I've been invited to be a safety diver during a video shoot for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department!
The week after I return from Ecuador, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) will be sinking the USTS Texas Clipper 17 miles off the S. Texas coast to form an artificial reef. The projected date is November 15. She will come to rest on the sandy floor, about 134 feet deep, after having undergone years of pre-sinking cleanup and other preparations. Click on the link above for more details.
The Clipper's keel was laid in Maryland in 1944, and although built as a merchant ship she served the U.S. Navy as the troop transport USS Queens during WWII in the Pacific theater. She was decommissioned as a military vessel in 1946. From 1948 to 1958, commissioned the S.S. Excambion, she was a combination freight/passenger liner serving Mediterranean ports of call.
In 1965, she was commissioned the U.S.T.S. Texas Clipper and served as a training ship for maritime students at Texas A&M - Galveston until 1996.
The man who is leading our trip to the Galapagos Islands operates a technical dive instruction center, dive shop, and dive boat in South Padre Island, TX. The day after the Clipper is reefed, he will be leading a team shooting a video to document the condition of the ship after it settles to the bottom. While I was chatting with him about Galapagos, we started talking about the reefing and he invited me to serve as a safety diver for this project. The videography teams will be making longer-than-normal dives, and safety divers provide support for them during decompression and to serve as rescue divers in the event of an accident.
If it pans out, this will be a fantastic opportunity for me. I will be one of the very first divers to see the Clipper on the bottom! Plus, I'll be helping document this project for future generations to learn about the Clipper and the artificial reef project.
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