Cayman - Picture of the Day

[tkaelin]

oro verde. back in the late 70s early 80s. Could go through bridge and holds. Sister ship to the USS Pueblo if I remember correctly.

 

[scubadada]

oro verde. back in the late 70s early 80s. Could go through bridge and holds. Sister ship to the USS Pueblo if I remember correctly.

Very hard to imagine today

 

[mi000ke]

and it looked like one funky bad vis dive

Did it last Friday and this morning. Vis outside was about 70 feet today, and inside it's pretty well lit as there are lots of openings along the hull. I took essentially the same photo last week and it looks the same, and the vis last week was about 60'.

 

[mi000ke]

oro verde. back in the late 70s early 80s. Could go through bridge and holds. Sister ship to the USS Pueblo if I remember correctly.

Kittiwake recovered the black box from the Challenger disaster. Re the Oro Verde (from scubalife.com):

"The Oro Verde, which means “green gold,” was originally a U.S. Army transport ship. After conversion to an environmental research vessel, the ship was next reborn as a banana boat. It spent 10 years hauling bananas between Ecuador and Miami. The boat acquired its current name during its banana-hauling days. Rumors flew that the ship’s cargo included substantial quantities of marijuana in addition to bananas. The Oro Verde eventually ran aground in 1976 on the reef surrounding Grand Cayman, allegedly due to mutiny by the crew, who wanted part of the illicit profits. The ship sat on the reef until 1980, when the local dive community adopted the wreck. It was moved into shallower water and purpose-sunk, now functioning as an artificial reef in 60 feet (18 m) off Seven Mile Beach."

today it's mostly a pile of rubble, but there was a ton of marine life there this morning.

 

[mi000ke]

smiling faces, smiling faces.....
This may be the most zen fish I've seen.
(at oro verde this morning)

 

[tkaelin]

Sorry for the digression. This story is somewhat similar to the ones I have heard and read over the years about the Oro Verde. Oro Verde's untold story | IEyeNews

 

[tkaelin]

Kittiwake and Tibbets will look like the OV today in some time

 

[tkaelin]

Dug out my 2nd log book, 1982. Dive on the OV. OV was fully intact and lying on its side, much like the KW. There were two big openings in the sides. Dive in the holds through the two openings and then up to the bridge and down multiple stairwells into the ship. I drew a sketch but not being artistic and 21 well not too impressive but you can get a sense of it.

 

[KathyV]

Tibbets?

I also remember when the Oro Verde was intact but now it is an interesting pile of rubble. We dived it on our recent trip to GC and I hadn't seen it in years - and it was amazing how much it had disintegrated and been torn apart - but there was a lot of coral growth and fishlife on the wreck, it was a great dive!

 

[cgills]

Dug out my 2nd log book, 1982. Dive on the OV. OV was fully intact and lying on its side, much like the KW. There were two big openings in the sides. Dive in the holds through the two openings and then up to the bridge and down multiple stairwells into the ship. I drew a sketch but not being artistic and 21 well not too impressive but you can get a sense of it. View attachment 504542

I had to smile at the last line of your log entry..I remember all too well those early days of diving here on island, and feeding sea urchins to the Queen Trigger fish !!
Do you remember Sweet Lips ? Have no idea how much Cheeze Whiz that fish consumed, the horror of the thought now years later.