Coming up, the Bird family explores the wreck of the Kittiwake on Grand Cayman--eight years
after Jonathan and Jake explored it—to see what has changed!
Welcome to Jonathan Bird’s Blue World!
It’s spring break, so the family and I are heading out on a dive adventure!
We take off from gloomy Boston and land in beautiful Grand Cayman.
We’re staying at Sunset House, one of the premiere dive resorts on an island known around
the world for its fabulous diving.
Grand Cayman is located in the Caribbean, south of Cuba.
The family and I have had some fabulous dives.
We have seen lots of marine life, healthy reefs and of course we have played with stingrays.
But today we are heading out on another adventure.
Jasmin and Phil ready the boat for a special dive we have been looking forward to doing.
It’s a short boat ride to the site…but we have time to set up our gear and get ready.
Phil gives us a briefing for our dive on the wreck of the Kittiwake.
The USS Kittiwake was a 251 foot long submarine rescue vessel which served for 50 years in
the U.S. Navy, eventually being decommissioned in 1994.
In 2011 it was intentionally sunk as an artificial reef on Grand Cayman.
If the Kittiwake sounds familiar, it may be because of this guy!
Hey!
Hi!
How ya doing man?
Eight years ago, we got a young fan named Jake scuba certified and took him to Grand
Cayman on an adventure.
The first dive we did together after he got his certification was the Kittiwake.
At the time it was a brand new wreck, having been sunk only months before.
Eight years later things have changed.
Originally, it was nearly upright.
But after eight years of storms, the wreck has tipped on its side.
The family and I sink down and start exploring at the stern, checking out the giant propeller.
Back when Jake and I dove here, the prop was completely out of the sand, but now, the ship
has settled so much that one blade of the prop is completely buried.
We swim up and over the deck, and into the ship.
Because there are so many openings, you are never out of sight of an exit, so this is
completely safe for experienced divers like us.
Because the ship is tilted on its side, it gives divers a weird vertigo.
My brain has a hard time interpreting which way is up.
But Elise’s bubbles go straight up.
In the engine room we can one of the V-12 engine blocks that once powered the ship.
Eventually Liam leads the way up through the smokestack back into the blue.
Back when Jake and I dove the Kittiwake, the wreck was so new that there was barely any
marine growth.
But now, the ship is covered in red encrusting sponges, coral and algae.
Jake had a great time playing with the wheel on the bridge as if he was driving the ship.
Now the wheel is covered in growth that Elise doesn’t want to touch, and the bridge itself
has been torn off by storms.
Liam isn’t afraid of the marine growth.
We follow Jasmin and she points out the water cannon which was used for fighting fires on
other boats.
It has some stinging hydroids on it so Liam isn’t sure he wants to touch it.
Elise takes a break on the cargo boom, because diving is really tiring, and there’s a great
view!
But Christine found something you don’t normally see on a wreck.
A grouper is actually visiting a cleaning station, behind a ladder.
It takes him a while to get used to my presence, but once he decides I’m not a threat, he
opens his mouth to allow tiny cleaner gobies to clean his teeth.
Ahhhhh!
It’s an unspoken rule of the sea: nobody eats the cleaner fish!
Eventually the cleaning is over and the grouper heads out.
We take a cue from the fish and head back to the surface.
That dive was amazing!
The ship on its side makes everything so much cooler!
Man, the wreck is so much more interesting than it was in 2009.
Not only is the tilt just really spooky and cool, but just the whole atmosphere of the
wreck has gotten much more--I can’t really describe it—like ethereal.
Swimming through it is so much fun, I’m betting the kids had a blast.
In the 8 years since I last dove the Kittiwake, the wreck has changed significantly.
It has tilted on its side, sunk into the sand, lost some of its superstructure and grown
more marine life.
But all of these changes have only made the wreck more interesting to dive.
It’s more colorful, more fun and there is more to see.
Like a fine wine, wrecks usually get better with age, and the Kittiwake is no exception.
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