Tec divers locate and dive on a shipwreck that has been missing for over one year.

Koh Tao, Thailand - In April of 2009 a wooden overnight ferry that would transport passengers and goods from Koh Tao Island to Chumphon City sank in rough waves and strong wind. The boat sank slowly allowing all the occupants to be rescued.

In May of 2009 a group of individuals contacted big blue tech to conduct a search for the wreck in an attempt to identify it as a potential artificial reef which was completed after warm-up training. However, due to technological limitations the wreck wasn’t found at the position reported.

In Christmas of 2009 it was reported that fishermen were catching their drag nets on something big under the water. The position was logged with their GPS as an area to avoid in the future and this information was passed down to the technical divers who have been looking for information in that area.

Today staff from Big Blue Tech set out on the sea early in the morning armed with GPS and a type of sonar that shows the topography of the sea bed to find the lost nightboat. The staff members included Helen Artal. Duncan Tyler, Thomas Hallstrom, Yvonne Fries and James Thornton-Allan worked as a team relaying information from the sonar to the GPS to the captain as we got closer.

Unfortunately the information we received was not accurate again and the GPS mark was showing nothing. After 30 minutes of searching the sonar bleeped showing the depth which was a constant 40m raise up to 27m about 1 kilometer away from all reports of the sinking. This was clearly what we were looking for, after a few more sweeps the shot line was thrown in and James set off to make the confirmation.

As James descended the divers waited on the surface waiting for the signal that there was a wreck below and that the rest of the team should descend. The signal would be a bright orange air bag  that would float on the surface after filled with a small amount of air from below. After what seemed like an eternity the bag broke the surface along with cheers and applause.

The wreck is sitting perfectly upright in the silt, the stern is completely covered in fishing nets which appears to have ripped of the top roof exposing one floor. The length and width hasn’t been measured yet but it’s estimated at 30m long in length with plenty of room for penetration.

Without knowing the actual name of this boat we have named this large blue nightboat simply the “Big Blue Wreck”. More information needs to be gathered and a survey to be conducted before the wreck will be opened up to Big Blue Tech customers.

Local divers will welcome the news that three old ships are scheduled to be sunk off Racha Yai Island to create a new artificial reef. The project, organized by the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMRC) regional office in Phuket and a host of other local government agencies, is scheduled to start next month.The initiative enjoys private sector support from local dive shop operators.

So far their combined efforts have raised 400,000 of the 600,000 baht needed for the operation. It is hoped the project will alleviate stress on natural coral reefs in the area. Approximately 15 tour operators ferry over 200 divers daily to sites off Koh Racha Yai during the high season according to the DMRC.

Two iron-hulled ships, 18 and 28 meters long, were donated for the project. The larger of the two was donated by the Thai Hotels Association. The third ship, made of wood, was donated by the Phuket Provincial Fisheries Association.The project also enjoys financial support from The Racha hotel.

Paitoon Panchaiyapum, director of the DMRC office in Phuket, told the Gazette that the project has been four years in the making. Unfortunately, unless an additional 200,000 baht can be raised soon it is unlikely all three vessels will be sunk by November, he said. Mr Paitoon said he expects more than 5000 divers a year to visit the new artificial reefs, generating an estimated 10 million baht annually for the Phuket dive industry.

This latest project is the fourth artificial reef put in place around Koh Racha Yai by the DMCR. The office is also awaiting 22 million baht in government funding to greatly expand an existing artificial reef in the area, from an existing 300 concrete modules to 3000.

The Reef Dive Resort at Pulau Mataking, Sabah is a hide-away island of just some 20 acres divided between 2 islands, Mataking Kecil and Mataking Besar.

The resort prides itself in both a professional image and in developing eco-tourism and a go-green culture.
Our surrounding seas and wildlife are very precious to the island, which is why conservation is taken so seriously. Developing such projects as the reef ball initiative and turtle hatchery schemes stand this resort out amongst many others in the Sabah area.

In 19th Mac 2006, the successful sinking of The Shipwreck Pos created the islands first artificial reef and in just 3 years great development was seen at this site. This vessel was actually brought to fame when she was sunk as the first underwater post box in Malaysia, and she has attracted many different species of both coral and aquatic life creating a new environment for this wildlife to flourish.

Now, some 3 years later, the Pos has begun to deteriorate, with her wooden frame beginning to collapse due to the salt water integration of her delicate structure.

In an effort to further enhance the underwater environment around the island, on Saturday 26th September, the Reef Dive Resort created its 2nd artificial reef, in the shape of the MV Sipadan Mermaid, a 52ft steel hulled vessel.

Amongst the international guests were representatives from WWF(non government organization) and local government authorities who were all taken back by the event and efforts put in by the resort.

The dive team started to flood the ship at 11.15am and after 55 minutes, the MV Sipadan Mermaid finally gave in and began to sink very quickly at the assigned position.
Originally starting her life as a Norwegian fishing boat, the Mermaid was responsible for many successful trips at sea, including along the coasts of Malaysia.
As the Mermaid became older and it has become less cost-effective to maintain her, great thought was put into what should be done with her.

Managing Director of the resort, Mr. David Sie who kindly donated the Mermaid, officially opened the sinking ceremony as the vessel began her final voyage to the bottom of the sea. Mr. Sie said, “The sinking of this new wreck will help us build up the fragile ecosystem at the island whilst easing the pressure off the Sipadan. We hope to see new life on this reef within a matter of months as it creates a new home for many different types of marine animal”.

Resort Manager at the resort Mr. Luke J Cox was responsible for coordinating the event who said, “The sinking of this wreck marks the end of the Mermaid’s life as a boat and the start of her life as a living reef. Within the next 2 months, the marine biology team on the island will begin a full coral transplant programme onto the wreck site which will be a haven for aquatic life and divers alike. The Mermaid in her new position, sitting in approximately 20-25 metres of water, will literally be putting something back into the environment, as she releases new life into the seas around her.

The resort has worked tirelessly with Project Aware, a charity-based project affiliated to PADI (The Professional Association of Diving Instructors) who have actively supported this project from the beginning.

The management also expresses special thanks to all companies, sponsors and staff who have contributed in one way or the other to the event. Project Aware continue to support the resort and all others worldwide in an effort to increase awareness surrounding the fragility of reefs and underwater eco-systems.

The special event ended with a lavish dinner, games and cultural performances from staff as a celebration for the success sinking of the MV Sipadan Mermaid.

The 138 metre guided-missile frigate acquired by Victoria in 2006 will now become a much sought-after dive site 30 metres below the surface.

About 16 charges located in the ship’s hull were detonated about 2pm (AEST) on Sunday, creating a soft popping noise and a puff of grey smoke. Water flowed through pre-made holes in the ship and it sank in about two minutes.

Commercial clearance divers were expected to survey the wreck once it had settled later on Sunday to ensure all the charges had detonated.

Moorings will then be installed by Parks Victoria before the government opens the site for divers, in about a month’s time.

Built in 1978 and launched two years later, the frigate served Australia for 24 years before it was decommissioned in 2005.

It served in the Middle East following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1992 and helped evacuate Australians from Jakarta in 1998 during the student riots that deposed Indonesian president Suharto.

Phuket’s ‘Coral Reef Squadron’ sunk off Bang Tao Bay last November is 90 percent missing or destroyed, the Thai Dive Association admitted today.

Rainer Gottwald, head of the Thai Dive Association (TDA) technical committee, said TDA divers visited the site on Wednesday and were only able to find one of the 10 aircraft that formed the artificial reef.

Storms and heavy monsoon season currents were to blame, Mr Gottwald said.

Failure to follow instructions by some members of the team who chained the aircraft to large concrete blocks, and subsequent damage by trawlers,may also have played a role, he said.

The destruction of the site was ‘very upsetting’, given all the work and expense put into the project by the TDA and the numerous other agencies and organizations involved, he said.

The project was initiated by the Bangkok-based For Sea Foundation and funded to the tune of 4 million baht by the Cherng Talay Tambon Administration Organization, which hoped the reef would boost tourism in the area.

The project also received a great deal of private-sector sponsorship.

Mr Gottwald said the TDA would have to learn from its mistakes and would probably use train wagons instead of aircraft in future projects.

The ‘Coral Reef Squadron’ consisted of four Douglas C-47 Dakota Skytrain military transport aircraft and six Sikorsky S-58T helicopters.

The TDA divers were only able to find one Dakota during the dive on Wednesday, which followed a series of heavy storms, he said.

TDA divers will survey the area to try and learn more about the fate of the aircraft when sea conditions improve, he said.

Mr Gottwald said he did not think currents would carry the aircraft to the shore, because if that were going to happen it probably would have done so already.

The missing aircraft were probably buried beneath the sand, he said.

HMAS Adelaide, the ship that came to the rescue of stranded yachtsmen and terrified asylum seekers, now begins its final chapter underwater.

The decommissioned frigate was on Friday handed over by the commonwealth to the NSW government and will be sunk off Terrigal on the NSW Central Coast later in the year to create an artificial reef and dive wreck.

NSW Premier Nathan Rees said instead of being scrapped or dumped, the ex-HMAS Adelaide would be used by generations of divers.

“Coral will grow on the metal you see before you, fish will swim through the corridors that once rang with the sound of action stations,” Mr Rees said.

“And divers will find a place of contemplation and beauty as nature slowly reclaims her broken frame.”

The federal government will contribute up to $5.8 million to make sure the ship is environmentally-sound by stripping it and removing the fuel tanks.

Defence Minister John Faulkner said the scuttling of the ship would have long-term benefits.

“I think this is a great project, I’m very confident we’ll see HMAS Adelaide become a great national, and I suspect international, attraction for recreational divers ..,” he said.

HMAS Adelaide served the Royal Australian Navy for 27 years, participating in 30 overseas deployments, including the 1991 Gulf War and peace-keeping operations in East Timor in 1999.

The crew of the HMAS Adelaide rescued solo yachtsmen Tony Bullimore and Thierry Dubois, whose yachts both capsized in the Southern Ocean during a round-the-world race in 1997.

In 2001, the crew of HMAS Adelaide intercepted a boat carrying asylum seekers near Christmas Island, rescuing all on board when it sank.

Photographs of the rescue operation became the centre of the children overboard affair.

HMAS Adelaide was decommissioned in January last year at Garden Island in Western Australia.

Sue Dengate, who rallied to get the ship scuttled near Terrigal, said Central Coast dive clubs had been working for 10 years to secure an ex-naval vessel.

Ms Dengate, whose son served on the HMAS Adelaide, said divers would continue to appreciate its history.

“When a diver goes on this wreck when it’s sunk, they will want to know more about its history and that … gets people involved more in the services and the contribution they make.”

Source

A retired Air Force missile-tracking ship intentionally sunk to create an artificial reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary opened Saturday, May 30, to the public.

The 523-foot-long Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg is situated about seven miles south of Key West. The bottom of the ship’s hull rests on sand in depths that average 145 feet. But the ship is so massive that the superstructure begins about 45 feet below the surface.

“I’ve dove a lot of ships,” said Tom Kanczuzewski of South Bend, Ind., after surfacing Saturday. “This is the ship of all ships. I’d love to come back in a year and see all the fishes.”

Saturday morning, a lone barracuda patrolled the superstructure of the ship that once tracked the U.S. space program’s launches off Cape Canaveral, monitored U.S. defense missile test launches and eavesdropped on Russian missile launches during the Cold War.

But project organizers think it’s just a matter of days before additional marine life takes up residence.

The wreck is already fulfilling its promise of attracting visitors to the Florida Keys.

“We have calls coming in from as far as Germany and Norway from people planning to come just to dive this wreck,” said Bob Holston, owner of Dive Key West and president of the Keys Association of Dive Operators. “We have more pre-bookings for the summer now than we’ve had in 38 years of being in business.

“This is probably going to be one of the world’s classiest wrecks to dive,” Holston said. “And it’s just a corner piece of the wreck trek of the Florida Keys.”

Monroe County Commissioner Mario Di Gennaro, who helped find public money to fund the project, says the project will help take recreational dive pressure off natural coral reefs.

“It’s going to protect our reef and put heads in beds and increase our tourism, which is our main industry down here,” he said. “That’s the goal of this whole project, to protect our environment and also to benefit our economy.”

Dive instructor Megan Collins thinks the Vandenberg’s mammoth size should be appealing to scuba divers of different skill sets.

“It’s the possibilities for people of all levels without having to jeopardize their safety,” she said. “There’s so much to look at on the superstructure of the Vandenberg that no matter your temptation, you don’t have to go inside.”

Project initiator Joe Weatherby, who 13 years ago chose the Vandenberg from 400 ships rusting away in “mothball fleets across” the country, was ecstatic after his dive.

“I think it’s exactly what we planned it to be,” said Weatherby, after assisting Di Gennaro who smacked a champagne bottle against a ship stanchion 70 feet below to celebrate the project’s completion. “It’s the world’s best wreck dive.”

A series of controlled explosions has sunk a World War II US troop ship to create an artificial reef off Florida.

The General Hoyt S Vandenberg sank in less than two minutes after experts detonated explosives off Key West.

The ship, 523ft long (160m), settled on the bottom of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Officials hope the reef will attract divers, boosting the economy by $8m (£5m). They also say fish, coral and other marine life will be drawn to it.

“The sinking of the Vandenberg is the best thing to happen in Key West in years,” said Mark Rossi, a local businessman who serves as Key West’s city commissioner.

The ship was last used by the US Air Force to track missiles and spacecraft.

Workers have spent months stripping the vessel of contaminants such as asbestos, wiring, paint and other potentially toxic substances and debris.

The last stop for more than 40 New York City subway cars in 2008 was the Bass Grounds Reef — the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, 10 miles off the coast of Ocean City.

The Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative, the Ocean City Reef Foundation, New York City Transit Authority and the town of Ocean City have partnered to submerge retired subway cars for the creation of an artificial reef that will provide a habitat for marine organisms.

In May, more than 40 cars were submerged at the Jackspot Reef, 20 miles off the Ocean City coast.

“We know it’s going to be a success because it’s been a success on other places on the East Coast,” said Marta Beman, administrator for the Ocean City Reef Foundation.

From 2001 to 2003, 1,269 Redbird subway cars were submerged along the coasts of New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia.

The Ocean City Reef Foundation, a nonprofit organization, constructs artificial reefs from man-made materials.

The foundation places approximately 12 artificial reefs each year, funded by private donations.

“They are a hot commodity with the fishermen,” Beman said, as the growing fish populations offer more opportunity for charter fishing boats.

Prior to placement, doors, windows, light fixtures, bulbs and anything that could float are removed from the cars.

Any part that has grease or oil is either removed or cleaned with the entire process taking about two days.

New York City Transit has been pleased with the outcome, said Michael Zacchea, assistant chief operations officer of asset recovery for the New York City Transit Authority.

It’s a double bonus because it is cheaper for the transit authority to do this and it is positive for the environment, he said.

At 60 feet long, 10 feet wide and 9 feet in height, the cars offer hiding places for fish and surface area for the growth of marine organisms, such as mussels, anemones and corals. These organisms provide food and habitat for a variety of fish and shellfish.

Each car is expected to last for 50 to 60 years.

Monty Hawkins, a board member of the Ocean City Reef Foundation and captain of the Morning Star, a charter fishing boat, has seen a resurgence of fish like sea bass and tautog after the Jackspot Reef was created.

“It’s unbelievable how much better the fishing can be with artificial reefs,” Hawkins said.

The idea for the program originated in 2000 when the transit authority was retiring a significant portion of its fleet — 1,300 at once.

Zacchea spoke with the Army Corps of Engineers, who suggested that they would be useful as artificial reefs.

Initially concerned that the cars contained asbestos, Ocean City did not participate in the 2001 program.

“Once it’s underwater, it (asbestos) doesn’t present any threat to the environment or marine habitat,” Zacchea said.

Each shipment of cars cost $26,000, a little more than $600 per car.

The Ocean City Reef Foundation is now raising money for two more subway reefs at Great Eastern Reef and Isle of Wight.