jaardappel
Registered
Diving the wreck "America" on the Saint Lawrence River (go here for more info [http://www.scubadiving.com/index2.php?option=content&task=view&id=4136&pop=1&page=0]) this Columbus Day weekend. Went out with Moe of Hunt's Dive Shop. On the way out to the America (our 2nd dive of the day), he warned us that if we heard approaching freighter traffic--follow the line across the bottom back to the anchor and get back to the boat quickly. My dive buddy Shawn Rohan and I were aware from the radio traffic that a few freighters were approaching, but thought we'd make it down and back in time. It was getting foggy and raining hard, so visibility was limited.
The America is only about 75 feet deep at the lowest point, so we planned to go down the anchor line, across and down the football-field bottom line to the wreck (takes you across to middle of the shipping lane), and to circle the wreck twice and go underneath looking at the steam engine of the overturned barge. It didn't go as planned.
Shawn and I beat feet quickly down the bottom line to the wreck, oriented ourselves, then pulled ourselves around the barge from bow to stern in about 15 minutes. As we were peering underneath the stern of the barge, we heard a couple of deep rumblings. We looked at each other and looked upward...didn't see anything and continued exploring the barge. After a few seconds, we heard a repeat of the rumblings and I shoved off of the barge and floated about 10 feet away, looking upward. Shawn immediately new what we were encountering and grabbed real-estate on the wreck.
In the next three minutes, we were passed overhead by two passing, 700-foot-plus freighters. They can draw about 25 feet of water fully loaded, and due to the immediate silt-out and low-light conditions from the screws and mass of the passing freighters (they passed each other right above us), we had no idea how close they were. It was a heck of an experience.
By the time I realized what was going on, I swam against an increasingly strong current from the ships' propeller wash and was able to grab onto the wreck next to Shawn. We held onto that thing in disbelief that it was happening, and did our best to manage not laughing our regulators out of our mouths.
When we surfaced, about 25 minutes later after some additional bottom time, Moe (the shop owner and boat Captain) told us that he'd feared we were dead and hadn't seen anyone weather out 2 freighters at once in such a short distance away in his life.
Hell of a ride. Don't recommend it to anyone, and if it's foggy--factor your air consumption into a prolonged stay on the bottom should you hear oncoming freighter screws.
Would be interested in hearing about anyone else's overhead passings and how they managed it too.
--John
The America is only about 75 feet deep at the lowest point, so we planned to go down the anchor line, across and down the football-field bottom line to the wreck (takes you across to middle of the shipping lane), and to circle the wreck twice and go underneath looking at the steam engine of the overturned barge. It didn't go as planned.
Shawn and I beat feet quickly down the bottom line to the wreck, oriented ourselves, then pulled ourselves around the barge from bow to stern in about 15 minutes. As we were peering underneath the stern of the barge, we heard a couple of deep rumblings. We looked at each other and looked upward...didn't see anything and continued exploring the barge. After a few seconds, we heard a repeat of the rumblings and I shoved off of the barge and floated about 10 feet away, looking upward. Shawn immediately new what we were encountering and grabbed real-estate on the wreck.
In the next three minutes, we were passed overhead by two passing, 700-foot-plus freighters. They can draw about 25 feet of water fully loaded, and due to the immediate silt-out and low-light conditions from the screws and mass of the passing freighters (they passed each other right above us), we had no idea how close they were. It was a heck of an experience.
By the time I realized what was going on, I swam against an increasingly strong current from the ships' propeller wash and was able to grab onto the wreck next to Shawn. We held onto that thing in disbelief that it was happening, and did our best to manage not laughing our regulators out of our mouths.
When we surfaced, about 25 minutes later after some additional bottom time, Moe (the shop owner and boat Captain) told us that he'd feared we were dead and hadn't seen anyone weather out 2 freighters at once in such a short distance away in his life.
Hell of a ride. Don't recommend it to anyone, and if it's foggy--factor your air consumption into a prolonged stay on the bottom should you hear oncoming freighter screws.
Would be interested in hearing about anyone else's overhead passings and how they managed it too.
--John
got any pics of the area? it must be an exceptional dive!
