King Kong Matt
Contributor
The short version? Dive the Idene with Spectre, Raxafarian, and Norteastwrecks on a beautiful weekend with flat calm seas...you will have fun...there will be post-dive beers.
Yeah, I thought you might like the somewhat longer version too.
The four of us met in Charlestown, RI at around 7:30 AM to begin a great day of adventuring. We were diving off a six-pack, the Tresta, captained by Jim Beardsley.
The first dive was the Idene. After a nice long ride out to the wreck (about 4 miles SE of Block Island, RI), we did some dive planning, agreed on a couple of critical numbers and began to suit up. Spectre and I were buddied. Rax and Northeast were buddied.
Beginning the descent, there is little/no current...but I still got a few butterflies in my stomach. I have never done a New England wreck, and I haven't dove to 90 feet in a while and never in New England. The worst moment comes at about 50 feet. You can't see the surface and you can't see the ocean floor...
And then...a little better visibility, better still, and...there she is...a beautiful fishing vessel sitting completely upright in the sand, totally intact. Total tranquility (partially nitrogen-induced
) sets in. This is why we dive...
Spectre and my air consumption rates are pretty dang similar. We both were diving air in LP 80s which gave us enough gas for all the bottom time we could have at 90 fsw without breaking NDL. We did a complete tour of the boat...a swimthrough of the stern hold, and a descent into the main cargo hold (open) in the center of the vessel. We still had enough gas for a very slow ascent and a good long safety stop in the 20-15 fsw range. Final profile looked something like 31 min total dive time @ max depth of 90 fsw.
We planned our dive, and we dove our plan...thanks to Jeff for giving a great tour and being a great buddy for a wreck newbie.
After almost two hours surface interval, we started gearing up for our second dive, the Mary Arnold and Progress (a tug and barge collided in 1940 - both sank within 150 ft of one another).
The tide was well on its way out, giving us a little bit of current to work with. The visibility wasn't as good as on the Idene, and the age of the wreck meant that the boat wasn't nearly as intact as the Idene, but it was still a great dive.
Spectre and I spent a good portion of the dive trying to match wits with a lobster that had clearly seen more than a couple of divers in his day. He was not falling for any of our tricks...without the tickle stick, we had to go our separate ways.
Final profile was something like 35-40 mins (my computer is not within reach) at a max depth of 55 fsw.
Dang it...I think I want to be a wreck diver when I grow up!
As always, I will let the rest of the guys tell their stories. Thanks again to Jeff, Ken, and Dan. Today was the best.
Yeah, I thought you might like the somewhat longer version too.
The four of us met in Charlestown, RI at around 7:30 AM to begin a great day of adventuring. We were diving off a six-pack, the Tresta, captained by Jim Beardsley.
The first dive was the Idene. After a nice long ride out to the wreck (about 4 miles SE of Block Island, RI), we did some dive planning, agreed on a couple of critical numbers and began to suit up. Spectre and I were buddied. Rax and Northeast were buddied.
Beginning the descent, there is little/no current...but I still got a few butterflies in my stomach. I have never done a New England wreck, and I haven't dove to 90 feet in a while and never in New England. The worst moment comes at about 50 feet. You can't see the surface and you can't see the ocean floor...
And then...a little better visibility, better still, and...there she is...a beautiful fishing vessel sitting completely upright in the sand, totally intact. Total tranquility (partially nitrogen-induced
) sets in. This is why we dive...Spectre and my air consumption rates are pretty dang similar. We both were diving air in LP 80s which gave us enough gas for all the bottom time we could have at 90 fsw without breaking NDL. We did a complete tour of the boat...a swimthrough of the stern hold, and a descent into the main cargo hold (open) in the center of the vessel. We still had enough gas for a very slow ascent and a good long safety stop in the 20-15 fsw range. Final profile looked something like 31 min total dive time @ max depth of 90 fsw.
We planned our dive, and we dove our plan...thanks to Jeff for giving a great tour and being a great buddy for a wreck newbie.
After almost two hours surface interval, we started gearing up for our second dive, the Mary Arnold and Progress (a tug and barge collided in 1940 - both sank within 150 ft of one another).
The tide was well on its way out, giving us a little bit of current to work with. The visibility wasn't as good as on the Idene, and the age of the wreck meant that the boat wasn't nearly as intact as the Idene, but it was still a great dive.
Spectre and I spent a good portion of the dive trying to match wits with a lobster that had clearly seen more than a couple of divers in his day. He was not falling for any of our tricks...without the tickle stick, we had to go our separate ways.
Final profile was something like 35-40 mins (my computer is not within reach) at a max depth of 55 fsw.
Dang it...I think I want to be a wreck diver when I grow up!
As always, I will let the rest of the guys tell their stories. Thanks again to Jeff, Ken, and Dan. Today was the best.
