Wil
Contributor
Well, it was another absolutely beautiful Virginia Beach day on the water! A group of five departed Vinings Landing Marina (Little Creek inlet) at 1115 this morning in order to dive a new wreck at high tide. The trip outbound was only about 7nm and was a very short ride with smooth seas.
We found this "new" wreck in only about 20 ft of water off Cape Henry a couple of weeks ago. Using the boat's side scan unit and trolling 1/4 mile off the beach we found the unmistakeable outline of a vessel. We selected high tide (1424) in order to get an inflow of cleaner ocean water over the wreck in the hopes of better visibility.
We relocated the wreck after two side scan passes and attempted to hook it with the wreck anchor. The third toss was the charm (the previous 2 hooked but came free) and we geared up. Our plan was simple and two fold; identify if the wreck was wood or steel, and mark the ends for a better GPS fix. Did I mention how beautiful a Va Beach day on the water it was? The Atlantic Porpoise diving all around, the Mehaden splashing in an attempt to get away...then WE got in the water...
Visibility "on top" was about 3ft. "On Top" meant the first 3 ft down from the surface...after that visibility dropped further until you reach the dark abyss at about 16ft. Visibility on the bottom was a generous 5 inches (yes, inches) and provided a great opportunity to work on hand and line signals with your dive buddy. Kevin (Kevin K) and I teamed up for this adventure after he declared all he wanted to do "was get wet". We did that...for about 10 minutes before calling it a day.
The wreck is an old wooden vessel. Probably foundered on Cape Henry before going down about 1/4 mile offshore. It's bow points to the east as if trying to make to sea but it never reached deeper water. Relief around the hull ranges from 2-3ft with the bow most likely the highest point at 4ft. Stan was great at clawing his way forward and marking the bow with a marker buoy - at which point he declared the visibility had substantially improved to 3ft. There's not much for the taking on this wreck. Most of the hardware found was steel and not bronze. Which indicates the wreck is probably from the late 1800s or early 1900s. The wreck may have burned before sinking, I'll know more after examining some of the wood and metal pulled off the wreck.
It's time to mentioned again what a beautiful Va Beach day it was on the water. Warm 80deg water, calm seas, and good divers made the day. The thing to remember about wreck diving on new discoveries, you never know what you'll find! Two things are for certain, I'll keep looking for wrecks and we'll keep diving them.
Safe Diving,
Wil
We found this "new" wreck in only about 20 ft of water off Cape Henry a couple of weeks ago. Using the boat's side scan unit and trolling 1/4 mile off the beach we found the unmistakeable outline of a vessel. We selected high tide (1424) in order to get an inflow of cleaner ocean water over the wreck in the hopes of better visibility.
We relocated the wreck after two side scan passes and attempted to hook it with the wreck anchor. The third toss was the charm (the previous 2 hooked but came free) and we geared up. Our plan was simple and two fold; identify if the wreck was wood or steel, and mark the ends for a better GPS fix. Did I mention how beautiful a Va Beach day on the water it was? The Atlantic Porpoise diving all around, the Mehaden splashing in an attempt to get away...then WE got in the water...
Visibility "on top" was about 3ft. "On Top" meant the first 3 ft down from the surface...after that visibility dropped further until you reach the dark abyss at about 16ft. Visibility on the bottom was a generous 5 inches (yes, inches) and provided a great opportunity to work on hand and line signals with your dive buddy. Kevin (Kevin K) and I teamed up for this adventure after he declared all he wanted to do "was get wet". We did that...for about 10 minutes before calling it a day.
The wreck is an old wooden vessel. Probably foundered on Cape Henry before going down about 1/4 mile offshore. It's bow points to the east as if trying to make to sea but it never reached deeper water. Relief around the hull ranges from 2-3ft with the bow most likely the highest point at 4ft. Stan was great at clawing his way forward and marking the bow with a marker buoy - at which point he declared the visibility had substantially improved to 3ft. There's not much for the taking on this wreck. Most of the hardware found was steel and not bronze. Which indicates the wreck is probably from the late 1800s or early 1900s. The wreck may have burned before sinking, I'll know more after examining some of the wood and metal pulled off the wreck.
It's time to mentioned again what a beautiful Va Beach day it was on the water. Warm 80deg water, calm seas, and good divers made the day. The thing to remember about wreck diving on new discoveries, you never know what you'll find! Two things are for certain, I'll keep looking for wrecks and we'll keep diving them.
Safe Diving,
Wil
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