Biggen
Contributor
I was finishing up my AOW and Nitrox certification this weekend so I ended up going out with PCDC on Saturday to finish up those skills. I had also just purchased an Aqualung Titan LX reg from Divers Den a few days before so I was eager to try it out. This trip would be an eight hour 3 tanker trip and I was diving Nitrox. The boat was pretty full. We had approx 25 divers on hand. All (except for me) were from a dive school over in Louisiana. Most of them were all finishing up different stages of certification and booked the entire boat to themselves so that the instructors could work with each group of divers. I was lucky enough to join this crew. I could tell that these guys could dive too. Approx 6 of them were using dry suits and nearly all of the rest of them were using BP/W setups. This is something one doesn't see on the cattle boats so as soon as I boarded I knew I was in good company.
The boat left about 2:30pm CST and headed out to Stage I. The Gulf was pretty damn rough in the afternoon. The waves just ouside the pass were easily over 7'. When a dive boat has to slow down when going through swells, you know the seas are farily big. After we cleared the pass, the Gulf calmed a bit but the seas stayed 4'-5' for the rest of the afternoon.
We reached Stage I at approx 3:45 pm. After tying off the DM told us there was a pretty good current moving across the wreck. He also noted that there was a 6' Bullshark down there so we needed to keep our eyes open. Immediately all of us thought "Wow, a shark! I can't wait to see it". Only a group of divers would think this.
This would be the first time I dove Stage I so I wasn't sure what to expect. My buddy and I were the 2nd pair of divers in the water right after the two guys hunting with spearguns went in. Viz was around 25'. Not too great but not all that bad for Gulf conditions either. Water temp was around 74F topside then dropping down to 69F on the bottom after passing a thermocline at around 35'. The top of Stage I one sits at around ~60' and hits the sand at ~110'. For those who don't know, Stage I was a navy research military platform used form the late 50's to the early 80's. Here is a link with a picture on what it looked like http://southernscuba.com/stageone.htm
Basically, it looks like a minature oil rig. There are multi level areas, pipes, beams, etc... that make navigation both challenging and hazardous. My buddy and I heading out along the wreck making our deepest dive to 97' (which BTW is now my newest deepest dive ever!) I didn't take along my wrist compass on this dive because I thought it wouldn't be needed. I was wrong...
We swam along the outside edge of the wreck so that I could keep my "bearings" about where we were. Once we hit the end, we turned 90 degrees to the left and began making that swim along that leg. Shortly after the turn, my buddy (whom I had just met on the boat) signaled that we hit her turnaround time and needed to head back. I was diving Nitrox and she air so obviously her time was the limiting factor. That and she had burned about 500PSI more than me on the dive thus far since she had some mask problems at the beginning of the dive. So we turned 90 degrees again which should have put us back on a direct course to the anchor line. We were now swimming through the middle (or thereabout) of the wreck. The current was now in our face and it took some effort to make headway. Along the way we had to dodge several fishing lines, one of which was being reeled in from above with the bait still attached to the hook. I did manage to see the tail of the bullshark as we swam but it moved so fast that it was only for an instance. Ah well, maybe next time I can actually see the whole thing. Anyway, after approx 6-7 minutes of harding finning, we came to the end of the wreck but there wasn't an anchor line to be found. So I thought hard for a minute about what was going on. I knew I (we) hadn't gotten turned around. I also consider myself pretty good at natural navigation so I was sure we had headed in the right direction. But were was the damn line? We did a quick air check to see how we stood. I was around 1800 and she around 1400. We had plenty of air and in the time we were swimming back we had begun ascending to 50' to where the anchor line would be tied to the wreck. I knew the anchor line couldn't be in front of us (nothing but empty sand) and not to the left of us (nothing but empty sand) and it wasn't behind us (nothing but pipes that all look the same to me and we had just covered that area). I made a motion to her to follow me back to the right (took another 90 degree turn to the right). After less than one minute of swimming we saw the anchor line. Apparently, the current had pushed us slightly sideways across the wreck. We had the forward direction correct, but I didn't notice that we were also being blown across the wreck. And with viz at only 25', the anchor line may as well be a mile away if it is 35' from you. We made a safe acsent up to the top and back on the boat. The guys with the spearguns were right behind us with grouper, amberjack, and snapper on their stringers so I know they had a good time.
I liked the dive on Stage I. But it is definately an advanced dive. When diving boat wrecks, natural navigation is slighty easy in my opinion. You have either the bow, midship, or stern to tie the anchor line to. Three very reconizable features. Well with Stage I, this pipe looks like that pipe and every other pipe. There isn't really anything distinguishable about the wreck so natural navigation is much harder. I will definately be bringing the compass next time I dive that wreck just as a backup.
Fish were abundant on this wreck which is why it is a very popular dive and fishing spot. All kinds of big fish just like what the hunters had gotten with their spearguns. There is also lots of life in the sand. I saw one hugh sand dollar slighty buried down there. Know that I know what to expect out of Stage I, I will be on the lookout for more marine life down there. There is always some apprehension (at least for me) on going to a dive site for the first time and then diving with new buddies, so sightseeing always gets second place to staying alive and not getting lost.
The second wreck was called the Accokeek. I had never heard of it before but was told it was approx a ~160' ship. The wheel house sat at about 50 and her keel at around 100'. Nothing too spectacular about this wreck. I have gotten spoiled living here so when you see one ship you have kind of seen them all. We did see a cool Moray Eel when looking inside the ship. One could easily penetrate the ship as there were several hatches open and easily accessable. Conditions were the same on this wreck as on Stage I.
This wreck was also used for the night dive later on. Only about 7 people (out of 25) did the night dive. I decided not to do it either due to a little sea sickness. It had also gotten cooler and the wind picked up so I didn't think getting wet and cold would help the nausea anyway.
All in all, I had a great Saturday and met some great divers! I didn't get home until midnight and hit the bed immediately after cleaning off the gear. My LX worked great by the way on its maiden dive. It almost pushes the air into your mouth when breathing. Very easy at depth! So if anyone is thinking about getting it, please do it.
The boat left about 2:30pm CST and headed out to Stage I. The Gulf was pretty damn rough in the afternoon. The waves just ouside the pass were easily over 7'. When a dive boat has to slow down when going through swells, you know the seas are farily big. After we cleared the pass, the Gulf calmed a bit but the seas stayed 4'-5' for the rest of the afternoon.
We reached Stage I at approx 3:45 pm. After tying off the DM told us there was a pretty good current moving across the wreck. He also noted that there was a 6' Bullshark down there so we needed to keep our eyes open. Immediately all of us thought "Wow, a shark! I can't wait to see it". Only a group of divers would think this.
This would be the first time I dove Stage I so I wasn't sure what to expect. My buddy and I were the 2nd pair of divers in the water right after the two guys hunting with spearguns went in. Viz was around 25'. Not too great but not all that bad for Gulf conditions either. Water temp was around 74F topside then dropping down to 69F on the bottom after passing a thermocline at around 35'. The top of Stage I one sits at around ~60' and hits the sand at ~110'. For those who don't know, Stage I was a navy research military platform used form the late 50's to the early 80's. Here is a link with a picture on what it looked like http://southernscuba.com/stageone.htmBasically, it looks like a minature oil rig. There are multi level areas, pipes, beams, etc... that make navigation both challenging and hazardous. My buddy and I heading out along the wreck making our deepest dive to 97' (which BTW is now my newest deepest dive ever!) I didn't take along my wrist compass on this dive because I thought it wouldn't be needed. I was wrong...
We swam along the outside edge of the wreck so that I could keep my "bearings" about where we were. Once we hit the end, we turned 90 degrees to the left and began making that swim along that leg. Shortly after the turn, my buddy (whom I had just met on the boat) signaled that we hit her turnaround time and needed to head back. I was diving Nitrox and she air so obviously her time was the limiting factor. That and she had burned about 500PSI more than me on the dive thus far since she had some mask problems at the beginning of the dive. So we turned 90 degrees again which should have put us back on a direct course to the anchor line. We were now swimming through the middle (or thereabout) of the wreck. The current was now in our face and it took some effort to make headway. Along the way we had to dodge several fishing lines, one of which was being reeled in from above with the bait still attached to the hook. I did manage to see the tail of the bullshark as we swam but it moved so fast that it was only for an instance. Ah well, maybe next time I can actually see the whole thing. Anyway, after approx 6-7 minutes of harding finning, we came to the end of the wreck but there wasn't an anchor line to be found. So I thought hard for a minute about what was going on. I knew I (we) hadn't gotten turned around. I also consider myself pretty good at natural navigation so I was sure we had headed in the right direction. But were was the damn line? We did a quick air check to see how we stood. I was around 1800 and she around 1400. We had plenty of air and in the time we were swimming back we had begun ascending to 50' to where the anchor line would be tied to the wreck. I knew the anchor line couldn't be in front of us (nothing but empty sand) and not to the left of us (nothing but empty sand) and it wasn't behind us (nothing but pipes that all look the same to me and we had just covered that area). I made a motion to her to follow me back to the right (took another 90 degree turn to the right). After less than one minute of swimming we saw the anchor line. Apparently, the current had pushed us slightly sideways across the wreck. We had the forward direction correct, but I didn't notice that we were also being blown across the wreck. And with viz at only 25', the anchor line may as well be a mile away if it is 35' from you. We made a safe acsent up to the top and back on the boat. The guys with the spearguns were right behind us with grouper, amberjack, and snapper on their stringers so I know they had a good time.
I liked the dive on Stage I. But it is definately an advanced dive. When diving boat wrecks, natural navigation is slighty easy in my opinion. You have either the bow, midship, or stern to tie the anchor line to. Three very reconizable features. Well with Stage I, this pipe looks like that pipe and every other pipe. There isn't really anything distinguishable about the wreck so natural navigation is much harder. I will definately be bringing the compass next time I dive that wreck just as a backup.
Fish were abundant on this wreck which is why it is a very popular dive and fishing spot. All kinds of big fish just like what the hunters had gotten with their spearguns. There is also lots of life in the sand. I saw one hugh sand dollar slighty buried down there. Know that I know what to expect out of Stage I, I will be on the lookout for more marine life down there. There is always some apprehension (at least for me) on going to a dive site for the first time and then diving with new buddies, so sightseeing always gets second place to staying alive and not getting lost.
The second wreck was called the Accokeek. I had never heard of it before but was told it was approx a ~160' ship. The wheel house sat at about 50 and her keel at around 100'. Nothing too spectacular about this wreck. I have gotten spoiled living here so when you see one ship you have kind of seen them all. We did see a cool Moray Eel when looking inside the ship. One could easily penetrate the ship as there were several hatches open and easily accessable. Conditions were the same on this wreck as on Stage I.
This wreck was also used for the night dive later on. Only about 7 people (out of 25) did the night dive. I decided not to do it either due to a little sea sickness. It had also gotten cooler and the wind picked up so I didn't think getting wet and cold would help the nausea anyway.
All in all, I had a great Saturday and met some great divers! I didn't get home until midnight and hit the bed immediately after cleaning off the gear. My LX worked great by the way on its maiden dive. It almost pushes the air into your mouth when breathing. Very easy at depth! So if anyone is thinking about getting it, please do it.
