The Las Grutas underwater park was enlarged and added a new boat. This will consolidate the destination within the world of diving, which has a universe of 50,000 active athletes throughout Argentina, where the spa is the second most important destination. That national list is headed by Puerto Madryn, Chubut, and in third place is Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, a city that shares its position with the Rio Negro town of San Carlos de Bariloche.
The ship that joined is the Magdalena María II, and it reached the bottom yesterday around 4:00 p.m. after a meticulous maneuver that started at 8.30 in the morning, and in which several boats were part.
It happens that the ship was 65 km from Las Grutas, in the Port of San Antonio Este. An operation was carried out by sea in which the tugboat ‘Viento’ and semi-rigid boats from the Cota Cero firm, which is the one that is carrying out the initiative, intervened.
When it reached Grutense shores, work began on the sinking, so that the positioning was adequate once it reached the seabed.
Finally, Around 4:00 p.m., the structure began to fade, disappearing until it was completely covered by the sea.
“Time was with us” announced with enthusiasm Claudio Barbieri, the professional diver who is part of the firm that proposed and commanded the tasks.
A unique underwater park in the world in Las Grutas
Returning to the characteristics of the park this It has a particularity, that none of those that exist in Argentina offer, nor of those that exist worldwide. It happens that both the Magdalena and the last ships that sank to join the artificial reef can be toured inside. That is, divers can get into them and browse their levels and compartments, so that the experience is more attractive.
“No site in Argentina offers this option. And in the world they allow you to enter some ships, but they come from shipwrecks. There’s nothing like this, that They are boats designed and prepared to be traveled inside, and that is why they have a previous job to avoid incidents” said Claudio Barbieri, one of the owners of the firm Cota Cero, which is in charge of the project at RÍO NEGRO RADIO.
The ship that sank yesterday before being transferred.
The history of the underwater park
With the latest addition the artificial reef has 5 boats. It is that the Magdalena María II will share the underwater scene together with the Don Félix, the Mariana Rojamar, the Chiarpesca 59 and the Polarborg I.
The first ship to sink to give the initial kick into space was the Don Félix, which reached the bottom in 2007. The others were then added, in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
The park is at the height of Piedras Coloradas, south of Las Grutas. It is 7.4 kilometers from the coast and the fishing boats are separated from each other by one nautical mile, that is to say for 1.85 km, which turns the route into an adventure.
But… What is it that can be seen when one submerges, and What happens to those structures when they sink? Barbieri answered it simply. “They come alive,” he said.
Works prior to sinking.
“The seabed is divided in two, the ‘soft’ bottoms occupy 80% and the ‘hard’ bottoms 20%, but 20% of the latter concentrate 80% of life, that is to say, the fish, the marine mammals etc When we create a reef or artificial sandbank by sinking a structure, what we do is increase the hard surface, which is why we increase life. If today we dive, for example, by the first ship we sank, the Don Félix, we will see how it was completely colonized by fish such as groupers and covered by vegetation. Nature inhabits it, and its shape can hardly be distinguished” said the man.
On the other hand, the weather a substantial difference between the different places and countries that offer the activity.
“In cold waters, the colors seen on the seabed are more greenish and blue. The temperature conditions, but those funds can be very beautiful. The Beagle Channel (located between Argentina and Chile, south of Tierra del Fuego) is one of the best places where I dived in my life. And Canada, for example, is a country where this activity also attracts a lot, and its climate is very cold,” said the expert..
The first phase of the sinking. Photos: Rio Negro Tourism.
How was the ship prepared?
There are several points to be met to ensure that the boat that will be submerged does not represent a harm to Nature.
– “First, all the rest of the fuel was removed. A firm from Buenos Aires that is dedicated to recycling this type of material took care of that” recounted Claudio Barbieri, from the Cota Cero company, which is in charge of the expansion project of the underwater park.
-Secondly, we worked with the structure of the ship. “Their interior wood and cables were removed. He made sure that there was nothing that, in the future, could cause divers to get hooked,” the man said. In addition to this ship (which can be toured inside like the last ones that sank) it was prepared in a different way. “Special openings were placed in it to build circuits,” said the expert.
-As the last step, the entire surface “washed with special detergents”.
scientific cooperation
The National University of Comahue (Unco) is monitoring the underwater park project. They carried out previous studies of the area where the ship now rests, and they placed structures where the biologists will check their evolution weekly. «You will see how it will be colonized and filled with life» pointed out Claudio Barbieri.
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