(3/21/05) Cruise ship damages reef and almost runs down dive party

[Stirling]

So, what is the depth one of these cruse ships lays at? How deep would you have to be to be assured it would pass over you??

From the pictures I saw of the cruise ship in question, it looks like one of those new jobs and probably has a draft of about 25-30' or thereabouts. And at that it won't do you that much good if it passes over you and also sucks you up into the propellors, so you have a lot to worry about even below 30'. The more confined the water around the ship (i.e., to the extent the water is shallower and also bounded vertically by reef or other structures), the greater the draw of those propellors.

On edit: Unless you're on the *other side* of a reef or other vertical barrier, of course, in which case you are a lot better off.

 

[Stirling]

In fact, now that I have gone back upthread to remind myself of the name of the ship, here it is - 26 feet draft.

http://cruises.affordabletours.com/Carnival_Cruises/Inspiration/

 

[Chad_Ordelheide]

It just sounds like a bad situation to me. It drives me crazy when I hear about ships ruining reefs!!!

Carnival :bigun2:

 

[Pratesi]

WOW-that is really scarey and of course I relate even more since I am well familiar with the area. I did dive there a couple times.Wasn't that national park mandated because Cosumel wanted to increase the cruise ship docking? You are talking about Chankanaab National park? Correct?

 

[CA Diver]

I agree with Chad! P@#$!% me off when the reefs are trashed by careless / incompetent pilots. I was in Hawaii in February when a Bulk Concrete carrier ran aground west of Pearl Harbor near Barbers Point. They had to unload the bulk powder concrete at sea to refloat the ship. Of Course this became a messy process with considerable spillage and additional damage to the reef system.

 

[nshon]

Here are the pics I took of the Carnival's Inspiration before the reef incident. I hope I do this right.

And who said CNN has the best coverage?

 

[archman]

Nice... I assume that storm front in the photo was the one that blew the ship into the reef?

Where were you nshon, looks like you're aboard another cruise ship.

 

[MoonWrasse]

Man that sucks. One went by in the vacinity of where I was diving recently and boy was it loud!

I did think recently that within my lifetime these new genreation of mega cruiseliners would start to be retired, and perhaps a few of them would be sunk as pretty darn funky wreck dives. That will probably be the first time I enter one.

Hey, how about compensation for f'in up the reef they agree to sink the "Inspiration" to provide new homes for those displaced fish

 

[Xarifa]

We just got back Sunday from cruising on the Carnival Miracle (3/20 - 27)--we stopped in Cozumel. There were 8 cruise ships in port when we returned from our dive, and the Dive Master said some days there are 11. BTW, we dove privately with Aqua Safari--great outfit.

 

[TostitoBandito]

I heard about this while I was in Cozumel last week (I actually flew in on the 17th). I hated cruise ships before and I hate them even more now. They do nothing but ruin great exotic locales by dumping thousands of tourists constantly into the area for only hours at a time. This is the only thing I didn't like about Cozumel. Everyday you'd watch the cattle line up on the pier to get back on their ship. Mooo. I went to Ambergris Caye in Belize last year and I now appreciate how much nicer it was not having 8 cruise ships dump 15,000+ people on top of you every day.


-Eric