Trip Report KITTIWAKE WRECK DIVE!

[Collin O'Brien]

Hello all!
Here is a quick video of the popular Kittiwake wreck dive just off the west coast of Grand Cayman! From its history as a submarine support vessel to the vertigo you feel the first time you enter its hull due to it being on its side, it is quite the experience! If you are comfortable going through the engine room at the bottom, it is highly recommended.
For anyone wondering, I went out with Dive Tech Grand Cayman and could not have had a better time. Great crew and owner!

 

[Dano7175]

Hello all!
Here is a quick video of the popular Kittiwake wreck dive just off the west coast of Grand Cayman! From its history as a submarine support vessel to the vertigo you feel the first time you enter its hull due to it being on its side, it is quite the experience! If you are comfortable going through the engine room at the bottom, it is highly recommended.
For anyone wondering, I went out with Dive Tech Grand Cayman and could not have had a better time. Great crew and owner!

My experience was the opposite and would never recommend Dive Tech. While inside Kittiwake the lead Dive Master got too far ahead of me and subsequently his torch light got dimmer and eventually I was left in utter and complete blackness. Thankfully I didn’t panic and eventually saw one of the escape hatches.

i feel it is absolutely the Dive Masters responsibility to ensure his/her customers are navigating and safely moving thru the Kittiwake. Just writing this pisses me off.

 

[steinbil]

My experience was the opposite and would never recommend Dive Tech. While inside Kittiwake the lead Dive Master got too far ahead of me and subsequently his torch light got dimmer and eventually I was left in utter and complete blackness. Thankfully I didn’t panic and eventually saw one of the escape hatches.

i feel it is absolutely the Dive Masters responsibility to ensure his/her customers are navigating and safely moving thru the Kittiwake. Just writing this pisses me off.

Wait a sec. Are you saying you did a penetration of the wreck, going into an overhead, without even a single light? Talk about a trust-me-dive. Hopefully you have been trained to be responsible for your own safety and not blindly follow a DM into a dangerous situation. If not, your instructor failed you.

Of course, the operator also should not allow or encourage this practice.

 

[Collin O'Brien]

My experience was the opposite and would never recommend Dive Tech. While inside Kittiwake the lead Dive Master got too far ahead of me and subsequently his torch light got dimmer and eventually I was left in utter and complete blackness. Thankfully I didn’t panic and eventually saw one of the escape hatches.

i feel it is absolutely the Dive Masters responsibility to ensure his/her customers are navigating and safely moving thru the Kittiwake. Just writing this pisses me off.

 

[Joneill]

Wait a sec. Are you saying you did a penetration of the wreck, going into an overhead, without even a single light? Talk about a trust-me-dive. Hopefully you have been trained to be responsible for your own safety and not blindly follow a DM into a dangerous situation. If not, your instructor failed you.

Of course, the operator also should not allow or encourage this practice.

I’m a bit puzzled as I’ve done the Kittiwake a few times and, unless you head to the lower decks, you pretty much always can see light and a way out. I’ve not seen an area of complete blackness?

I do agree that the DM should have made sure not to get too far ahead and they should not have taken folks to darker sections (assuming they did) without the right training and should have ensured they had lights!

I also always have 2 lights clipped on my harness on every dive I do (day or night).

 

[Dano7175]

Wait a sec. Are you saying you did a penetration of the wreck, going into an overhead, without even a single light? Talk about a trust-me-dive. Hopefully you have been trained to be responsible for your own safety and not blindly follow a DM into a dangerous situation. If not, your instructor failed you.

Of course, the operator also should not allow or encourage this practice.

 

[Dano7175]

I did not have a torch and was told I didn’t one. It was my 1st wreck dive and assumed the professional dive guide would ensure safety.
I’ve got 10 dives logged and not experienced to know what questions to ask during dive briefing. Ie what to expect from dive guide.

A lot of details I’m leaving out but overall Dive Tech sucked!

 

[Dano7175]

Wait a sec. Are you saying you did a penetration of the wreck, going into an overhead, without even a single light? Talk about a trust-me-dive. Hopefully you have been trained to be responsible for your own safety and not blindly follow a DM into a dangerous situation. If not, your instructor failed you.

Of course, the operator also should not allow or encourage this practice.

We dove with both Ocean Frontier and Dive Tech. Ocean Frontier was thorough, competent, fun and had an experience. For example, I was reaching my dive limit at 108ft (Nitrox) and the dive master scolded me afterwards and rightfully so. My point is he was watching and took corrective action. Dive Tech were a bunch of ass&holes !

 

[steinbil]

I did not have a torch and was told I didn’t one. It was my 1st wreck dive and assumed the professional dive guide would ensure safety.
I’ve got 10 dives logged and not experienced to know what questions to ask during dive briefing. Ie what to expect from dive guide.

To be clear, I'm not trying to blame you for this. You don't know what you don't know. But I do think your OW instructor should have taught you more about what questions to ask, what type of diving to be cautious with and to generally be better prepared for making good decisions for being responsible for your own safety. I would never have agreed to this dive plan, or if the briefing was unclear I would have not followed the DM into the overhead, and I have cave and tech training. It's even worse for a diver without this training, but again, you don't know what you don't know.

I don't know the wreck, so I only have your story to go on (and the video above), but if it's accurate that the DM lead you into a real overhead with no visible exits and no ambient light (which it looks like the part at 0:17 in the video might show, far from a swim-through with ambient light showing the exits) – that's already negligent in my opinion. And when you add leading a diver with improper gear and NO lights, it's borderline criminal. And then to top it off, he manages to lose you inside. If you had an accident, I think they should be liable. This is all based on the assumption that your story is accurate.

For example, I was reaching my dive limit at 108ft (Nitrox) and the dive master scolded me afterwards and rightfully so. My point is he was watching and took corrective action.

Fair enough, but this is also an example of you not taking responsibility for your own safety by not sticking to the limits – whether they are limits of training/certification, MODs, skills or comfort.

 

[hilljo88]

A common theme on SB is that new divers often believe that just getting certified gives them a sense of expertise and unwarranted confidence beyond their level of experience. A wreck penetration after only a handful of dives can be terrifying, as it apparently was for you. Better communication between you and the DM might have helped. I have done the Kittiwake dive many times, and as wreck penetrations go, it's as easy as they come. The interior was cleaned of hazards before it was sunk, there are several exits and usually at least some ambient light. The problem is that the usual procedure is for the DM to lead the dive. You need good buoyancy to stay off the ceiling and walls. If you are more than 1 or 2 divers back, there are a lot of particulates in the water column, and visibility gets limited. You obviously were able to exit the ship. In retrospect, do you think you were really in danger? Or just uncomfortable with the conditions? Either way, it's unfortunate that you had a bad experience and glad that things were better with another operator.