Wil
Contributor
WOW, what a nice day on the water! We departed Vinings Landing Marine Center (Little Creek) at 0700 with three divers onboard (myself, Kevin_K, and TnTdive). Once past the Cape Henry area we opened the throttle and made the 40nm trip cruising at 36 knots. Seas were only swells 1-2ft.
We dropped the hook at the Clark and thought we had a good hold. I suited up and with my double 112's made the first dive solo. I found the wreck anchor off the wreck and in the sand. So, out comes the compass and wreck reel and after about 50-75ft I found the most forward section of the main part of the wreck. The Clark is a Liberty Ship sunk as part of the Virgibnia artificial reef project in the 1970's. The aft 3/4's of the wreck remains upright and on a heading of 190deg. The forward bow section has flipped and rests upside down with an intact debris field between the two section.
Surface temps were in the upper 70's and below the thremocline at 41ft the temps dropped to about 50deg. Visibility ABOVE the thermocline was almost 75ft, below I found it about 25ft. Still not too bad for diving these wrecks. There was little current and only a light wind on the surface. I decided to run a wreck reel from the anchor (which wasn't moving) to the Clark's hull. After tying off I ran another reel forward to the Bow break to give Kevin and Ted something to follow as they got their bearings on the wreck. Kevin and Ted splashed after I'd gotten back on the boat.
For our second dive we moved 2.5nm to the Luckenbach and found the Pelican II (Cap'n Dave Letourneau) already tied in and divers over the side. We took a position ahead of him and off to one side. As before, I made the first dive to tie us in and found our wreck anchor well placed in the debris field. "Well placed" means it's securely hooked and the chain has snagged everything within it's reach. I spent the first 10mins moving the anchor, untangling the chain, and repositioning it closer to the lee side of the wreck. Hoping that once we were ready to go, it would be a rather simple exercise to cast it free.
Conditions on the Luckenbach were similar to the first dive. A thermocline around 41ft and temps on the bottom between 50-47deg. A slight bit more current than earlier but also better visibility (30ft). I ran a long wreck reel to the bow section and made the up current swim back to the anchor line.
Kevin and Ted made their dive and moved the anchor closer to the sand before coming back up. Once Kevin was on the ladder Ted popped up and let me know he was heading back down to reposition the anchor. He wasn't satisfied the hook and chain was fully clear of the debris. It made the difference in pulling the wreck anchor free with engines or simply winching it in.
With all lines in, ladder stowed, and diver list complete we started the engines and headed back to Little Creek at more than 44knots....a real quick trip!
Safe Diving,
Wil
We dropped the hook at the Clark and thought we had a good hold. I suited up and with my double 112's made the first dive solo. I found the wreck anchor off the wreck and in the sand. So, out comes the compass and wreck reel and after about 50-75ft I found the most forward section of the main part of the wreck. The Clark is a Liberty Ship sunk as part of the Virgibnia artificial reef project in the 1970's. The aft 3/4's of the wreck remains upright and on a heading of 190deg. The forward bow section has flipped and rests upside down with an intact debris field between the two section.
Surface temps were in the upper 70's and below the thremocline at 41ft the temps dropped to about 50deg. Visibility ABOVE the thermocline was almost 75ft, below I found it about 25ft. Still not too bad for diving these wrecks. There was little current and only a light wind on the surface. I decided to run a wreck reel from the anchor (which wasn't moving) to the Clark's hull. After tying off I ran another reel forward to the Bow break to give Kevin and Ted something to follow as they got their bearings on the wreck. Kevin and Ted splashed after I'd gotten back on the boat.
For our second dive we moved 2.5nm to the Luckenbach and found the Pelican II (Cap'n Dave Letourneau) already tied in and divers over the side. We took a position ahead of him and off to one side. As before, I made the first dive to tie us in and found our wreck anchor well placed in the debris field. "Well placed" means it's securely hooked and the chain has snagged everything within it's reach. I spent the first 10mins moving the anchor, untangling the chain, and repositioning it closer to the lee side of the wreck. Hoping that once we were ready to go, it would be a rather simple exercise to cast it free.
Conditions on the Luckenbach were similar to the first dive. A thermocline around 41ft and temps on the bottom between 50-47deg. A slight bit more current than earlier but also better visibility (30ft). I ran a long wreck reel to the bow section and made the up current swim back to the anchor line.
Kevin and Ted made their dive and moved the anchor closer to the sand before coming back up. Once Kevin was on the ladder Ted popped up and let me know he was heading back down to reposition the anchor. He wasn't satisfied the hook and chain was fully clear of the debris. It made the difference in pulling the wreck anchor free with engines or simply winching it in.
With all lines in, ladder stowed, and diver list complete we started the engines and headed back to Little Creek at more than 44knots....a real quick trip!
Safe Diving,
Wil
