USS Oriskany Diving Rules.

[Tom Smedley]

Technical ? ? ?

Does that mean that if I clip a primary reel to my B/P, or if I show up wearing doubles I'm going to be charged more?

the K

Dennis - with your long hose and your bee pee dubya you're toast already.

 

[The Kraken]

Alas, alas . . . my deep diving days are no more !!!!

the K

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

anybody know how many mooring balls they're going to place on the wreck?

According to MBT divers, there will be no mooring balls(as nemrod stated as well). They are expecting dive boats to tie-in to the wreck. Fun!

 

[chickdiver]

According to MBT divers, there will be no mooring balls(as nemrod stated as well). They are expecting dive boats to tie-in to the wreck. Fun!

Thazt is correct, there will be no morring balls as the county would have to maintain them, and there is no budget for that. There are no publicly maintained mooring balls on any of the wrecks up here.

 

[chickdiver]

This is from MBT Divers in P'Cola, but I think that all the dive shops got together to come up with a set of minium rules for divers using their shops to dive the Oriskany.

Posting here as I'm sure people have been wondering what the "rules" will be.


Oriskany Dive Ops

The following specifics for dive operations for trips to the USS Oriskany have been established, and we are now taking bookings! Please remember, we do not own the boats, and all charter fees and policies are set by the captains.

- Price per person for a 2 tank/ 2 dive trip to the USS Oriskany is $145, payable at time of booking. There is a 48 hour cancellation policy – no refunds will be given for diver cancellation within 48 hours of the trip. Fees for trips cancelled by the captain will be refunded.

- Tanks and weights are not provided, but can be rented at MBT Divers.

- All divers wishing to dive the USS Oriskany must have a minimum of 20 logged dives.

- Openwater Divers that do not possess an advanced certification or a deep diver specialty certification:
- Must have completed a total of 20 logged dives
- Will be required to dive with a guide.
- Must have completed 2 logged dives within the last year or complete a refresher dive.

- Advanced Divers or those with deep diver specialty certifications:
- Must have completed 2 logged dives at or below 80’ in the last year to dive without a guide.
- Must have completed 2 logged dives within the last year to dive with a guide.

- Divers must have the following equipment:
a. Alternate air source
b. safety sausage or similar marker device
c. whistle
d. gloves

- Groups wishing to privately book an entire boat will be required to provide a 50% nonrefundable deposit at time of booking. (Deposits will be refunded in case of trip cancellation by the captain).

- Technical diving is permitted only on specially scheduled trips or with private booking. Additional charges will apply for tech divers.

Any of the information provided above is subject to change at any time.

Call ASAP to book - trips are going to go fast

Rather than "Rules"- this appears to be MBT's shop policy regarding charters to the Oriskany. I know of at least one charter op who has a half day and full day charge. If you want to do tech dives you charter the boat for the appropriate time period. The number of divers you put on board (and they the cost for each diver) is up to you....

 

[The Kraken]

The "Technical Dives" section intrigued me greatly.

I suppose the boat has to be handled in a special way if one has technical divers aboard.

the K

 

[H2Andy]

All bleeding stops.

ar ar, true that!

:14:

 

[Thalassamania]

Mike, thanks. I can grasp that. But I wasn't really thinking about major expeditionary diving (if there is such a term), but rathre the definition of tech (now there's a ball of wax). I had this cartoon in my mind of everyone pulling off their "D-rings" and stuffing their long hoses to bring the price down. Maybe just my bizarre imagination.

 

[mike_s]

According to MBT divers, there will be no mooring balls(as nemrod stated as well). They are expecting dive boats to tie-in to the wreck. Fun!

Yep. That's what MBT said on their forum, which is where these "rules" came from. I would much rather have mooring buoys/balls than having boats drop anchor on them. It's safer for all involved. But I guess someone would have to pay for the mooring balls and then maintain them, which as chickdiver pointed out. I imagine that the chain, rope, buoys, hardware would cost several thousand bucks to implement on the wreck. It's a shame that they are spending that much on the sinking and didn't include this in their budget. However, this goes back to my argument that they are sinking this wreck primarily for fishermen and not divers.

Rather than "Rules"- this appears to be MBT's shop policy regarding charters to the Oriskany. I know of at least one charter op who has a half day and full day charge.

Correct, this is from MBT and is their "rules", but they supposedly all got together and came up with a "base set" to go by. So I imagine that other shops "rules" will be similar but I expect a few changes.

The $145 price is for MBT. I'm sure other shops will be +/- a few bucks based on costs, competition, number dive, tech divers, etc.

 

[Nemrod]

I don't know exactly when I will get there, I will probably dive it first with a local shop but I intend also to skipper my Whaler out there and double hose though the flight decks at 160 feet with all you Techies! Should be a blast. Not having a mooring ball does make anchorage for small boats diffucult in 230 feet of water. To tie off on the wreck sounds good, done similar before, but someone has to do that and when your diving at these depths that comes out of your limited bottom time.
Anyways, this should be a boom time for Pensecola dive operators, at least until someone get's bent and they stop running out there like all the other cool places out of Pensecola and Destin. N