Trip Report: Pompano Beach, FL - Wreck of the Scutty, Tracy & Mercy Jesus: 06-15-2008

[SFLDiver3445]

On June the 15th, a group of local rebreather divers boarded Scubatyme in Pompano Beach, Florida for an afternoon of great diving. This outing was organized by Tony (Tienuts), and the plan was to dive one long dive on three Pompano Beach wrecks within close proximity of each other. However, as a result of high current during the morning dive, Scubatyme’s crew suggested we alter out plan and instead head south to complete a dive that consisted of a South/North drift. Consequently, we ended up diving, what over the past few months has become a favorite dive for us, one long dive on the Wreck of the Scutty, the Wreck of the Tracy and the Wreck of the Mercy Jesus.

We’ve completed this very same dive twice within the last few months, yet, in spite of that, none of the group was disappointed, because this dive consistently delivers post-dive smiles, and today was no different.

When we arrived at the site, we were please to see that, besides the calm seas, the wrecks were visible from the surface, which indicated the visibility was at least 70 feet, which is the average depth of the wrecks. The current picked up a bit throughout the dive, but it never became strong enough to cause any real inconvenience. The plan was to dive one 2½ hour long dive, starting at the Scutty and finishing up at the Mercy Jesus.

As usual, I had my trusty point and shoot camera with me, so I could share some pictures of the dive with all you folks in Scubaboard World. There were definitely some interesting critters to photograph during the dive, including one beautiful Florida Regal Sea Goddess, which was a first for me. So kick back and enjoy some pics!


Here are a few pics of Scubatyme, which has become one of the groups favorite dive boats to charter. Enzo and the crew are extremely rebreather friendly and have no problem accommodating to our 2 and 3 hour long dives.

Rob waiting to board the boat with his Kiss Rebreather.

Scott (PadiPro) off-loading his Meg Rebreather.

Here’s part of the group with Enzo, discussing the plan at the dock, prior to our departure.

And of course, the trip would not be complete without Lisa filming video for her fabulous website Lisa Edwards Dive Video - Home.

Tim (Netmage) demonstrates that, even when breathing on the loop, you can still take off your mask to pose for a quick picture:

Here’s Netmage and Tienuts hovering just off the Scutty early in the dive.

On the Scutty, we encountered two extremely friendly fish chasing each other around the wreck the entire time. They were either Porcupinefish or Spotted Burrfish, or maybe even one of each and they made for great photo opportunities while they cruised by.

Thanks Rob for being a patient buddy while I documented the dive!

Here’s a couple of shots of the bow and prop/stern section of the Scutty.

Continued on next thread...

 

[SFLDiver3445]

After about 45 minutes on the Scutty, Rob and me followed the concrete cylinders over to the Tracy. Here’s a couple of shots of the view we saw as we approached the stern of the Tracy.

The Tracy had some great French Angelfish, which had no problem posing for a few quick shot.

We also saw several large friendly Barracuda hovering over and around the Tracy, including one which thought he was the skipper of the vessel, because he confidently occupied the wheelhouse.

Here’s a shot from the bow of the Tracy.

After spending a good 45 minutes or so on the Tracy, we headed north, following the rebar trail to the Mercy Jesus, which faces south. Here’s the view of the wreck as we approached it.

Not long after arriving at the last wreck, Netmage called me over and pointed out a beautiful dark blue and yellow Florida Regal Sea Goddess. Even though these are known to be somewhat common in Florida waters, after over 20 years of diving, I had never seen one. Consequently, I spent the rest of the dive taking shots of it, while it inched its way around the wreck.

As is always the case, after a great day of diving, we headed out for the post dive meal and dive debriefing. Today, we headed over to Bru’s Room Sports Grill for some amazing ribs and garlic chicken wings! From left to right, Scott (PadiPro), Tim (Netmage), Richard (PacketSniffer) visiting from Houston, Rob and finally, your's truly - Adrian (SFLDiver3445).

Enjoy!

 

[Trisha]

Awesome! What is the dive profile for plain vanilla air or Nitrox divers when Scubatyme does the Jay Scutti? I understand it is about 50 to 70 feet deep.

 

[SFLDiver3445]

Awesome! What is the dive profile for plain vanilla air or Nitrox divers when Scubatyme does the Jay Scutti? I understand it is about 50 to 70 feet deep.

Trisha, when we do this dive with Scubatyme, since the three wrecks are at an average depth of approximately 70', the rebreather divers generally do one long 2 1/2 to 3 hour dive. On yesterday's dive, I had my computers set pretty conservatively, so I actually had 3 minutes of decompression after 2 hours and 28 minutes of bottom time.

On this trip plan, open circuit divers generally do one dive on the Scutty and Tracy, then they ascend for their surface interval, then they descend again for another dive on the Tracy and the Mercy Jesus.

I'm not sure what bottom times the open circuit divers acutally complete, but I can tell you that the open circuit divers always ascend way before the rebreather divers are back on the boat.

Rebreathers are awesome for this kind of dive!

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

Adrian:

Thanks for the great trip report and photos. Outstanding work! And, it's good to see Tim out diving again.

Doug

 

[SFLDiver3445]

Adrian:

Thanks for the great trip report and photos. Outstanding work! And, it's good to see Tim out diving again.

Doug

Doug, we were very fortunate to have spectacular conditions yesterday afternoon. And yes, it's great to see Tim out there with us - You definitely did a great job of patching him up for us!!

BTW, nice job, as always, on the articles you contributed to the latest edition of the Underwater Journal!!!

 

[Saltwater Junky]

What a nice dive. I like diving with Enzo and his crew, when I'm down that way.

 

[PacketSniffer]

Nice report Adrian.


Good thing no one listened to Tim. He was trying to thumb the dive before we even left the dock.

 

[Scubastud16]

Wow, looks like a lot of fun! While I have yet to do the Mercy or the Scutti, the Tracy is very familiar to me. I've seen a 'cuda about that size near the wheel house almost every single time I'm on the Tracy.

As always, wonderful report, and thank you for the pictures! That little point-and-shoot takes some great ones! As stated before, I'll be doing these kind of dives one day!

Danny

 

[SFLDiver3445]

Wow, looks like a lot of fun! While I have yet to do the Mercy or the Scutti, the Tracy is very familiar to me. I've seen a 'cuda about that size near the wheel house almost every single time I'm on the Tracy.

The Scutti and the Mercy Jesus are easy to find from the Tracy, because they're each approximately 75 to 100 yards off the bow and stern. And as I indicated within the report, all you have to do is follow the concrete and rebar markers in the sand.

As always, wonderful report, and thank you for the pictures! That little point-and-shoot takes some great ones! As stated before, I'll be doing these kind of dives one day!

Danny

Glad you enjoyed the pics. I've acutally been thinking about upgrading to an larger SLR camera, but everytime I see the shots I'm able to get with my point and shoot, I somehow seem to decide to hold out a bit longer before dishing out the big bucks on bigger system.

This dive really isn't difficult to arrange through Scubatyme, especially as an afternoon dive. The crew of the boat likes it when us rebreather divers book this dive, because they generally don't have to work too hard when the rebreather divers stay underwater throughout the entire 2 1/2 to 3 hour period. Also, the dive is very condusive to having both open-circuit and closed-circuit divers on the boat together, because the closed-circuit divers just do two shorter dives instead of the one longer dive.

The only catch is, because the wrecks are a little futher away then they normally go, they like to have at least 6 - 8 divers aboard, to justify the further navigational distance.