First Boat Dive of the Season!

[diverbrian]

Well, I have just discovered my newest favorite shipwreck. That would be the Florida out of Presque Isle. The Florida is a wooden steamer that sunk in a collision. We dove it today. I should have realized that I was in for a suprise when I show up to the boat that we were using and it has enough tanks on it for a one dive trip so as to make it look like it is going out the Andrea Doria.

I had trimix in a set of doubled 130's, and my two stages. What the heck?

So, after a couple of false starts on other wrecks (first choice had no mooring buoy and is a reputed PITA to hook to. The second choice was already entertaining a dive boat.), we decided on the Florida. I still need to work on my rig with the two stages as I am still not quite used to the possible entanglements and this was my first non-quarry action of the season, but I didn't get bent, held my deco stops, and survived.

Was it worth it? YES!

The Florida is in pristine condition, right down to her capstan covers and gauge panels. Thanks to the Tri-Mix, I still remember reading Buffalo, NY and 1898 on the capstan covers. There are still wooden barrels floating on the ceilings of the cargo holds on the second level. This was just a great dive to do.

I wish that my camera had been present, but I am still taking my normoxic tri-mix course, so that was not an option for another two or three dives.

It was great to get the sea legs warmed up again and I should be hitting the Viator tommorow.

I hope to have the same beautiful vis that we enjoyed on the Florida today. I am not kidding when I say that at 180 ft. we still had 100 ft.+ of vis.

 

[Tavi]

Thanks for the report!!

Sounds like a very cool dive!!

 

[diver_paula]

But it's not a schooner!

Sounds like a very nice dive day. I'm jealous. Won't be getting out to a wreck for a couple more weeks.

Thank you for the report.
Paula

 

[MgicTwnger]

Thanks, Brian. Sounds like it was a terrific dive. I'll be doing southern lake Michigan for the next two weekends and will post reports.

 

[diverbrian]

Well, day #2 of my Memorial Day weekend concluded with another very successful wreck dive.

We got on my tech instructructor's 31ft. Carver and headed out for the Viator. Seas were like glass on the way out. We easily found the mooring bouy and tied in for a dive to a freighter in 170 ft. of water.

This dive is not quite as nice as the Florida, but still has cool points. There are two intact lifeboats. One lies next to the wreck at 172 ft. and another is in a cargo hold sticking out. There is linen paper on board. We leafed through a stack. Oh, the anchors are in the bow and have not been deployed. They look so neat getting ready to be dropped, LOL. We something resembling bricks in a cargo hold as well as doing a couple of swim-throughs.

I still need to get the interaction with my gear ironed out better for my taste, but I need more dives to do that. I was swimming around with just the stages just to get myself used to the way that they trimmed this "off-season", but hadn't practiced deploying them. I am getting better, but this is trickier than it looks, LOL. Again, it was acceptable, but I still feel like I have light years to go before I am perfectly happy in the water with two stages and heavier doubles. PS.... It was cold today. Those hangs were chilly. I certainly noticed when I put my stages on the hang line and switched back to my Tri-Mix. That stuff all of the sudden seemed to "breathe colder and easier" than the oxygen that I had been breathing for the last 10 minutes.

 

[alpenadiver]

Thanks for the report Brian, sounds like a two great wrecks to visit. Hope to get there in a few years, plan on taking Deep Air & Advanced Nitrox next year then a trimix class the following year. But until then we have alot of wrecks around here to keep me satisfied.

Mike