USS Kittywake Creates Artificial Reef off Grand Cayman

(Dive Travel Business News - March 4, 2011) -- Often heralded as the top dive destination in the Caribbean, the Cayman Islands has sunk the ex-USS Kittiwake off the north end of Grand Cayman’s Seven Mile Beach creating another dive site.  The USS Kittiwake, a decommissioned 1945-vintage submarine rescue ship, was scuttled on Wed Jan 5, 2011 in the Cayman Islands to create an artificial reef that will attract both fish and tourists. 

The former WWII US Navy ship was thoroughly prepared, with the removal of any hazard materials before it was towed from the US to Grand Cayman.  The former submarine carrier will become an important artificial reef that provides a haven for local marine life as well as a key dive and snorkel site. The Kittiwake sinking is part of the dive destination’s Dive 365 initiative, an on-going program to develop dive sites across Cayman for every day of the year.

Crews carefully flooded the rusty hulk so the 2,200-ton (1,995 metric ton) ship would settle upright. Holes were punched in the hull and large pumps gradually piped sea water into the ship, which was compartmentalized into three sections.  As it began to sink in a cascade of bubbles, the Kittiwake leaned a bit to its starboard side. But divers reported it landed upright on its keel.

The ship now rests on a sandy bottom off Grand Cayman's Seven Mile Beach. The 47-foot-tall (14-meter) ship is at a depth of 62 feet (19 meters), so the top deck is close to the Caribbean Sea's surface, making it easily accessible for snorkelers and divers.

Since the sinking many reef creatures have moved in to take up residence, from juvenile blue tangs, sergeant majors, and squirrelfish, to the massive barracuda that has become a feature at the ship's stern, to the ever-present school of horse-eyed jacks, and most recently, a school of caribbean reef squid.  Only weeks after the sinking,  the ex-USS Kittiwake has become home to one of its largest residents to date: a +100 lb Goliath Grouper.  Time will tell who will make this shipwreck their permanent home.   Visit the Kittywake website or the Cayman Islands Dive Cayman website.

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