charlesg3
Contributor
I recently dove the Vandenberg and thought I'd post my experience here for others. I know there are other Vandenberg trip reports, so this thread may be merged if it's viewed as redundant.
The Vandenberg sits at 140 fsw (to the ocean floor) but the main deck is around 90 fsw. It lies facing east / west with the bow of the ship facing to the east. It is a little over 500 feet in length. As noted by others, it is in the gulf stream (read: strong currents) and the current flows from stern to bow (west to east). There were points in the dive where simply using the boat (grab hold and pull) was much easier than finning. There are 6 mooring balls attached to the bow, stern and superstructure. As this is a popular site your captain may not have much of a choice where to tie in. In any case I found that looking at the mooring balls helped me get a visual of the orientation of the ship before dropping down (although to be honest I find wreck natural navigation to be pretty easy).
Since the trips out were so close together there was a bit of overlap in conditions and sights. The vis was around 25-30 ft, the temp was in the mid 80's at depth and the bottom time for all dives was in the 17min-22min range (at depth, plus a few mins of safety stop on ascent). There were a few small fish about a few inches long and some barracuda. There are some plants starting to attach to the ship as well, but besides that it's nice and clean on the outside. Most people will recommend some form of exposure protection like a rashguard, but I faired alright with board shorts and a t-shirt. Also, the weather was sunny with a small wind and low 90's.
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7/15/09:
The first was through Dive Key West. They required an existing dive below 60' in order to go on the dive. The cost was $110 which included tanks and weights (I had all other equipment). There were 8 divers, 2 instructors, the DM and the Captain.
We were placed in buddy pairs and an instructor was assigned to each group of 4. The instructor described the dive plan to us including bottom time, safety stop and the like. When we arrived at at the site, we tied off at the mooring ball attached to the bow (the furthest east mooring ball). We then jumped in and followed the tag line to the mooring line. The currents are quite strong here and it was emphasized several times not to let go of the rope. While following the tag line we basically used our hands / arms to move through the water (with the current, kicking wasn't very helpful). Once at the mooring line we dropped down, again hand over hand with our body being pushed out horizontal by the current like a flag in the wind. Once down to the platform of the boat the superstructure seems to break up the current a bit which makes it a bit easier to swim around without holding on.
Then during the dive the instructor led us around the ship, basically to the mid way point along the port side of the ship, crossed over and let the current carry us back. We ascended when air was running low for one team member. We were diving air and at that depth the NDL limit is between 15 and 20 minutes which really just gives you a quick tour of about half the boat. There's a flag tied up close to the bow of the ship that waves nicely in the current. It was nice having an instructor there when I didn't have much knowledge of the boat, but at the same time I wanted a little less hand holding.
The next dive we did was Eastern Dry Rocks which is a reef, although I really just wanted to do the Vandy again.
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7/17/09:
My second trip out to the Vandenberg was with Captain's Corner (as per a recommendation found here on SB, thanks guys). This trip was $85 with tanks and weights. The boat was definitely a cattle boat by any definition. Also on the boat was a whole group of about 15 technical divers who were diving doubles with stage and pony bottles. Normally I believe this dive charter decides between a double dip and a second dive on a reef, but considering the number of people in doubles I was glad to find out that this would be a "double dip" day.
This time around it was much more of a "do what you want" kind of setup. They basically let us buddy up with whoever we could find and choose our own plan. Luckily, I had done the dive before so I had a decent idea of what to expect and planned similar bottom times. This time out though we ended up at one of the middle mooring balls.
For the first dive we decided to head east (with the current) to the bow of the ship down the port side, and then return to where we descended along the starboard side. I think it's always easier to swim into the current at the beginning of the dive rather than the end, but we chose to do this so we could see the whole ship and have our second dive be easier. This was similar to the area I explored my first time out so there wasn't much new here.
We took about and hour surface interval and then started our second dive.
On the second dive we dropped down, and headed up the port side into the current towards the stern of the boat. It is on this section of the boat that I finally got to see the huge satellite dish that I've seen in the pictures. When we made it to the stern, there was very little in front of us to break the current up so it was quite strong swimming across the ship. It is interesting swimming at such and angle to try to fight the current. There's also an open area near the stern of the ship that as I crossed I finned extra hard as I did not want to get pushed into it. Once on the starboard side of the ship we simply did a drift back to the middle of the ship, performed our safety stops and got back on the boat.
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All in all it was a fun dive and I will definitely have to return to see what the ship turns into over the years. Next time I'll do my research in advance and make sure I'm on a "double dip" from the get-go. Hope this information helps anyone looking to go out on the Vandy or just curious what it's like.
The Vandenberg sits at 140 fsw (to the ocean floor) but the main deck is around 90 fsw. It lies facing east / west with the bow of the ship facing to the east. It is a little over 500 feet in length. As noted by others, it is in the gulf stream (read: strong currents) and the current flows from stern to bow (west to east). There were points in the dive where simply using the boat (grab hold and pull) was much easier than finning. There are 6 mooring balls attached to the bow, stern and superstructure. As this is a popular site your captain may not have much of a choice where to tie in. In any case I found that looking at the mooring balls helped me get a visual of the orientation of the ship before dropping down (although to be honest I find wreck natural navigation to be pretty easy).
Since the trips out were so close together there was a bit of overlap in conditions and sights. The vis was around 25-30 ft, the temp was in the mid 80's at depth and the bottom time for all dives was in the 17min-22min range (at depth, plus a few mins of safety stop on ascent). There were a few small fish about a few inches long and some barracuda. There are some plants starting to attach to the ship as well, but besides that it's nice and clean on the outside. Most people will recommend some form of exposure protection like a rashguard, but I faired alright with board shorts and a t-shirt. Also, the weather was sunny with a small wind and low 90's.
--------------------
7/15/09:
The first was through Dive Key West. They required an existing dive below 60' in order to go on the dive. The cost was $110 which included tanks and weights (I had all other equipment). There were 8 divers, 2 instructors, the DM and the Captain.
We were placed in buddy pairs and an instructor was assigned to each group of 4. The instructor described the dive plan to us including bottom time, safety stop and the like. When we arrived at at the site, we tied off at the mooring ball attached to the bow (the furthest east mooring ball). We then jumped in and followed the tag line to the mooring line. The currents are quite strong here and it was emphasized several times not to let go of the rope. While following the tag line we basically used our hands / arms to move through the water (with the current, kicking wasn't very helpful). Once at the mooring line we dropped down, again hand over hand with our body being pushed out horizontal by the current like a flag in the wind. Once down to the platform of the boat the superstructure seems to break up the current a bit which makes it a bit easier to swim around without holding on.
Then during the dive the instructor led us around the ship, basically to the mid way point along the port side of the ship, crossed over and let the current carry us back. We ascended when air was running low for one team member. We were diving air and at that depth the NDL limit is between 15 and 20 minutes which really just gives you a quick tour of about half the boat. There's a flag tied up close to the bow of the ship that waves nicely in the current. It was nice having an instructor there when I didn't have much knowledge of the boat, but at the same time I wanted a little less hand holding.
The next dive we did was Eastern Dry Rocks which is a reef, although I really just wanted to do the Vandy again.
--------------------
7/17/09:
My second trip out to the Vandenberg was with Captain's Corner (as per a recommendation found here on SB, thanks guys). This trip was $85 with tanks and weights. The boat was definitely a cattle boat by any definition. Also on the boat was a whole group of about 15 technical divers who were diving doubles with stage and pony bottles. Normally I believe this dive charter decides between a double dip and a second dive on a reef, but considering the number of people in doubles I was glad to find out that this would be a "double dip" day.
This time around it was much more of a "do what you want" kind of setup. They basically let us buddy up with whoever we could find and choose our own plan. Luckily, I had done the dive before so I had a decent idea of what to expect and planned similar bottom times. This time out though we ended up at one of the middle mooring balls.
For the first dive we decided to head east (with the current) to the bow of the ship down the port side, and then return to where we descended along the starboard side. I think it's always easier to swim into the current at the beginning of the dive rather than the end, but we chose to do this so we could see the whole ship and have our second dive be easier. This was similar to the area I explored my first time out so there wasn't much new here.
We took about and hour surface interval and then started our second dive.
On the second dive we dropped down, and headed up the port side into the current towards the stern of the boat. It is on this section of the boat that I finally got to see the huge satellite dish that I've seen in the pictures. When we made it to the stern, there was very little in front of us to break the current up so it was quite strong swimming across the ship. It is interesting swimming at such and angle to try to fight the current. There's also an open area near the stern of the ship that as I crossed I finned extra hard as I did not want to get pushed into it. Once on the starboard side of the ship we simply did a drift back to the middle of the ship, performed our safety stops and got back on the boat.
--------------------
All in all it was a fun dive and I will definitely have to return to see what the ship turns into over the years. Next time I'll do my research in advance and make sure I'm on a "double dip" from the get-go. Hope this information helps anyone looking to go out on the Vandy or just curious what it's like.
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Seriously, thanks for the report. That sounds like the DKW that I know and, well... that I know. 
