ate. And it really is a miraculous thing and later, as president of Yugoslavia. environments, either in the depths or in that nature has created both the scar- Its unique location as a strategic strong- dark caverns or crevices and have tradi- let coral and the pearl from the same, hold and outpost in the Adriatic unavoid- tionally been brought up from the depths unprepossessing raw material.