We're heading to Marathon at the end of April and I (only diver in the group) am hoping to finally hit some of the well-known wrecks - Thunderbolt, Adolphus Busch, Vandenberg, that kind of stuff. Logistics are a little dicey as we'll only have one rental car for two couples, so one day we're all going down to KW for the afternoon and I'm planning on doing a PM trip with Finz. For another dive day I'd like to stay closer to Marathon, but it doesn't look like Captain Hook's does any wreck dives out of their Marathon location - everything on their website is out of KW. Given that the Thunderbolt is right off Marathon you'd think some dive op would go out there. Any suggestions that don't involve driving up to Islamorada or Key Largo, or down to KW?
Any Marathon dive ops do the good wrecks?
- Thread starter Eric802
- Start date
Please register or login
fred32176
Contributor
Captain Hook has boats out of Big Pine Key and Looe Key Reef goes out of Ramrod Key. Check with them.
- Messages
- 20,923
- Reaction score
- 20,621
- Location
- Philadelphia and Boynton Beach
- # of dives
- 1000 - 2499
Hi @Eric802
It looks like Capt Hook's Marathon goes to the Thunderbolt and Big Pine Key goes to the Adolphus Busch. I would contact them directly to confirm and to discuss your plans.
I did 2 dives on both of these wrecks in 2015, off the long-gone Spree. Neither of these dives was spectacular, pales before the Speigel Grove, Duane, and the Vandenberg. The Thunderbolt is deep, max 120, avg 80, a relatively short dive. Adolphus Busch is a little shallower. We saw a couple of Goliath Grouper on the Thunderbolt and some nice schools of fish on the Adolphus Busch, Spadefish, grunt. I enjoyed our 3 dives on the Vandenberg very much.
It looks like Capt Hook's Marathon goes to the Thunderbolt and Big Pine Key goes to the Adolphus Busch. I would contact them directly to confirm and to discuss your plans.
I did 2 dives on both of these wrecks in 2015, off the long-gone Spree. Neither of these dives was spectacular, pales before the Speigel Grove, Duane, and the Vandenberg. The Thunderbolt is deep, max 120, avg 80, a relatively short dive. Adolphus Busch is a little shallower. We saw a couple of Goliath Grouper on the Thunderbolt and some nice schools of fish on the Adolphus Busch, Spadefish, grunt. I enjoyed our 3 dives on the Vandenberg very much.
I received this reply from Captain Hooks in Marathon in response to my inquiry about diving the Thunderbolt during my upcoming trip.
Unfortunately there are no mooring balls on the Thunderbolt Wreck. The above water fishermen secure their boat anchors around them and when a wave hits it rips the mooring balls off the chains. At 145 depth you can imagine the cost to put it back on the floor of the ocean. It has been replaced about 7 times in the last 3 years. It is very sad indeed. NOAA will not replace it again.
Unfortunately there are no mooring balls on the Thunderbolt Wreck. The above water fishermen secure their boat anchors around them and when a wave hits it rips the mooring balls off the chains. At 145 depth you can imagine the cost to put it back on the floor of the ocean. It has been replaced about 7 times in the last 3 years. It is very sad indeed. NOAA will not replace it again.
Similar threads
