gtxl1200
Contributor
I received a call Friday afternoon from STSIDDALL. He told me that a dive charter in Alpena by the name of R&J dive charter had two spots open for Saturday afternoon trip. After a small debate I told him I could go. Saturday we loaded up the dive gear and headed for Alpena for the 2:00 pm trip. Around 10:30 am we head out thinking we had plenty of time to get to the boat. After arriving in Tawas we saw the sign 90 miles to go STILL!!! to Alpena. OOPS I guess our math was off on the distance, the trip was to Alpena. Now in a panic and time running out we pick the pace up a bit. Not to worry. We arrive at the dock at 1:54 with the captain standing on the dock telling us not to worry or hurry the wind was picking up and the pressure was dropping. After a half hour of getting weather reports and other info he decided to leave the decision up to us divers all five of us say lets go. STSiddall was a little reluctant, especially after the captain said it was windier then **** out there, since he is prone to motion sickness. We make the call and load up and head out. Yep it was windy and rough with 2to4ft waves. Our destination the Arabia. I dont remember all the details of the wreck STSiddall has the book on it he can fill you in if you need to know the details. On the way to the Arabia the captian says due to weather we will probably do both dives on this particular wreck. We arrive and suit up, our dive plan since we were going to do both dives at the same wreck, we would spend this dive at the stern, drop down see the propeller, and the rest of the stern of the ship then hit the bow section on the second dive. In we go with the boat a rocking and rolling. The plan was to dive till we hit the yellow on deco on our computers or 1200 psi on air what ever comes first. The vis on the wreck was incredible as far as fresh water diving goes. 30 ft + and the water was a beautiful blue instead of the pea soup green like usual. We spend some considerable time down around the impeller amazed by it's size we take turns hiding behind it and taking pictures. Unfortunatly none of them turned out very well. Then up and spend some time going through the cargo hold and other interesting things to see this section has a lot of penetratable areas to go and poke around. Time just flew by on this dive.
dive profile.
max depth 91 ffw
32 minutes
47 deg at depth
After getting back on the boat which was a task as the waves had really kicked up now the captain informs us that due to the high waves there was no way we could sit and bob for 40 minutes or so for our SI. So pull up anchor and away we go. To much dissappointment to myself and Stsiddall since we didnt see the whole wreck. So I can not tell you what the bow of the ship is like.
Montana. Once again cant remember all of the details I do know it is a wooden ship, but steam driven, sank I think in the late 1800's after dropping anchor to ride out a storm. This wreck has pretty much fallen apart. Looks like a pile of lumber on the bottom. Except for the huge boiler. This baby is huge and the coal doors still work. with Coal still in the bins. The captain limited us to 20 minute dives I think mostely do to the weather instead of letting us dive our computers. A quick look around then somehow losing each other for a minute or two it was time to go up. I was glad the vis was less then 10ft and getting worse. When we hit the surface conditions had worsend the waves now were 5to6ft and it was very difficult getting back on the boat.
dive profile
max depth 62 ffw
26 min
56 deg at depth
dive profile.
max depth 91 ffw
32 minutes
47 deg at depth
After getting back on the boat which was a task as the waves had really kicked up now the captain informs us that due to the high waves there was no way we could sit and bob for 40 minutes or so for our SI. So pull up anchor and away we go. To much dissappointment to myself and Stsiddall since we didnt see the whole wreck. So I can not tell you what the bow of the ship is like.
Montana. Once again cant remember all of the details I do know it is a wooden ship, but steam driven, sank I think in the late 1800's after dropping anchor to ride out a storm. This wreck has pretty much fallen apart. Looks like a pile of lumber on the bottom. Except for the huge boiler. This baby is huge and the coal doors still work. with Coal still in the bins. The captain limited us to 20 minute dives I think mostely do to the weather instead of letting us dive our computers. A quick look around then somehow losing each other for a minute or two it was time to go up. I was glad the vis was less then 10ft and getting worse. When we hit the surface conditions had worsend the waves now were 5to6ft and it was very difficult getting back on the boat.
dive profile
max depth 62 ffw
26 min
56 deg at depth
