Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

WORLD'S NEWEST (FOR NOW) SHIPWRECK ALREADY HAS VISITORS - KITTIWAKE AN EXCLAIMATION MARK OFF CAYMAN'S SEVEN MILE BEACH By Stephen Weir, Diver Magazine For the dive industry Santa Claus rode into Grand Cayman on December 25 th , not in a sleigh but on board a barely floating 251 ft long WW2 US warship pulled by an ocean going tug. After seven years of planning, the retired USS Kittiwake was scuttled a few days after arriving at Grand Cayman Island. Live on the Internet, the Submarine Rescue vessel (ASR-13) was sunk upright in the sand just north of the famous Seven Mile Beach. The ship was scuttled to take pressure off the reefs of one of the world’s most popular island dive destination. Two months after she went down, the ship (donated by the US Navy) has begun to attract divers and snorkelers in large numbers. “I dived the wreck one month after her sinking,” said Suzy Marfleet, diver concierge with the Reef – a Seven Mile Beach dive operation. “ I have had a very posit...

Wreck to be sunk at popular dive site - story written for divermag.com. A 63-year old decommissioned US Naval vessel will soon be acquired by the government of the Cayman Islands and is slated to become Grand Cayman’s newest dive attraction. At a recent press briefing held in Toronto, Tourism, Environment, Investment and Commerce Minister Charles Clifford told Diver Magazine that he expects the USS Kittiwake to be sunk off the popular Seven Mile Beach in June, 2009. Just a few days before speaking to Diver Mag, Minister Clifford signed an agreement on behalf of his government with the Cayman Islands Tourists Association. The agreement formalizes the government's plan to acquire the decommissioned naval ship in order to create a new dive site and give “desired relief for some of our frequently visited dive sites.” For years the Tourist Association has been trying to acquire a US navy ship to sink off Grand Cayman. Spearheading the campaign to find and sink a ship is Canadian diver ...

Title: If group can find $2 million Warship that saw Gulf War service could become the St Lawrence River’s first artificial reef By Stephen Weir (April 2008, Diver Magazine - unedited version of feature including sidebars that didn't make it into print): Canadian divers along the north shore of the St Lawrence River know what ship they want and where they want to sink it, but what they don’t have is the money to make it happen … yet. Late last December a small group of divers in Brockville kicked off a bold plan to create an artificial reef near this small Ontario city. The Eastern Ontario Artificial Reef Association, (EOARA), have set their sights on the now mothballed HMCS Terra Nova. The “paid-off” 112 meter long warship, is currently docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A second warship, the HMCS Gatineau, is also available to the group. She has also been mothballed by the Canadian Navy. “We really want the Terra Nova, it is the right height for where we want to sink her i...