Dunderberg Trip Report

[bladephotog]

Hey all! Had a fantastic trip to the Dunderberg this weekend with my tech instructor Rick Kruzel, Sea Level dive store owner Dale Musser and divers Leslie Taborac, Eric Ziegler, Scott Egger and myself, aboard Gary Venet's wonderful dive boat Sylvia Anne. This wreck sits at about 155 FSW in Lake Huron and is spectacular. I definately plan on returning as I don't know how anyone could ever tire of this beautiful ship. I would love to sit down there taking pictures all day if I could.

We did one dive on her Saturday and one Sunday. We also dove the Glenorchy Saturday after the first dive. Saturday we did 25 minutes on the Dunderberg, and with deco had a run time of 51 minutes. We were moored to the bow and swam down the port side, around the back and then through the cargo hold from the stern to the bow. The cargo hold is wide open and pretty cool. Viewing the crack from the collision from inside is a neat perspective. We then went to the famous bow and figure head. And it lived up to my expectations. It's really fantastic. I was dying not having a camera on this dive. But my instructor and I decided it was best to leave it on the boat for dive one and take it on dive two.

Sunday we did 30 minutes on the bottom with a run time of 65 minutes. And it was worth every deco minute. We did the same counter-clockwise route around the bow but didn't go inside. We wanted to see the crack from the outside this time. And we spent plenty of time viewing the deadeyes aft on the port side, crack, huge windlass and the bow again. It was a very nice, relaxing dive.

Temp was 42 F and viz was easily 40 feet. These were our checkout dives for my Advanced Nitrox/Decompression Procedures class. And we were awarded our C-Cards at lunch today believe it or not.

I have some pictures posted on Zen Diving if you're interested.

 

[divemastertim]

That is one of my favorite wrecks in lake Huron.

 

[DudleyNMU]

Great report and good job on your new C-Card. I plan on taking my Advanced Nitrox somtime this comming spring or summer. Rick Kruzel was my Nitorx instructor and i was considering him for the next class. Anything else you could tell me about the class would be great. Just wondering what its like, how intense it is, you know the questions you were prolly asking yourself before you started it. Any info would be great. Thanks and great job again!

 

[bladephotog]

Rick is a great instructor. He does makes you think for yourself so this class may not be for everyone. But you learn there is more than one way to do things and that you should discover what works best for you.

The class room work isn't as hard as I thought. We spent a lot of time in the quarry going over skills. So by the time we did the Dunderberg we were comfortable with what we were doing.

Rick likes to throw problems at you underwater and topside. And often they are pretty subtle. For example, on the Dunderberg I caught him breathing off of his EAN 50 below 70 feet. That was good. But I should have caught him before he started to breathe it.

After the dive he had another instructor/diver giving subtle signs of a minor DCS hit. I even asked the diver about it but didn't follow up. Later that night he told him to quit faking the symptoms and that we failed to do anything about it. Not good. But a great learning lesson.

You really should be comfortable in your drysuit and doubles before taking this class. I had 100 or so dives in my doubles before this class and that made it so much easier. Your bouancy needs to be excellent before you add a deco bottle and reel/lift bag.

I'd definately recommend this course from Rick. I gained a lot of knowledge, insight and confidence from him.

More pix from the Dunderberg can be seen here.