Just finished up a five day live-aboard trip in the Dry Tortugas, chartered by Oceanic Ventures, on the M/V Spree diving several deep wrecks. The trip was led by Richie Kohler and Mike Barnette who did an outstanding job. Presentations on the wrecks were provided in the evening by Mike and Richie to showcase the wrecks and provide tidbits to help formulate our dive objectives. Some shot video. Some shot stills. And some just relaxed over the wreck with a smooth uptake of helium.
The wreck roster included:
M/S Rhein
Araby Maid
U-2513
Chelsea
USS-S16
USS Curb
USS Wilkes Barre
USAF Hoyt S Vandenberg (Option)
The Vandenberg was out due to not having been sunk yet. Beyond this, the patrons altered the dive plan a bit as we were having too much fun treasure hunting on the Araby Maid (opting out of USS Curb or Chelsea or S-16). We decided to spend another day over the Araby Maid. Needless to say, "china fever" had struck almost everyone on the boat. Hehe...
In all, we had eight rebreather divers and six on open circuit. Rebreathers included 2 Megs (3rd Meg was Crew), 3 Optimas, 2 Evolutions, and 1 Inspiration. All units held together strong and kept everyone in the water. Three scooters also joined the mix. These were mostly used for digging. >
Although I admit to crewing on the Spree, I can't write without saying how it's such a great platform for tech (or rec) diving. It's very clean (Hi Melanie ) and well equipped with all of the safety features required at this level of diving; chase boat, O2 hung @ 20fsw, life rafts, etc. The layout is perfect and the space aboard is just right. Food is ALWAYS top notch and in abundance. The best part is that the owners have the very best intentions of a safe but very enjoyable trip at heart.
We were truly provided some of the best conditions you could ever have for a week long trip. Only the first day provided a little current but vanished there after. Temps were in the low 90s(f). I was amazed at the glass-like conditions at times (no joke). Temps at depth were right about 72f. Visibility was for the most part excellent except for our last day trying to make a pass on the Wilkes Barre. Vis was so bad on the live boat drop that we weren't sure if we hit the wreck til we ran into rust. Even so, we weren't sure where we had landed. With that, we spent about 15 minutes at ~220fsw and decided to blow the bags. Otherwise, vis was very pleasing throughout the week at an average of ~90 feet.
The trip was a LOT of fun. I understand the trips are to be expanded next year adding two more to the schedule. Richie and Mike will be leading them again next year. There will be two trips that are rebreather-only with one being an expedition trip on the Key West Ghost Fleet with depths to 420fsw.
Cheers,
Richard
P.S. Note one of our own Texas Swamp Divers exiting the water (Matt Booth).
.
The wreck roster included:
M/S Rhein
Araby Maid
U-2513
Chelsea
USS-S16
USS Curb
USS Wilkes Barre
USAF Hoyt S Vandenberg (Option)
The Vandenberg was out due to not having been sunk yet. Beyond this, the patrons altered the dive plan a bit as we were having too much fun treasure hunting on the Araby Maid (opting out of USS Curb or Chelsea or S-16). We decided to spend another day over the Araby Maid. Needless to say, "china fever" had struck almost everyone on the boat. Hehe...
In all, we had eight rebreather divers and six on open circuit. Rebreathers included 2 Megs (3rd Meg was Crew), 3 Optimas, 2 Evolutions, and 1 Inspiration. All units held together strong and kept everyone in the water. Three scooters also joined the mix. These were mostly used for digging. >
Although I admit to crewing on the Spree, I can't write without saying how it's such a great platform for tech (or rec) diving. It's very clean (Hi Melanie
) and well equipped with all of the safety features required at this level of diving; chase boat, O2 hung @ 20fsw, life rafts, etc. The layout is perfect and the space aboard is just right. Food is ALWAYS top notch and in abundance. The best part is that the owners have the very best intentions of a safe but very enjoyable trip at heart.We were truly provided some of the best conditions you could ever have for a week long trip. Only the first day provided a little current but vanished there after. Temps were in the low 90s(f). I was amazed at the glass-like conditions at times (no joke). Temps at depth were right about 72f. Visibility was for the most part excellent except for our last day trying to make a pass on the Wilkes Barre. Vis was so bad on the live boat drop that we weren't sure if we hit the wreck til we ran into rust. Even so, we weren't sure where we had landed. With that, we spent about 15 minutes at ~220fsw and decided to blow the bags. Otherwise, vis was very pleasing throughout the week at an average of ~90 feet.
The trip was a LOT of fun. I understand the trips are to be expanded next year adding two more to the schedule. Richie and Mike will be leading them again next year. There will be two trips that are rebreather-only with one being an expedition trip on the Key West Ghost Fleet with depths to 420fsw.
Cheers,
Richard
P.S. Note one of our own Texas Swamp Divers exiting the water (Matt Booth).
.
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