Cthippo
Contributor
Wildcat Cove, south of Bellingham WA.
There is a wreck down there that has been eluding me for years. When I first learned of the AWOIS list it was the nearest one to me, just 100' offshore in a protected cove at a State Park with a boat launch. Thos was going to be easy, right?
Right?
I first tried it with downscan sonar, but got my tail kicked by the weather. Later came back and got some footage with a drop cam from a kayak, but couldn't see much. I tried finding it on SCUBA last year, but vis was 6". Tried another time with sidescan, but couldn't consistently find ir.
Today I figured it would be a good day for another run at it. The wreck only shows up on sidescan from certain angles but ai fonally got a hit. Dropped the flag buoy to mark it, and got the anchor line on the flag buoy tangled in the prop on the next pass. Cleaned that mess up, but on the next pass the sidescan towfish caught the buoy anchor line.
Finally got the buoy in the right place and went back for my dive gear and got in the water. Temp was probably 60 and vis was 4-5 feet, which isn't bad for this time of year. The wreck, such as it is, consists of a fiberglass fuel tank and an engine block and a small bit of hull at the base of a largish pile of boulders and sandstone. I suspect she drifted ashore on a low tide and sank many years ago. There is very little left to identify the wreck. The engine block has some interesting features and might be worth another poke after the alge bloom.
After a couple passes over the wreckage, I swam around the base of the rocks there and south down the shore. Less fauna than I am used to seeing, mostly crabs and a single sea cucumber. There were some anenomies om the bottom, but they were not open for business. With anenomies like that, who needs friends?
When I was ready to splash I discovered my pony was under 1000 psi. I figure the valve gpt bumped at some point and I didn't notice. I decided I was comfortable withour ot because the bottom was only 20 feet down and the deepest I saw was 25 on the dive. Calculated risk.
Dive time was 25 mins, 2550 psi to start, 1340 finish.
There is a wreck down there that has been eluding me for years. When I first learned of the AWOIS list it was the nearest one to me, just 100' offshore in a protected cove at a State Park with a boat launch. Thos was going to be easy, right?
Right?
I first tried it with downscan sonar, but got my tail kicked by the weather. Later came back and got some footage with a drop cam from a kayak, but couldn't see much. I tried finding it on SCUBA last year, but vis was 6". Tried another time with sidescan, but couldn't consistently find ir.
Today I figured it would be a good day for another run at it. The wreck only shows up on sidescan from certain angles but ai fonally got a hit. Dropped the flag buoy to mark it, and got the anchor line on the flag buoy tangled in the prop on the next pass. Cleaned that mess up, but on the next pass the sidescan towfish caught the buoy anchor line.
Finally got the buoy in the right place and went back for my dive gear and got in the water. Temp was probably 60 and vis was 4-5 feet, which isn't bad for this time of year. The wreck, such as it is, consists of a fiberglass fuel tank and an engine block and a small bit of hull at the base of a largish pile of boulders and sandstone. I suspect she drifted ashore on a low tide and sank many years ago. There is very little left to identify the wreck. The engine block has some interesting features and might be worth another poke after the alge bloom.
After a couple passes over the wreckage, I swam around the base of the rocks there and south down the shore. Less fauna than I am used to seeing, mostly crabs and a single sea cucumber. There were some anenomies om the bottom, but they were not open for business. With anenomies like that, who needs friends?
When I was ready to splash I discovered my pony was under 1000 psi. I figure the valve gpt bumped at some point and I didn't notice. I decided I was comfortable withour ot because the bottom was only 20 feet down and the deepest I saw was 25 on the dive. Calculated risk.
Dive time was 25 mins, 2550 psi to start, 1340 finish.
