Kittiwake site closed. Ship listed in Tropical Storm Nate

[FindingMenno]

Post retracted.

 

[Rred]

Tom's got it.

Wreck diving these days is a nanny-state tourist industry project. Doors and hatches are either removed or welded open. Anything that might collapse or obstruct is removed. Access points are cut through the side of the hull, to make sure you can enter and exit conveniently. Anything that might be worth salvaging, like a bronze prop shaft or prop, heaven forbid, can't be touched. We used to get Prohibition-era bottles of rum from what had been under the deck spaces of one wreck. Now? That would be forbidden because the wreck is "embedded" in the bottom and a State archaeology trove. The Colonial-era hand blown glass bottle that I recovered from a nearby location? Would get me arrested today, if it hadn't become beach glass in the years in between.

So the wreck fell over, BFD. You should have heard the controversy years ago over the USS San Diego, first because there was still live ammunition (including 4" shells) on it, and then second because it was upside down and the superstructure slowly collapsing, unless I'm confusing capitol warships.

Some genius was using a pair of the 4" shells as fireplace andirons, his neighbor called the county bomb squad, the USCG had a picket boat on station for the rest of that year....Yeah, bit of a fuss.

It's a WRECK, not a water park. Or, vice versa. But let's figure out which one it is, and then call it by the right name. Then we can sell tickets and form a rope line over there, so people can line up for the tour. Build a replica at Orlando, flood it in a pool, and we could eliminate all the disks of decompression sickness and having to dive down a hundred feet, too!

 

[Kharon]

What in your mind makes you call the Kittiwake an oversized reef ball? It was a real US Navy submarine support vessel with diving heritage. They certainly tried to make it safer for less experienced divers to penetrate by cutting holes and welding doors open. It was a fun dive and an easy wreck for recreational divers. You could even swim into and surface inside a decompression chamber in the ship. However, the lower decks are technical penetration dives. Have you ever dived it?

I dove the Kittywake in 2015 and didn't do the penetration. When I was about 16 someone tried pretty hard to drown me so I'm not a fan of enclosed space underwater. I enjoyed exploring the exterior and was fascinated by the history. Not any kind of reef ball at all. Still have my token. Oh, and BTW, I'm not a neophyte diver.

 

[FindingMenno]

Video report from our evaluation dive yesterday morning. All looking good!

 

[scubadada]

The Kittiwake is so "clean" after being down more than 6 1/2 years, nearly nothing growing on it, why is that?

 

[Joneill]

The point is, that it's a purposely sterilized wreck. Every wreck changes over time. Some get toppled, all eventually collapse, and they ALL no matter the condition are unstable. The fact that it's on its side, or unsettled, or structurally compromised does nothing to make it undiveable.

Quite honestly, if they were really concerned about diver safety, they would stop encouraging non overhead trained divers to penetrate it...even though it's a Sterile wreck. I've been in plenty of artificial reef type wrecks...most are no place for a neophyte diver.

That's all fine - but I still don't get or agree with describing the wreck as an oversized reef ball.

 

[Joneill]

Video report from our evaluation dive yesterday morning. All looking good!

Thanks for the update.

 

[Divetech Cayman]

That's a shame - we dove it in 2015 and it was a very nice site and an easy "penetration" dive - that likely won't be the case anymore (the easy penetration) with it laying on its side!

It’s still an easy penetration. It’s on a 45 degree list, which is a bit disorienting, but not overly so. I was able to do my normal route through the interior of the wreck without issue. We'd recommend any dive guide on it do a few orientation dives on her prior to guiding customers, but it's still the same Kittiwake. The recompression chambers have lost their air pockets though, much to my disappointment.

If I recall, there was controversy when the original location was chosen. Several experts warned that the site was too shallow and that storms would move the wreck down the slope where it could damage the existing reef and other dive sites - which sounds like exactly what is now happening.

There really wasn't much of an alternative. West Bay is really the only site on Grand Cayman where such a shipwreck could sit. West Bay rarely gets winds from this direction, the last time winds of this direction and magnitude was hurricane Dennis in 2011, which was also the last time the Kittiwake moved from her original sinking location.

She is a shipwreck, and in the battle between the sea and shipwrecks, the sea will always win. Some day the sea will claim her permanently.

 

[KathyV]

This article confirms reef damage due to movement of the kittiwake:

DoE confirms coral damage from Kittiwake

 

[Joneill]

It’s still an easy penetration. It’s on a 45 degree list, which is a bit disorienting, but not overly so. I was able to do my normal route through the interior of the wreck without issue. We'd recommend any dive guide on it do a few orientation dives on her prior to guiding customers, but it's still the same Kittiwake. The recompression chambers have lost their air pockets though, much to my disappointment.



There really wasn't much of an alternative. West Bay is really the only site on Grand Cayman where such a shipwreck could sit. West Bay rarely gets winds from this direction, the last time winds of this direction and magnitude was hurricane Dennis in 2011, which was also the last time the Kittiwake moved from her original sinking location.

She is a shipwreck, and in the battle between the sea and shipwrecks, the sea will always win. Some day the sea will claim her permanently.

Thanks - good info and I look forward to diving her again next summer!