Sinking a Ship

[PlantationBeachResort]

We are in Cayos Cochinos, Bay Islands, Honduras. We currently have 1 wreck dive of a small four-person airplane that went down in the late 80's. It's quite nice and covered with life already (pair of angelfish living in cockpit), but a rather small wreck.

Our ferry goes in and out of La Ceiba Shipyard (same dock as Roatan ferry), and in passing I notice decrepit boats wasting away, some of which are already half sunken. This gave me an idea; request we sink a ship with the Honduras Coral Reef Foundation, get permission on a site, and ask the shipyard, "Next time you have an abandoned, forgotten, retired boat, can we tow it out to our bay and take it off your hands, freeing up your space?" I think a large lobster/shrimp/cargo boat would be an excellent reef builder and interesting dive. Further, ourselves and the researchers with the Honduras Coral Reef Foundation could document the growth over a period of years.

Any thoughts or opinions on these practices? Is there anything we need to take into consideration before sinking a boat like this?

 

[emoreira]

Nice idea, however, for a ship to be ready to be sunk to form an artificial reef, it has to be prepared for that.
Many things have to be done prior to the sink. All free things should be removed, openings to the ship interior closed or wide opened to avoid divers to be entangled or allow divers go in and out easily.
Fuel and oil tanks emptied and cleaned. In general all contaminants should be removed and the spaces cleaned.
There is a lot of work to be done for a ship to be turned into a safe and non contaminant wreck, and all this means a lot of work, materials and money.
Those abandoned ships normally have debts and legal problems. This is, in the majority of the cases, the main nightmare.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

The Canadian Navy had 4 de-commisioned submarines, one has recently been sold but there are 3 still tied up in Halifax and I guess they are for sale. One would have to do a little digging around on the internet and maybe some E-mails to the crown assets site to see if they can be purchased but they would make a great attraction for some of the Caribbean Islands that need artificial reefs. The picture isn't very good but does show 1/2 of one of the subs
ZDD