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The Parnaioca Operation
As the years passed and for many
reasons, several ships that sunk off the brazilian coast "lose" his
original identitys e therefore are renamed according to the wreckage or the
place where it lies. A good example is the Parnaioca
wreckage in Ilha Grande. He received
the nomination because it sunk on the Parnaioca point – Ponta Alta da
Parnaioca.
The real identity of this ship is
still a mistery. Some people say, without any means to prove, that this ship is
the Japurá, sunk in 1897 in the area of Ilha Grande. Comments about the real
identity of this ship are common on the dive boats that visit the place. The
divers who visit the place believe that the wreckage seems to be of a ship from
most recent time then when the Japurá sink. So, as we dont have any
informations about the real name of the ship, we will use the common sense and
call this shipwreck the "Parnaioca".
A visit to the
"Parnaioca" demands extra planning due to distance from the regular
dive points of Ilha Grande and thre´s also the problem of the bad weather that
appears in the area. The better idea is to gather a few friends and schedule the
trip, always paying attention to the weather conditions.
In July, 2002 a great group of
wreckdivers of the Brasil Mergulho team, schedule a great dive operation on the
shipwreck. The dive shop Projeto
Mergulhar provide us with our needs. The forecast for Saturday was great, with good sea
conditions, what we soon saw in the morning before the dive. The long time
navigation to the dive point was very cheerful and thesea was like a calm pool.
As great part of team was of technical divers, our intention was going to the
deepest part of the wreckage at 35 meters. In a previous dive, we found a great
structure a few meters in the front of the bow e we want to go back to give a
better look in it.
Another aspect of this dive is a
discussion about the bow of the ship. Some say that it is separated from the
rest of the hull but it it not true. As we see in this dive, the beautiful bow,
are in its "right" place. When we start the dive, we figured that that
was not a regular weekend ! The diving conditions was excellent !
The great visibility allow us to
see some new areas that we do not see in previous area and the moviment of the
wreckage open big new areas for penetrations at 27 to 30 meters. Heading to the
bottom, we arrived at the bow and it could be easily identify beacuse of the
capsizedposition of the wreckage. The bow is a great vision for a wreck diver.
At a few meters from the bow we found a small part of the bow with a capstan and
some cables. The "Parnaioca" have a multi level profile that make the
dive more easy.
Still are many thing to be seen
such as masts, whinchs, capstans, the capsized hull and many others things. The
"Parnaioca" is a great option for recreational and technicals divers.
The structure that we are looking for wasn´t localized and it will the aim of
our next visit. At the end of the dive ,every body was impressed with the size
of the ship!It is really huge ! Unfortunately this great diving
conditions it is not usual on that area and this don´t allow to all divers that
visit the place to see this wreck like it really are.
Divers on this operation: Antonio
Massud, Carlos Bersan, Clarice, Clécio Mayrink, Lelis, Paulo Tessarollo,
Sérgio Amorim, Roberto da Luz (Bob Light), Rodrigo Coluccini and Zé Luís.
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Roberto, Clécio, Bersan,
José Luiz and Tessa
Point of Parnaioca
Lagoa
do Aventureiro
Roberto / Bersan / José Luiz
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