RAD Diver
Contributor
I got a call not long ago that JT had a set of #s that he wanted to check out off our coast & had a spot open for me if I wanted it. Well duh, of course I wanted in on it. :mrgreen:
The weather forecast changed all week, not sure what it was going to actually do, as usual. :roll:
I got the e-mail Friday afternoon to meet at the dock for a leave time of 11PM, so I needed to be there by 10:30. I left the house early so as not to make anyone wait on me, got there at 10:20 & I was the last 1 there, everyone else was almost fully loaded.
The complete run down of players was me (RAD Diver), Trey (tknox),Scott (liftbag mcgee), Kristine (KRae), Tyler, & Tom with of course JT (beenaround) on board his boat the Under Pressure.
Before leaving the dock JT went over a briefing & we went about deciding on who would be the 1st pair off the boat, Tyler & Kristine wanted nothing to do with the tie-in so it was up to a coin toss between Tom & Scott, & Trey & I. We lost the toss. :smt010 So it was into a bunk for me since this is well past my normal bedtime.
When the engines went down to idle I was up quick to watch the wreck appear on the machine, at about 3AM. After that I went back to bed as they tried to hook it.
I then heard JT talking about hooking the wreck & Trey said OK, I jumped up & they gave me the word that Tom wasn't feeling well & it would be Trey & I 1st down. :cheer
Man it seemed awful dark out, but Trey & I made little haste in getting geared up with plenty of help from the rest of the group. Trey was the 1st in, but he didn't have his light on so I had to wait until he surfaced before I jumped, man that was a long minute. Then finally I got the OK.
I got to lead the way & saw it 1st, the 1st thing I noticed was it was steel, our lights were doing their best, but with limited results, we had about 10-15 ft of vis which is pretty good considering the time of day, or night as the case might be.
Trey was doing the tie-in so I tied my reel off to lead us into the pitch black. As I was looking around I spotted a big lobster, but it did well in picking his spot, backed in to a spot that had only 1 entrance & it only gave about 6 inches to pull it out before hitting the wreck, with those 2 big claws ready to give a warm welcome to whoever got too close.
We went off not knowing which way was bow or stern, but it soon became evident. The bow had a huge rake downwards & was only about 18 inches wide, we made a jump & found the other side to be exactly the same. I knew a landing craft when I saw 1.
We continued down the side & from the size & numbers of the fish that were around it was very obvious that few if any divers had been on this site. Right as we got back to the tie-in my reel jammed.
From a previous dive my reel came undone & tried its best to wrap me up like a mummy. I got out of it & reeled it up with little trouble, but I guess it tangled somewhere along the way, bummer.
So we reversed our travel & reeled in my line.
We had planned 20 minutes of BT & got back to the anchor line at 19. Trey motioned he wanted to stay a bit longer & we were still a ways from DECO, so since the wreck was pretty much intact we didn't need a line to head for the stern.
We stayed for about 5 more minutes & knowing those on board the Under Pressure would be watching the clock waiting on us knowing our planned time. Not knowing what was going on at the bottom causes a bit of anxiety for those waiting as the clock ticks by our planned BT.
1 of the coolest things was the hundreds of baby squid surrounding us on the line, the largest about 2inches long & the smallest about 1/4 inch. I have to admit thinking about what eats them & if it was hanging just outside the beams of our lights. :?
Trey was the 1st to board & mentioned that there was a house on board & it was steel, JT became excited until I boarded & announced it was a Landing Craft. 1 like seen in the opening scenes of "Saving Private Ryan".
No one else took the opportunity to do a dive, they all went back into the cabin & before Trey & I could get out of our drysuits the lights went out. We took 5 minutes to undress & talk about our dive, by the time we got into the cabin everyony was crashed out. It took a while before I could dose off.
I awoke at dawn, not realizing that it was only 3 1/2 hours since I had gone to sleep, to a most beautiful sunrise. 1of the best things about living on the East coast is our sunrises over the water.
Sea conditions had gotten a bit sporty, so I was worried about the fate of Tom, but he awoke & was fine. So it was time to dive.
JT made the call that the 2 groups that didn't dive the night before would go & if what they reported didn't entice him to get off the boat, then Trey & I would do a 2nd dive & pull the hook afterward. Which is exactly what happened.
It was quite different to see it during the day, saw a few more lobsters & probably 1 of the largest Tautogs I have ever seen. Another testament that no divers had been there. This was also my 200th dive. :mrgreen:
It was decided that a final dive of the trip would be to the Morgan, our signature dive of our area.
Tom & JT have literally 100s of dives on the Morgan & decided to stay on board.
The groups had to be rearranged so Trey could do the tie-in & I would un-hook.
Trey & Tyler jumped 1st, then Scott would get ready to jump, since he planned on a longer dive on his Rebreather, then Kristine & I would get geared up & jump, which should put us ascending with Scott. Ahh the best laid plans. 8)
Kristine & I jumped with me leading. About 40 ft I thought that the lead line looked awfully limp. Then it showed why, it had broken free from the anchor line. I showed Kristine & motioned to surface, she wanted to drop to the bottom & look around. I know the Morgan & it is broken into several pieces & even if we were lucky enough to find it, chances of finding the anchor line was slim to say the least.
We surfaced & she boarded the boat, JT told me to swim to the anchor & go down to let Scott know what had happened (this had thrown off our time line & Scott would have expected to see us), plus Trey had run a reel for us & we needed to retrieve it.
When I got to the bottom Scott was there, I relayed the message & he ascended, I saw Treys reel, but not where it was tied off. The bottom silt had picked up & vis in the sand was limited. I followed it for a while & knowing my DECO time was very limited I decided to call the dive & just cut his line to retrieve his reel.
As I turned I saw a light, thought it was Scott staying with me to un-hook, but it was Kristine wanting to do a dive giving me the turn around sign. So I did, I still had 19 minutes of NDL left, but as I motored along I was getting too far in front of her, as Trina says I have a habit of doing, so I stopped & waited for her & dropped in behind her to let her control the pace.
We got to the end of the line & lo & behold it was 4ft from the reel. I still planned on cutting the line, but I took a minute to look at the tie-in to figure out what needed to be done to un-hook. The anchor was in a thin piece of metal & had ripped 1/2 way through & the tie-in chain was wrapped around the same piece so when it ripped through the only thing holding would be the secondary tie-in rope which I didn't have much confidence in either for holding the boat in place.
Kristine unhooked Treys reel & before I could tell her to cut it she was off reeling in the line. Just then the anchor ripped through the wreck. I reset it, but the new spot was no stronger so I couldn't follow her.
I looked at my computer & had 4 minutes of NDL left. Well DECO here I come. She must have been really motoring along, she was back in less than 3 minutes. She got on the line & I released both tie-ins.
On the way up I noticed a new lead line had been lowered, but I guess Kristine didn't notice & went by it. I followed her as I didn't want to suddenly disappear. She was constantly flashing the OK sign at me. She knew I didn't have the SI she had from the previous dive plus I also had more time on the bottom during this dive, but I never went into DECO. Actually we ascended so slow that after our 3 min. safety stop I was almost back into the Green on my Nitrogen loading. Normally I would stay until I was Green, but knowing this was my last dive I was pretty safe.
At the end of her 3 minutes she gave me the DECO sign & seemed surprised when I said no. So we surfaced. The seas had turned pretty nasty & the swim to the back of the boat was tough.
After I got back on board & out of my gear it was noticed that the lead line had gone under the boat & wrapped the prop.
Tom pulled out his drysuit to jump in, but I was still in mine so I offered to do the deed. JT had to remind me to put on my mask & fins. :smt009
I jumped back into the ever growing seas & tried to go under twice, but between being winded from my dive, the boat beating on me & my drysuit being bouyant I couldn't get it done. I told JT I needed my rig on, he quickly fashioned a sling from a bungee cord on my 40 & slipped it over my arm & neck. Worked like a charm & 3 minutes later we were free.
The trip in was spent sleeping, eating & watching movies, Kill Bill 1st, then Resevoir Dogs, didn't get to see the end of that 1 so I will need to do that.
Thanks to JT & Trey for including me in this trip, was also nice to see Kristine again, yes you too Tyler. Nice meeting Tom & Scott also. Got to see the HEAT rebreather they are testing. Very nice system.
The weather forecast changed all week, not sure what it was going to actually do, as usual. :roll:
I got the e-mail Friday afternoon to meet at the dock for a leave time of 11PM, so I needed to be there by 10:30. I left the house early so as not to make anyone wait on me, got there at 10:20 & I was the last 1 there, everyone else was almost fully loaded.
The complete run down of players was me (RAD Diver), Trey (tknox),Scott (liftbag mcgee), Kristine (KRae), Tyler, & Tom with of course JT (beenaround) on board his boat the Under Pressure.
Before leaving the dock JT went over a briefing & we went about deciding on who would be the 1st pair off the boat, Tyler & Kristine wanted nothing to do with the tie-in so it was up to a coin toss between Tom & Scott, & Trey & I. We lost the toss. :smt010 So it was into a bunk for me since this is well past my normal bedtime.
When the engines went down to idle I was up quick to watch the wreck appear on the machine, at about 3AM. After that I went back to bed as they tried to hook it.
I then heard JT talking about hooking the wreck & Trey said OK, I jumped up & they gave me the word that Tom wasn't feeling well & it would be Trey & I 1st down. :cheer
Man it seemed awful dark out, but Trey & I made little haste in getting geared up with plenty of help from the rest of the group. Trey was the 1st in, but he didn't have his light on so I had to wait until he surfaced before I jumped, man that was a long minute. Then finally I got the OK.
I got to lead the way & saw it 1st, the 1st thing I noticed was it was steel, our lights were doing their best, but with limited results, we had about 10-15 ft of vis which is pretty good considering the time of day, or night as the case might be.
Trey was doing the tie-in so I tied my reel off to lead us into the pitch black. As I was looking around I spotted a big lobster, but it did well in picking his spot, backed in to a spot that had only 1 entrance & it only gave about 6 inches to pull it out before hitting the wreck, with those 2 big claws ready to give a warm welcome to whoever got too close.
We went off not knowing which way was bow or stern, but it soon became evident. The bow had a huge rake downwards & was only about 18 inches wide, we made a jump & found the other side to be exactly the same. I knew a landing craft when I saw 1.
We continued down the side & from the size & numbers of the fish that were around it was very obvious that few if any divers had been on this site. Right as we got back to the tie-in my reel jammed.
From a previous dive my reel came undone & tried its best to wrap me up like a mummy. I got out of it & reeled it up with little trouble, but I guess it tangled somewhere along the way, bummer.
So we reversed our travel & reeled in my line.
We had planned 20 minutes of BT & got back to the anchor line at 19. Trey motioned he wanted to stay a bit longer & we were still a ways from DECO, so since the wreck was pretty much intact we didn't need a line to head for the stern.
We stayed for about 5 more minutes & knowing those on board the Under Pressure would be watching the clock waiting on us knowing our planned time. Not knowing what was going on at the bottom causes a bit of anxiety for those waiting as the clock ticks by our planned BT.
1 of the coolest things was the hundreds of baby squid surrounding us on the line, the largest about 2inches long & the smallest about 1/4 inch. I have to admit thinking about what eats them & if it was hanging just outside the beams of our lights. :?
Trey was the 1st to board & mentioned that there was a house on board & it was steel, JT became excited until I boarded & announced it was a Landing Craft. 1 like seen in the opening scenes of "Saving Private Ryan".
No one else took the opportunity to do a dive, they all went back into the cabin & before Trey & I could get out of our drysuits the lights went out. We took 5 minutes to undress & talk about our dive, by the time we got into the cabin everyony was crashed out. It took a while before I could dose off.
I awoke at dawn, not realizing that it was only 3 1/2 hours since I had gone to sleep, to a most beautiful sunrise. 1of the best things about living on the East coast is our sunrises over the water.
Sea conditions had gotten a bit sporty, so I was worried about the fate of Tom, but he awoke & was fine. So it was time to dive.
JT made the call that the 2 groups that didn't dive the night before would go & if what they reported didn't entice him to get off the boat, then Trey & I would do a 2nd dive & pull the hook afterward. Which is exactly what happened.
It was quite different to see it during the day, saw a few more lobsters & probably 1 of the largest Tautogs I have ever seen. Another testament that no divers had been there. This was also my 200th dive. :mrgreen:
It was decided that a final dive of the trip would be to the Morgan, our signature dive of our area.
Tom & JT have literally 100s of dives on the Morgan & decided to stay on board.
The groups had to be rearranged so Trey could do the tie-in & I would un-hook.
Trey & Tyler jumped 1st, then Scott would get ready to jump, since he planned on a longer dive on his Rebreather, then Kristine & I would get geared up & jump, which should put us ascending with Scott. Ahh the best laid plans. 8)
Kristine & I jumped with me leading. About 40 ft I thought that the lead line looked awfully limp. Then it showed why, it had broken free from the anchor line. I showed Kristine & motioned to surface, she wanted to drop to the bottom & look around. I know the Morgan & it is broken into several pieces & even if we were lucky enough to find it, chances of finding the anchor line was slim to say the least.
We surfaced & she boarded the boat, JT told me to swim to the anchor & go down to let Scott know what had happened (this had thrown off our time line & Scott would have expected to see us), plus Trey had run a reel for us & we needed to retrieve it.
When I got to the bottom Scott was there, I relayed the message & he ascended, I saw Treys reel, but not where it was tied off. The bottom silt had picked up & vis in the sand was limited. I followed it for a while & knowing my DECO time was very limited I decided to call the dive & just cut his line to retrieve his reel.
As I turned I saw a light, thought it was Scott staying with me to un-hook, but it was Kristine wanting to do a dive giving me the turn around sign. So I did, I still had 19 minutes of NDL left, but as I motored along I was getting too far in front of her, as Trina says I have a habit of doing, so I stopped & waited for her & dropped in behind her to let her control the pace.
We got to the end of the line & lo & behold it was 4ft from the reel. I still planned on cutting the line, but I took a minute to look at the tie-in to figure out what needed to be done to un-hook. The anchor was in a thin piece of metal & had ripped 1/2 way through & the tie-in chain was wrapped around the same piece so when it ripped through the only thing holding would be the secondary tie-in rope which I didn't have much confidence in either for holding the boat in place.
Kristine unhooked Treys reel & before I could tell her to cut it she was off reeling in the line. Just then the anchor ripped through the wreck. I reset it, but the new spot was no stronger so I couldn't follow her.
I looked at my computer & had 4 minutes of NDL left. Well DECO here I come. She must have been really motoring along, she was back in less than 3 minutes. She got on the line & I released both tie-ins.
On the way up I noticed a new lead line had been lowered, but I guess Kristine didn't notice & went by it. I followed her as I didn't want to suddenly disappear. She was constantly flashing the OK sign at me. She knew I didn't have the SI she had from the previous dive plus I also had more time on the bottom during this dive, but I never went into DECO. Actually we ascended so slow that after our 3 min. safety stop I was almost back into the Green on my Nitrogen loading. Normally I would stay until I was Green, but knowing this was my last dive I was pretty safe.
At the end of her 3 minutes she gave me the DECO sign & seemed surprised when I said no. So we surfaced. The seas had turned pretty nasty & the swim to the back of the boat was tough.
After I got back on board & out of my gear it was noticed that the lead line had gone under the boat & wrapped the prop.
Tom pulled out his drysuit to jump in, but I was still in mine so I offered to do the deed. JT had to remind me to put on my mask & fins. :smt009
I jumped back into the ever growing seas & tried to go under twice, but between being winded from my dive, the boat beating on me & my drysuit being bouyant I couldn't get it done. I told JT I needed my rig on, he quickly fashioned a sling from a bungee cord on my 40 & slipped it over my arm & neck. Worked like a charm & 3 minutes later we were free.
The trip in was spent sleeping, eating & watching movies, Kill Bill 1st, then Resevoir Dogs, didn't get to see the end of that 1 so I will need to do that.
Thanks to JT & Trey for including me in this trip, was also nice to see Kristine again, yes you too Tyler. Nice meeting Tom & Scott also. Got to see the HEAT rebreather they are testing. Very nice system.
