matt_unique
Guest
I posted this under another thread but figured I would share with my NE dive buddies.
The weather cooperated and I managed to get two deco dives on the U853 yesterday. The vis was as good as I have ever seen it there and we had virtually no current. Great day to dive the BI Sound. We steamed over to the Bass initially for dive #1 but the mooring was gone - hopefully to be replaced soon. (I did not have sufficient anchor line onboard to anchor in 160' of water). So we decided to do both our dives that day on the U. My two buddies wanted 1 long dive rather than 2 shorter dives so I was solo for both my dives. The water temp was 49 degrees on the bottom and only 50 at the surface. Max depth for dive 1 was 128', dive 2 was 125'.
The beauty of a deco dive on the U is the ability to look at the entire wreck on one dive. NDL on this gets you half the wreck and that's if you stay at the top of the hull structure. I was able to cruise along the top of the hull at 113'. I went into the aft torpedo room through a blast hole and exited the same room through the aft torpedo loading hatch. I had doubles and an alum 80 deco bottle so it was snug - I actually had to wiggle a bit to get through it. I'm not a huge fan of hard overhead environments.
The wreck lies such that a heading of 330 degrees will take you to the stern and 150 degrees will take you to the bow. Tons of Squirrel Hake and jelly fish. Some of the jelly fish had 6' long tentacles.
Great dives on the U853. I am never disappointed with this wreck.
--Matt
The weather cooperated and I managed to get two deco dives on the U853 yesterday. The vis was as good as I have ever seen it there and we had virtually no current. Great day to dive the BI Sound. We steamed over to the Bass initially for dive #1 but the mooring was gone - hopefully to be replaced soon. (I did not have sufficient anchor line onboard to anchor in 160' of water). So we decided to do both our dives that day on the U. My two buddies wanted 1 long dive rather than 2 shorter dives so I was solo for both my dives. The water temp was 49 degrees on the bottom and only 50 at the surface. Max depth for dive 1 was 128', dive 2 was 125'.
The beauty of a deco dive on the U is the ability to look at the entire wreck on one dive. NDL on this gets you half the wreck and that's if you stay at the top of the hull structure. I was able to cruise along the top of the hull at 113'. I went into the aft torpedo room through a blast hole and exited the same room through the aft torpedo loading hatch. I had doubles and an alum 80 deco bottle so it was snug - I actually had to wiggle a bit to get through it. I'm not a huge fan of hard overhead environments.
The wreck lies such that a heading of 330 degrees will take you to the stern and 150 degrees will take you to the bow. Tons of Squirrel Hake and jelly fish. Some of the jelly fish had 6' long tentacles.
Great dives on the U853. I am never disappointed with this wreck.
--Matt
