What I did on my summer vacatio . . .
err,
This past weekend a group of us went up to the Cleveland area for some wreck dives out in Lake Erie. Ber had along 2 of her students, and 2 of us that were her students last year went as well. Barry came along too.
We went out on the Express out of Wildwood Marina, captained by Vittas K. Dive Master for the trip was Randy Scott. Good boat and crew!
Saturday, the weather was great, the water calm. We went first to the Dundee, a 200' barge-schooner, 34' wide. None of these wrecks were buoyed, so the captain anchored on them, and we went down the anchor line. First impression was that the water was VERY murky. Second was that it was COLD! When we got down to the boat (about 70' deep), we were right on it. When in the middle of the boat, we could look to either side, and sometimes see the side of the boat. We had visibility of less than 17 feet. Bottom temp was about 45.
After the Dundee, we went to the Admiral. A 70' tug, it sank while towing the Cleveco, a tanker barge. The Admiral sits upright on the bottom. Looking into the portholes and hatches, we could barely see the other divers on the other side looking in also, so vis was about 15'. Hard to see much detail with the vis the way it was.
On the 22nd, we started out by going to the Cleveco, the tanker the Admiral was towing when it sank. Heading out to it, the conditions weren't as nice as the day before, about 2-3' waves. The Cleveco is down at about 75 feet, and laying upside down. When we went down, we took some light sticks, and tied them to the anchor line to attempt to make it easier to find the line when time to surface. On the bottom of the boat are 2 rows of valves welded on, so that the oil could be pumped out. We came down right onto one row of them, never did see the second row, vis was still bad. We were able to find the bow, and descended from the bottom of the boat towards the lake bottom. Heading back to the anchor line, we did find out that light sticks are not very bright at 45 degrees! They did not help us find the line any easier, but we did succeed in finding it.
From the Cleveco, we headed to the Queen of the West. On the way, the seas picked up a bit, and we experienced 4-6' waves for a while. On the plus side here, we can certify that Lake Erie is indeed shark-free. We had sufficient folks chumming over the side of the boat, that if there were any, we'd have seen them!
I'll let Ber or somebody else expound upon the virtues of the QotW, I never saw it. Oh, I don't think anybody did! This is the one time the captain missed anchoring on the wreck, (by all of 20' or so), so the DM ran a line from the anchor to the wreck, but those diving lost the anchor line in the poor visibility, and ended up missing the wreck.
On the way back to the Marina, the wind calmed down, the waves settled down, and weather got real nice.
Bottomline, I have got to go see these wrecks again, with better visibility. And, maybe a dry suit! 45 degree water at 77 feet for 1/2 hour is COLD!
Ber, thanks for setting up the trip!
Ken
The happy ending was that I was able to eat a sandwich and Cheetos on the ride to the marina after I got sick. :biggrin:
