The third ship of the project Ocean Revival, the frigate «Hermenegildo Capelo», will be sunk off Portimão on the 15th of June. On the two ships that sank in October, more than 2500 dives have been made since then, despite the winter storms, which is a record for the activity in the tourist low season.
Luís Sá Couto, from the company Subnaut and founding member, with the Portimão Chamber, of the Musubmar Association, which promotes the project to increase underwater tourism through the sinking of four old ships of the Portuguese Navy, he revealed to Sul Informação that the preparation of the frigate «Hermenegildo Capelo» in the shipyards of a company in the Tagus estuary has already come to an end.
«Everything is certified, inspections were carried out by the various entities and we are now going to deliver the inspection dossier to the CCDRA», which has to give authorization for the sinking.
On May 28, the ship will leave the shipyards of the Batistas company, in Alhos Vedros, where it has been being prepared, at 6:XNUMX am, and will begin its last trip, towed, passing in front of Lisbon (in the morning ) bound for Portimão, where you should arrive the next day.
In the Arade estuary, the «Hermenegildo Capelo» will be moored at the Navy wharf, where the final preparations will be made for the sinking in the underwater park «Ocean Revival», about two miles off the beach at Alvor.
On the 15th, as happened on the 30th of October of last year, when the sinking of the first two ships – the corvette “Oliveira e Carmo” in the morning and the patrol ship “Zambeze” in the afternoon – “we will have boats around, at a safe distance, with people following the sinking closely, and there will also be a small ceremony in the Hotel Alvor, for guests».
If all goes well with the sinking, which will once again be done by the Canadian company Canadian Artificial Reef Consulting (CARC), under the supervision of the Portuguese Navy, on June 16, that is, the very next day, the company Subnauta has already planned the first dives in this new destination for the activity.
Luís Sá Couto also told the Sul Informação, that the preparation of this which will be the third of the four ships to be sunk in the park «Ocean Revival» It will cost around 600 thousand euros, of which 500 thousand in cleaning operations and close to 100 thousand in towing to Portimão.
And does such a volume of investment pay off? Sá Couto says yes. «Since October 30, when they were sunk the first two ships, more than 2500 dives were recorded in the park, made not only by Subnauta, but by all the centers operating around it, from Alvor, Lagos, Portimão».
«Never in the Algarve did it dive so much between November and May, even with the activity stops in February and March, due to bad weather», added the businessman.
Until now, the majority of these divers who have come to the Algarve are Portuguese, driven by the curiosity of discovering the first and largest park of warships sunk on purpose in Europe.
“As we didn't really know how the first sinkings were going to happen, last year we didn't launch an international campaign to promote the Ocean Revival. Only this year, in January, we started this campaign, going to international fairs, for example. The results of this campaign will only be visible next year».
And soon the submerged fleet will be complete: on September 21, the project's fourth ship, the oceanographic vessel «Almeida Carvalho», which “is already being cleaned and is almost ready”. But, to be transported to the Algarve and sunk, you will have to wait for the end of the bathing season, hence the choice of date in September.
The next ships to sink:
COMMANDER frigate HERMENEGILDO CAPELO
Former NRP frigate Hermenegildo Capelo F481: The only survivor of the class in Portugal, it was acquired in the 60s to carry out sovereign missions in African waters and the Far East.
It crossed the equator about sixty times and was the first ship in the Portuguese Navy to incorporate female soldiers.
Oceanographic vessel ALMEIDA CARVALHO
Former NRP Oceanographic Ship Almeida de Carvalho A527: Built to operate in floating ice waters, it was acquired to satisfy the needs of the Portuguese Navy and to serve the objectives of the Hydrographic Institute between 1972 and 2002.
Its drawing rooms and laboratories were used for important oceanographic work.
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