Incredible Wreck Dive

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ron_cooper

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Messages
146
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Location
Fort McMurray, Alta. Canada
# of dives
100 - 199
First I should say that I am new to diving but plan to do as much as possible. I resently got to do my AOW in Newfoundland and was able to dive on two of the four wrecks located just off of Bell Island in Conception Bay. These ships were sunk by two different German subs during WWII. They are incredible dives and in very good shape for being submergerd for sixty sum years. The visibility I thought was quite good (30-40ft) but the guys I was diving with told me that they have seen it much clearer. The water temp was very cold (44 degrees F) but I was still able to dive wet to say I have done it and know what to expect. I was able to get to see many of the items that went down with the ship. The machine guns and ammo can still be seen, talking to a couple of the other divers that penetrated the ship told me there are still a lot of other items still in the ship where the would have been used, such as a rolling pin in the galley, or prop in a cargo hold. Two of the guys I had dove with had been there two weeks and had been diving the ships the whole time, they had nothing but phrase for the site. Even though this is only my third and fourth wreck dives I would recommend it and l definetly will be going back to do more dives. I will be trying to get more diving in a home but we have almost no good diving around home unless you drive for about five hours. But where there is a will there is a way.
 
Ron I'm from just off Conception Bay (Paradise) and grew up with my father having a sailboat in Conception Bay. So I've know about the wrecks all my life. I've also been blessed with whale watching, seeing bergs almost every year (there aren't that many around some years), catching Cunners off Kelly's Island (the medium size island in the bay) and seeing Sea Gull Chicks on top of Little Bell (the smallest of the 3 islands). So it was a treat when I got down to see the wrecks. Of the 4 of them my favorite is the Saganaga. I'm not really one for looking at the hulks that man so wantonly destroyed in a "safe" Bay with its accompanied loss of life I can pay homage to that by remembering what happened and reminding people that these ships are memorials to people who lost their lives in the sea during war and should be respected.

My thrill is to see how nature (the Sea is reclaiming these shipwrecks for herself. I like seeing the growth on the ships and how life returns. The Saganaga has the most growth on it. More anemones, fish,..... that's good to see. It's also interesting to see how little life has returned to the others. I wonder why? The depths aren't so different. They're not that far apart and should have similar water (salinity, temperature, light, nutrient concentrations, and currents) conditions. Anyone have any guesses as to why 1 of the 3 that I've been on should have a lot of growth and the others not???

Enjoy the water when you can.

Sue
 
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