ChrisF
Contributor
Isn't living in Florida great! 
I had the day off on Friday and decided to take the boat out for a dive on the Blackthorn. For those that don't know, the Blackthorn is/was a 180-ft Coast Guard Cutter that sits in about 80 feet of water off of Clearwater Florida. This ship's term of service in the Coast Guard came to an unfortunate end back in January 1980 when it collided with the 605-foot oil tanker S. S. Capricorn near the Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay. 23 of the 53 person crew perished in the incident. The ship was later raised and was towed to its current location about 22 miles off Clearwater Beach. It’s pretty well broken up now, but there are two large pieces of hull/superstructure left that still make the Blackthorn an interesting dive.
It was pretty foggy in the morning, which made the trip out a little more interesting than usual, but it had mostly burned off by the time we reached the site. Seas were about 2 feet. Water temp at depth was 72 degrees. Vis was about 40 feet. We saw lots of Snapper and even a Spotted Eagle Ray on the way back up the line.
As I watch the weather channel and listen to reports of ice storms and blizzards in other parts of the county, I count myself as very lucky to be out on the boat in shorts and a t-shirt doing such fabulous diving, even in the "winter" months.
Aaaah ... life is good.
I had the day off on Friday and decided to take the boat out for a dive on the Blackthorn. For those that don't know, the Blackthorn is/was a 180-ft Coast Guard Cutter that sits in about 80 feet of water off of Clearwater Florida. This ship's term of service in the Coast Guard came to an unfortunate end back in January 1980 when it collided with the 605-foot oil tanker S. S. Capricorn near the Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay. 23 of the 53 person crew perished in the incident. The ship was later raised and was towed to its current location about 22 miles off Clearwater Beach. It’s pretty well broken up now, but there are two large pieces of hull/superstructure left that still make the Blackthorn an interesting dive.
It was pretty foggy in the morning, which made the trip out a little more interesting than usual, but it had mostly burned off by the time we reached the site. Seas were about 2 feet. Water temp at depth was 72 degrees. Vis was about 40 feet. We saw lots of Snapper and even a Spotted Eagle Ray on the way back up the line.
As I watch the weather channel and listen to reports of ice storms and blizzards in other parts of the county, I count myself as very lucky to be out on the boat in shorts and a t-shirt doing such fabulous diving, even in the "winter" months.
Aaaah ... life is good.
