Maria Bahn

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The Mari Bahn, or the “Wind Jammer” wreck sank December 7, 1912.  She was a three masted iron bark, built in 1874 by Barclay, Curle and Company, Glasgow, Scotland.   The Maria Bahn was schooner rigged on the mizzen mast, fore and aft, and square rigged on the others.  She was 239 feet long, had a 37 foot beam, and weighed 1,378 gross tons.  At the time of her demise, she was sailing from Trinidad to Marseille with a cargo of asphalt.

The Maria Bahn now rests in 200 feet of water off the northwest coast of Bonaire, just off the oil terminal. The masts rest shallow on the reef in 35 feet of water, pointing the way towards her deeper hull.  The Maria Bahn lies on her starboard side with the top of her port side in 160 feet. Her main mast and crows nest extend beyond 200 feet.

Fellow GUE instructor Benji Schwab took care of the logistics for this dive, arranging permits for the site and having all the gases we needed ready to go.  Caribbean Gas Training, is the only DIR/GUE training and technical diving logistics center on Bonaire and in the entire southern Caribbean.

The Maria Bahn was one of the highlights of our trip to Bonaire, one of the worlds last diving paradises.

Bonaire 2009

Photos from our recent trip to Bonaire, September 2009

Great Barrier Reef & Coral Sea

Photos from our recent Undersea Explorer trip to the Great Barrier Reef, Coral Sea, Osprey Reef December 2008 – January 2009

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Florida Cave Diving, Ginnie Springs

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