Diving the Chikuzen

Have been diving in the BVI for over 10 years and have yet to dive this site. We are always on our own and have always wanted to do this. Last July we were down and I made it a point to make sure our path back to Jost from Anegada was a direct pass over the site. It was a clear day and we circled with the sun directly overhead and I was able to actually see the dark shadow that it directly below us. There are no balls in the location to mark it or to moor to for the dive. We contemplated dropping the anchor to the northeast and pay out enough scope to drift back on top of it but I was with a group that was not comfortable in the situation staying on the boat while we dive in open water. Short of going on a group commercial dive which I abhor, I’m a dive master of 25 years so forgive me, I prefer not doing commercial dives.

Have any of you all ever made this dive and what was your method?

Three of us in our group heading down in April really want to explore this opportunity but want to do it on our own.
Obviously weather permitting.

Any thoughts?

I've done 2 dives on the Chikuzen and it is a great dive. In settled conditions there is no current and there has always been an abundance of fish life around the wreck. I haven't been back since Irma, but I haven't heard anything about the site being changed by the hurricane. There is one mooring ball there, but if a commercial dive vessel shows up you will need to relinquish it immediately. This means having someone on board who can operate the boat while the others dive.

Great to hear it’s a good dive. I will say though the mooring ball is gone :-((

I think it is still there, just submerged a bit (that keeps others from using it). If you have GPS coordinates you might be able to find it.

Cool thanks for the info, I’ll look very closely in April. Any other info is greatly appreciated, perhaps someone may have the coordinates for the ball or at least location in relation to the wreck as in north south east or west of the wreck itself....

Thanks!

N 18 deg 37.130' W 64 deg 30.969' (WGS84). I remembe then mooring to be to the east of the wreck, but am not sure if that is correct.

Thanks again. Have those coordinates and will explore to the East when I’m down in April and report back!

The mooring ball was back as of yesterday.
G

Nice!

Submerged or on surface?

That sounds like a dangerous situation. Relinquish the mooring, and what, set an anchor? So there will be two boats maneuvering around under power, with divers in the water? I think I'd want to stay away from that.

Dan

Unfortunately the mooring sometimes disappears. Once reported it is replaced as soon as possible. The Chikuzen was hit hard by Irma, the bow section and the holds are now just twisted metal, the stern section survived because of the engines. It still attracts a lot of marine life. Also note that the section of the wreck that survived it about a four minute swim from the mooring. Always use the mooring, at the bottom follow the rope, which takes you too the anchor line, which takes you too the wreck. Remember to play it safe as you are a long way from land and do note it can have a strong current occasional.

Great info! This is what I was looking for. Any details are always important details when it comes to diving!

🙏

No dive boat expects you to vacate the ball if you have divers in the water. The ball is often white anyway which is for any boat that is diving to use. To vacate the ball with divers in the water would be very unsafe. If you ever have a dive company demand you do so politely refuse and ask the skippers name. Call the dive company ASAP if that ever happens.
G

We are land based, but my husband has gone out with DiveBVI there. I know they will pick up divers at their boats. He’s already booked 2 half day trips with them in early March, weather permitting of course. He has had a few trips canceled over the years (20+ years at this point) due to swells.

A couple of years ago this dive almost killed me. Dropped our anchor to the bottom. No problem . Scuba divers went off and went down. So it was me a 2 small children on board. Decided to snorkel the spot, so off I go. Did not realize there was like a 4 knot current. Could not see much while snorkeling so decided to go back to the boat. Really hard swimming against 4 knot current. Got to about 50 ft from the dinghy and one of my flippers blew off. So now I am going around in circles with one flipper. Finally got to the dinghy. So tired, I pulled myself to the bow of the dinghy and now had to swim another 15 ft to the yacht. Really tired. Got onto my yacht. A few minutes later the scuba divers signal to pick them up , so untied the dinghy and picked them (4) with the bow line of the dinghy and put the dinghy in reverse. The poor engine could hardly pull the 4 divers and going in reverse.
After I got on the dinghy and all the divers were on board. I told the crew what an incredible risk we took. If the dinghy engine had died, all of us would have been drifting in the open water. No one knew where we had gone.
I also said I would NEVER go back to this dive site. Bad Karma.

Always drop a weighted line to use as a current check when open water diving. Generally you get a pretty good idea when picking up the mooring. We tried to dive Santa Monica rock this morning. Probably a 2 knot current picking up the ball so dived Angelfish reef instead..
G

At the start of the dive, the current could be nominal, yet it can change during the dive. It can also change during the dive with the bottom topography.

Hi Artifactual. I would reach out to Sunchaser Scuba based out of the Bitter End Yacht Club on Virgin Gorda. They dive the Chikuzen almost whenever conditions allow, and I know they very recently (since the start of 2020) actually went out and replaced the mooring ball for the dive site. Ben and Kay who run the shop, would definitely be great sources of advice for you.