The Kittiwake is shortly to begin its final mission, but it will still be supporting underwater life.
The artificial reef that will be created by the sinking of the former USS Navy vessel marks an entirely appropriate last usage for a ship that spent nearly 50 years as a submarine support vessel. The environmental effects will be seen virtually as soon as the ship is sunk off West Bay, said project leader Nancy Easterbrook.
“Almost immediately, algae growth will begin on the ship – the start of the food chain; from there, algae feeders come in. With all the hulls and penetration throughout the ship, we’ll have an influx of fish making their habitats in the vessel, so it’ll have a relatively rapid growth in transitioning from a wreck to an artificial reef.
“Coral growth will start, sponge growth will start, just like the other wrecks in Cayman, which are outstanding in the colours that are on them… from orange elephant ears to purple vases. We intentionally, not only for marine growth but also divers’ safety, opened it up. So even though you’ve got five decks to go through, you can go up and down from the top of the smoke stack to the bottom of the engine room, which is a good 35-foot drop and it is wide open. We’ve got good light penetration, which should also help to encourage marine growth.”
Great anticipation
The dive community is welcoming the arrival of the new attraction with great anticipation, said the project leader.
“It’s extraordinarily exciting. We’re very stoked; we have such gorgeous reefs here, but there’s nothing like a good shipwreck to stoke people’s attention. There are so many people just so interested in coming down to dive her.
“It’ll bring back many people who’ve not been here to dive for a while. It’ll allow us to expand our wreck diving capabilities here in the island and maybe, maybe [the effect will be] something close to how significant Stingray City was to the diving industry. I think the Kittiwake’s going to be right up there in that category.”
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