I dove the M.V. Tibbets last year.  It is sitting on somewhat of a slope
but it upright in the sand.  I think the maximum depth was about a
little over 100fsw.   Viz was great and I really enjoyed the dive.  I
have a picture of the wreck if you would like to see it.  I will email
it to you.

Andy

"Thomas Wong" <Z2quick@pacbell.net> pounded away at his keyboard
resulting in:

I have.  The dive was quite nice.  You can go inside the wreck, but
that's not my thing, so I didn't.

The vis was good and the current depends on the tides and winds.

A trip report of the whole week at Cayman Brac is available at
http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/Trips/CaymanBrac.htm

Dan Bracuk
If at first you don't succeed, you run the risk of failure.
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/

I've dived on it 4 times, a couple dozen if you count the free-dives (I don't).
It pretty much sucks. It's like all other artificial junkyards. Junk. Wet. Not
much growth. You can make limited excursions inside, but why? You're not going
to find an enigma machine or a dead KGB agent. It was scoured before sinking.

The reefs around it are spectacular. They're a long swim and deep. The top
of the wall is about 120.

I've never seen or heard of any current there.

safe diving,

bullshark

Thanks for the info,

   Tom

Every year since it was sunk in 1996...8 years, probably 20 dives or so,
although I don't generally spend much time on the wreck anymore.  
There's a nice archway nearby that often has a turtle sleeping niche
nearby, plus there's a nice, although deep, wall.

Yes, you can go inside.  It has become a lot more of a "real wreck"
since a 'NorWester ripped the front third of the ship nearly off.

When it was originally sunk, it was nice and upright and the entire
front end of the ship was cantilevered above the bottom.  Here's a 1996
photo...you can see that the keel is a good 10-15ft above the sand:

http://www.webspan.net/~hummer/pic/356under.jpg

Between the 'NorWester, saltwater corrosion and some light-but-insistant
prevailing longitudinal current, a structural failure occured around
1/3rd of the way back, and the ship fell down onto its port rail.  
Here's a head-on shot looking at the bow, which shows that its now
firmly on the bottom, and leaned over more than 45 degrees:

http://www.huntzinger.com/photo/2000/356y2k.jpg

The result is that the center corridors which used to be perfectly
upright and easy to navigate now are pretty hairy for a lot of divers
(vertigo, etc), and the "T" at the back is now a mess.  

There's also a couple of "up is NOT out" dead-end traps that have been
exasperated by a section of the top deck that lost its plating, but the
remaining support isn't generally big enough for a diver to squeeze
through...not the place for novices, or first-time-in-an-overhead'ers.

In general, if you like a jumbled mess with some tight squeezes, you'll
have some opportunities...but if you're looking for an easy, safe wreck,
the forward section in particular no longer qualifies.  

If you're looking for something kind of halfway in-between, ask for
instructions for the rear engine room:  if they don't describe both
entrance/exits, don't trust the instructions.  And bring a light.

There's often a light current (East-->West) that's just enough to blow
sand around the bow, which can trash W/A photography, such as this shot:

http://www.huntzinger.com/photo/2000/356pita.jpg

(BTW, the diver is a vacationing Grand Cayman Dive Op. Staffmember :-)

The stern area is in the ~50ft range.  The radar dome
(http://www.webspan.net/~hummer/pic/356radar.jpg) used to be a perfect
place for doing your 10-15ft safety stop, but its now a bit deeper...it
is still useful as a safety stop landmark reference point.

-hh