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The Bird family explores a shipwreck in Portugal with a massive school of barracuda!
Welcome to Jonathan Bird’s Blue World!
When people thing of the word Corvette, they usually imagine of one of these: a Chevrolet
Corvette sports car.
But the word Corvette actually goes back a lot further than the sports car!
The word Corvette actually goes back to the 1600’s and refers to small, fast sailing
ships armed with guns to be highly maneuverable warships.
In the modern era, dozens of countries operate Corvette-class ships with the same general
principal: small, fast, maneuverable warships for situations where speed and stealth are
more important than overall firepower.
But Corvette ships do have one thing in common with sports cars.
They both have engines!
This is the piston from a Chevy Corvette.
Wait until you see the size of the piston in a ship!
The adventure begins on the beautiful island of Madeira.
Although Madeira is part of Portugal, it is located less than 400 miles off the coast
of Africa in the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Christine, Elise, Liam and I are taking a ferry ride north to Porto Santo, the northernmost
island of the archipelago of Madeira.
It’s a warm, dry island, famous for one of the best beaches in Europe.
And, surrounded by crystal clear tropical water.
In 2016, a João Coutinho class Corvette of the Portuguese Navy was sunk here as an artificial
reef.
Our day begins at Rhea Dive, located right in the harbor.
We prep our gear at the shop.
Next, Miguel Matos gives us a dive briefing, where he explains the high points of the dive.
So about the wreck.
It was a Navy ship built in the ‘60s.
We are going to do to dives this morning as well.
The first one will be this…
Then it’s off to the boat.
We would never have found Porto Santo if it weren’t for our trip leader, Arlindo Serrao
from Portugal Dive.
He specializes in organizing dive trips throughout Portugal.
Soon we board the boat and head out for an adventure!
The dive site is only five minutes outside the harbor, so it’s a short ride.
Um mm Love that feeling!
One, two, three go!
Liam and I hit the water first, then Christine and Elise follow.
We can see the wreck clearly from the surface.
The water is crystal clear.
As we sink down to the wreck, which is 85 meters long, I realize that I can see all
the way to the bow and the stern from the middle of the ship.
This is seriously good visibility!
We head to the bow first.
It’s covered in thousands of small silvery fish, and patrolled by a friendly grouper
who comes right over to investigate us.
Several jacks are chasing the fish around, so the wreck offers them protection.
Christine and the kids decide to explore the forward hold.
They emerge into a magical world of marine life unafraid of their presence.
Liam and I head a little deeper into the ship, searching for the engine room.
We swim through room after room, not exactly sure where we are or what we are seeing.
However, in every room, we can see a way out.
This ship was specially prepared for divers before it was sunk.
Holes were cut through the hull at regular intervals.
So there is always a nearby exit.
Eventually, we find the bridge with the ship’s helm and the telephones for speaking to the
engine room and other parts of the ship.
Liam is trying to find out how to get to the engine room, but he’s a Bird, he doesn’t
speak fish.
We exit through the sunroof.
Every Corvette has a sunroof!
We hook back up with Elise and Christine, to head toward the stern.
Wreck dives are always fun, but with this many fish, it feels more like a reef dive.
This is exactly what artificial reefs are supposed to do: provide habitat for fish!
Speaking of fish, as we approach the stern, we swim into a massive school of barracuda,
swirling around the wreck.
I can’t begin to guess how many fish are in this school.
It’s a swirling vortex of thousands.
And it makes me wonder…what do they all eat?
We continue along the deck towards the stern.
We come across the artillery gun, frozen in time and aimed at the surface.
Liam decides to test out the gunner’s position and takes a seat behind the sight.
Elise hops in on the other side.
We head back inside to find that engine room.
I really want to see the huge piston.
Swimming below the smoke stack, we know we are getting close.
Wandering around, we find a sink.
No engine room here!
We find what looks like the mess hall.
I head on over for some chow.
But all they have is fish.
Then I notice a hatch in the floor.
And it leads straight down to the engine room.
There are two 12-cylinder engine blocks down here, and a huge piston--laid out on display.
Liam comes over for the size comparison.
That is one big piston!
Our tanks are getting low and it’s time to start making our way back to the surface.
On the way up, we investigate the mast, overgrown with marine life.
I can’t resist swimming up the ladder and passing through the opening to the platform.
But then we must reluctantly head back up the mooring line.
Elise and Liam pass a little time during their safety stop with a casual game of rock/paper/scissors.
We watch our dive computers, and once we have completed the stop, we can head back to the
boat.
All I can say is wow!
There are so many fish.
I just love that wreck!
That wreck is so beautiful!
You’re sitting there and you see like a thousand barracuda and it’s just like…I
feel so small in comparison, you know?
Porto Santo Madeira has turned out to be a fantastic surprise.
The Corvette wreck, with its amazing visibility, tons of marine life and safe access has turned
out to be one of my favorite wreck dives of all time.
But this is only one of many terrific dives around Porto Santo.
I can’t wait to see what else we discover here in this part of
the Blue World.
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