During October, Evolution hosted Peter Naujoks from Australia, and Matt and he managed to do three serious dives on this little-dived wreck. At 110m this is complex and risky dive that can be undertaken only by the most highly trained techncial divers, and completing 3 dives on 3 consecutive days has not been done before.
On each dive Matt and Peter spent about 5mins descending and then 15mins exploring the wreck, before starting the lengthy ascent to the surface, with decompression stops starting at depths deeper than most of our guests ever dive. Each of the 3 dives had a total time of over 3 hours, and diving Closed Circuit Rebreathers enabled the guys to stay down so long and safely complete all the dives and decompression using very little gas.
The wreck of the Cebu Pioneer, previously know as the President Magsaysay, sunk in 1965 in a Typhoon. It was a passenger and cargo ferry, which was carrying one particular piece of interesting cargo. We have now positively identified a car, which was carried on the ship as a Mercedes Benz, and it would seem from various factors to be a beautiful 220SE cabriolet – pics here as possible examples depending on the exact year. More facts and exploration on this to come soon.
Obviously at this depth and with limited time, it is hard to capture pictures or video. But please enjoy these images screen grabbed from the gopro footage that Matt took during the dives.
Click on thumbnail images to enlarge
Dive profiles – click to enlarge
