Thinking of diving the Oriskany

[hodagey]

If you want to get a good overview article and video of the wreck we shot in August, using mix and scooters...go to divingindepth.com and scroll down the left side to the video... a video of the Chevron tower video is there as well.

 

[Dive-aholic]

recreational limit is 120 but you can spend, what, 5 minutes at 130 or 140 before having to do deco? An old Dacor dive table I have says I'd only need an extra five minutes at 10' if I stayed as long as 10 minutes. I think by only having OW, I'm supposed to be limited to 60', but there are no scuba police. Granted, I could die, but I've already been to 75' and I survived. I'd like to dive the Oriskany someday. I'd like to get more deep dives under my belt and I'd like to dive more in the ocean before I dove on her though, so maybe not this summer, but the next. It's a serious dive, I'm sure, and I know I don't have the experience to do it yet. Even if Icould stay for 10 minutes without any problems

I thought the deck was at 135', but it's a huge ship and to be 2' lower at one point wouldn't concern me

Recreational limit is 130', open water limit is 60'. You're right, there aren't any scuba police, but you could die if you dive beyond your training and experience. That's not to say you will have the license to dive to 100' or 130' just because you complete an AOW course. You need to take it slow.

It concerns me that you would be willing to consider diving to 130 or 140' off of an old Dacor table without knowing the consequences. Diving that deep on air is not smart. It's not just about the decompression obligation, but also about the narcosis and what it does to your judgment.

Dive some more, increase your experience (preferably with more experienced divers), and get the training. If you want to dive the Oriskany and spend time at the flight deck, you should be diving trimix...and you're a long way from being there.

Be safe!

 

[del_mo]

I dove it. I am not tech trained. I stayed within recreational limits. While a "sexy" dive, it was not worth the money or the time involved. The tower is smaller than you would expect. A couple swim throughs vertically and horizontally takes care of it. I'm not sorry I did the dive, but it isn't a dive I long to do again. For a tech diver, I bet it is a super cool dive.

 

[ReefHound]

I did it on doubles - it's just that one of the tanks was strapped to the back of my buddy.

It's not the dive owners business to "allow" or "disallow" it, they didn't encourage it, they stated the rec limits, and ultimately it is a diver's responsibility. Adhering to recreational limits using recreational training is not inherently irresponsible.

BTW, what I called "ridiculous" was the alleged 100' limit mentioned.

 

[nolatom]

It's an individual decision, based on conditions, experience, equipment, and to some extent, instinct. A "touch and come back up" from the flight deck at the beginning of the dive wasn't something I took lightly, but neither did I consider it unduly hazardous, or I wouldn't have considered it. I've been deeper (Hole in the Wall in Jupiter) for longer and knew that watching the SPG like a hawk was necessary with just an 80 on my back. So was being aware whether I was getting narcy. Neither was a problem that morning, it was a nice dive.

Each diver has to make this decision, have a plan (a reasonable one) and dive the plan. Hanging around too long on that flight deck too long with an 80 would be risky, so would getting narced and ignoring your gauges. But it's still the diver's decision.

 

[tedwhiteva]

It's an individual decision, based on conditions, experience, equipment, and to some extent, instinct. A "touch and come back up" from the flight deck at the beginning of the dive wasn't something I took lightly, but neither did I consider it unduly hazardous, or I wouldn't have considered it. I've been deeper (Hole in the Wall in Jupiter) for longer and knew that watching the SPG like a hawk was necessary with just an 80 on my back. So was being aware whether I was getting narcy. Neither was a problem that morning, it was a nice dive.

Each diver has to make this decision, have a plan (a reasonable one) and dive the plan. Hanging around too long on that flight deck too long with an 80 would be risky, so would getting narced and ignoring your gauges. But it's still the diver's decision.

So long as no one gets hurt trying to save his/her a##, the darwinian principle will prevail.

 

[jerrymxz]

I dove the Big "O" on 21 OCT With MBT. I was in the Pan Handle on Buisness and ended up playing buddy roulette. I got super lucky with a Pair of guys each had an al100 , diverite wings and long hose Octo's. one of them carried an al30 sling bottle. i had a lpsteel 95 and an al19 pony with a 5foot hose. My computer is a cochran EMC-20H with 15% conservatism added. all of us had 30% nitrox in our main tanks.

we dropped to the flight deck (137" on computer) we went in and out several of the rooms on the flight deck level. i have a great pix of one of the guys looking out the round porthole on the forward inside corner of the island. we slowly ascended to the nav bridge and swam through that then up to the flag bridge and around the top portion before starting up to a 3+ min hang at 15feet. not one of us touched the extra gas and i had 900psi on the boat. total dive time(computer) don't even think of this on tables!! was 36 min. the computer gave me 7 min NDC remaining on the log book page. all three computers were very close in all numbers. i do not know the brand of the others. This was our plan going into this dive and we all did a very thorough job explaining our gear configuration to each other. one last thing we went over and they were as firm as iwas. ANY DIVER CAN TURN ANY DIVE AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON NO QUESTIONS ASK!!!

It was a great dive but the vis was 40-45 feet at best but still well worth it. it was deep but within our capabilities.

 

[texdiveguy]

I dove the Big "O" on 21 OCT With MBT. I was in the Pan Handle on Buisness and ended up playing buddy roulette. I got super lucky with a Pair of guys each had an al100 , diverite wings and long hose Octo's. one of them carried an al30 sling bottle. i had a lpsteel 95 and an al19 pony with a 5foot hose. My computer is a cochran EMC-20H with 15% conservatism added. all of us had 30% nitrox in our main tanks.

we dropped to the flight deck (137" on computer) we went in and out several of the rooms on the flight deck level. i have a great pix of one of the guys looking out the round porthole on the forward inside corner of the island. we slowly ascended to the nav bridge and swam through that then up to the flag bridge and around the top portion before starting up to a 3+ min hang at 15feet. not one of us touched the extra gas and i had 900psi on the boat. total dive time(computer) don't even think of this on tables!! was 36 min. the computer gave me 7 min NDC remaining on the log book page. all three computers were very close in all numbers. i do not know the brand of the others. This was our plan going into this dive and we all did a very thorough job explaining our gear configuration to each other. one last thing we went over and they were as firm as iwas. ANY DIVER CAN TURN ANY DIVE AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON NO QUESTIONS ASK!!!

It was a great dive but the vis was 40-45 feet at best but still well worth it. it was deep but within our capabilities.

So did you guys make a second drop????

 

[jerrymxz]

The other two guys did i did not. i didn't take my sea sick meds and did not feel up to it. I had a good first dive and didn't want to push it. it is after all a very deep dive a long way from help. so i streched out on the deck and took a nap in the sun!!

 

[Meister481]

I dove the Big "O" on 21 OCT With MBT. I was in the Pan Handle on Buisness and ended up playing buddy roulette. I got super lucky with a Pair of guys each had an al100 , diverite wings and long hose Octo's. one of them carried an al30 sling bottle. i had a lpsteel 95 and an al19 pony with a 5foot hose. My computer is a cochran EMC-20H with 15% conservatism added. all of us had 30% nitrox in our main tanks.

we dropped to the flight deck (137" on computer) we went in and out several of the rooms on the flight deck level. i have a great pix of one of the guys looking out the round porthole on the forward inside corner of the island. we slowly ascended to the nav bridge and swam through that then up to the flag bridge and around the top portion before starting up to a 3+ min hang at 15feet. not one of us touched the extra gas and i had 900psi on the boat. total dive time(computer) don't even think of this on tables!! was 36 min. the computer gave me 7 min NDC remaining on the log book page. all three computers were very close in all numbers. i do not know the brand of the others. This was our plan going into this dive and we all did a very thorough job explaining our gear configuration to each other. one last thing we went over and they were as firm as iwas. ANY DIVER CAN TURN ANY DIVE AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON NO QUESTIONS ASK!!!

It was a great dive but the vis was 40-45 feet at best but still well worth it. it was deep but within our capabilities.

Enough gear for the dive, a good pre-dive safety brief and a proper objective. I love to read about people making good, safe choices. I'm sure you'll be diving for a long time without worry. Hopefully you will get great insta-buddies every time.