Hey!
I got to work this morning to find a big surprise... Vicky Eric and Lee were at the shop, and they were coming diving! I haven't been on the Castor for a few months, and was curious to see the effects of the hurricane, so we decided to check it out. The Castor, for those of you who don't know is our deepest recreational wreck, resting in 113'. She is also our largest wreck, a 268' freighter. So we loaded up the boat and away we went.
Seas were pretty flat to start out, but built later on to 2-4'. The vis opened up to about 60' or so (blue water with large particles) at the bottom after you dropped below a layer of silty water at 35'. The current was fairly mild and to the north. Rumor had it that the wreck had been torn in two by the storm, and I could hardly wait to get down and assess the damage. The half dozen goliath grouper were still there, still seeming annoyed with me for invading their spot. There were packs of marauding large yellow jacks zooming around the periphery picking off the unfortunate strays.
As I moved forward of the superstructure, something didn't look quite right... the starboard side of the cargo bay was peeled away, laying in the sand just outside the wreck. A bit more forward, a 70' section undulated in the current. It was creepy. I don't think that particular piece will remain attached for much longer. The hull was broken all the way through except for about a four foot section at the front. As the giant slab of steel swept back and forth, it emitted sharp popping sounds as the cracking spread. I sure don't want to be behind that thing when it lets loose. It was very cool to see though.
We had so much fun on that wreck, we decided to do another one, so we packed up the hook and moved over to the Captain Tony. Conditions were about the same over there, maybe 5 feet less on the vis. It was fun!
Here's us before we left.
I got to work this morning to find a big surprise... Vicky Eric and Lee were at the shop, and they were coming diving! I haven't been on the Castor for a few months, and was curious to see the effects of the hurricane, so we decided to check it out. The Castor, for those of you who don't know is our deepest recreational wreck, resting in 113'. She is also our largest wreck, a 268' freighter. So we loaded up the boat and away we went.
Seas were pretty flat to start out, but built later on to 2-4'. The vis opened up to about 60' or so (blue water with large particles) at the bottom after you dropped below a layer of silty water at 35'. The current was fairly mild and to the north. Rumor had it that the wreck had been torn in two by the storm, and I could hardly wait to get down and assess the damage. The half dozen goliath grouper were still there, still seeming annoyed with me for invading their spot. There were packs of marauding large yellow jacks zooming around the periphery picking off the unfortunate strays.
As I moved forward of the superstructure, something didn't look quite right... the starboard side of the cargo bay was peeled away, laying in the sand just outside the wreck. A bit more forward, a 70' section undulated in the current. It was creepy. I don't think that particular piece will remain attached for much longer. The hull was broken all the way through except for about a four foot section at the front. As the giant slab of steel swept back and forth, it emitted sharp popping sounds as the cracking spread. I sure don't want to be behind that thing when it lets loose. It was very cool to see though.
We had so much fun on that wreck, we decided to do another one, so we packed up the hook and moved over to the Captain Tony. Conditions were about the same over there, maybe 5 feet less on the vis. It was fun!
Here's us before we left.
