RAD Diver
Contributor
Well after a good weekend in Cape Hatteras I was set to dive on Monday with Will on board his boat "Freedom".
I didn't get home from Hatteras until 9PM Sunday & had to set gear up for Monday, simple stuff like putting dry gloves on the drysuit, setting regs & BP/W up for singles, used doubles all weekend in Hatteras, & getting my light batteries charged back up.
Now I was pretty tired & had thoughts of canceling, but Will has called me several times & I always had to decline, so I figured I better go or risk not getting the calls anymore.
We were hoping to get to the Eureka, which sits about 60 miles east of Va.Beach so an early start was essential. 6AM was the meet time, so 4:45AM was the alarm time set to get up. I will just sleep on the way out. With light winds & 2 ft seas forecast it should be fine.
Well everything was going as planned & as we left the dock at 6:15 I went to the forward berth to relax & hopefully sleep. I knew going by Cape Henry would be rough as it usually is, but once past it the seas would smooth out. Ahhh the best laid plans.
Forecast was wrong, not 2 fters with an 8 sec. period, but 4fters with an 4 sec. period. Pretty rough in a 26 ft boat. It wasn't long before I was up. Finding that the Clark was the new destination.
On board was Will (the Captain & by the way a REAL Captain as in the US Navy) his wife Wendy (I believe a Commander in the US Navy) so we are in good hands, another diver I had never met named Mike, Kevin Kramer who I have known for a while & is presently trying to get his AN/DP cert., so a good diver, Matt Hannah who works at Dive Quarters & has been my instructor for several of my certs. & holds instructor cards for just about everything & also happens to be a real nice easy going guy. And of course me. So a very competent lot. This will be a good day.
Once on site I get geared 1st (as usual) & Will was ribbing me for wearing everything under the Sun on my kit, but I am diving Solo. I had planned to wait for Kevin who was getting geared up 2nd, but at 120fsw bottom time is precious. So once on the bottom I tied in & saw no one coming down the line so I was off.
I was pleasantly surprised with at least 25 ft of vis, but the bottom temp of 47 was not too pleasant, but my CF-200 & dry gloves took care of that end.
Not sure of how this wreck was laid out, but with decent vis I decided against running a line. I headed into the slight current & found the bow, ripped off & turtled, but resting right in front of the rest of the wreckage, just off set about 10ft. Lots of fish, not many Sea Bass big enough to shoot, (which is what Matt wanted to do), but some big Tautog. Of course they are out of season. I know 1 person who would have shot them anyway, but I know Matt wouldn't. I turned & headed for the stern, I past Matt & relayed that there was a huge school of fish at the bow & saw a HID light slightly shallower at deck level, must be Kevin. I got to the stern & it was torn up pretty good, not sure from what, but it gave plenty to explore. But after 35 min. on the bottom my computer was at 1 min to Deco. Time to leave. Back at the line, but crossed over the line into Deco, not totally unexpected. Ascending slowly I came out of Deco by the 60 ft mark.
During my safety stop Mike was just starting his dive & was waiting on Will. Mike seemed confused & was just drifting around, I caught his attention, asked if he was OK & he flashed the OK back. I then grabbed the line & motioned for him to take it. I didn't want him to lose site of it, would probably never find it again. Will then showed up & down they went. I finished a 5 min. stop & boarded "Freedom".
One by one they all started to come back & since they all help getting me & the early divers into the water, I played mate & helped them all out.
During the SI we all ate, laughed, told stories, some funny, some not so much, but all generally with a happy ending. A 1 1/2 hour SI & it was time to do it again.
Mike & Will decided not to do a 2nd dive.
I made a plan to go to the bow again, but this time to try the starboard side since I spent the entire 1st dive on the port side. I told Kevin if he was close enough to catch me & I would lead the dive.
But once again the best laid plans... On the way down I reached the end of the rope & got to the 10ft of chain on "Freedoms" anchor, but couldn't see the hook yet, the vis dropped to under 10 ft that quick.
I made the trip to the bow anyway & didn't run a line again. The Clark is pretty much in-tact & easy to navigate as long as you don't drift too far off of it. I went around the bow & started down the side & was accompanied by a few Seabass, they seemed to like my light. A small swim through & I was at the break. I looked back for any sign of Kevin, but just darkness back there. I continued to about amidship & decided that this would take too long & cut across the deck.
I ended up at the anchor by chance, mad a quick trip to the stern & then into the center line of the ship & went to the break which was back at the anchor. Whoops back into Deco, but just barely. I saw Matt & since he was pulling the anchor I made sure to tell him I was going up so he would have no doubt about doing so.
I can tell you last weekend I was pulling the hook & saw everyone , but 1 go up the line & it is an unnerving feeling pulling that hook not knowing everyone is safely on the line.
The seas which had been dying down all day were down to 2 ft with about an 8 sec. interval. So the ride in was smooth sailing & Will had that boat motoring.
A great day on the Atlantic & how anyone would pick a day at Lake Rawlings over this is just beyond my limited intelligence.
I didn't get home from Hatteras until 9PM Sunday & had to set gear up for Monday, simple stuff like putting dry gloves on the drysuit, setting regs & BP/W up for singles, used doubles all weekend in Hatteras, & getting my light batteries charged back up.
Now I was pretty tired & had thoughts of canceling, but Will has called me several times & I always had to decline, so I figured I better go or risk not getting the calls anymore.
We were hoping to get to the Eureka, which sits about 60 miles east of Va.Beach so an early start was essential. 6AM was the meet time, so 4:45AM was the alarm time set to get up. I will just sleep on the way out. With light winds & 2 ft seas forecast it should be fine.
Well everything was going as planned & as we left the dock at 6:15 I went to the forward berth to relax & hopefully sleep. I knew going by Cape Henry would be rough as it usually is, but once past it the seas would smooth out. Ahhh the best laid plans.
Forecast was wrong, not 2 fters with an 8 sec. period, but 4fters with an 4 sec. period. Pretty rough in a 26 ft boat. It wasn't long before I was up. Finding that the Clark was the new destination.
On board was Will (the Captain & by the way a REAL Captain as in the US Navy) his wife Wendy (I believe a Commander in the US Navy) so we are in good hands, another diver I had never met named Mike, Kevin Kramer who I have known for a while & is presently trying to get his AN/DP cert., so a good diver, Matt Hannah who works at Dive Quarters & has been my instructor for several of my certs. & holds instructor cards for just about everything & also happens to be a real nice easy going guy. And of course me. So a very competent lot. This will be a good day.
Once on site I get geared 1st (as usual) & Will was ribbing me for wearing everything under the Sun on my kit, but I am diving Solo. I had planned to wait for Kevin who was getting geared up 2nd, but at 120fsw bottom time is precious. So once on the bottom I tied in & saw no one coming down the line so I was off.
I was pleasantly surprised with at least 25 ft of vis, but the bottom temp of 47 was not too pleasant, but my CF-200 & dry gloves took care of that end.
Not sure of how this wreck was laid out, but with decent vis I decided against running a line. I headed into the slight current & found the bow, ripped off & turtled, but resting right in front of the rest of the wreckage, just off set about 10ft. Lots of fish, not many Sea Bass big enough to shoot, (which is what Matt wanted to do), but some big Tautog. Of course they are out of season. I know 1 person who would have shot them anyway, but I know Matt wouldn't. I turned & headed for the stern, I past Matt & relayed that there was a huge school of fish at the bow & saw a HID light slightly shallower at deck level, must be Kevin. I got to the stern & it was torn up pretty good, not sure from what, but it gave plenty to explore. But after 35 min. on the bottom my computer was at 1 min to Deco. Time to leave. Back at the line, but crossed over the line into Deco, not totally unexpected. Ascending slowly I came out of Deco by the 60 ft mark.
During my safety stop Mike was just starting his dive & was waiting on Will. Mike seemed confused & was just drifting around, I caught his attention, asked if he was OK & he flashed the OK back. I then grabbed the line & motioned for him to take it. I didn't want him to lose site of it, would probably never find it again. Will then showed up & down they went. I finished a 5 min. stop & boarded "Freedom".
One by one they all started to come back & since they all help getting me & the early divers into the water, I played mate & helped them all out.
During the SI we all ate, laughed, told stories, some funny, some not so much, but all generally with a happy ending. A 1 1/2 hour SI & it was time to do it again.
Mike & Will decided not to do a 2nd dive.
I made a plan to go to the bow again, but this time to try the starboard side since I spent the entire 1st dive on the port side. I told Kevin if he was close enough to catch me & I would lead the dive.
But once again the best laid plans... On the way down I reached the end of the rope & got to the 10ft of chain on "Freedoms" anchor, but couldn't see the hook yet, the vis dropped to under 10 ft that quick.
I made the trip to the bow anyway & didn't run a line again. The Clark is pretty much in-tact & easy to navigate as long as you don't drift too far off of it. I went around the bow & started down the side & was accompanied by a few Seabass, they seemed to like my light. A small swim through & I was at the break. I looked back for any sign of Kevin, but just darkness back there. I continued to about amidship & decided that this would take too long & cut across the deck.
I ended up at the anchor by chance, mad a quick trip to the stern & then into the center line of the ship & went to the break which was back at the anchor. Whoops back into Deco, but just barely. I saw Matt & since he was pulling the anchor I made sure to tell him I was going up so he would have no doubt about doing so.
I can tell you last weekend I was pulling the hook & saw everyone , but 1 go up the line & it is an unnerving feeling pulling that hook not knowing everyone is safely on the line.
The seas which had been dying down all day were down to 2 ft with about an 8 sec. interval. So the ride in was smooth sailing & Will had that boat motoring.
A great day on the Atlantic & how anyone would pick a day at Lake Rawlings over this is just beyond my limited intelligence.
