Let's see.
The Tony is in about 85 feet. I was on air when I was on her Sunday. I stayed down about 43 minutes and had a lot of NDL on my computer and plenty of air left.
To move from the stern to the bow in the high current:
1. Get down to the wreck. I fully deflated my BC by sucking the air out and kicked down. This is easier if you have a mooring ball attached.
2a. If you land on the stern, take shelter behind the aft structure or in the wheelhouse. The wheel house is above the stern and about 20 feet forward. Nice big openings. Catch your breath and buddy check.
2b. If you miss the wreck, but are within 30 feet or so, you can drop below the wreck, above the sand and use the wreck to block the current as you swim in. If you can't make it in, don't waste air fighting a losing battle against the current. Ascend and get the boat to drop you again.
3. Move forward, quickly now!, and drop into the hold. No current here
4. Explore all you want. There is silt in the forward and aft compartments and you can cause a silt out if you are not careful. So if you aren't ready for that, don't go in. There is a goliath grouper that lives in the forwards area.
5. At the front of the hold, you can pop up and move onto the bow. Stay low, the bow blocks some of the current up and over. If you get blown off, drop back into the hold.
6. When you get low on air, just work your way back to the ball if there is one. Otherwise just do a nice slow ascent when you hit turn pressure.
If the current is high, I would make sure that there is at least one SMB per buddy team. Watch out for lures, fisherman break them off on the wreck all the time. Be sure to have a knife/scissors to cut monofilament. The metal on the ship is very sharp and rusty. Wear gloves. If you don't have gloves, don't touch!
Let's see. With a water temp of about 70F, you may want a hood.
I think that's it. I should write this down so I have it next time I'm out there
Have fun guys!
Peter
PS. If you are the person who is tying off the mooring ball, there is a really nice horizontal bar on the starboard side of the funnel about 5 feet or so beneath the top of the funnel. That is where I tie off.
.. i have a video capture card in my computer to digitize VHS tape... a scanner is also lying around ...
