One Year On: The success story of the sinking of the Kittiwake

In January, 2011 the former USS Kittiwake was sunk off the coast of the Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman Island to create a new diving attraction for divers and snorkelers. Since then, it has become one of the most leading attractions for tourists enjoying scuba diving holidays in the Cayman Islands.

Image by : astro.nerd.2013, on Flickr

The 252-foot, 2,200-ton ship was sunk to encourage more travellers to take scuba diving holidays in the region, as well as creating an artificial reef that would attract more marine species.

It took seven years to organise but the efforts of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association, the government and project leader Nancy Easterbrook finally paid off when the vessel was submerged on Wednesday 5th January, 2011.

The sinking of the Kittiwake was recorded by Cayman Free Press reporter, Brian Wright, who stood on a special platform on a Red Sail Sports boat and by February, 2011 his video had attracted more than 56,000 hits on You Tube.

Image by : DWestland, on Flickr

Nancy Easterbrook was awarded by the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism at the Stingray Awards ceremony at the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort, where she received the Special Contribution Award.

"It was an honour," she explained. "There were so many people involved in the Kittiwake project from the public and private sector and it was definitely a huge team effort. [I was project manager for] one of the very significant and successful public/private sector ventures, where both sides worked together in support of legal financing, concept and so on to bring it to pass.

Image by : mbasile, on Flickr

"We are very happy it has turned out to be the success it has been. The PR coverage was worth multi-millions of dollars and tremendous exposure for the Cayman Islands not just in diving circles but CNN, NBC and around the world. Wrecks are really popular – not to take it away from our natural beauty but every industry needs to reinvigorate."

One year on, the wreck has become one of the most popular sites for scuba diving in the Caribbean and tourism officials are hoping that it will continue to attract tourists, professionals and wreck diving enthusiasts from all over the world for many years to come.