A Non-Profit Foundation Dedicated
to Preserving Our Maritime Heritage
Founded by Clive Cussler
A Non-Profit Foundation Dedicated
to Preserving Our Maritime Heritage
Founded by Clive Cussler
Shipwrecks in Grand Cayman? You Betcha!
Melanie Boyd and Buddies Dive the Oro Verde in 1981
The decommissioned U.S. Navy submarine rescue vessel is a popular artificial reef sunk in 65 feet of water off the north end of Seven Mile Beach. Managed by the Cayman Islands Tourist Association, licensed dive operators and visitors pay a modest fee to snorkel or scuba dive on the Kittiwake where waters are usually calm and crystal clear. A 250-foot-long steel hull vessel with 18 bulkheads and five decks, this wreck can be visited many times without seeing the same sections twice. Strategically cut holes in the superstructure enable divers to safely navigate the captain’s cabin, crew’s quarters, wheelhouse and other spots aboard the ship. Jacks, morays, grunts and turtles are just a few of the marine inhabitants that hang around in numerous nooks and crannies.
Sergio Coni
It’s the same on the Cali, a 206-foot grain carrier sunk close to Don Foster’s Dive Shop located on the waterfront a little south of George Town. A sailing vessel from earlier times, later fitted with engines, its cargo of grain and rice got wet, swelled, and caused the rivets to pop throughout the hull. Although it’s pretty beat up, the wreck’s engines, boilers, masts and ribs create a feeling that you’re on a real relic. Shop manager Sergio Coni says, “Battered, yes, but still historically significant. You can’t find many old four-masted sailing ships whose major parts haven’t rusted away.” Angelfish, basslets and grunts encompass the thick, coral-covered remains of the Cali, while big tarpon whisk in and out from a fringe reef nearby.
Sergio Coni explores the Balboa on a night dive
My favorite wreck is the Balboa, Grand Cayman’s “gift from God.” A 375-foot freighter that sank in George Town Harbor during a hurricane in 1932, it has an intriguing past. As its cargo of lumber was washing ashore, the captain grabbed his strongbox and abandoned ship, vowing that he would thank God and do something beneficial if no one perished in the disaster. Making good on his promise, he used his funds to build a church on the waterfront. This is a night dive on wreckage that’s scattered all over the bottom, having been dynamited to keep the harbor clear. There’s too much ship traffic to dive it in daylight hours. What’s so neat at night is to see the steeple of the church, clearly visible only a few hundred yards away in the illuminated George Town business district….the very same church built with the lumber that washed ashore in the storm.
Grand Cayman Island
7 Comments
Submit a Comment
All Rights Reserved © | National Underwater and Marine Agency
All Rights Reserved © | National Underwater and Marine Agency
Web Design by Floyd Dog Design
Web Design by Floyd Dog Design
I didn’t realize there were so many interesting shipwrecks in Grand Cayman. I enjoyed reading about them. This is another Caribbean site that I will put on my list of “Great Places to Dive for Future Trips. Thanks for the info!
Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I think you will enjoy any and all of the wrecks that you might visit on a trip to Grand Cayman. As I mentioned, there are so many beautiful reefs, divers often overlook some of these interesting shipwreck sites. Good luck. Let me hear from you after you make the trip.
Hello Ellsworth, Most interesting when any details of shipwrecks are publicized as it may interest non divers to join our wonderful sport or even divers to expand their interest to go where others have found new dive sites to visit. Almost all shipwreck have some magic to require return dives to explore further than the first time. As my site shows I collect photos of any bell that came from a shipwreck, hopefully that they have a name on the bell. Do you know where a bell may be that I could get a photo of, please? Yours, John Sumner.
I have a B & W photo somewhere in my files of Gary Gentile holding a bell from the Andrea Doria. I could scan it to you if I can find it. Send me an email address in case I find it. Cheers, Ellsworth, Wreckmaster
I am french and i have read all yours books about Dirk Pitt ‘s aventures. very good books.
I have just finish to read “chasseurs d’epaves” nouvelles avantures, very interesting.
just want to say: THANKS.
You remain a faithful reader of Clive and Dirk Cussler’s books. I’m sure they appreciate it. You might like to know that I enjoyed diving the shipwrecks of the French West Indies. Bernard Legrand was my guide while diving the wrecks of Martinique. I wonder if he is still around? Merci. A votre sante! Ellsworth
Ellsworth! I hope you are well. This Is Sergio Coni from Don Foster’s Dive Cayman Ltd. I just stumbled upon this article as I was looking some more information regarding the wreck of the Balboa. The Balboa continues to be a great day dive and incredible night dive. I remember vividly last time we saw each other. Must have been 1998? And we did dive several of the wrecks here in Cayman as you were preparing magazine articles. If I am correct, some of the dives we did with your daughter as well I think.
In any case, I wanted to point out that the two color photos are indeed of the Balboa wreck however, the diver on the pics is me Sergio Coni and not a Jim Canter. I remember those photos very well, in fact I still have them in my computer. Good times! All the best from the Caymans!