Oriskany early May

[MaxE]

You are correct and I stand corrected. The flight deck is about 145’ I believe all these depths are from when it was first went down and it has settled (I certainly could be wrong and it is current depth). What I remember from my one trip there is you are at like 80+ before you even get on the thing. My first dive of the day was to like 123’, and dive two 108’.

 

[flyingDiver75]

Top of the tower is 80-85' depending on what you declare the 'top'. For no-deco 1st visits, we usually recommend the following itineraries conditions permitting:

Dive 1: Quick dip to Flag Bridge at 130' then explore up and aft on the tower
Dive 2: Navigation Bridge at 110' including swim-through if comfortable, more exploring on the tower

Expect 20 - 35 minutes total dive time each dive on NITROX depending on the specific profile and SAC rate on Open Circuit.

Current temp is 67F so by May it will be somewhere between 70F and 80F -- a lot depends on whether patterns and currents between now and then. Visibility and currents are highly variable. Some are disappointed when the viz is low, but there's always plenty to explore.

Starboard (tower side) flight deck is 145-148 and the port side is about 138 as of a deco dive we did last month.

If you don't mind a smaller boat, Niuhi Dive Charters has a great captain and DMs Carl, Brian, & Barry.

 

[MaxE]

Niuhi Dive Charters[/URL] has a great captain and DMs Carl, Brian, & Barry.

I will say Capt. Andy and Niuhi is another great choice. (Same marina as H20 below.) As it’s a 6 pack with a private guide for the kids you may just have the whole boat to yourself.

 

[broncobowsher]

Thanks for the updates. The guy arranging the boat hasn't confirmed the boat yet. I'm still waiting on that.
We are planning on visiting the flight deck (we are all certified to 150'). The second dive will just be to the tower. Debates are on for how deep we want to plan to. So 110' at the Navigation bridge is a good spot? Guess I better figure the Nitrox for that and run it through V-planner and see what works for us. This is the reason I ask the locals. We were arbitrarily setting a 100' floor for the second depth, but if an extra 10' makes things better that is an easy change to adapt into the plans. Thank you for the insight.

 

[flyingDiver75]

Reviewing my tower map and dive profiles from last month:
- 100' will put you around the roof of the Nav Bridge (7th deck level). At that level, the major feature is the flight control station on the aft end of the tower. A lot of the structure of the flight control station is gone - but it's still a pretty area to explore.

- the 'floor' of the nav bridge was at 122' (6th deck level). The captain's sea cabin and chart room are along the port hallway aft of the bridge. 15 minutes or slightly less is sufficient to do a quick swim down the hallway and then you could ascend higher to get more time if you wanted to plan multi-level.

 

[DavidFL]

110521 USS Oriskany Dive Profile

• DavidFL
• Apr 13, 2018

I did a double-dip on the Oriskany wreck in May 2011, on OC with an EAN29 mix.

Water temps ranged from 69.8 to 82.4 F.

I deliberately stopped at 130'; the flight deck was visable. I was actually in the smokestacks, they have been opened up and I recall there was a very convenient exit/opening at or near 130ft; at 130 I was about "2 decks" up in the island superstructure from the flight deck. As a former naval aviator who spent a lot of time looking down dark stacks from above, swimming down the stacks is spooky!

My dive buddy bounced on down to the flight deck, at least in 2011 it was in fact about 145' where the flight deck and island superstructure meet.

The aft part of the level where the navigation bridge is on the superstructure was called "Pri-Fly"; it bulges out and overlooks the flight deck. The Air Boss and Mini-Boss and observers from each squadron in the air wing would have been up there during flight operations.

The navigation bridge is the conventional bridge; that's where the helm and engine order telegraph would have been; that's where the ship's Captain would spend most of his time. There is a very small "at sea" Captain's cabin aft of the navigation bridge.

The flag bridge is a level below the navigation bridge, and the signal bridge is a level above it.

You can easily spend two or more dives above / in / and around the island / superstructure and stay within recreational limits. I have heard from technical divers that penetrating and exploring the wreck below the flight deck is reasonably iffy; lots of deterioration inside from what I hear.

I spent considerable time on Oriskany when it was in commission, and landed an A7E on that deck once during a cross-deck exercise in the early 70s underway in the South China Sea.

 

[wreckdiversam]

I'm going to ben P-cola in early May. I always try to dive with Viking Diving. I've made several drives with Tim (the owner) and I always enjoy the experience.

 

[RyanT]

In early may, the water down deep can be a bit chilly. I wouldn't be surprised to see the upper 60's at the flight deck and deeper. On a relatively short dive, a 5mm would probably be fine, especially since the water will be a little warmer shallower. If I were doing a long tech dive, I might opt for something a little warmer.

 

[flyingDiver75]

Dove the Oriskany two days ago - temps are still in the mid-60's below 100'. We found a cold pocket of 63F on the port flight deck at 140'. Easier to show than describe the viz - it varied throughout the dive depending on our location.

 

[DavidFL]

@flyingDiver75 Nice vid! Did you have your own boat or use one of the local operators? Care to share the mix and profile you used?