The Andro, built in 1910 as a private yacht, is 165' long. It was later converted to submarine hunter during WWII. After the war, she served as an inter-island freighter, and later was seized by US Customs. The Andro was sunk in December of 1995 and the upper structures have collapsed leaving many jagged shapes making an interesting dive unlike some of the sterile intact wrecks in the area. The stack extending from were the engine was still stands at a slight angle marking a great midpoint to tie off.
There was an overcast sky due to an isolated thunderstorm cell to the north. This made the twilight dive dark on descent. There was a light south current and the visibility was better than 50'. My buddy and I were the first ones in and passed the DM on the way down. Pat had loaned me his backup 10w Halcyon HID canister light, and the brilliant blue beam cut through the deep to the wreck at about 50'. We were immediately greated by a huge school of Atlantic Spade fish that danced and sprinted through our light. We were both diving ean36, with a planned bottom time of 25m and a mandatory 3m stop. I was glad we were going to get this amount of bottom time, since there was a lot to take in. We started down into the bow structure, which is open and easy to penetrate with only a few dangling pieces of structure to maneuver around. There is a lot of sediment inside, so technique is a must to maintain bottom stability. There are two openings, the second being just tall enought to squeeze though, but leading out to another portion of the wreck. We choose to exit here and continue along the bottom of the portside hull. Here, we came across our next two greeters. The first, a small spotted eel showing us his most menacing grin as he kept all but is head and neck hidden in his crevice. The second was a very large fully gown green morray eel. We estimated his length at 8' with a very thick body. This was the largest morray I've come across and he was completely out in the open under the edge of the hull. He didn't like our lights and decided to move in the opposite direction from our path. We frog kicked along the bottom, rounding the stern and working our way diagonally up the starboard side. The rest of the divers had descended on the wreck by this time and their lights were now visible. The tranquil portion of the dive was at an end, but the fun was not. Of the remaining divers, there were a few rototillers that made the visibility along the bottom like soup, so we decided to explore the wreck from the top. I must say, there is nothing cooler than looking down on a sunken hulk at night. Due to the number of divers on the line, Pat and I decided to do a free ascent about 10-15 yards off the line. We did a 1 minute stop at 40, a 1 minute stop at 30, and a 3 minute stop at 20. End of dive one: very enjoyable.
Dive number two was in the trench we call North Canyon. The trench, which runs east-west, was dug to lay an old sewage outlet pipe that is no longer in use. The trench is home to schools of brilliant fish and hiding place to many other creatures. Pat and I did a free descent into the trench which has a bottom depth of 60-70'. The walls are 10-15' high and have many holes and crevices to explore. We saw a small green morray, spotted shrimp, a large queen angel, and many other interesting specimens. Covering our lights and waving a hand exposed the presence of bioluminesence. Pat, being a cave diver, decided to explore into the pipe a ways. The water in the pipe was crystal clear, and the nurse shark that we normally find here must have been off hunting for dinner. Pat was on ean36 and I was on ean40. We called the dive when those diving air started back up. We again decided to free ascend and leave the line for the others.
After dive festivities took place at the Ale House where we consumed garlic wings and beer. I couldn't have asked for a better night dive with a great group of people. We're going to plan a decompression night dive on another wreck at 135' in the next couple of weeks. Exploring wrecks at night is an exciting and interesting, as the structure takes on a whole new perspective over daytime.
A HID canister light is on my must have list now, as I've been sold on their capabilities. The Halcyon 10 watt seemed almost as bright as Pat's 18 watt. Time to go back to work tomorrow, so everyone dive safe and have fun.
There was an overcast sky due to an isolated thunderstorm cell to the north. This made the twilight dive dark on descent. There was a light south current and the visibility was better than 50'. My buddy and I were the first ones in and passed the DM on the way down. Pat had loaned me his backup 10w Halcyon HID canister light, and the brilliant blue beam cut through the deep to the wreck at about 50'. We were immediately greated by a huge school of Atlantic Spade fish that danced and sprinted through our light. We were both diving ean36, with a planned bottom time of 25m and a mandatory 3m stop. I was glad we were going to get this amount of bottom time, since there was a lot to take in. We started down into the bow structure, which is open and easy to penetrate with only a few dangling pieces of structure to maneuver around. There is a lot of sediment inside, so technique is a must to maintain bottom stability. There are two openings, the second being just tall enought to squeeze though, but leading out to another portion of the wreck. We choose to exit here and continue along the bottom of the portside hull. Here, we came across our next two greeters. The first, a small spotted eel showing us his most menacing grin as he kept all but is head and neck hidden in his crevice. The second was a very large fully gown green morray eel. We estimated his length at 8' with a very thick body. This was the largest morray I've come across and he was completely out in the open under the edge of the hull. He didn't like our lights and decided to move in the opposite direction from our path. We frog kicked along the bottom, rounding the stern and working our way diagonally up the starboard side. The rest of the divers had descended on the wreck by this time and their lights were now visible. The tranquil portion of the dive was at an end, but the fun was not. Of the remaining divers, there were a few rototillers that made the visibility along the bottom like soup, so we decided to explore the wreck from the top. I must say, there is nothing cooler than looking down on a sunken hulk at night. Due to the number of divers on the line, Pat and I decided to do a free ascent about 10-15 yards off the line. We did a 1 minute stop at 40, a 1 minute stop at 30, and a 3 minute stop at 20. End of dive one: very enjoyable.
Dive number two was in the trench we call North Canyon. The trench, which runs east-west, was dug to lay an old sewage outlet pipe that is no longer in use. The trench is home to schools of brilliant fish and hiding place to many other creatures. Pat and I did a free descent into the trench which has a bottom depth of 60-70'. The walls are 10-15' high and have many holes and crevices to explore. We saw a small green morray, spotted shrimp, a large queen angel, and many other interesting specimens. Covering our lights and waving a hand exposed the presence of bioluminesence. Pat, being a cave diver, decided to explore into the pipe a ways. The water in the pipe was crystal clear, and the nurse shark that we normally find here must have been off hunting for dinner. Pat was on ean36 and I was on ean40. We called the dive when those diving air started back up. We again decided to free ascend and leave the line for the others.
After dive festivities took place at the Ale House where we consumed garlic wings and beer. I couldn't have asked for a better night dive with a great group of people. We're going to plan a decompression night dive on another wreck at 135' in the next couple of weeks. Exploring wrecks at night is an exciting and interesting, as the structure takes on a whole new perspective over daytime.
A HID canister light is on my must have list now, as I've been sold on their capabilities. The Halcyon 10 watt seemed almost as bright as Pat's 18 watt. Time to go back to work tomorrow, so everyone dive safe and have fun.
