Marathon diving/lobstering advice, and advice for diving the Thunderbolt

[grey2112]

Been to the Keys many times with the wife (non-diver) and have done some reef diving, but in 2 weeks I'll be down with 2 boats, 9 divers, and we're wanting to lobster and do a dive on the Thunderbolt.

Any advice, especially for diving the Thunderbolt? Are there still buoys to tie off to there? Do a lot of fishermen drop lines around it and troll?

 

[matts1w]

Its been a few years, but there are two markers, bow and stern, about 20ish feet below the surface. If the vis is decent and your GPS numbers are accurate it is usually simple to spot them. Then again, I have seen local crews spend ten minutes searching. You will want to send someone down to tie off to either. The current can be pretty benign to pretty much ripping.

...and yes, sometimes people are fishing the wreck. Usually everyone (divers and anglers) is respectful of each other depending who is there first. Along with that, it can be a pretty big dive; having some local knowledge is a very good idea. Just sayin.'

Have a great trip.

 

[scubadada]

Hi grey2112,

My son and I just returned from the M/V Spree Tec/Rec wreck trip that included 2 dives on the Thunderbolt. The captain and DM on the Spree made tying into the bow mooring ball look easy, it's probably not always that way. The current was brisk, having a current line to the down line was definitely the way to go. The wreck is pretty small, under 200 feet long. The former cable layer/research vessel is upright and reasonably deep, both our rec dives had a max depth of about 120 feet. On 32% nitrox, our dives were limited by deco at 41 and 35 minutes. The large cable spool is on the bow. The superstructure offers some interesting swim through including 3 interconnecting stairways. The hold area and props are the deep portion of the dive and offered up a large nurse shark and a couple of Goliath Grouper.

Good diving, Craig