DanSinks
Contributor
Dove the Port Hunter on 10/23/2020, accompanied by dive buddy Tim.
It was a GREAT DIVE! Port Hunter sank in 1917, it's 380 ft long and largely intact, there are many fish all around it, in some places schools of Black Sea Bass, in other places Tautog in big groups.
One of the cargo items it carried was rail road wheels and was able to locate some of these.
Slack low tide was predicted to be 12:05 PM, as it turns out the low was .21 ft and the previous high was 1.26 ft so only a swing of 1.05 ft, so our dive window was a bit more than usual, with a more forgiving current.
When I descended down the anchor rope the anchor was hooked on the gunwale of the wreck, I pulled it off and placed it in the sand. Vis was excellent, about 20 ft
Some pics are attached, Shown is the bow of the ship, some black sea bass, some tautog, some yellow jack.
the top of the bow is about 30 ft deep while the bottom of the bow is about 64 ft deep, maybe I should have taken the picture almost straight up to try to get it into the frame, it's pretty impressive. Even though it's about 64' at the bottom of the bow, there are wicked high/steep sand dunes on either side of it, it's like the sand close to the bow was blasted away by the current. I'll post some video once I edit it and clean it up.
Most dives in Vineyard sound need to be during slack, and I always use the tide chart for Falmouth Heights, on some previous dives from my boat, my dive buddies commented that we need to have a more exact prediction of slack tide. But since wind conditions effect the timing of the high and low tides, it's not easy for recreational divers to have an exact time for a given location. If the current approaching slack tide is running to the East and there is was a strong West wind for several hours then slack tide will be earlier. The NOAA web site has more info on this. This is why it's good to get anchored on the spot early and suit up then watch the current and enter the water when it's reasonable in order to time the ascend and safety stop to almost slack conditions.
On this day slack was almost exactly 12:05, I assume it was because of the very light wind
It was a GREAT DIVE! Port Hunter sank in 1917, it's 380 ft long and largely intact, there are many fish all around it, in some places schools of Black Sea Bass, in other places Tautog in big groups.
One of the cargo items it carried was rail road wheels and was able to locate some of these.
Slack low tide was predicted to be 12:05 PM, as it turns out the low was .21 ft and the previous high was 1.26 ft so only a swing of 1.05 ft, so our dive window was a bit more than usual, with a more forgiving current.
When I descended down the anchor rope the anchor was hooked on the gunwale of the wreck, I pulled it off and placed it in the sand. Vis was excellent, about 20 ft
Some pics are attached, Shown is the bow of the ship, some black sea bass, some tautog, some yellow jack.
the top of the bow is about 30 ft deep while the bottom of the bow is about 64 ft deep, maybe I should have taken the picture almost straight up to try to get it into the frame, it's pretty impressive. Even though it's about 64' at the bottom of the bow, there are wicked high/steep sand dunes on either side of it, it's like the sand close to the bow was blasted away by the current. I'll post some video once I edit it and clean it up.
Most dives in Vineyard sound need to be during slack, and I always use the tide chart for Falmouth Heights, on some previous dives from my boat, my dive buddies commented that we need to have a more exact prediction of slack tide. But since wind conditions effect the timing of the high and low tides, it's not easy for recreational divers to have an exact time for a given location. If the current approaching slack tide is running to the East and there is was a strong West wind for several hours then slack tide will be earlier. The NOAA web site has more info on this. This is why it's good to get anchored on the spot early and suit up then watch the current and enter the water when it's reasonable in order to time the ascend and safety stop to almost slack conditions.
On this day slack was almost exactly 12:05, I assume it was because of the very light wind