It was the culmination of over seven years’ work for the Cayman Islands Tourism Association, the government and project leader Nancy Easterbrook when the ex-USS Kittiwake finally sunk on Wednesday, 5 January.
At 11.30am, water was being pumped into cutouts made in the ship’s hull. Once those reach the waterline the Kittiwake will begin sinking faster. Just after 2pm, the craft was sinking low into the water.
It was shortly before 3pm Wednesday that the soon-to-be wreck dive site went completely below the waves. Tuesday’s sinking was delayed at her sinking site off West Bay Public Beach because winds of 15 knots were too high to allow for the process to go ahead. But the dedication ceremony of the vessel went off without a hitch on Monday.
In early February it was reported that the former USS Kittiwake continues to make history after a video of the new dive attraction’s sinking became a hit on Internet video giant YouTube.
By 4 February, more than 56,000 people have viewed the ship’s sinking, which was filmed by Cayman Free Press reporter Brian Wright from a special viewing platform aboard a Red Sail Sports boat on Wednesday, 5 January.
Subsequently, a number of sites worldwide linked to the video including international news websites Huffington Post, AOL Travel and Dantri.com – a Vietnam-based news aggregator. Stories also appeared in Pakistan, Canada and the United Kingdom. In the days immediately following the sinking, the Caymanian Compass received enquiries from news sources worldwide, including Russia.
Big news
At the London International Dive Show held in March, the ship was big news, said Don McDougall, UK country manager (Europe) for the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism.
“The Kittiwake is still the big news as we have been presenting it at dive shows for the past three years. So now that she is down, we can now offer actual packages to dive it,” he said.
Similarly, during May’s Cayman Islands Tourism Exchange in May, delegates at the travel trade event watched a movie on the sinking and had a talk from project leader Nancy Easterbrook. Later that month, Matt Gutman of ABC was filmed diving the Kittiwake and during July kids on the National Geographic Hands-On Explorer Challenge were delighted to do the same.
Mrs Easterbrook was also given an accolade by the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism at the Stingray Awards, receiving the Special Contribution Award at a ceremony held in the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort.
“It was an honour,” she said. “There were so many people involved in the Kittiwake project from the public and private sector and it was definitely a huge team effort. [I was project manager for] one of the very significant and successful public/private sector ventures, where both sides worked together in support of legal financing, concept and so on to bring it to pass.
“We are very happy it has turned out to be the success it has been,” she said. “The PR coverage was worth multi-millions of dollars and tremendous exposure for Cayman not just in diving circles but CNN, NBC and around the world. Wrecks are really popular – not to take it away from our natural beauty but every industry needs to reinvigorate.”
Medical study
The wreck dive remained in the news in October; disabled army veterans came to Cayman for their scuba certification which included a Kittiwake trip during a medical study which indicated diving was beneficial to movement. Later that month, a camera washed up in Florida containing pictures of a Kittiwake dive. The owner has yet to be traced.
Hurricane Rina passed 193 miles to the southwest of Grand Cayman, bringing rain and some blustery days to the island, but under the sea wave and wind action caused an enormous anchor chain on the Kittiwake to snap and metal plates to disappear. The Kittwake moved some 60 feet toward Sand Chute and is now in slightly deeper water.
The Underwater film festival took place in November and inductees enjoyed a movie about the project as did attendees at the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association mega-show. Kids were also invited to send in illustrations about marine life on the vessel for a special competition through CITA.
As 2012 beckons, the Kittiwake remains a draw for divers from across the world and a study on the progress of marine life on the artificial reef continues.
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