Page 24 - Dive Guide

Mv CAPTAIN
Mv CAPTAIN kEITh TIBBETTs CAYMAN BRAC
inSider dive tiP:
“MV Captain Keith Tibbetts is
a wreck that can be done as
a shore dive. Remember your
surface marker buoy and dive bow to
stern (deep - shallow).”
– Martines Van Der Touw, Brac Scuba Shack
24
kEITh TIBBETTs
CAYMAN BRAC
Dive the only Russian warship in the Western
Hemisphere that is within recreational diving limits.
The ship served as a missile frigate in the Russian
navy for years before being intentionally sunk off
the north coast of Cayman Brac in 1996. Today it is a
divers’ paradise.
ThE hIsToRY of ThE
Mv CAPTAIN kEITh TIBBETTs
This Koni 11 class frigate, designated Russian
Frigate #356, was built in 1984 in the former
USSR, and became part of the old Soviet fleet
stationed in Cuba during the Cold War. In 1992,
the Soviet Republic ceased all financial support
of the Cuban naval base, and repatriated the
crew of 11 officers and 99 enlisted men. The
abandoned ship was purchased in 1996 by the
Cayman Islands Department of Environment. The
warship was moored at the Creek Dock, where
it was renamed the MV Captain Keith Tibbetts
after a local politician, businessman and sea
captain. The vessel was sunk at its predetermined
site along the Garden Eel wall, about 300 yards
off the Buccaneer Slip. Jean-Michael Cousteau,
renowned marine biologist and diver, was aboard
the ship as it sank to its final resting place.
sITTING IN sAND AT 11o fEET
AND juTTING ouT ovER ThE DRoP-off
This is a shallow wreck dive with no current and usual
visibility of over 100 feet, making for easy diving and
startling photography opportunities. The ship broke
in two after a storm in 2004, and now lists at a 45
degree angle. Divers can explore her vast corridors
and salons, and circle the 5’ cannons, gun turrets
and radar towers. You will marvel at this massive ship
equipped for war, resting in the sparkling blue water
on a plateau of white sand.