DennisW
Contributor
T-Day dive: November 24, 2005
The dive boat is Diversity out of Deerfield Beach, FL and the Captain is Capt. Tony, with Shari as the deck hand / DM.
We met at Pinel's (spelled wrong, I am sure) at 8:00am for a 9am departure. After a short ride to the inlet and then to the dive site, we dived the Sea Emperor, a concrete barge that is upside down and has a lot of places to penetrate with safety. The Sea Emperor is home to several Southern Sting Rays and Green Morays that like to visit with you up close and personal. There is an Anemone that is really nice on the barge. It is located on the top of the wreck (bottom of the barge) about in the middle. There are also all of the normal Caribbean fish and at least one pretty big Jewfish that hangs out at the stern.
72 ft Max depth for 39 minutes total time.
76 Degrees F Water Temp
Viz 30 ft maybe
Seas were pretty much flat, almost no current at the beginning of the dive, but there was a little towards the end.
The next dive was on the United Caribbean. This is a freighter that was sunk upright several years ago after being taken out of New York Harbor. This is the same freighter that was found with several hundred illegal Chinese on board, most of them had died. The ship's name was changed and it was sunk as a artificial reef. Some people say you can hear the ghosts while in the hold of the ship. Well, after last year's hurricanes, the ship had broken apart aft of the hold and in front of the wheel house which is in the stern section and the starboard side of the hold had broken loose and was swinging in the current. The ship was still upright. After Wilma, the stern section has moved away from the front part of the wreck and is now on it's side. The hold is basically lying all over the bottom and the bow section is still upright. It makes for a much more interesting dive. So, if you want a new dive on the United Caribbean, now is the time to do it.
75 ft Max depth for 38 minutes total time.
75 Degrees F Water Temp
Viz was maybe 30 ft
Seas were still flat, but the current had picked up a bit. It was a bit of the effort to move from the stern section to the bow section.
November 25, 2005 Deerfield Beach, FL South part of the beach.
We did a shore dive and we met at 7:30am at the south end of Deerfield Beach. They no longer let you dive at the Northern end of the beach. The seas were like glass and there was no surf at all. There were 7 of us diving and it was a blast. As we were suiting up, a really old guy going by made a comment, "Looks like Senior SCUBA." I guess it did. The dive was nice, but the soft corals are all gone. There were lots of Juvie tropicals all over. Donna pointed out a Scorpion fish. I would never have seen it. There was a bit of debris from houses, siding, roofing, etc around and on the reef. And this is a different piece of reef than the last time I dived this beach. Evidently it was uncovered by the hurricane. The reef here is mostly coquina rock, not real reef, but when the soft corals are there it is really nice.
15 ft Max Depth for 57 minutes total time
76 Degrees water temp
Viz was not more than 20 ft at any time, it was most likely about 15 ft
Seas were flat calm
The dive boat is Diversity out of Deerfield Beach, FL and the Captain is Capt. Tony, with Shari as the deck hand / DM.
We met at Pinel's (spelled wrong, I am sure) at 8:00am for a 9am departure. After a short ride to the inlet and then to the dive site, we dived the Sea Emperor, a concrete barge that is upside down and has a lot of places to penetrate with safety. The Sea Emperor is home to several Southern Sting Rays and Green Morays that like to visit with you up close and personal. There is an Anemone that is really nice on the barge. It is located on the top of the wreck (bottom of the barge) about in the middle. There are also all of the normal Caribbean fish and at least one pretty big Jewfish that hangs out at the stern.
72 ft Max depth for 39 minutes total time.
76 Degrees F Water Temp
Viz 30 ft maybe
Seas were pretty much flat, almost no current at the beginning of the dive, but there was a little towards the end.
The next dive was on the United Caribbean. This is a freighter that was sunk upright several years ago after being taken out of New York Harbor. This is the same freighter that was found with several hundred illegal Chinese on board, most of them had died. The ship's name was changed and it was sunk as a artificial reef. Some people say you can hear the ghosts while in the hold of the ship. Well, after last year's hurricanes, the ship had broken apart aft of the hold and in front of the wheel house which is in the stern section and the starboard side of the hold had broken loose and was swinging in the current. The ship was still upright. After Wilma, the stern section has moved away from the front part of the wreck and is now on it's side. The hold is basically lying all over the bottom and the bow section is still upright. It makes for a much more interesting dive. So, if you want a new dive on the United Caribbean, now is the time to do it.
75 ft Max depth for 38 minutes total time.
75 Degrees F Water Temp
Viz was maybe 30 ft
Seas were still flat, but the current had picked up a bit. It was a bit of the effort to move from the stern section to the bow section.
November 25, 2005 Deerfield Beach, FL South part of the beach.
We did a shore dive and we met at 7:30am at the south end of Deerfield Beach. They no longer let you dive at the Northern end of the beach. The seas were like glass and there was no surf at all. There were 7 of us diving and it was a blast. As we were suiting up, a really old guy going by made a comment, "Looks like Senior SCUBA." I guess it did. The dive was nice, but the soft corals are all gone. There were lots of Juvie tropicals all over. Donna pointed out a Scorpion fish. I would never have seen it. There was a bit of debris from houses, siding, roofing, etc around and on the reef. And this is a different piece of reef than the last time I dived this beach. Evidently it was uncovered by the hurricane. The reef here is mostly coquina rock, not real reef, but when the soft corals are there it is really nice.
15 ft Max Depth for 57 minutes total time
76 Degrees water temp
Viz was not more than 20 ft at any time, it was most likely about 15 ft
Seas were flat calm
