(09-07-10) Thirteenth article about Galician waters. This time we dive into the Ría de Vigo, in front of Baiona, to visit the shipwreck “IVY”, a merchant ship that ran aground during a heavy storm in 1976.

    When a ship sinks there is always a store behind, worse or better, more or less tragic. Some of them cause true natural disasters, others are cause of hundreds of deaths, and some give life back to the discoverer or even some lead to the highest to the actor who tells us the story in a movie.  

    When they sink by accident, negligence of some board operator, or even, like the Boreas, are sunk on purpose to create new ecosystems. I even know some cases in the Ría de Arousa in which sailors sink wooden ships to catch preys later… but very few people know their location.

    One of these registered cases in the Ría de Vigo is the “IVY”, which stranded on the Estelas islands in Baiona when it was going to the port of Vigo to download a valuable cargo of iron ore.

    It was a merchant ship of almost 28,700 tones of GRT coming from Monrovia (capital of Liberia).

    It sunk during a strong storm in the estuary at night on February 30, 1976. The 36 crew members saw how the ship ran aground in the area in the Estelas islands. In a few minutes the rough sea made the ship split in two halves at the height of the hold No. 5.

    The 36 crew members, still aboard the ship, decided to try to be safe and use lifeboats, but just one of them has the engine working and there was no place for all of them on it.

    They decided that 26 of them would be in the boat and, although it was very scary, they got to safe their lives. The other ten people, as the bow was completely sunk, decided to take refugee in the stern, in the bridge area. Five of them, still on board, decided to try it in a small pneumatic boa that a bit later they were on it foundered by a wave. Their bodies were swept out to neighbouring beaches by the current. The other five were rescued the following day by the tug “Seefalke”, which went to the place.

SOME TIME AFTER THE SINKING IT WAS SCRAPPED

    Time after the sinking, the part of the wreck that remained exposed was scrapped, so only one of the holds is what we know today as the shipwreck “IVY”. It stands on a platform that looks like a natural stair generated by a large rock, so if we cross it longitudinally we will have the rock on one side and the boat on the other side.

    If we cross over coming from the rock we will hardly notice the presence of the boat until we see the vertical drop that its side forms until the sandy bottom on the other side, where we find small sandy corridor that guide us along the boat. Then, rocks again.

    There is nothing of the bridge, only that huge bulkhead 45 m long and 3 m wide that, a distant day in 1976, stopped working as hold and began to be home for all kind of fishes and other animals: to my surprise, we can meet there from nudibranches to congers and big octopuses.

    To prepare this article I have been supported by my… I think he is now my friend, Ángel, from Buceo Atlantis, in Vigo. He is a knight diver and a professional in the business.

    The “IVY” lies at a depth very accessible for all audiences, between 10 and 16 meters deep, towards Northeast; the stern points to Cíes Islands. Here visibility is quite good, about 4 to 6 meters, mainly at the top, where sun rays reach during most of the day, which makes the 15º C in water temperature be a warm environment… compared to what we are used to.

    The side of the ship is iron, pure oxide, so we must be very careful not to hook and cut ourselves, but besides this, it is almost completely covered with small red gorgonian and cnidarians that, some times, are much bigger and give a touch of distinction and allow taking good pictures with the wide angle.

GREAT PRESENCE OF DAISY ANEMONES

    In the area that would be the stern and that actually is the end of the hold, signed by one of the timber of the ship, is where we feel the greatest influence of the current: we realize it is here and there are more actinia or daisy anemones that, despite being beautiful, they are not good for our skin, especially in the face, forearms and areas of the body where the epidermis is thinner.

    Being in the stern, the ship itself directs us to the rocky area I said above. It goes up slowly because of the accumulation of small rocks among which we always find photogenic nudibranches. In this area there use to be many cameras, so we have chosen to begin the dive right here.

    Once in the upper area of the ship, the great amount of small fish that live in the small rocks piling up along the platform receive us curious, approaching to us to see that black and long creature that release bubbles and hides behind three lights that blind sometimes.

    This would be the perfect area for macro photography 100 mm, due to the small creatures living here, which make the clock sounds 60 minutes after the beginning of the dive we agreed with Ángel. Anyhow… my 17-70 works right, doesn’t it?

I'll have to start diving with two cameras…