Hey Dave,
At that time of year when we first dove her the biggest challenge was the weather, trying to stay under the radar of the number hunters and, well .... the occasional submarine. But we managed to get six dives in that October before the boats came out of the water. If you catch the tide right and pick the weather it's not really a big issue. We always jump in before the tide goes slack and by the time you're hanging the tide's switched and running the other way. Timing is everything and if you're accustom to diving the tide anywhere in Eastern Long Island Sound, or any other strong tidal area, it's not much different from where the Volunds located. You just have to be careful and have a good crew. The wreck was (is) frequented by quite a few boats, but for many of thim lately it seems to have lost the allure it once had.
Viz on the wreck, as it does anywhere locally, runs the gammet from crap to fantastic but the Spring is usually the best. The video and photo's on the web site were all taken in the Spring of 2004. This summer though I did a lot of diving in Fishers Island Sound and in June, July, and August we were still getting days with almost thirty foot of viz.
As for the first dive on it .... well like any other virgin wreck it was quite a rush for all of us and you don't get to see things like below every day. I think one of the interesting things about the Volund is that because of where it's located it was untouched by fishing gear. Most of the local wrecks we dive have been slowly picked away by bottom gear or blasted as a hazard to navigation and here the Volund was essentially intact, untouched, and forgotten.
