The ThaiWreckDiver.com Blog

A total of ten decommissioned aircraft consisting of four Douglas C-47 Dakota Skytrain military transport aircraft and six Sikorsky S-58T helicopters of the Royal Thai Airforce aircraft stand by ready to be sunk offshore to create a new coral reef for tourists and marine life at Phuket.

Bad weather preventing the planned sinking of the aircraft which will be kept at Layan Beach until the weather improves around November 2008.

The Coral reef Squadron will create Thailand’s largest Artificial reef once completed. The Large C-47 aircraft will be have been specially prepared for divers, and each will be secured to the seabed by large concrete blocks weighing several tons.

Koh Chang, Thailand  (No pictures yet)

Dear Divers,

We’ve just returned  from two US charters organized by Richie and Carrie Kohler.

Our first crew were from New Jersey - used to diving cold water and strong currents so Thailand was going be  easy for them.

We started with a wreck we knew, the Nanmei No5 Maru and then moved on to a mark we hoped was going to be the Araosan Maru. We found a large freighter sitting upright but she was a bit too new to be a WW2 maru.

Dan Bartone, skipper of Independence II, an Atlantic wreck diving boat, lifted the telegraph made in a Dutch yard in the 1950’s. Evan , Deep Sea Detective cameraman,found the bell marked ‘Akela’ - his first. According to the NJ divers it’s tradition to kiss the captain’s arse if you want to keep a bell - a tradition which MV Trident will try and preserve.

After 4 dives on the Akela ,pictured above, we moved on to one of our favourite wrecks , the Tottori Maru for 4 more dives and one more telegraph,  and then back overnight to Samui.

Two days later we picked up our second charter, a group of divers mostly from the Great Lakes, and Alberto- all the way from Mexico.

After an overnight steam we arrived at our newly found Seacrest wreck, and tied into the moon pool at 50m an easy entry in to the wreck. After only one dive on a ‘nearly virgin ‘ wreck, the group decided to gamble and try a new mark 50nm futher east - a ‘real virgin’, but a good chance of missing a lot of dives if it turned out to be nothing.

This mark was nearer to the Hardhead’s position of Araosan Maru, the farthest we’ve been east and the first time into Cambodian waters.

We arrived at 8pm and after a brief search hit a large target on the sounder. First  thing in the morning we tied onto a huge upright  freighter, wheelhouse amidships, five levels of accommodation, telegraph, helm all in place - but again, post war. We have no ID for this one so we’re going to call her SS Carrie, after Carrie Kohler . Yet another telegraph told us this was an Asian vessel, I think made in Japan, operated by Taiwan or Hong Kong.

After two days here we dropped into see the Tottori Maru again and had some great dives. Richie and Evan made a positive ID of the Tottori by finding the name on the bow.On the last day we were visited by a very friendly whale shark to help break up the deco - a first for the Great Lakes lads.

In total we completed 260 deco dives, all 70m plus, mostly CCR. We steamed 560nmiles, breathed 90,000L of Helium, 120,000L of Oxygen, used 200K of sorb and drank 40 cases of Heineken.

On the last day we picked up two new marks for the Araosan, one of them only a few miles from Hardhead’s mark, next time we’ll get her, I’m sure.

Yours,

Jamie Macleod on the MV Trident     www.techthailand.com

During March 2008, a team of divers from Davy Jones Locker [Koh Tao, Thailand], discovered the wreck of the Imperial Japanese Navy Minelayer Hatsutaka.

The Japanese Minelayer HIJMS Hatsutaka was completed in October 1939. Built by Harima & Co. Hatsutaka gave it’s name to that class of ship. Measuring 90.9 metres in length with a 11.3 metre beam, the Hatsutaka class had a fast, sleek design displacing 1608 tonnes. Engineered with a dual shaft, three boiler power plant, 6000hp was delivered to the propellers giving the minelayer a maximum speed of 20 knots.

HIJMS Hatsutaka was responsible for sinking of the USS Lagarto submarine, and was later subject to revenge attack by another US submarine resulting in her sinking.

Report contributed by Davy Jones Locker  , info@techdivethailand.com

More info at www.thaiwreckdiver.com

Dear Divers.,

Following an intensive search for new wrecks in the Phuket area over the past few weeks, an expedition team from Deep Blue Divers, Joerg Zebisch, Barry Manners und Sven Roesler, located and dived today, the 24.10.06, on an approximately 130 metre long freighter lying at a depth of 90 metres.

The initial impressions gained from the dive suggest that it is probably a cargo freighter equipped with two loading cranes dating from the 1970’s. The condition of the ship is extraordinarily good and there is no evidence of coral or vegetation growth. The freighter lies on its starboard side with the bow pointing in a south-easterly direction.

During today’s dive we had generally very good visibility varying from 30 to 40 metres. Below the thermocline at 50 metres we encountered a very strong southerly current. The water temperature was 19°C. Above the thermocline we had perfect conditions for the decompression with no current and 28°C water temperature.

Information Contributed by:-

Deep Blue Divers http://www.deep-blue-divers.de

Email: info@deep-blue-divers.de

More info at www.thaiwreckdiver.com

We have a couple of great opportunities for rufty - tufty wreck divers in 2008.

These trips were originally full charters but due to cancellations a few places are available if you’re quick! Firstly, in March we have a trip firstly going south to the USS Lagarto then north exploring some new marks, then finishing off with Hammerhead’s wrecks. Leaving from Samui, a whole week’s diving on all our best wrecks, we haven’t done this before.

Secondly, Richie’s Kohler’s charter at the beginning of April has a few places left. Five days of diving, some known marks, hopefully some new ones. If you’d like to dive with one the most infamous wreck divers around, let us know. Both trips won’t be for the faint hearted, bring goody bags and axes.

Yours, Jamie

The latest images of Pattaya shipwreck ‘The Harddeep’ A.K.A ‘The Suddahip’ presented in walk-through 3D for the first time. These images resulting from survey data collected over many dives by wreck diver Alex Beuchel, show for the first time the origonal deck layout, rooms, holds and engine room of this charismatic Pattaya dive site.

How can thousands of recreational divers every year looking in every nook and cranny of a shipwreck as popular as the Hardeep wreck near Pattaya,Thailand miss an artifact as obvious as a China cup. Easy. Put it deep inside the wreck at the end of a tricky penetration dive hidden under 60 years of coral and shell growth.

The above cup, found in one of the forward staterooms of the Hardeep took many weeks of careful searching through the shells, sea urchins and scorpion fish before it ended up in the goody bag of a diver. Some mild acid and some very careful chips at the marine growth, eventualy got it to how it looks now. 

Some medicine bottles and other pharmacy goods were also recovered in the same area. Rumour has it that the cup belonged to the ships doctor…

          (Picture Credit:- Hisashi Noma, ‘Japanese Merchant Ships at War’, publ.2004)

Dear Divers,

We‘ve just returned from an exploratory trip to the east of Samui.

Now we’ve definitely found the Tottori Maru along with the Sakura and Nanmei Marus.

These three were sunk in 1945 by USS Hammerhead, so we’ll be naming this trip the Hammerhead trip.

We can leave from Koh Tao or Samui, it’s an easy over-night steam to the first maru.

They’re all close together in 70m of very clear water.Confirmed dates for the next few months;

April 19- 23^rd – Vlado and Pornsri

May 3 -6^th - HTMS Pangan and Tanker Maru

May 15 – 21 st - Lagarto, Seacrest and Kinrei Maru – John Chatterton’s on this one

August 20^th -25^th , either Vlado / Pornsri , or Seacrest/Lagarto , to be decided.

The weather’s good until November so any other dates, say the word and we’ll put a trip together

Yours, Jamie

MV Trident, Koh Tao     www.techthailand.com