Hetland
Contributor
I got an early start yesterday, and arrived at the H2O Below about 30 minutes early. There were eight divers present, and they trickled in over the next few minutes. Once everyone was loaded and signed-in, the Captain gave us a safety briefing for the boat and told us he expected flat seas. The divemaster gave us a detailed history of the Oriskany, and went over the must-see spots, and special considerations for diving the wreck.
We cleared the pass to find beautiful water and weather as far as the eye could see. It was near flat calm, and we made good time out to the wreck. Along the way, we spotted tons of spinner dolphins, porpoises, and loggerhead turtles at the surface.
Once on-site, we found another charter tied-in. Our divemaster splashed, and had us hooked-up in no time. The mooring buoy was easily visible thirty feet or so below the surface, and the water was clear and cobalt blue. The water was so pretty, I didn't even bother to color-correct my video.
I splashed last, and made my way down to the remains of the collapsed smokestack to shoot some vid. I got what I wanted, and began to slowly wind my way back up the side of the tower. I saw the usual denizens: Amberjack, red snapper, mangrove snapper, three kinds of butterflyfish, damsels, chromis, barracuda, thorny oysters, scallops, fireworms, anglefish, even a monster gag grouper, that I first thought was a small goliath!
I finished my super-extended safety stop (I had plenty of gas left), and surfaced to find sunchips and fresh-cut fruit waiting for me. The divemaster gave us a few more "must-sees" now that we had some from the first briefing checked off, and also told us where some of the more sedentary critters were hanging out in case we missed them the first time.
I splashed last again and went down to the flight bridge level for a few minutes before switching over to photography. I shot a hundred pics or so, and worked my way back to the upline, where I did a second extended safety stop. It's easy to hang out at 20 when you have such beautiful and clear water to soak in. It was better than Calgon
Once the divemaster had us unhooked, he broke out a huge deli sandwich and started slicing it up into human-sized servings. I scarfed one down and began scrolling through my photos for keepers.
The return trip was just as pleasant as our initial jaunt. If nothing, we saw MORE dolphins on the way back in, as well as one or two more turtles, and some flying fish. It was a perfect day to be on the water.
I can't say enough about Capt. Doug and the H2O Below. He runs a safe boat, and has everything down to a science. The pre-dive briefings are especially interesting and helpful. I'm the kind of person that likes to know as much as I can about my dive spots, and even though I try to keep up with changes to the Oriskany dive, I always wind up learning something new from those H2O Below briefings.
H2O Below
(850) 291-3501
ussoriskanydiver.com
We cleared the pass to find beautiful water and weather as far as the eye could see. It was near flat calm, and we made good time out to the wreck. Along the way, we spotted tons of spinner dolphins, porpoises, and loggerhead turtles at the surface.
Once on-site, we found another charter tied-in. Our divemaster splashed, and had us hooked-up in no time. The mooring buoy was easily visible thirty feet or so below the surface, and the water was clear and cobalt blue. The water was so pretty, I didn't even bother to color-correct my video.
I splashed last, and made my way down to the remains of the collapsed smokestack to shoot some vid. I got what I wanted, and began to slowly wind my way back up the side of the tower. I saw the usual denizens: Amberjack, red snapper, mangrove snapper, three kinds of butterflyfish, damsels, chromis, barracuda, thorny oysters, scallops, fireworms, anglefish, even a monster gag grouper, that I first thought was a small goliath!
I finished my super-extended safety stop (I had plenty of gas left), and surfaced to find sunchips and fresh-cut fruit waiting for me. The divemaster gave us a few more "must-sees" now that we had some from the first briefing checked off, and also told us where some of the more sedentary critters were hanging out in case we missed them the first time.
I splashed last again and went down to the flight bridge level for a few minutes before switching over to photography. I shot a hundred pics or so, and worked my way back to the upline, where I did a second extended safety stop. It's easy to hang out at 20 when you have such beautiful and clear water to soak in. It was better than Calgon
Once the divemaster had us unhooked, he broke out a huge deli sandwich and started slicing it up into human-sized servings. I scarfed one down and began scrolling through my photos for keepers.
The return trip was just as pleasant as our initial jaunt. If nothing, we saw MORE dolphins on the way back in, as well as one or two more turtles, and some flying fish. It was a perfect day to be on the water.
I can't say enough about Capt. Doug and the H2O Below. He runs a safe boat, and has everything down to a science. The pre-dive briefings are especially interesting and helpful. I'm the kind of person that likes to know as much as I can about my dive spots, and even though I try to keep up with changes to the Oriskany dive, I always wind up learning something new from those H2O Below briefings.
H2O Below
(850) 291-3501
ussoriskanydiver.com
