Scuba Diving in Grenada

Drew's Dive #: 41	Dec 24, 1998
Site: Bianca C	Dive Master: Steve

Time In: 9:30 AM	Air in: 3,000 psi
Total Bottom Time: 35 min	Air out: 500 psi
Maximum Depth: 130 Ft

Nav Notes: not far from Purple Rain, the Bianca C sank South-east of Grand Anse Beach, slightly North-west of Point Salines. Bottom is at 167 ft, deck is at 90 ft.

Dive Comments: Steve locates the wreck using reference points on shore, no GPS. He then informs us where he is going to hook the anchor, directly into the crack in the stern third of the vessel. When we descend the anchor line, the grapple is in the crack. We swim from stern to bow, dropping over the starbord side mid-way, and swimming back up to the deck, through the anchor chain lockers. After passing the bow, Whibble Reef is just to the South, gently rising from the bottom at 167 ft up to 30 ft. We had decompression stops at 20 and 10 ft.

The ship is encrusted with hybroids; black , soft and hard corals. There are schools of jacks, barracudas,as well as occasional atlantic spade fish, Eagle Ray's are common. Steve has seen reef sharks at the site, and once he surprised a Hammerhead Shark that fled as soon as he arrived on the scene.

One week before our dive, a local Grenadian diving with Dive Grenada was trapped in the super structure after entering and being trapped. The body was recovered two days later from the wreck, the space he was wedged in, was so tight, that the BC and tank could not be extracted.

Steve Kaser's History of the Bianca C: Construction began on the Bianca C in 1939 by Construction Navales, La Ciotat; the yard being situated on the French South Coast between Marseille and Toulon. The incomplete ship was launched as the "Marechal Petain" in June 1944 and then was towed to Port Bouc, where the Germans first sank her, in August, during their retreat from The South of France.

The sunken hull was subsequently renamed "La Marseillaise", raised and towed to Toulon and subsequently back to the yard at La Ciotat in 1946, where she was refitted as a cruise ship for Messageries Maritimes of Marseille. Completed in July 1949, her maiden Voyage was Marseilles to Yokohama and her original capacity was 736 passengers, broken down to 344 1st class, 74 2nd class & 318 3rd class.
In 1957 she was sold to Arosa Line Inc. of Panama, who renamed her "Arosa Sky", and had her refitted to accommodate 202 1st class & 1030 2nd class passengers; the first voyage being Bremerhaven- New York .Within two years the Arosa Line hit financial straits and their flag ship was sold in 1959 to G.COSTA du GENOA, an Italian family firm who were known as the "Linea C" , Where she was renamed the "Bianca C" after a daughter. The Linea C had her refurbished and registered an increase of tonnage from 17,321 GT to 18,427 GT. She then began the Naples- Guaira (Venezuela) run, a voyage including stops in the Caribbean; Grenada being the last such on the return leg.
On October 12th 1961 the Bianca C left Italy on her final voyage, ten days later she caught fire after an explosion in her boiler room; while anchored in the outer harbour of St. Georges. The flames spread rapidly throughout the rear portion of the ship, fortunately 672 of the 673 people on board were saved by the prompt action of the crew and the additional help of numerous small boats launched from St. George's harbour, including several yachts. Unfortunately there was insufficient marine fire fighting equipment available to stem the blaze or rescue the body of the only person lost on board. However, twelve badly burnt crew were taken to the local hospital for treatment, only one whom subsequently died (Rodizza Napale).
The British Frigate "Londonderry" sailed from Puerto Rico upon hearing the news to lend what assistance they could, arriving on the 24th of October they found a still burning ship and succeeded in severing the anchor chain and securing a towing line, in an attempt to beach the shallows on the other side of Point Saline, or to at least remove it from the local shipping lanes. As they were towing it, with considerable difficulty, and watched by a large percentage of the Grenadian population, the tow rope snapped because the rudders had jammed in the extreme heat caused by the fire and shortly thereafter she sank in 167 feet of water where she sits to this day.
Her propellers where salvaged in the early seventies by a Trinidadian firm , the brass being sold on for scrap, otherwise they left her intact sitting upright on a nearly level sand bed. When she sank it appears that there was a major shift to starboard with all the upper decks and the bridge leading to starboard giving divers the feeling that they were diving on a leaning ship. However if you went off the bow or the stern you could see that the hull itself was upright. The upper decks had compacted down on the lower decks pushing down into the hull; with the majority of the reduction being behind the bridge where the decks had sunk down some thirty foot, and have continued sinking to this day. She was still basically intact when Steve Kaser started diving her in May of 1989, the bell and various other souvenirs had only recently been removed and she was festooned with rope (someone's misguided attempt to compensate for the strong tidal currents that sometimes flow over her). At that point Dive Grenada used to anchor where they still do in the vicinity of the swimming pool and take the divers along the back deck to the stern where they could look down from 91 foot to the bottom and see the size of the original ship. At that time it was possible to penetrate the upper decks including the upper bar area which was still basically intact apart from a small amount of molten glass at the entrance to the stairs going downward, underneath the forward swimming pool. Steve comments, "Incidentally the dive guide who first took me to the Bianca C used to anchor on the rear mast, principally because that was the only part of the ship shallow enough for him to anchor on. I was always impressed with his ability to triangulate with such precision that he could place the anchor on something three foot wide and twenty feet long; though I will admit that he would, have anchored go down and do a bounce dive to tie off the anchor."
In the early days of diving this ship we used to anchor midships and swim people back along the top decks to the stern where they could look down to the bottom; over the railings -you could also look at the rear wheel which was just under an over hanging deck. This was at 95' or so, making for easy and comfortable dive of 15 minutes with a slow ascent to the boat waiting on the surface. Anchoring was easy then because the deck at the stern had a series of poles crossing it about afoot above its surface and spaced some five foot apart , giving you forty or so square feet to attempt to anchor in. The most interesting scene I've ever witnessed happened over the stern. One day we saw a manta ray swim past, as soon as it saw divers it flew away, straight towards a shark which was hovering in the vicinity. I don't know what the ray was doing or thinking but it rammed straight into the shark; whereupon they both shook and took off rapidly in opposite directions.
Subsequently over the Christmas period of 1992, the rear third of the ship was torn off and fell to starboard seriously increasing her rate of deterioration; of the two top deck swimming pools, one is on the other side of the crack and unrecognizable as it has been twisted out of shape, the other is now being covered by the sides that are collapsing fast. The pool that has collapsed contains a very large rubber buoy who's use I have never determined. I had also heard legends that the Bianca C used to much shallower and in the old days people used to be able to skin dive on her; this was always supported by the fact that the Bianca C had "Fallen down" the near by reef (Whibble Reef) which is only 50-60 foot deep, however I always discredited this as a 18 thousand ton ship is unlikely to move a great deal.
In the last five years the interior of the ship has sunk some 20-30 feet in places and judging by the photographic evidence it is very likely that the smoke stack at the least was very close to the surface when it first sank; making it an ideal spot for skin diving, as you would have been able to make out some of the infrastructure from the surface. Nowadays you can't make anything out until you are at least 30-40 ft below the surface, except for the remaining mast which appears as a large white patch from fairly close to the surface, however this is now starting to lean to starboard as well, so I don't expect it to last much longer.
It is now much harder to hook the Bianca C , but we still manage on the first attempt (OK, sometimes it takes two....) Anchoring at slack tide can be interesting as the anchor usually rests on the structure making it more difficult to hook. We still descend the anchor line and then release the anchor once everyone's down, rather than ascend the anchor line on the way back up. This makes for a longer and more interesting dive, you see more of the wreck and have an easier ascent. If the customers have been diving with us before and are experienced we will occasionally do a free descent on the wreck, though you always get the feeling that you've missed the wreck until you actually spot it ...or the bottom so you can change direction.

After diving the Bianca C on Christmas Eve, I proposed to Casey while the sun set.

Drew's Dive #: 40	Dec 22, 1998
Site: Molinere Bay	Dive Master: Steve
Time In: 2:45 PM
Total Bottom Time: 46 min	Air in: 2,900 psi
Maximum Depth: 58 Ft	Air out: 1,500 psi

Nav Notes: On the West Coast, the reef is close to shore running parallel with the beach and rocks.

Dive Comments: Easy dive. Conditions were slightly rough, with a big surge and poor visibility.
(West of Molinere Reef in the same bay is the wreck of the Buccaneer which is a 42 ft, two masted schooner hull at 80 ft. We didn't dive it this trip.)

Drew's Dive #: 41	Dec 23, 1998
Site: Purple Rain	Dive Master: Steve
Time In: 10:30 AM
Total Bottom Time: 55	Min Air in: 3,000 psi
Maximum Depth: 63 Ft	Air out: 1,000 psi

Nav Notes: Purple Rain is a "new site" discovered in 1992 by the guys from Dive Grenada. Location is South-east of Quarantine Point, North-west of Point Salines. Approx 1 mile offshore.

Dive Comments: Large concentrations of purple coral and purple (creole) wrasses. (Hense the name.) Blue tangs, spotted moray eels and two green sting rays! Spiny lobsters (langustines). Barracuda, squirrel fish, pair of french angelfish, schools of queen trigger fish.
Schools of Creole Wrasse surround you like "Purple Rain".

Drew's Dive #: 43		Dec 26, 1998
Site: Happy Valley		Dive Master: Steve

Time In: 11 AM
Total Bottom Time: 56 Min		Air in: 2,900 psi
Maximum Depth: 68 ft		Air out: 500 psi

Nav Notes: One cove North of Dragon Bay, on the West Coast.
Dive Comments: Hairy spider crab, spotted moray. Encrusted Admiralty Anchor. Happy Valley is a coral wall that sits at 20 ft, and descends to 90 ft. We drifted from North to South and ended up in Dragon Bay.

Drew's Dive #: 44		Dec 27, 1998
Site: Shark Reef		Dive Master: Steve

Time In: 10:15 AM		Water Temp: 84º F
Total Bottom Time: 41 Min		Air in: 2,900
Maximum Depth: 61 Ft		Air out: 1,000

Nav Notes: ¼ mile South of Glover Island. Strong current, East to West.		Dive Comments: Site is known for small nurse sharks, normally resting on the bottom or in coral clumps. Green Ray.
	Green Sting Ray - Notice Steve's arms in the top of the photo. Steve waves his arms while swimming after rays, claiming, "It has a calming effect on them."

Drew's Dive #: 45		Dec 27, 1998
Site: Purple Rain		Dive Master: Steve

Time In: 12:28 PM
Total Bottom Time: 52 Min		Air in: 2,900 psi
Maximum Depth: 75 Ft		Air out: 500 psi
Dive Comments: Since this was the second dive of the morning, we intended to stay shallow, but ended up following a green sting ray to 75 ft. Steve waved his arms all the way.

Drew's Dive #: 46		Dec 28, 1998
Site: The Sisters - Isle de Ronde		Master: Neil & Gary

Time In: 11:13 AM		Water Temp: 84º F
Total Bottom Time: 47 Min		Air in: 2,900 psi
Maximum Depth: 72 Ft		Air out: 500 psi

Nav Notes: Isle de Ronde is a set of uninhabited islands, North-East of Grenada, close to Carriacou.
	Dive Comments: Beautiful coral formations. Big jewfish. Stiff current makes for a very "technical" dive. Caves, coral walls and large rocks make for a dive with great "texture". Parrot Fish

Drew's Dive #: 47		Dec 28, 1998
Site: Diamond Rock - Isle de Ronde (Kick 'em Jenny)		Master: Neil & Gary

Time In: 1:31 PM
Total Bottom Time: 49 min		Air in: 2,800 psi
Maximum Depth: 72 Ft		Air out: 1,000 psi

Nav Notes: Northern-most rock of the Isle de Ronde group.
Dive Comments: Known as the best dive in Grenada. Beautiful coral fields of plate (sheet), brain, white and branch corals. Spotted Eagle Ray. Huge green moray. Sargent majors, porcupine fish. Sand dollars littering the sand.
Diamond Rock is also known as "Kick 'em Jenny". The origin of this name is a mystery, but the common story is that it is an adaptation of the French, "cay qu'on gêne" translated as "The island that bothers", or "The island that spits rocks." Fishermen claim that when fishing the area, they will frequently have rocks fall on the deck, the result of volcanic activity.