Lefty Writer
Contributor
Here is a trip report of our dive club's recent attempt to dive the Kinta S.
This past weekend, six of us from our dive club Bay Area Divers took a trip to Corpus Christi to dive the Kinta S wreck. We booked a two-tank dive several weeks in advance with a local dive shop, who would provide a local divemaster and arrange for the dive boat. This trip report represents the collective opinion of our group, and should not be construed as anything else but that.
Our dive was set for Saturday, 27 June, leaving from a local marina. Our original report time at the dock was 0600, but the dive shop worked with us on this, and allowed us to report a bit later in the morning.
Four of us wanted to dive with Nitrox, and arranged with the dive shop to have the tanks ready for pick up the day before. One nice aspect of this dive shop is that Nitrox and air are the same price, a huge bonus for those of us who choose to dive with this gas.
Upon arrival at the marina Saturday morning, our divemaster met us and introduced us to the boat captain and his son. The divemaster also mentioned that this would be his first trip to the Kinta S. The captain and his son were very helpful, and assisted us with loading our dive gear onto the boat, a 30 HydroCat. Due to the setup of the boat, we assembled our dive gear on the dock and handed our scuba units as well as our second tanks over to the boat crew.
After a short safety briefing we were underway to the dive site. Even though the wreck is just seven miles offshore, the trip itself was about an hour and a half due to the geography of the marina. NOAA forecasts for the local area called for 3 4 foot seas with occasional 5 foot swells. This was definitely the case as we made our way to the dive site. In my opinion, that was marginal at best. It seems that the occasional 5 foot swells were more frequent than what would reasonably be called occasional.
We arrived at the mooring buoy and quickly noticed a strong surface current as the captain tried to get close enough to the buoy to allow the divemaster to dive to the wreck and tie in. Mooring on the buoy is not allowed. For some reason, the divemaster splashed in on the downcurrent side of the buoy, and immediately struggled to kick his way to the buoy. The surface current was strong enough that he actually lost headway. The captain then had his son tie off the mooring line to a cleat and dragged the divemaster on the surface to the buoy.
During this evolution, the captain was apparently training his son on proper deckhand duties and techniques. The son is probably 15 years old or thereabouts. I mention this only to provide context to the situation. While not apparently proficient with basic boat handling techniques, the son did appear to try his best at what he was instructed to do. I do question whether or not this was the appropriate time and place to train a deckhand without having another more qualified deckhand present to perform these essential tasks.
By my estimate, the whole procedure from start to finish, when the divemaster surfaced, took more than half an hour to complete. The divemaster was visibly exhausted after the first attempt and subsequent dive to tie in to the wreck. He reported that there was a strong subsurface current as well, with poor visibility. If you get more than an arms length from your buddy, youll lose sight of them, he reported. The captain then asked the divemaster if he thought the dive should be cancelled based on the conditions. The divemaster (wisely, in retrospect) decided that it would be safer not to dive, so he cancelled it before we even started preparing to dive. One of our group stated he heard from the divemaster that to date they hadnt had a successful dive on the Kinta S. This made all of us question the suitability of the site. Granted, there is nothing that can be done after the fact, but this should be considered when making a decision to book a dive here. After a brief consultation, the captain then offered to take us to one of the nearby rigs to see if conditions were any better. We were soon underway to one of the rigs a few miles away.
As we arrived at the rig, we noticed the sea state had not improved. We were watching the wave action against the rigs legs. It was apparent that there was a strong surface current here as well. Once again, the son appeared to have difficulty using a hook to secure the boat to the rig. The aluminum hook used to capture the rig was bent after one attempt, and the captain had to try to bend another curve back into it for another attempt. After another couple of tries, the hook was finally set and the boat tied off.
The divemaster splashed back in to evaluate the conditions and upon surfacing reported essentially the same as the previous site. Based on this, he then called off any more attempts and we headed back to the marina. As we arrived at the marina, we were instructed to stay on the boat as the captain maneuvered it onto the trailer. We were then towed to a parking lot and the dive ladder was lowered to allow us to disembark. The height from the last rung to the ground is significantly higher than what would be considered a comfortable step, and one must exercise caution when taking that last step. My own opinion is this method is an accident waiting to happen.
We drove back to the dive shop to return our tanks and were happy to hear that they would refund our trip fees. This was very much appreciated by all of us and speaks highly of their commitment to good customer service.
Overall, it was disappointing not to be able to dive the Kinta S. Given the conditions, however, this was the wisest choice to make. We do wonder, though, that given the marginal conditions to begin with, whether or not the captain should have cancelled the trip before we even began.
This past weekend, six of us from our dive club Bay Area Divers took a trip to Corpus Christi to dive the Kinta S wreck. We booked a two-tank dive several weeks in advance with a local dive shop, who would provide a local divemaster and arrange for the dive boat. This trip report represents the collective opinion of our group, and should not be construed as anything else but that.
Our dive was set for Saturday, 27 June, leaving from a local marina. Our original report time at the dock was 0600, but the dive shop worked with us on this, and allowed us to report a bit later in the morning.
Four of us wanted to dive with Nitrox, and arranged with the dive shop to have the tanks ready for pick up the day before. One nice aspect of this dive shop is that Nitrox and air are the same price, a huge bonus for those of us who choose to dive with this gas.
Upon arrival at the marina Saturday morning, our divemaster met us and introduced us to the boat captain and his son. The divemaster also mentioned that this would be his first trip to the Kinta S. The captain and his son were very helpful, and assisted us with loading our dive gear onto the boat, a 30 HydroCat. Due to the setup of the boat, we assembled our dive gear on the dock and handed our scuba units as well as our second tanks over to the boat crew.
After a short safety briefing we were underway to the dive site. Even though the wreck is just seven miles offshore, the trip itself was about an hour and a half due to the geography of the marina. NOAA forecasts for the local area called for 3 4 foot seas with occasional 5 foot swells. This was definitely the case as we made our way to the dive site. In my opinion, that was marginal at best. It seems that the occasional 5 foot swells were more frequent than what would reasonably be called occasional.
We arrived at the mooring buoy and quickly noticed a strong surface current as the captain tried to get close enough to the buoy to allow the divemaster to dive to the wreck and tie in. Mooring on the buoy is not allowed. For some reason, the divemaster splashed in on the downcurrent side of the buoy, and immediately struggled to kick his way to the buoy. The surface current was strong enough that he actually lost headway. The captain then had his son tie off the mooring line to a cleat and dragged the divemaster on the surface to the buoy.
During this evolution, the captain was apparently training his son on proper deckhand duties and techniques. The son is probably 15 years old or thereabouts. I mention this only to provide context to the situation. While not apparently proficient with basic boat handling techniques, the son did appear to try his best at what he was instructed to do. I do question whether or not this was the appropriate time and place to train a deckhand without having another more qualified deckhand present to perform these essential tasks.
By my estimate, the whole procedure from start to finish, when the divemaster surfaced, took more than half an hour to complete. The divemaster was visibly exhausted after the first attempt and subsequent dive to tie in to the wreck. He reported that there was a strong subsurface current as well, with poor visibility. If you get more than an arms length from your buddy, youll lose sight of them, he reported. The captain then asked the divemaster if he thought the dive should be cancelled based on the conditions. The divemaster (wisely, in retrospect) decided that it would be safer not to dive, so he cancelled it before we even started preparing to dive. One of our group stated he heard from the divemaster that to date they hadnt had a successful dive on the Kinta S. This made all of us question the suitability of the site. Granted, there is nothing that can be done after the fact, but this should be considered when making a decision to book a dive here. After a brief consultation, the captain then offered to take us to one of the nearby rigs to see if conditions were any better. We were soon underway to one of the rigs a few miles away.
As we arrived at the rig, we noticed the sea state had not improved. We were watching the wave action against the rigs legs. It was apparent that there was a strong surface current here as well. Once again, the son appeared to have difficulty using a hook to secure the boat to the rig. The aluminum hook used to capture the rig was bent after one attempt, and the captain had to try to bend another curve back into it for another attempt. After another couple of tries, the hook was finally set and the boat tied off.
The divemaster splashed back in to evaluate the conditions and upon surfacing reported essentially the same as the previous site. Based on this, he then called off any more attempts and we headed back to the marina. As we arrived at the marina, we were instructed to stay on the boat as the captain maneuvered it onto the trailer. We were then towed to a parking lot and the dive ladder was lowered to allow us to disembark. The height from the last rung to the ground is significantly higher than what would be considered a comfortable step, and one must exercise caution when taking that last step. My own opinion is this method is an accident waiting to happen.
We drove back to the dive shop to return our tanks and were happy to hear that they would refund our trip fees. This was very much appreciated by all of us and speaks highly of their commitment to good customer service.
Overall, it was disappointing not to be able to dive the Kinta S. Given the conditions, however, this was the wisest choice to make. We do wonder, though, that given the marginal conditions to begin with, whether or not the captain should have cancelled the trip before we even began.
