I'm buzzing, sitting in a car racing back towards Koh Tao after what turned out to be the expedition of a lifetime.
What started as a dream a few decades ago, exploring my bath tub with my mask and snorkel, searching for toy ships now manifested in the discovery of a long lost wreck together with great friends.
After months of research we headed to Cambodia in search of the wreck of the Burma Maru. The Burma Maru was a Japanese steam cargo ship that got sunk by the American submarine USS Swordfish on June 12th 1942.
We had the war time reports from the USS Swordfish indicating the general location of the encounter with the Burma Maru and a fisherman's mark within a nautical mile of each other, making our mark hot as hell.
A fisherman's mark is a GPS location acquired from local fishermen, good spots for fishing are often wrecks.
We set sail from Sihanoukville, Cambodia on a 10 hour journey to the mark. At the mark we use a echo sounder to "ping" the wreck. This is a process that normally takes hours, but to everyone surprise we got a massive ping in less than 10 minutes. To say that the team was ecstatic would be a gross understatement!
Our next mission was to "shoot the wreck". A term used to describe the deployment of a weighted rope on top of the wreck, so divers can tie on to the wreck and use the line to assist our descents and ascents to and from the wreck.
After a few failed shots we eventually succeeded in connecting with the wreck of the Burma Maru.
And what a great wreck she is, 125m long resting flat and upright at 67 meters with the top deck at 53m.
We truely went where no man has gone before and was blessed with what we call a virgin wreck, untouched for almost 75 years!
We had two days of awesome diving in great conditions and I think I talk for everyone involved when I say we will be back very soon to continue our exploration of this diamond of a wreck.
A massive thanks to the team for making the last few days unforgettable.
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