USS Oriskany Flight Deck Dive

[flyingDiver75]

Had the pleasure of shadowing Below 130 Diving's TDI Advanced Nitrox / Decompression Procedures class during their graduation dive on the USS Oriskany, Sunday off Pensacola. We did 30 minutes at 150' on EAN25 followed by 40 minutes of drift decompression using EAN80 at our 30' and 20' stops.

My 2nd time to the flight deck and it didn't disappoint. From the tower, we swam the starboard deck to the stern, around the fantail, and up the port walkway to the midship elevator before crossing back to the tower to start up.

Lots of snapper, grouper, shovel-nose lobster, and lionfish. 2 sharks paid a visit when we ascended past the tower. We placed a dog-tag for an Oriskany veteran during the dive.

We lucked into a smooth ride out and back with mild top water and bottom currents. Mid-water current was running and we drifted about 2 miles during deco very glad we didn't have to spend deco on a fixed line.

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[Kevrumbo]

Recommend utilizing a scooter/DPV for your return visit to USS Oriskany, so you can "fly" over the Flight Deck and not work as hard kicking into that current.

Similarly at 888'/270m length, the Aircraft Carrier USS Saratoga at Bikini Atoll requires a DPV Scooter to motor about on a full "grand tour" to see the entire wreck. Depth ranges from around 30msw at the Flight Deck & passageway decks just below, to 55msw max at where the bow meets the sand bottom.

Normally -other than the usual penetration hazards in deep wreck technical overhead diving- as an external tour dive with good visibility & water clarity of 21m and 29°C temp (June/July 2013), the only other hazard to be aware of are strong surface currents. Even with a scooter, it can be a physically demanding surface swim in CCR or OC twinsets & towing bailout/deco cylinders, jumping in from the stern of the liveaboard, kicking to the bow mooring line; and then descending/pulling down along the mooring line to the carrier's flight deck level below at 27m.