Ft Lauderdale / Pompano Beach Dive Thread

[NothingClever]

@VsubT and I dived the Lady Luck with Hydrotherapy this past Sunday.

Since it was our first technical dive together we planned a pretty modest profile with 30% EANx and 50% for decompression. @VsubT led our planning and knocked my socks off with his knowledge of Subsurface in a desktop application. With my little iPhone DPS, I kinda felt like the kid with the semi-flat soccer ball showing up to varsity soccer practice.

@VsubT is smarter than me (he's an Engineer) and can handle multiple tasks so he handled photography.

Captain John dropped us right on top of the pilot house which was nice.

Aft of the pilot house is a cargo access to the engine deck and it's wide open. This is where we penetrated. Where the spot of my beam is pointed (aft, towards the stern) was an odd bulkhead. It had a unusual bend to it and there was a second traditional bulkhead right behind it where my light is spilling. Either it was bent at some point or what I think is an intentional cargo access is really a cut made during the prep to sink the vessel, made especially for easier penetration by divers.

Once down inside this cargo hatch, the engine room is to the right (forward) in the above picture.

Inside the engine room it gets tight. There was a lot of structure left in place.

This photo below is making our way forward along the main deck. Below the deck is the engine room and to our right was probably a crew commons area. There's a big swim through that's excellent for Advanced OW students but there was a diver in it already so we opted to keep going forward. The stairs to the right of the frame lead up to the pilot house.

I love this shot @VsubT took below. It shows the frame tower over the deck that sits a little bit aft of amidships. Last time I dived here, this tower was guarded by a large school of barracuda.

@VsubT has a much better eye for the variety of marine life than I do. This is looking back up towards the frame tower. The Lady Luck was a sludge boat and has an abundance of pipe left intact on its deck so this is what you're looking at.

 

[NothingClever]

Still making our way to the bow, I wanted to look over the port side to see if there were any cut outs made along the hull for alternate penetration points.

This is me being a numpty, pointing my can light right at my dive buddy's eyes. What are friends for if not for burnt corneas?

As we made our way forward, we spotted two possible penetration points along the main deck underneath all the pipe works.

The bow of the Lady Luck with the anchor rodes still in their spot.

Access at the bow is a bit tighter. There wasn't a lot to explore in this hold.

 

[NothingClever]

@VsubT bringing more of the flora to life.

We headed back to the stern on the port side and the lack of current made it easy for us to take an external stroll to check out the hull more completely. No access was cut by the wreck preppers.

Tons of Caeser grunts at the pilot house observation deck.

@VsubT took a second look inside the engine room but somebody else had come in behind us and detonated a silt bomb. This is what @VsubT got to see. Next round I'll ensure to be in trail at the point of penetration so he gets first look.

Great dive together. The absence of current made deco pretty easy. I'm used to drifting along but when we surfaced we were only about 40m away from our boat.

Overall, I think the Lady Luck is a rather sublime wreck. It sits at accessible depths and offers plenty of contour to make for an epic dive for Advanced OW students but can easily be turned into a legitimate technical dive with penetration. In the engine room, we bottomed out at around 37m (although there were a few more meters to go to get to the keel) so you can work up a modest obligation while taking your time to explore it.

I'm looking forward to going back and exploring past the two penetration points that are midway between the pilot house and the bow.