RAD Diver
Contributor
Finally after 3 weeks of trips being blown the weather Gods smiled upon us with a favorable forecast to make the trip out. Of course we all know how often these forecasts go down the crapper. Am I being overly cynical, not in my experiences.
With a trip this far the charter was to leave the dock at midnight Friday & be back at the dock Sunday by 5pm, the customers were coming from points North that would require a 5 -7 hour trip home.
We left the dock right at 11:30 for the 54 mile trip, seas were as called for 2-3 & the "Under Pressure" made for a very smooth ride out, 5am had us throwing the hook & was successful on the 1st try, time for JT & I to get in some sleep.
3 hours later everyone started to awake & we were still dealing with some strong winds, but the seas were not building, a few white caps, but not bad.
The whole charter were on re-breathers & planning 2 hour run times, they were all very experienced divers so the 1st pair down would tie in for us.
Getting everyone geared up was an experience, bail out bottles galore, everyone had their own way of how they did things so it took me a while to get the pattern down.
Finally I got my chance to dive once 4 of the customers were back on board, sweet dive, Max depth 158 bottom time 20 min. 61 min total run time. Being on the wreck of this magnitude by myself was incredible, vis was about 30 ft, & since I have only been on the site once before over 2 years ago I decided to run a reel. Time was up too soon of course.
After a 4 hour SI everyone was set to do it again & I had to wait until the last pair was on the line so I could pull the hook.
2nd dive I went in a different direction, towards the bow, this time with no reel after getting the layout from JT I think I had a good idea what I had planned, much more relaxed on this dive & had no problems running the wreck & finding the anchor. Which not finding it would have made pulling it kind of tough.
The decision was made to get closer to shore & do a night dive, then move to another site for a dive early Sunday & be back at the dock a little earlier than planned. Staying at the OV for this plan was undoable.
We ended up on the Morgan, JT & I dropped & set the hook. 3 of the customers making the dive would tie in & I would pull it as they came up the line.
Seas had dropped to nothing & I mean flat & glassy.
A night dive solo on the Morgan, hmm what a thought, was having a nice surreal dive the bugs were coming out of their hiding spaces. I saw a few nice sized ones & stopped to watch 1. Somehow my line got caught on my fin, then around my (get this) Safety reel. I had to stop, remove my safety reel & untangle myself. The bug was gone by now.
At my turn time, I was making my way back when I see that bug again. Never tried to grab 1 so I decide this was my chance, man they move quick & I was quite surprised that I lost it. Not as easy as talked about.
Anyway back at the anchor I am right on time, 10 minutes of deco awaits. Nice dive.
We then moved to the Luchenback, once again JT & I drop & set the anchor. Not that we needed to the sea was so flat.
This morning I got up & as everyone was having breakfast I geared up & went to tie in & do a dive. Vis was 15ft at most but warm, 66 on the bottom. I ran a nice easy profile with a mere 5 min of deco before returning to the surface to give my report.
When all divers back or on the line I jumped to untie, but didn't do a dive, they needed to get on the road & the conditions were not that great anyway.
Seas were still glass with a few long rollers thrown in, I have never seen Cape Henry Shoals so flat. Finally they got a forecast right.:cool2:
With a trip this far the charter was to leave the dock at midnight Friday & be back at the dock Sunday by 5pm, the customers were coming from points North that would require a 5 -7 hour trip home.
We left the dock right at 11:30 for the 54 mile trip, seas were as called for 2-3 & the "Under Pressure" made for a very smooth ride out, 5am had us throwing the hook & was successful on the 1st try, time for JT & I to get in some sleep.
3 hours later everyone started to awake & we were still dealing with some strong winds, but the seas were not building, a few white caps, but not bad.
The whole charter were on re-breathers & planning 2 hour run times, they were all very experienced divers so the 1st pair down would tie in for us.
Getting everyone geared up was an experience, bail out bottles galore, everyone had their own way of how they did things so it took me a while to get the pattern down.
Finally I got my chance to dive once 4 of the customers were back on board, sweet dive, Max depth 158 bottom time 20 min. 61 min total run time. Being on the wreck of this magnitude by myself was incredible, vis was about 30 ft, & since I have only been on the site once before over 2 years ago I decided to run a reel. Time was up too soon of course.
After a 4 hour SI everyone was set to do it again & I had to wait until the last pair was on the line so I could pull the hook.
2nd dive I went in a different direction, towards the bow, this time with no reel after getting the layout from JT I think I had a good idea what I had planned, much more relaxed on this dive & had no problems running the wreck & finding the anchor. Which not finding it would have made pulling it kind of tough.
The decision was made to get closer to shore & do a night dive, then move to another site for a dive early Sunday & be back at the dock a little earlier than planned. Staying at the OV for this plan was undoable.
We ended up on the Morgan, JT & I dropped & set the hook. 3 of the customers making the dive would tie in & I would pull it as they came up the line.
Seas had dropped to nothing & I mean flat & glassy.
A night dive solo on the Morgan, hmm what a thought, was having a nice surreal dive the bugs were coming out of their hiding spaces. I saw a few nice sized ones & stopped to watch 1. Somehow my line got caught on my fin, then around my (get this) Safety reel. I had to stop, remove my safety reel & untangle myself. The bug was gone by now.
At my turn time, I was making my way back when I see that bug again. Never tried to grab 1 so I decide this was my chance, man they move quick & I was quite surprised that I lost it. Not as easy as talked about.
Anyway back at the anchor I am right on time, 10 minutes of deco awaits. Nice dive.
We then moved to the Luchenback, once again JT & I drop & set the anchor. Not that we needed to the sea was so flat.
This morning I got up & as everyone was having breakfast I geared up & went to tie in & do a dive. Vis was 15ft at most but warm, 66 on the bottom. I ran a nice easy profile with a mere 5 min of deco before returning to the surface to give my report.
When all divers back or on the line I jumped to untie, but didn't do a dive, they needed to get on the road & the conditions were not that great anyway.
Seas were still glass with a few long rollers thrown in, I have never seen Cape Henry Shoals so flat. Finally they got a forecast right.:cool2:
