Today we went on 2 wreck dives! The first dive was the wreck of the Kittiwake, an old submarine rescue vessel. It was in service from 1945-1994, and during that time it rescued a grand total of zero submarines. It did however manage to sink one, even if it was a friendly vessel at the dock in an accident caused by faulty repairs. During the dive briefing, Divemaster Lee told us that it was OK to touch the vessel, but warned us about sharp metal edges and painful fire coral. After that, I decided it was maybe best to avoid touching it after all. Going through the actual wreck gave me a bit of vertigo because the entire ship is listed about about 45 degrees to the right. It was originally sunken upright, but a series of storms moved both its angle and location. Swimming though it and standing on the top deck gave me the sense that something was off, and if I tried to angle myself to align with the ship it felt strange too. The ship was one of the few dives I’ve been on where there was very little life inside. As I mentioned earlier, there was some fire coral and other small plants, but other than that, there was very little inside the ship but rusted metal and plaques. Lee mentioned that it used to have more life, but most of it was destroyed in the storms. As I swam through the hull of the ship, I was able to identify certain rooms like the engine room and mess hall, but some of the passages and corridors were kind of claustrophobic. I was relieved to get out to the top deck and take a photo on the steering wheel (which incidentally is not the original, as someone managed to steal it years ago.). Most of the marine life I saw on this dive was actually away from the wreck. One fish I saw was a hogfish mucking around in the sand a few yards from the wreck. Hogfish can be identified by a brown color, a “snout,” and several long dorsal spines followed by short ones. I watched it as it slowly dug a hole in the sandy bottom looking for food. Once it was done digging, I realized that I had seen those types of holes all over my past dives. It just suddenly clicked for me that those kinds of holes were created by hogfish. Not 10 feet away, I saw 2 long, narrow, pale white fish slip in and out of a “nest” made of dead coral and branches. The dead coral was covering the sandy bottom, and the fish slipped in and out of them like a hut. The structure of it almost reminded me of thatch roofing. Back on the boat, I asked Lee about them and he told me that those fish actually build those “nests” with nothing but their mouths! He couldn’t remember the name, and in my research I couldn’t find anything more on them. I’ll check the dive shop tomorrow and maybe edit this blog with the name and more information.
The second dive of today was the wreck of the Doc Poulson. Unlike the Kittiwake, the Poulson was sunk earlier and was not as affected by storms. As a result, the wreck has turned into an artificial reef, teeming with life. The wreck was filled with color from tube sponges of the yellow, brown, and orange varieties. Large sea fans filled the deck and cabin. The chains and pulleys of the boat were covered in multi covered coral. As for fish, my partner and I saw a Great Barracuda in the lower deck of the ship before it swam away from the boat. There was a massive school of dozens of yellowtail snapper swimming around the wreck. I spotted a Gray Angelfish by its distinctive body shape and yellow flecks, as well as several Stoplight and Rainbow Parrotfish in their initial and terminal phases with their bright colors. Tomorrow is our last set of dives, and I will certainly make the most of them!
