{"id":3329,"date":"2017-03-23T21:41:33","date_gmt":"2017-03-24T02:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/?p=3329"},"modified":"2017-03-23T21:41:33","modified_gmt":"2017-03-24T02:41:33","slug":"return-to-the-kittiwake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/?p=3329","title":{"rendered":"Return to the Kittiwake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three years ago, I did my first dive on the USS Kittiwake. \u00a0That blog post from 2014 can be found here. \u00a0(https:\/\/micho.org\/cayblog\/?p=2678<\/a>) A quick recall – the Kittiwake is a former US Warship that was decommissioned in the 1990’s and purchased by the Cayman Islands in order to make an artificial reef for diving.<\/p>\n

So after 3-years and I am now equipped with a GoPro underwater camera, the level of photography will be much enhanced!<\/p>\n

Since my last dive at the Kittiwake, there have been a few changes. \u00a0Changes that have been caused by the weather. \u00a0The first change is that the boat shifted closer to the reef formations. \u00a0Still a good distance away, a storm a year ago or so moved the boat a number of feet westward. The other change is that the “wheelhouse” aka where they steer the boat, is no longer present. A storm this winter which had some big currents ripped the roof of the wheelhouse apart. \u00a0Oh well – nature slowly taking back its place I guess.<\/p>\n

From the surface, the Kittiwake does not look like much – but we can already see that its a big ship. \u00a0It sits in only 50ft or so of water.<\/p>\n

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Almost immediately, we can see the large school of Horse-Eye Jacks. \u00a0These fish “adopted” the Kittiwake almost as soon as the ship was sunk in 2011. \u00a0They are a very large group now.<\/p>\n

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In this video you can get a good feel for how graceful these fish are and how many there are swimming around.
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