Dear Divers.,
We’ve just returned from a Hammerhead Tour, this time we actually did a good circuit and didn’t just sit on top of the Tottori Maru like lazy buggers. The weather was perfect so no excuses.
We had a look at Sakura Maru first, two dives and then another two on Nanmei Maru which seemed a lot bigger and more interesting than she did last time.
We then moved to the Tottori Maru for three days, fond a few more good areas to explore and a lot of stuff on the sand o be collected later .
While we were above the Tottori a fishing boat came to visit and after a lot of Heinekens we got another 50 wreck marks, some we have already but a lot of new ones.
On the last day we tried some of his marks, one turned out be an old Porta-cabin, probably pushed off a gas rig, but the second was a huge wreck upside down in 74m – top of the hull less than 50m. She’s 115m long, beam of 20m , a moon pool amidshipsn and a drilling derrick.
Oops, the wreck we found last year 100 miles to the south and called the Seacrest, obviously isn’t- she must be a sister ship. The latest one is close to the recorded mark and the moon pool etc adds up. We’ll have to try and find out the identity of the first one.
The ‘real’ Seacrest is s great dive, descend to the moon pool a 50m and then the whole dive inside the wreck, great vis, no current, no silt.
The last mark , reportedly an aero-plane was a blank, never mind.
We’re off for two charters with Kohler and crew very soon , 4 very positive marks to explore, then two trips in May , one to HTMS Pangan, one to the north of the gulf to do some very special exploration, see schedule page on www.techthailand.com for dates.
Nothing in June yet, but open to ideas, The Valiant RIB has arrived, what a beast – everything we thought she’d be!
Yours, Jamie MacLeod on the MV Trident Shipwreck Research Vessel www.techthailand.com
