matt_unique
Guest
I recently posted a trip summary of my recent USS-Bass dives under tech/wrecks. I had a few questions to research and some of my friends missed the post in that section so I will post it with more detail here:
First dive was last Saturday July 3 in the early am. We steamed out of Old Harbor Block Island after listening to air horns and screaming party goers all night long....ugh. Good time unless you want a good nights sleep for early morning diving.
This was my first visit to the Bass. I was hoping my GPS coordinates were correct. Quick check of the nautical charts and off we went. We had almost flat calm seas all the way out. As calm as they ever get in this area anyway. As my GPS indicated "arrival" there was no buoy to be found. We cruised around the general vicinity to see if we could spot something. After a few minutes I assumed the buoy was gone or my coordinates were bad. We were going to have to settle for some dives on the U853. I had brought deco profiles for the U853 just in case this happened. As I was about to power up to head to the U my non-diving buddy noticed a submerged buoy. (Good call Ralph!) He spotted the mooring buoy for the Bass. The current was so strong it pulled the buoy underwater. Using an oar to bring the line to the surface we were connected and ready to start suiting up. The current was smokin' as I mentioned so we ran a line from the bow to the stern to help get forward without a hard swim. After our traditional relax time at the bow we descended down the line. The line had tons of life on it. The first thing we saw at 6' was a tropical Trigger fish. Very cool! Down...down....down....down....looking down at 80' you could just see darkness. Finally structure began to appear from the abyss. The mooring line was tied right to the conning tower. We got our bearings at the conning tower then headed over the side to reach the sand. The conning tower was at 125' and we reached the sand at 155'. The bottom was absolutely covered with fish - mostly Hake. They were just everywhere - I have never seen so many fish in NE or in the Caribbean. We followed the bottom of the wreck to the stern. Vis was great down there - 30' no problem. The first time you see this wreck you cannot believe how big it is. We finally reached the stern to see the giant prop and rudder. Back around the other side toward the conning tower to ensure we were at the mooring line when we reached our planned time of 20 minutes. We got back to the conning tower with two minutes remaining so we looked around a bit. Just an awesome/intact wreck with tons of life. With 20 minutes reading on our computers we ascended to deco stop 1 at 70'. After about 40 minutes of deco and ascent time we were on the surface to talk about this incredible dive.
Dive 2 the following morning. Same drill as the day before, same noise, same seas, etc. We had our eyes peeled for the submerged buoy and found it this time without too much trouble. We were both breathing air for this one so we planned a shorter dive. We ended up with 10 minutes of bottom time due to a few factors but it was great to be back there anyway. For this 10 minutes we headed toward the bow. The "break" is just forward of the conning tower. I had an uw map that indicated it was over 100' from the conning tower to the break. This information was not accurate - the break is about 20-30' forward of the conning tower. The bow section is supposed to be about 50' away from the stern section. We did not have the bottom time for this journey - next time. Once again just awe inspiring to see this massive sub. We swam back to the conning tower and up to stop 1.
Before we left we tied a hard plastic container to one of the lines coming off the mooring buoy. Hopefully the next boat will be able to find her more easily.
I purchased the "Sinking of the Bass" video done by William Palmer. Not great, but a decent video for anyone interested. I felt his U853 video was better. It will be a handy reference for my next dives on the Bass though. This is definitely my new favorite dive site. I look forward to running a line off the rear section to find and explore the bow.
--Matt
First dive was last Saturday July 3 in the early am. We steamed out of Old Harbor Block Island after listening to air horns and screaming party goers all night long....ugh. Good time unless you want a good nights sleep for early morning diving.
This was my first visit to the Bass. I was hoping my GPS coordinates were correct. Quick check of the nautical charts and off we went. We had almost flat calm seas all the way out. As calm as they ever get in this area anyway. As my GPS indicated "arrival" there was no buoy to be found. We cruised around the general vicinity to see if we could spot something. After a few minutes I assumed the buoy was gone or my coordinates were bad. We were going to have to settle for some dives on the U853. I had brought deco profiles for the U853 just in case this happened. As I was about to power up to head to the U my non-diving buddy noticed a submerged buoy. (Good call Ralph!) He spotted the mooring buoy for the Bass. The current was so strong it pulled the buoy underwater. Using an oar to bring the line to the surface we were connected and ready to start suiting up. The current was smokin' as I mentioned so we ran a line from the bow to the stern to help get forward without a hard swim. After our traditional relax time at the bow we descended down the line. The line had tons of life on it. The first thing we saw at 6' was a tropical Trigger fish. Very cool! Down...down....down....down....looking down at 80' you could just see darkness. Finally structure began to appear from the abyss. The mooring line was tied right to the conning tower. We got our bearings at the conning tower then headed over the side to reach the sand. The conning tower was at 125' and we reached the sand at 155'. The bottom was absolutely covered with fish - mostly Hake. They were just everywhere - I have never seen so many fish in NE or in the Caribbean. We followed the bottom of the wreck to the stern. Vis was great down there - 30' no problem. The first time you see this wreck you cannot believe how big it is. We finally reached the stern to see the giant prop and rudder. Back around the other side toward the conning tower to ensure we were at the mooring line when we reached our planned time of 20 minutes. We got back to the conning tower with two minutes remaining so we looked around a bit. Just an awesome/intact wreck with tons of life. With 20 minutes reading on our computers we ascended to deco stop 1 at 70'. After about 40 minutes of deco and ascent time we were on the surface to talk about this incredible dive.
Dive 2 the following morning. Same drill as the day before, same noise, same seas, etc. We had our eyes peeled for the submerged buoy and found it this time without too much trouble. We were both breathing air for this one so we planned a shorter dive. We ended up with 10 minutes of bottom time due to a few factors but it was great to be back there anyway. For this 10 minutes we headed toward the bow. The "break" is just forward of the conning tower. I had an uw map that indicated it was over 100' from the conning tower to the break. This information was not accurate - the break is about 20-30' forward of the conning tower. The bow section is supposed to be about 50' away from the stern section. We did not have the bottom time for this journey - next time. Once again just awe inspiring to see this massive sub. We swam back to the conning tower and up to stop 1.
Before we left we tied a hard plastic container to one of the lines coming off the mooring buoy. Hopefully the next boat will be able to find her more easily.
I purchased the "Sinking of the Bass" video done by William Palmer. Not great, but a decent video for anyone interested. I felt his U853 video was better. It will be a handy reference for my next dives on the Bass though. This is definitely my new favorite dive site. I look forward to running a line off the rear section to find and explore the bow.
--Matt
