Sea conditions were right on Saturday for the trip out to the Halsey, a 435 ft. ship sunk by a German U-Boat in 1942. The wreck is located is about 12 miles southeast of the Ft. Pierce inlet, with the huge nuclear reactor containment domes of the St. Lucie power plant visible to the west.
At the surface, temperatures were 72-76 degrees depending on the source. There was a moderately strong but manageable current. While descending visibility looked great until about 60ft. where there was a thermocline and the viz dropped to 6-8 feet. At that point it felt like ice water found its way into my 3mm suit; the temp had dropped to about 58 degrees and the current weakened to almost nothing.
Luckily our anchor hooked just feet from the wreck. I knew the ship was broken into three sections but for the life of me I could not identify which portion of the wreck we landed on, especially with the viz being so low. It must have been close to the explosion because the sheet metal and beams were violently tangled from the seafloor at 80fsw and up 15 or 20 ft. I would love to come back when the viz is better as the there are so many areas to explore between the relief off the seafloor and length of the ship. There was lots of small fish but a large Sheepshead was the only large fish I saw. There was one other solo diver spearfishing but he came up empty handed.
At the surface, temperatures were 72-76 degrees depending on the source. There was a moderately strong but manageable current. While descending visibility looked great until about 60ft. where there was a thermocline and the viz dropped to 6-8 feet. At that point it felt like ice water found its way into my 3mm suit; the temp had dropped to about 58 degrees and the current weakened to almost nothing.
Luckily our anchor hooked just feet from the wreck. I knew the ship was broken into three sections but for the life of me I could not identify which portion of the wreck we landed on, especially with the viz being so low. It must have been close to the explosion because the sheet metal and beams were violently tangled from the seafloor at 80fsw and up 15 or 20 ft. I would love to come back when the viz is better as the there are so many areas to explore between the relief off the seafloor and length of the ship. There was lots of small fish but a large Sheepshead was the only large fish I saw. There was one other solo diver spearfishing but he came up empty handed.
