mrfixitchapman
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On the day before Christmas I dove the SG with Ocean Divers out of Key Largo. OD uses steel tanks on their boat Santana. 80 cf but 2400psi. Heavier tanks, same volume of air, less ballast because the tanks don't go positive buoyancy when air pressure gets low like an aluminum tank.
Current can be iffy on the SG, we arrived just at low tide so current was barely noticeable. Moored on the port crane we descended to the crane and swam across the well deck to the starboard side, down along the side of the ship and found the waterline marking,(boot stripe) still barely visible at 117 feet. The ship is becoming encrusted with corals and sponges. If it were in less water it would be transforming more quickly, I'm sure, but the sea is gradually taking over. Water temp about 71 degrees.
We swam along the side looking in through the openings cut into the hull. A few are swim-throughs since a diver can see daylight on the other side, but most are not. I have Wreck Diver cert, but opted not to bring a reel along. Maybe next time....
At 1500psi we moved up the side to the top of the susperstructure and aft toward the cranes again. Across the ship following the crane arm and up the mooring line to loiter at about 15 ft for 5 minutes,(I had been to 120 ft so an extra couple minutes seemed like a good idea), the up to the tag line and back to the ladder, up and out.
Surface interval was spent travelling to French Reef and changing tanks. I was at French Reef eleven years ago. This dive had less light because of so much suspended particulate matter, a continuing problem since this hurricane season. The reef seems a little beaten up, many hard corals are busted up and much sand and sediment covering the little sedentary critters on the bottom.
At 1500psi I surfaced for a boat check, obtained the bearing on my compass and submerged again, only to find that I could not see my buddy at 45ft. He later told me that he could not see me as I got close to the surface. I couldn't see him, he couldn't see me. Grrrr. I spiralled as I descended until I could see the bottom but he was gone. He had swum a square pattern on the way up. We both surfaced, but apparently not at the same time. Before the dive we had discussed what we would do if we lost contact and didn't find each other at the surface but in view of the boat. We both made for the boat with the intention of posting a lookout for the other. We met at the tag line. Any good plan is a good plan.....
Current had picked up as low tide began to give way to high tide and the visibility fell off. Being a morning dive and just a couple days after the shortest day of the year were also factors. An afternoon dive with clear skies would certainly have been a better choice. Ocean Divers has a predetermined schedule and SG was a morning dive that day. If I wanted to take their boat to the SG then I was going to go in the morning during my vacation time. I stopped at several other shops, but found nobody home.
Making chicken salad out of what I had, I opted for OD.
Christmas Day found nobody out there, partly because most of the shops gave everybody the day off and partly because a front was marching through bringing wind, rain and choppy water.
And so it goes.....
DC
Current can be iffy on the SG, we arrived just at low tide so current was barely noticeable. Moored on the port crane we descended to the crane and swam across the well deck to the starboard side, down along the side of the ship and found the waterline marking,(boot stripe) still barely visible at 117 feet. The ship is becoming encrusted with corals and sponges. If it were in less water it would be transforming more quickly, I'm sure, but the sea is gradually taking over. Water temp about 71 degrees.
We swam along the side looking in through the openings cut into the hull. A few are swim-throughs since a diver can see daylight on the other side, but most are not. I have Wreck Diver cert, but opted not to bring a reel along. Maybe next time....
At 1500psi we moved up the side to the top of the susperstructure and aft toward the cranes again. Across the ship following the crane arm and up the mooring line to loiter at about 15 ft for 5 minutes,(I had been to 120 ft so an extra couple minutes seemed like a good idea), the up to the tag line and back to the ladder, up and out.
Surface interval was spent travelling to French Reef and changing tanks. I was at French Reef eleven years ago. This dive had less light because of so much suspended particulate matter, a continuing problem since this hurricane season. The reef seems a little beaten up, many hard corals are busted up and much sand and sediment covering the little sedentary critters on the bottom.
At 1500psi I surfaced for a boat check, obtained the bearing on my compass and submerged again, only to find that I could not see my buddy at 45ft. He later told me that he could not see me as I got close to the surface. I couldn't see him, he couldn't see me. Grrrr. I spiralled as I descended until I could see the bottom but he was gone. He had swum a square pattern on the way up. We both surfaced, but apparently not at the same time. Before the dive we had discussed what we would do if we lost contact and didn't find each other at the surface but in view of the boat. We both made for the boat with the intention of posting a lookout for the other. We met at the tag line. Any good plan is a good plan.....
Current had picked up as low tide began to give way to high tide and the visibility fell off. Being a morning dive and just a couple days after the shortest day of the year were also factors. An afternoon dive with clear skies would certainly have been a better choice. Ocean Divers has a predetermined schedule and SG was a morning dive that day. If I wanted to take their boat to the SG then I was going to go in the morning during my vacation time. I stopped at several other shops, but found nobody home.
Making chicken salad out of what I had, I opted for OD.
Christmas Day found nobody out there, partly because most of the shops gave everybody the day off and partly because a front was marching through bringing wind, rain and choppy water.
And so it goes.....
DC
