MV Captain Keith Tibbetts
Bloody Bay Wall · Cayman Islands
A 100 m Koni II-class Soviet frigate (ex-Cuban Navy hull #356) scuttled off Cayman Brac's north shore in September 1996 — one of only two divable former Soviet warships in the western hemisphere. Jean-Michel Cousteau filmed the sinking. Hurricane Paloma broke the hull through the midsection in 2008, opening the engine rooms to penetration. The bow sits upright at about 24 m; the stern lies on its starboard side at 15 m, with deck guns and turrets still in place and now blanketed in orange cup coral and tube sponges.
Conditions
Depth
6 to 27 m
Open water and up
Current
Usually gentle
Can pick up on the edge
Visibility
20 to 30 m
Clearest in the calm season
Water
26 to 30°C
Tropical wetsuit
Month by month
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water (°C) | 26 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 |
| Vis (m) | 20 | 20 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 20 |
| Current | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Moderate | Moderate | Gentle | Gentle |
Your chances of seeing each animal
Great barracuda
Last confirmed May 15, 2026 · 65 records
Very likely
Most dives
Yellowtail snapper
Last confirmed May 4, 2025 · 1 records
Likely
About 6 in 10 dives
Green moray eel
Last confirmed Dec 7, 2025 · 7 records
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Caribbean reef shark
Last confirmed Nov 16, 2025 · 11 records
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Goliath grouper
Expected
Known here, not yet in recent logs
Gear
Basic kit
For this site
- Primary plus backup torch · The midship break and the engine rooms are now penetrable, and the corridors behind the gun turrets are dark even on the brightest day.↗
- SMB · Boat traffic over the mooring is constant and the north-shore current can drift divers off the wreck on ascent.