AquaDog
Guest
Headed out on the calm Gulf of Mexico, nearly 60 miles off-shore to dive this wreck. Its a natural wreck having sunk in 1993 in the No-Name Storm of '93. Seven of her crew were lost at sea. She's approx. 220 feet in length, lies on her starboard side in 120 fsw. This was a three tank all day excursion so we had plenty of time. The plan was to dive the wreck with the first two tanks, then another location for the third.
Upon initial descent onto the wreck, two medium-sized blacktip sharks were spotted near the stern. But they quickly disappeared upon our arrival. The great Barracuda were stacked like cords of wood from the surface to the wreck. And I've always said that the Gulf's barracuda are much bigger that the Atlantic's barracuda. Don't know why, they just are. The site is lively with marine life, everything from giant Goliath Groupers (Is Giant and Goliath an oxymoron?) to amberjacks, tarpons, and cobia.
We spent most of the first tank just prodding about on the wreck's exterior, seeking out a viable entry point. But most of the entries are covered in cables, ropes, twisted metal and heaping amounts of monofilament.
The only viable entry point we could locate was through the cargo hold. This was a very cool spot as it is huge and cavernous. Unfortunately, there's been alot of the structure has collapsed since I last dove this wreck in '99. So pentetration was not a good idea. Still, we enjoyed the dives on the wreck due to the high volume of marine life. I can't help but mention that when I dove this wreck in '99, I was buzzed by a Manta Ray.
It was a good day of diving. It was a clear day, calm seas, and viz was pretty good at about 60 feet. The dive charter, Headhunter Adventures out of Ft. Myers Beach was descent. The boat was a 41 ft. Island Hopper that was comfortable and had some bunks below that we slept in during the 2 1/2 hour ride out to the site.
I'd recommend this dive to anyone who enjoys diving on natural wrecks, photogs, and spearfishing.
Dive hard,
AquaDog
Upon initial descent onto the wreck, two medium-sized blacktip sharks were spotted near the stern. But they quickly disappeared upon our arrival. The great Barracuda were stacked like cords of wood from the surface to the wreck. And I've always said that the Gulf's barracuda are much bigger that the Atlantic's barracuda. Don't know why, they just are. The site is lively with marine life, everything from giant Goliath Groupers (Is Giant and Goliath an oxymoron?) to amberjacks, tarpons, and cobia.
We spent most of the first tank just prodding about on the wreck's exterior, seeking out a viable entry point. But most of the entries are covered in cables, ropes, twisted metal and heaping amounts of monofilament.
The only viable entry point we could locate was through the cargo hold. This was a very cool spot as it is huge and cavernous. Unfortunately, there's been alot of the structure has collapsed since I last dove this wreck in '99. So pentetration was not a good idea. Still, we enjoyed the dives on the wreck due to the high volume of marine life. I can't help but mention that when I dove this wreck in '99, I was buzzed by a Manta Ray.
It was a good day of diving. It was a clear day, calm seas, and viz was pretty good at about 60 feet. The dive charter, Headhunter Adventures out of Ft. Myers Beach was descent. The boat was a 41 ft. Island Hopper that was comfortable and had some bunks below that we slept in during the 2 1/2 hour ride out to the site.
I'd recommend this dive to anyone who enjoys diving on natural wrecks, photogs, and spearfishing.
Dive hard,
AquaDog
