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Diving the wrecks
WHAT-TO-DO - FREEPORT/LUCAYA & GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND - JAN 2005
Diving the wrecks
Grand Bahama offers variety
Diving off Grand Bahama offers incredible variety. Brilliant shallow and deep reefs and sea gardens, caves and caverns, drop-offs, diving with dolphins and sharks and diving on wrecks lure serious divers from North America, Europe, and increasing numbers from Japan. The south coast of Grand Bahama holds an abundance of wrecks, some the victims of nature, old age or bad seamanship, other purposely dropped to the bottom to grow into planned dive sites. They all exude a unique character.
History and tragedy
"Is it the history they reveal, or the tragedy they conceal?" asks writer and photographer Bill Harrigan. "Or is it simply the excitement of seeing a familiar shape appear like a faded blue apparition as you descend toward the bottom" There is something strangely compelling about passing beneath the encrusted propeller of a large wreck or swimming through the dark passages of her interior."
Perhaps the most famed attraction in the area is Theo?s Wreck, a huge, 238-ft long Norwegian cement hauler, intentionally sunk by divers from UNEXSO as a dive site in 1982. This impressive hulk lies on her port side at about 100 ft near the edge of the dropoff into the Northwest Providence Channel. A giant propeller and rudder, bow chains and companionways leading to cavernous holds, form a virtual underwater photographic studio.
The outline of the hull becomes visible from just under the surface. As divers descend, the wheel house, gaping-open holds and the pointed bow come into view. Sponges and black corals encrust the cavernous cargo hold which hosts a wide assortment of fish and frequently green moray and spotted eels.
The 173-ft steel freighter Sea Star is another UNEXSO contribution to wreck diving sites off Grand Bahama. "The original name of the ship was Emanuelle, built in Italy and served as a freighter in the North Sea for several years," says UNEXSO's Christina Zenato. "Once in The Bahamas she was used for different functions, including, but not restricted to, fishing. Let's say the Sea Star has a checkered past.
A liability with value
"Confiscated by Bahamian law enforcement and abandoned in the harbour it slowly sunk on one side and became a hazard and a problem for ship traffic. Cathy O'Brien, a diving instructor who used to work at UNEXSO, came up with the idea to raise the ship, clean it and create a new dive site."
With the cooperation of Freeport Harbour, Gary Simmons of Sea Tow who organized the raising and the sinking of the ship, and UNEXSO's crew, the ship was raised, cleaned, and then with the help of Freeport Tug Company, towed to its present location and sunk in April, 2004. Unfortunately Cathy O'Brien, who initiated the project, died in a car accident in November of 2001 and so never had a chance to see the final result. A plaque in her memory was installed on the port side on the stern by friends and UNEXSO staff.
"The Sea Star sank in a perfect upright position, totally intact, and was like that till the arrival of Hurricane Frances. The ship is now torn in pieces, the stern lays on its side, the cargo area is twisted and the bow is still in the same position, but closer to shore. Although not intact anymore it makes for a very spectacular dive and a dramatic demonstration of the forces of nature. We still have two moorings on the wreck and we schedule dives on a regular basis. Fish life is abundant and the presence of the reef close by makes the wreck dive even more interesting," says Zenato.
Wrecks galore
The Badger, an old Burma Oil tugboat, and the Laura, a 40-ft steel supply boat, were sunk in 1997 as Grand Bahama dive sites. Both stand erect in about 50 ft of water.
Another popular site is Jose's Wreck, a 40-ft ocean tugboat spanning two separate coral heads at about 65 ft. She went down in the 1990s and has become home for lobsters and crabs as well as grouper in winter. The position over the reefs allows divers to swim right under
the hull.
The upside-down hull of the Pretender is another Grand Bahama wreck in moderately deep water, lying on the sand of the Little Bahama Bank, about 45 ft deep. Papa Doc is a 50-ft, steel hulled vessel, also in 45 ft of water.
The prolific fish life around the Sugar Wreck, off the western end of Grand Bahama, accounts for its popularity as a dive site. Large schools of grunts and gobies, colourful parrot fish and angelfish as well as snappers, wrasse and the odd grouper inhabit what's left of the old sailing vessel that grounded there several years ago in only 20 ft of water. No one seems to know the origin of the name.
A former car ferry operating in the Carolinas, the Etheridge, was featured in one of the Halloween movies. Sunk in early 1992 among scattered coral heads on the Little Bahama Bank, today it is home to scads of shads, schools of silversides, gaggles of groupers, grunts and snappers.
Silver and bombs
Treasure Reef, or the Lucayan wreck was named in the mid-sixties when four young men stumbled on an old Spanish wreck that contained several thousand silver coins. The coins recovered from this area have been estimated to be worth about $3 million. Today, white sandy surge channels have formed between the overhangs of elkhorn, brain and star corals that surround the original wreck.
Further afield is the wreck of the sturdy cement-hulled Sapona, a yachtsman's navigational landmark for many years. She sits high out of the water south of Cat Cay and Bimini. The ship has served as a floating nightclub, bootleg warehouse, wartime bombing practice target and a myriad of other roles. Today it is one of the finest shallow dive and snorkelling wrecks in the Caribbean area. Perched in about 20 ft of clear water, the Sapona houses hundreds of reef fish. Until just a few years ago divers were still finding unexploded target bombs around the wreck.
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