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Favourite wrecks
WHAT-TO-DO - NASSAU, CABLE BEACH & PARADISE ISLAND - JAN 2005
Favourite wrecks
Top dives in New Providence
There are at least 16 accessible wrecks for divers to visit around New Providence and Paradise Island, each offering its own special set of attractions.
Among them are two made famous by James Bond movies: Tears of Allah and Thunderball. Another is the Cessna plane that was used in the filming of the movie Jaws.
The Ray of Hope is on everybody?s list of favourites. Formerly a 200-ft cargo vessel, it was deliberately sunk in July 2003 to provide the structure for a new reef and a new dive site. It?s located off the southwestern end of New Providence, near another popular purposely sunk wreck, the Bahama Mama.
The bow of the Ray of Hope lies in about 40 ft of crystal clear water, sloping down to about 60 ft deep at the stern. It?s a ghostly experience to dive through the interior spaces.
Both wrecks were beaten up a bit by storm surges from hurricane Frances in 2004, but that just makes them more interesting, say some divers. There?s a long sandy patch at this location that lies on the lip of the sheer wall that defines the northern edge of the mile-deep Tongue of the Ocean.
?There?s some structural damage along the sides of Ray of Hope,? but the top deck and bridge ?are still in good shape and fun to dive on,? says Rick Louallen, a dive instructor with Stuart Cove?s Dive Bahamas.
A sunken mailboat
Ray of Hope was registered as a Haitian ship, originally constructed in Germany.
Louallen?s favourite dive, however, is the Willaurie, which is a real wreck, not a placed one. The Willaurie was a Bahamas mailboat that had received some structural damage and ?they put on a temporary patch but it was a little too temporary,? Louallen laughs. It sank about 15 years ago.
Now it?s a great dive near Goulding Cay, only a 20 min boat ride away from Stuart Cove?s.
?It?s in roughly 50 feet of water. I like it because there is good (coral) growth with something almost like a cage on the back. It?s a bit eerie and you see lots of life around there, blue tangs, parrot fish, sergeant majors. I have seen turtles there quite often.?
The Shipyard
Neil Peterson, a dive instructor with Nassau Scuba Centre at Coral Harbour, has a fondness for a dive that is sometimes called The Shipyard.
?It?s a group of three wrecks on a slope ? a Defense Force cutter, an old fish boat and a cargo boat,? says Peterson. ?It?s just off the brink of the wall, near Clifton (at the western end of New Providence). The middle one is near the edge and as you swim over it you see the deep blue of the Tongue [of the ocean].?
This wreck is only a few years old, says Peterson, and has not yet had enough time to grow much coral. ?But there are lots of tropical fish there,? he says, and it?s a thrill to see a wreck so close to the wall.
If you?ve never coasted through the ghostly interior of a sunken ship, it?s an experience you?ll not soon forget. And wreck dives offer great photo opportunities for underwater shutterbugs.
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