HBDiveGirl
Contributor
- Messages
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Ken and I had the fun of diving the Palawan for the first time this past Saturday, in extraordinary conditions.
What a day for romping around with X-Scooters!
11:30 AM, Saturday October 10, 2009.
132fsw max depth, about 54F on the wreck.
Vis at the bottom was about 50 feet... with so much ambient light that HIDs were only needed for signaling and enhancing colors of the beautiful life forms.
Unforgettable.
Both of us had heard about this nearby wreck for years, but it was never the right time to dive it until this past weekend.
It was so very worth waiting for!
I'm a wreck-naive, SoCal diver, no doubt.
It's a short list I've dived in the past 6 years, and most are as much rubble as wreck:
Valiant
SueJac
Ace 1
Hogan
Georgia Straits
Avalon
Olympic
F.S. Loop, and several others in the San Pedro area.
Ruby E (the toy boat cake decoration!)
The Yukon (the newest, and the only one that's mostly intact)
And then there's the Palawan: A combination Liberty ship hull, gigantic planter box, fish holder, and half-pipe scooter park!
This upright hull is over 400 feet long.
Big. Really big.
Dropping like a brick from the ceiling, my eyes opened wide, trying to take in the huge stern that suddenly slammed into view.
It was disorienting, especially as we were scootering downwards, head first, in 5th gear.
I had to slow up, rotate in space and get the enemy's gate to be down... where it belonged!
It was weird!
Once the sand agreed to be on the floor instead of the wall, the size of the ship made sense.
I've walked the decks and compartments of a living Liberty ship in San Pedro many times: The S.S. Lane Victory.
It's incredibly cool to be able to dive an intentionally sunken version of a ship I've walked through.
Anyone thinking of diving the Palawan owes it to themselves to visit the Lane Victory first. It certainly made my experience even richer.
From gigantic to miniscule: we kept noticing hundreds of nudibranchs, like push-pins decorating this 400 foot long bulletin board of a ship. I loved scootering the entirety of the starboard hull, occassionally zipping up to the corynactis-decorated top rail, and then zooming back down to smile at the ling cod lying about on the sandy "beach" all around the ship. (All they need are beach towels, books and chilled drinks to complete the picture!)
Rounding the bow, Ken and I arced the X-scooters up and over... into the wide open compartments where the forward deck used to be. There are some nasty small crawl spaces visible, but those are gladly someone else's cup of tea. I enjoyed the huge open cargo holds, and swooped about like a skateboarder cranking turns in an empty swimming pool.
We turned back towards the stern and the hull went on and on and on... "WowThisIsBig" kept looping through my brain. Wow....
We were back at the shot-line with tons of time to spare, so we hopped and skipped our way through the open spaces of the hull almost back to the bow again. I felt like a kid in a playground, needing to try out all the equipment. Three other divers on scooters (with HIDs) zoomed around... looking about 3 feet tall next to this reclining skyscraper of a shipwreck.
Who knows when I'll get to experience the Palawan with this great visibility again. I kept burning the images into my memory, intentionally, gratefully.
Ken and I had just a superb time.
What a place. What a dive.
Many Many thanks to Laila and Chris for inviting us along and DM'ing an excellent day of diving.
Ken, "Thanks" are inadequate. You are a remarkable teammate. Inestimable.
I loved this dive beyond words, (but I still had to try.)
~~~~
Claudette
What a day for romping around with X-Scooters!
11:30 AM, Saturday October 10, 2009.
132fsw max depth, about 54F on the wreck.
Vis at the bottom was about 50 feet... with so much ambient light that HIDs were only needed for signaling and enhancing colors of the beautiful life forms.
Unforgettable.
Both of us had heard about this nearby wreck for years, but it was never the right time to dive it until this past weekend.
It was so very worth waiting for!
I'm a wreck-naive, SoCal diver, no doubt.
It's a short list I've dived in the past 6 years, and most are as much rubble as wreck:
Valiant
SueJac
Ace 1
Hogan
Georgia Straits
Avalon
Olympic
F.S. Loop, and several others in the San Pedro area.
Ruby E (the toy boat cake decoration!)
The Yukon (the newest, and the only one that's mostly intact)
And then there's the Palawan: A combination Liberty ship hull, gigantic planter box, fish holder, and half-pipe scooter park!
This upright hull is over 400 feet long.
Big. Really big.
Dropping like a brick from the ceiling, my eyes opened wide, trying to take in the huge stern that suddenly slammed into view.
It was disorienting, especially as we were scootering downwards, head first, in 5th gear.
I had to slow up, rotate in space and get the enemy's gate to be down... where it belonged!
It was weird!
Once the sand agreed to be on the floor instead of the wall, the size of the ship made sense.
I've walked the decks and compartments of a living Liberty ship in San Pedro many times: The S.S. Lane Victory.
It's incredibly cool to be able to dive an intentionally sunken version of a ship I've walked through.
Anyone thinking of diving the Palawan owes it to themselves to visit the Lane Victory first. It certainly made my experience even richer.
From gigantic to miniscule: we kept noticing hundreds of nudibranchs, like push-pins decorating this 400 foot long bulletin board of a ship. I loved scootering the entirety of the starboard hull, occassionally zipping up to the corynactis-decorated top rail, and then zooming back down to smile at the ling cod lying about on the sandy "beach" all around the ship. (All they need are beach towels, books and chilled drinks to complete the picture!)
Rounding the bow, Ken and I arced the X-scooters up and over... into the wide open compartments where the forward deck used to be. There are some nasty small crawl spaces visible, but those are gladly someone else's cup of tea. I enjoyed the huge open cargo holds, and swooped about like a skateboarder cranking turns in an empty swimming pool.
We turned back towards the stern and the hull went on and on and on... "WowThisIsBig" kept looping through my brain. Wow....
We were back at the shot-line with tons of time to spare, so we hopped and skipped our way through the open spaces of the hull almost back to the bow again. I felt like a kid in a playground, needing to try out all the equipment. Three other divers on scooters (with HIDs) zoomed around... looking about 3 feet tall next to this reclining skyscraper of a shipwreck.
Who knows when I'll get to experience the Palawan with this great visibility again. I kept burning the images into my memory, intentionally, gratefully.
Ken and I had just a superb time.
What a place. What a dive.
Many Many thanks to Laila and Chris for inviting us along and DM'ing an excellent day of diving.
Ken, "Thanks" are inadequate. You are a remarkable teammate. Inestimable.
I loved this dive beyond words, (but I still had to try.)
~~~~
Claudette