Trip Report W/ Pics & Video: Wreck Of The RBJ In Pompano Beach, Florida

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SFLDiver3445

Contributor
Messages
559
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Location
Pompano Beach, FL
# of dives
I just don't log dives
Last Sunday, May 15th, I joined a few friends for a dive on RBJ in Pompano Beach, Florida. If you're not familiar with the RBJ, it's an amazing wreck. In fact, on this dive, you actually get two wrecks for the price of one. The 130' Corey N Chris was sunk first in 1986, then in in 1988 the 226 Ronald B. Johnson was added to the equation. However, as fate would have it, the RBJ landed directly on top of the CNC!

The wrecks lie in approximately 260 feet of water, and when conditions cooperate, it makes for an amazing dive, and that day was one of those! The ocean was a bit choppy, but the winds were out of the southwest, which made it bearable.

For this dive, we chose the best technical Captain and boat charter, Captain Oliver and his boat Avid Diver:
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Capt. Oliver opted to hot drop us on the wreck, which worked out great. We hit the wreck in approximately 4 minutes. Tony (Tienuts) immediately put his camera in video mode, turned on his lights and yelled action.

There was minimal to no current on the wreck, great visibility, reasonably warm temperatures and the water had a stunning blue hue to it. Fortunately, I made the decision to take my trusty point-n-shoot camera on this dive and managed to snap a few shots. Here's just a few of the shots I snapped while exploring the wreck:
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All four of us were diving rebreathers (4 Revos & 1 Dive Rite Optima), which made it quite manageable for us to squeeze in 30 minutes or so of bottom time before it was time to shoot the lift bags and start the approximately 90+ minutes of decompression. While on the hang, the water color was a rich beautiful blue color. Here's a few shots I snapped of the other divers during our ascent/decompression:
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As is customary, we concluded the day with the post dive meal. That day we chose Flannigan's in Pompano Beach. Here's a picture of the group after a great day of diving:
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As I previously mentioned, Tony shot what turned out to be an amazing video of the dive. If you want to view the video, you can see on Youtube at the following link:

YouTube - ‪Hot dropping the RBJ‬‏

Until the next dive - Enjoy!:cool2:
 
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Very cool pile o' wrecks, and an excellent video!
Did you ever anchor or did the boat just hover?
Was that Alsdorf ramp you launched from?
 
Very cool pile o' wrecks, and an excellent video!
Did you ever anchor or did the boat just hover?
Was that Alsdorf ramp you launched from?

We never anchored on this dive. Captain Oliver evaluated the current and dropped us accordingly. At the end of the dive, we shot lift bags from the bottom and the captain followed the lift bags until we surfaced. Depending on the conditions, we use this technique often on deeper dives.

Yes, Avid Diver departs from the dock adjacent to the boat ramps at Alsdorf Park in Pompano Beach.
 
Well done Adrian :)

Brian, fortunately for divers like you and I, we regularly complete these deeper dives and visit some of the lesser seen wrecks; however, I recognize that most divers will probably never get that opportunity . That's why I like to share some of the pics I take on these type of dives with our fellow Scubaboarders.

Thanks Brian!
 
Looks like a very fun dive, but my first reaction was: Wow, a P&S housing that will go to 260 feet???
 
Looks like a very fun dive, but my first reaction was: Wow, a P&S housing that will go to 260 feet???

Yeah, I know it sounds a bit exagerated, but let me assure you it's on the up-n-up!

The camera I am currently using is a Canon Powershot G9. When I purchased it a few years ago, it was a fairly sophisticated p&s (technically an "advanced p&s), but a p&s nonetheless. I house the camera within a Patima housing, which is constructed of pretty solid aluminum and is depth rated to 120 meters.
 
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