Ski Area CHA

Local Name:

Ski Area CHA

Depth:

Depth is 60 - 70 feet.

Anchoring:

This wreck is right near one of the mooring dolphins at the edge of the ski area. We do not anchor here, but rather swim this one from shore. From the Ski Steps you head out 270 to get to the Ski Area Wreck. Continue along at 270 degrees. If you pass a couple communications cables, you are going too far. These cables straddle the wreck.

On my first trip out here we started at the large anchor that lies slightly north of the Ski Area Wreck and headed out 260. I have a note in my logbook about our course following a pair of cables. Either way SHOULD get you there!

Location:

Latitude			Longitude
Degrees	Minutes	Seconds	Degrees	Minutes	Seconds
8	44	13.560	167	43	59.580
8	44.22600	---------	167	43.99300	---------
8.73710	---------	---------	167.73321	---------	---------

Notes:

This wreck is a rubble wreck like the other CHAs. It is facing north. There are several racks in a nice row towards the stern. Batteries litter the area. There's an anchor towards the bow. This is not a very exciting wreck.

Photos:

	Here's the anchor that is still up in the bow area.
This view is taken from the port side of the ship looking off the bow. You can see the cable running along side the ship. If you follow this cable up (approx 080 deg mag) you'll end up right near the large anchor that is directly in front of the ski area wreck.
	The prop can still be found in the rubble.
I am not quite sure what this is. I suspect it is the bottom of the stack that appears to be laying on its' side. This is about the biggest chunk of the wreck that you can find!
	Not the best photo here, but these two tanks seem to be a tell-tale feature of the Japanese Special Sub Chasers (CHAs). We see these on CHA-28 and there's at least one visible on the South Pass CHA.
At the stern of the ship on the starboard side you'll find these three racks laying neatly in a row in the sand.
	This appear to perhaps be the top of the stack and it has now fallen over to the starboard side.

Nearby Attractions:

A few words of caution are due here!

While I believe that this data is fairly accurate, one must apply some common sense when using this data. If the point of origin is a coral head, you may have anchored at a slightly different spot than I did and your bearing to the next attraction could be slightly different than mine. I suggest checking with your own GPS before rolling in!

Also, know roughly how fast you swim so that you know approximately how long it should take to reach the next attraction. You can (and likely will) miss things from time-to-time and you should know when to abort and turn around before you are too far from your boat.

I strongly urge you to try the shorter swims first and build your navigation skills. I have set the cutoff distance for this table to 750 feet, but that is a considerable challenge even for the best navigators. An error of more than a few degrees in poor visibility and you can easily miss your destination at the extreme ranges!

From: Ski Area CHA
Attraction	Distance (feet)	Bearing (deg mag)
Ski Area Wreck	435	91

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Created by Dave Fortin

Fri Sep 10 08:23:12 UTC 2010