The 251-foot-long, former submarine rescue vessel was scuttled to create an artificial reef off the northern end of Seven Mile Beach on the west side of Grand Cayman.

The Kittiwake is situated in marine park that is protected under law in Cayman, with no touching or taking of anything, no gloves allowed and no fishing allowed on the wreck/Kittiwake site.

You can snorkel overhead and see the main decks and top of the ship.

There is no end of rooms to explore this wreck, that has now become an artificial reef.

You can take a look down the smokestack that opens up straight down to the bottom of the hull and the engine rooms.

USS Kittiwake (ASR-13) was a United States Navy Chanticleer-class submarine rescue vessel in commission from 1946 to 1994. In 1986, the Kittiwake recovered the black box from the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

The Kittiwake was named for the gulls of the same name, of the genus Rissa, found along the coast of North America

Kittiwake was decommissioned on September 30, 1994, and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on the same day.

Kittiwake's title was transferred in November 2008 for an undisclosed amount to the government of the Cayman Islands for the purpose of using her to form a new artificial reef.

Originally intended to be sunk in June 2009, Kittiwake was not sunk off Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman, until January 5, 2011.