Planning and Background
    After our  making of  the Northern Light Video,  we really began to feel as if we were now a team, and after a few weeks we began looking around for another project.    It had been so much fun making the NL Video that we wanted to do another.     At this point I had recently dived the Queen of Nassau and thought it a very fitting wreck for us to make movies of.      It is so beautiful, unique and intact, everyone agreed it would make a wonderful subject for our next project.   We contacted Mike Barnette and Joe Citelli of AUE who graciously agreed to come along on our dive.    They brought deck plans for us to view prior to the dive and also the famous AUE ball and grapple to use, since we don't have our own ball yet.

     As before we met at Quarterdeck two weeks prior to the dive, in order to plan things.  Set up dive teams and arrange mixes and deco schedules.     Not to mention a chance to hang out grab a beer and eat :-).   Joe came to the meeting and we used the Brownies classroom to look at some video that Mike,  had shot a couple of weeks prior.     This was fantastic since I gave us a real orientation of the wreck beforehand,  I watched the amazed expressions on the guys faces as they were sitting around the table viewing the video, we were so psyched after watching it I think we would all have jumped in our cars and zoomed off that evening.   

The Dive
     Finally after alot of waiting and anticipation it was dive day.   I had been anxiously watching the weather all week,  and after some rather worried moments when the cold front came through earlier in the week, we finally decided the dive was a go!!  The seas weren't very kind to us at about 4ft or so,  but the dive was still possible without being too risky.    We met at Noon at Bud n' Mary's marina,  but of course everyone was so psyched that we were all early so there was lots of time to look at the deck plans and chat about the dive beforehand.    I'd also like to thank the anonymous person who so kindly added the operating instruction stickers to my scooter (payback awaits ;-)....).    

     The sun was shining, and we set off,  the boat was loaded from end to end with gear, including 7 scooters!   With the choppy seas we were a little concerned that the scooters would roll around the deck and we had them secured in place with empty weight belts.   It's amazing how a big boat like the Coral Sea can become full with only 8 divers!!!    We arrived at the site in good shape, and found the wreck, but the wind was blowing the boat so much that even with no current we had to fish for it twice.    Second try was a charm.   Mike and Joe splashed first and set the hook on the wreck (thanks guys),  followed by team 2 then team 3 which was the one I was on.     We had chosen a different gear configuration than usual, and decided to dive wet (yes I did go in with a wetsuit!!!!)   using Dbl 80s and an 80cuft stage bottle.    This proved to be  a little cumbersome on the wreck but nice since we had so much gas available, but getting off the boat in the rocky seas was quite a project with 3 tanks clipped off, and eventually I gave in and had to ask the mate to hand down my scooter once I was in the water.     We had also originally planned to send our 80's up on a lift bag line when we switched to back gas but we decided that the weather was way too choppy and didn't want our stage regs to get all beaten up clanking together so we just kept the tanks with us for the whole dive.  In the meantime, team 2 had returned to the boat with an equipment problem.

       It was so wonderful scootering down,  the wreck came into view very quickly and the first thing I saw was the antique looking curved lifeboat davits and it brought back memories of my first dive on her.   At that time they were the most striking image I had from that dive.     It was a pleasant surprise to find the visibility better than usual on this wreck,  it was up to 50ft or so.    For some reason this wreck is always covered  in a milky mist of silt  that starts at around 160fsw and because it has some huge old fashioned fishing nets draped over it, the aura is very mysterious and spooky.      Our first foray was to make a tour of the outside of the ship,  as we were scootering along I signaled my buddies to stop and we looked down to see the telegraph half buried in debris laying on the deck.     We continued foreward and I got a really excellent view of the interesting shaped bow.    The hull seems almost vertical and it's astounding to see portholes still ON the wreck :-).      It is also  awesome having people on the team who can tell you a great deal about what you are looking at and this gave me a real opportunity to look at some of the distinctive features of the wreck with a new eye.    Armed with information we went to take a look at the stern of the wreck which was the part that hit bottom first and consequently is bent and damaged due to the original impact on the bottom.     As we returned to our starting point after the tour I saw Mike signaling us to go look into the debris field so we headed off and laying there are the two spare props that must have fallen off the deck when she sank... They are buried  half way in the silt.     We returned to the wreck fairly quickly because due to the low vis it is very easy to lose the wreck completely if you aren't careful and get lost out there.  

     After this we dropped off our scooters and made a small penetration into the wreck.   I looked down in the doorway and saw china  :-),  it looked like a 6inch or so diameter plate surrounded by rubble, which was most likely more broken china.     I didn't touch the plate but made a mental note to tell Mike what I had found  when we surfaced,  since documentation of all finds are of interest to the ongoing research project.      Around about this time I noticed it was getting time to switch from my stage to my back gas so I took off the stage bottle and clipped it to the wreck at the line, since I was sick of carrying that big old thing around on the wreck.     At this point I saw Mike making round circle signs at me and pointing.. Jeez I should have known he meant come and look at these portholes.. :-(,  i'm  a bit sad that I missed that opportunity but I know that we can always visit the wreck and seem them again.    Mike buzzed by again and asked what our BT was.. I had 21 minutes at that time which meant that they were a little further ahead of us than their BT would allow them to stay and we were going to have to pull the grapple off the wreck.    Shortly after that Mike and Joe waved good bye and we spent our last 5 minutes or so just checking out the local  area and I retrieved my stage bottle.   Finally after 30minutes we too had to leave, and begin our long ascent to the sunlight.

       I actually almost always enjoy my decompression,  I mean after all it's not cold :-).   On this occasion I was wondering at what point I was going to begin switching all the tanks around that were clipped off here and there and it was a very pleasant surprise that the safety diver decided to relieve me of my stage at around 90ft,  it seemed that two was all he could deal with at once,  sorry Dean ;-)..     He also stopped to take some pictures of everyone as he checked on each of us to make sure we were Ok.     We saw no sharks on deco this time,   I have seen a big shark on this wreck the last time I was there,  and I know that the other guys had seen scalloped hammerheads once or twice.   I have always waited for the hammerheads to show up but I haven't seen them yet, and this is now my fourth dive on the wreck.  :-).   One day perhaps.      Dean and Brien played scooter races,  Brien  was of course being slowed down by the video camera mounted on his scooter

It was pretty nice to find that the seas decided to give us a break while we reboarded the boat,   It wasn't bad at all.    I looked around and all I could see was everyone talking all at once trying to tell each other about their dive.    A sure sign of a good day.  Of course there was nothing for it but to stop off at the Loreli on the way home for some yummy food, good music and to hear a classic: 

Dean:   Waiter.. Could you bring us some water?
Waiter:  How MUCH water do you want?
Dean:   Er I dunno.. maybe a shot glass or a pitcher?

Epilogue
        After the dive, Dean remarked just how much this wreck was like the ones he remembers from UK diving, with the draped fishing nets, the portholes and especially the low viz.      Imagine all that without the cold water "Perfect"!!!!     It was an awesome dive.  

       I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Joe and Mike for diving this wreck with us and sharing so much of their experience and first hand knowledge.    It added a great deal to our dive, and it was a pleasure to have you with us.    Thanks.

        For information regarding the wreck I direct you to several places, it's history is described well elsewhere and I couldn't even begin to write about it.

1.    The AUE web page   Click Here . 
2.    This Month's Divers Mag has an excellent article about the wreck click here  (I think you will need to     subscribe to read it)
3.    A third article is in the November Issue of Florida Scuba News on page 20.
Also on page 10 in the same issue is an article written by Dean Marshall about his experiences making the Northern Light video.

I would also like to point out that Disturbing, removing or possessing artifacts from an archaeological and historical resource in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is punishable by a maximum civil penalty of to $119,000 per violation.  more info

As more information and pictures become available I will add them to the report, I can't wait to see the video though,  Brien did such an awesome job filming and editing on the first one.