The yellow submarine has left the Cayman Islands and is now in Roatan, Honduras, the Caymanian partner of Downunder Submarines Ltd., Brian O’Neal, has confirmed to Cayman Compass.
O’Neal said it was not clear at this time whether the submarine would return to the Cayman Islands.
On 9 March, Heidi Sony of the Cayman Islands Shipping Registry confirmed that Downunder Submarines Ltd., trading as the Yellow Submarine, had been operating in the Cayman Islands without a required submarine safety certificate.
In a follow up request for information from Cayman Compass, Nicola Moore-Gothar, deputy global director of the Shipping Registry said the submarine had been ‘detained’ and therefore was no longer permitted to take passengers on paid dives.
At the time, Moore-Gothar said, “Under Section 191 of the Merchant Shipping Act, the operation of any submersible is strictly prohibited unless it is both registered and holds a valid submersible safety certificate.”
Officials from the Shipping Registry confirmed that while the vessel had been granted an exemption from the registration requirements under Section 192(1), the submarine dive operations were conditional upon obtaining the necessary safety certificate under Section 191(2).
No such exemption was ever granted for the safety certificate itself.
The Merchant Shipping Act also allows the chief executive officer of the Shipping Registry to ‘detain’ vessels that fail to comply with mandatory requirements.
Moore-Gotha said, “These measures are essential to ensure the safety of both passengers and other maritime traffic in Caymanian waters.”
The confirmation that the yellow submarine has now left the Cayman Islands, comes on the heels of several incidents involving the submarine.
In January, the Compass reported that the communications cable that trails behind the submarine was intentionally cut by a dive company owner James ‘Shaggy’ Thomson.
At the time, Thompson said he cut the cable when he became concerned about the safety of his boat and customers. “The submarine communications cable got tangled up in my engine and the submarine was dragging my boat,” he said.
He added that he then cut the cable because he thought it might cause his boat to be dragged underwater.
On 7 Jan., the submarine made an uncontrolled ascent and came up underneath and struck a 110-foot-long liveaboard dive boat, the Cayman Aggressor IV.
In another incident on 1 Feb., the company’s support vessel either dragged anchor or broke free of its mooring in South Sound during a nor’wester, and ended up stranded on the coral reef in South Sound.
Then on both 4 Feb. and 11 Feb., the submarine grounded in the shallows in South Sound and got stuck on the seabed.
On 11 Feb, it took hours to get the sub off the seabed, but each time the submarine crew was able to eventually free the vessel from the shallows.
-Photo: submitted
Cayman Compass has requested a status update from the Cayman Islands Shipping Registry, to determine whether the submarine will be allowed to return to the Cayman Islands, to resume operations once it secures the required safety certificate.
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