The books tell the heading is 330 degrees from the entry point. When I dove it I found the heading inaccurate. The books are probably not taking into account several years of magnetic drift. Here's how we found the wreck:
1. We stood in the entry point and mentally marked a reference point on the opposing shore at the other side of the bay that corresponded to a 330 degree track.
2. We surface swam about 100 to 150 meters -- or until we guesstimated that the bottom depth would be about 50-55 ft. We did the surface swim to ensure that we stayed on the 330 degree track. Before descended we visually verified our track by lining up our entry point with the visual reference point taken on step 1.
3. When we descended we found ourselves at a bottom depth of 45 feet. We headed out on the 330 course until we were at 55' bottom depth.
4. At 55' we turned north to follow a 50-55' depth contour. The book (see attachment) said to swim about 100 meters. To me it felt like a much longer swim. It felt like we were swimming for 5 mins or more with crappy vis and over a featureless muddy/sandy bottom. I was about to give up and give a turn-around signal when at the distance we were starting to see some shadows. Then all of sudden the wreck was there in front of our noses.
The wreck is very weathered. There's basically a few ribs and some bulkheads still standing. The rest are just pieces strewn around the bottom.
There's very interesting information about the history of the VT-100 and a little bit of the Western Dispatcher
here. From what I've seen of the Western Dispatcher, it is all the way out by the opposing shores of the bay. It seems like a really long swim -- about 700 meters. Let me know how it goes if you try it out.
