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Hydro Atlantic 174fsw.
Location Pompano Bch
Boat - Reef Cat-
May 27th (Memorial Day Monday) 2002
Today's Dive was a surprise.
For the past few days we had been anxiously watching the weather to see if we
could dive the Doc Demilly. Unfortunately this was not to be, but at
the last minute I found out about a dive that was going out to the Hydro
Atlantic, and I even had the perfect Mix ready for it..
Despite the big old waves about 10 divers loaded up the boat and headed
out to the wreck. We took the scenic route through the intracoastal
waterway to avoid the bumpy seas, and admired the million dollar homes and boats
(or should I say ships) that lined our route. The sun was
shining, and the weather was beautiful. I put on my suit as we
neared the inlet, not wanting to get wet before I get wet if you know what I
mean. This turned out to be a good idea. The seas were a beautiful
intense blue, but yes the waves were pretty big. Definitely some sixes
were awaiting us.
As we reached the wreck the captain skillfully positioned the boat and we
hooked it with the grapple. When we arrived down on the wreck everyone
chuckled at the perfect bulls-eye, the grapple hook had hooked an exact 4inch
diameter hole in the superstructure.. Perfect..!!! Based on earlier
reports we had expected a light current but when we looked at the huge float
ball it was half under the water with a big wake around it... Hmmm.... It
was decided to go up current and dive bomb the wreck using the line as a
reference.. a very smart idea, I certainly didn't want to use up all my gas
pulling down the line.
As I jumped into the water, I immediately turned and swam down as fast as
possible following the divers in front and the white line in the distance,
coming closer and closer to the line with the increasing depth. This was
one of the fastest descents I have made for a long time, barely time
to add air to my suit to release the squeeze as I went down. It is
not until the wreck comes into view that you realize just how fast you are
going, and then having to stop in time to avoid crashing into the deck.
Yet even at this speed, there was a good possibility of missing it as I came
into contact with the line about 20ft above the tie off point. This
wreck is huge but also has a great deal of machinery and stuff on deck making it
an impressive sight, especially today in the 60ft Vis. As I
arrived I checked my air and then chilled out for a second or two with my buddy
to get situated and deployed my light. We had already planned
a penetration dive so quickly we dropped off our deco bottles and descended
below decks via a HUGE hole. At this point I hit 172ft which turned
out to be the max depth for the dive, We entered the engine room and
carefully swam alongside what I think was the huge engine block.. I was
enormous. I noticed a great many tubes that looked like air
conditioning vents to me.. I was wondering if the engine had been air
conditioned or maybe these things had fallen down from the upper deck, since a
great deal of the upper decks were missing providing us with intermittent access
to the surface. The bottom of the ship was covered in
really thick layer of silt, and great care was necessary to avoid a complete
silt out. In some places, no finning at all and just pulling from
one object to the next. We reached the end of the ship (I assume it
was the stern but I didn't really know) and squeezed through to the other
side and back along the other side of the huge engine.
In front of me I saw several levels of walkways and metal steps and imagined how
if must have looked with people going up and down the steps before the
sinking. I hovered above the floor and looked up to see a huge
round circle through which light was penetrating.. as I looked up into it I saw
that indeed this could be another exit point if necessary. I
checked my gas and saw that I was approaching my thirds for penetration.. I saw
yet another doorway, but at this time elected to turn the dive. But I know
where I will be going next time.. :-)... I signaled Cristian,
and we slowly ascended to the deck level, and our original point of entry.
We had the longest BT and so
had been volunteered to unhook as we left.
Cristian and John wrestled the neatly attached grapple, and eventually
unhooked.. at 33 minutes, seeing everyone else somewhat above us on the
line. As the grapple came loose they began to take off at about 3
knots as the surface current pulled them. I barely caught up with
them and grabbed Cristian's hand as I was being left in the dust... Between us
we kept the grapple from fouling the wreck and then swam it up and hooked it
onto the line. This was a pretty cool ride at that
speed, almost as good as that scooter ride I had last week! Then the
line became vertical as the grapple dropped and we all began to drift
comfortably and continue our deco.
As usual on deco I watched the plankton and the other divers. This time
there were some very interesting little jellyfish, very small with bright purple
tentacles, something new to look at. :-).. It was pretty
seasicky at the 20ft stop and I was thinking just how big the waves might be
when we hit the surface... Yep I was right they were big, and although not
uncomfortable while waiting to be picked up they did present a considerable
challenge to get back on the boat.
Through the magic of cell phones, Cristian and I hooked up for lunch
with Nancy, Klaus and Brian who had been out diving the Rodeo and Capt. Dan on
Lady Go Diver. It was pretty funny actually as our two boats passed
each other during the return journey on the intracoastal, with much waving and T
shirt lifting!
What a great Memorial day treat :-)
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