Dive BVI Dive
Site
The Wreck of the Chikuzen
75ft Depth Advanced
One of the best dives
in the BVI, due to its remote location, this site should only be attempted with
our experienced dive instructors and with good weather conditions.
A
246 ft refrigeration vessel originally built in Shimizu, Japan, she was part of
the fishing fleet in St Maarten. The propeller of the Chikuzen had been damaged
in a storm 2 years prior and so she was moored at the fishing fleet dock,
apparently causing quite a bit of damage to the dock.
The owners were afraid that
she might cause further damage or break free and drift up onto the beach (a
vessel of this size would be very expensive to re-float). She was intentionally
set ablaze off the docks in St Maarten, but this stubborn vessel refused to
sink, eventually reaching the BVI, threatening to beach itself on the small
island of Marina Cay. She was taken under tow and eventually sank without
threatening any further coastlines !
Situated 12 miles NW of
Virgin Gorda surrounded by miles of sand, this is the only place for marine life
to congregate. Regular visitors include schooling barracuda, horse-eye jacks and
snapper; stingrays; eagle rays; African pompano; Atlantic spadefish; nurse
sharks and black tip reef sharks along with a resident 600lb Goliath Grouper.
This is a challenging site
due to regular swells in the 3-5ft range - please check with the dive shop
regarding current conditions.
Finally, due to the unstable
refrigerating piping inside the vessel, please do not penetrate the vessel.
The above photos of the
Chikuzen were taken by George Marler, in 1981. The photos were taken the day after the Chikuzen
sunk in BVI waters and are displayed here by kind permission of George Marler who recently spent
some time back in the BVI with his wife Luana. Also, many thanks to George for
the background information on the Chikuzen.
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to continue the tour...
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