Who to dive with (Oriskany, Aug.16th)?

[1_T_Submariner]

I dove with both MBT and the Scuba Shack. Both were good. The crews where professional and fun without being over bearing.

I personally preffered the setup of Scuba Shack. We could leave our tanks and they where filled with the requested nitrox mix the next morning. We just loaded up on the boat and left. The other setup the shop isn't anywhere near the dock. But the boat was a little faster.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

SGG3K, I agree with Nemrod. I dove the Oriskany with a single 120 and my buddy had a 120 and a 19 cu/ft pony. I will have a pony along with the 120 next time.

There is a lot to see on the Island, the flight deck is a big flat piece of steel I followed a big ray over the deck for a few minutes and turned around, the Island looks really cool swimming back at it.

There can be some current and make sure you go up the correct line for your boat. I think they all mark them.

In short it is a great recreational dive just follow the tips given here. Rent bigger tanks, watch your time/computer closely time flies on the Oriskany.

 

[Vicksburg Diver]

I have been on the Oriskany three times, each time with different boats. For my money, call Chris Wachtel at 850-982-2995 and go with him on his boat, "Tech Rec.". This guy is all about making you comfortable and is very accommodating. His two daughters work with him and will haul your gear and set up your equipment between dives. His boat is well laid out for diving with ample space and a large covered area (important when you're offshore for that long). I cannot stress enough how much this guy works to make you comfortable. His boat is located at the Scuba Shack.

As for the actual dives on the "O", I have made 6 dives on her with aluminum 80's and have had no air issues. You can bounce the deck for a few minutes and then work your way back up and still have a good safety cushion for slow ascent and safety stop. Now of course I do closely monitor my air consumption. There is really not much to see at the flight deck but from 120 to 70 feet there is a a tremendous amount of area to dive. HINT: there is a lot of fishing line beginning to accumulate in some areas so be sure to bring a couple of cutters with you. Also, while the viz is usually pretty good, it has been less this summer than last year. Also, the temps seem to be a little cooler this year also. Another item you'll want is a good dive light.

It's best to divide the island into two parts and make each dive cover a different part so as to avoid overlap. Scuba Shack sells some excellent laminated charts of the wreck which will allow you to easliy plan your dive. Also, Chris has the same charts on his boat and can help you plan the best dive profile.

Enjoy!

 

[Nemrod]

Bouncing to the deck at 140 is going beyond recreational limits; doesn't sound smart to me.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/deep-dixie-divers/198536-all-inclusive-oriskany-thread.html

The 130 foot "limit" is purely arbitrary, nothing magic happens at 130 feet. The deck ranges from 135 to a little over 140 feet per my instruments. It is common practice to "bounce" the deck before continuing the dive up the tower. "Bounce" meaning a straight away decsent to the deck as quickly as reasonable and then working your way back up the tower per your plan or computer. The suggestion to divide the dives into quadrants is exactly right because it is so large it is diffucult to plan for. Rather than doing left or right or east or west etc we did the deck up to about 100 and then worked back up on the first dive and on the second we went to the 100 and then continued circling around and through the tower as possible taking our time within the limits of deco and air consumption.

I pay lip service to the Rule of Thirds. If your on the deck at 138 feet on an aluminum 80 and you are already reading under 2,000 (as I saw happen) then you have busted the rule. Since I try to play within the rule the only way to accomplish that is a larger tank, about 100 cf for the average diver. If a diver is of the sort who does not follow the Rule of Thirds then you still have to have a plan to get you down, around and up with at least enough fuel left to do a safety stop (given the depth) and be back on the boat with the usual 500 psi. How a person does that is up to them, 140 foot dives on an aluminum 80 can get tight. It can be done of course and much deeper but beginner divers should not and experianced divers largely have figured out a little more in back gas than 80 cf makes it more enjoyable and less stresfull.

Good luck. N

 

[ucfdiver]

Bouncing to the deck at 140 is going beyond recreational limits; doesn't sound smart to me.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/deep-dixie-divers/198536-all-inclusive-oriskany-thread.html

That's the danger of narcosis....people are oblivious to it. I dove to 147ft once and thought I was fine, and when my buddy motioned for me to go around a certain way, I shook his hand. My bouyancy was spot on, light signals were responsive, I turned the dive at 1/3rds, etc, everything appeared like I wasn't narced except for that. It wasn't until a few days later when I thought about how stupid that was, and how lucky I was.

My new rule of thumb is I'll never submit myself to a narcosis level high enough that I couldn't deal with an emergency, be it myself, or my buddy who is in danger. For me, my limit is 100ft in a cave...I might extend that in open water. If I want to go deeper than that, GUE offers recreational trimix, which is good to I believe 130ft.

Being alert enough to handle an emergency is more important to me than risking not stacking the odds in my favor to save myself, or my buddies life on a dive. Everyone needs to set a firm number as to max depth before they even begin to plan a dive like this. Also ensure that your dive planning is good enough to handle a complete loss of gas at your max depth and still safely have you and your buddy ascend.

 

[Diveral]

I like diving the O with Gary's Gulf Divers out of Orange Beach. He takes good care of you. He's got some 100's, 95's, and ponies available for rent. My O configuration is a 100 with a 30% Nitrox mix on back and a slung 50. We usually bounce the deck and as the island is huge we split it to front and back sections for the two dives. You may need to reserve some air to determine which is your ascent line. Last year we were the first in the water and when we made our ascent there were 5 dive boats moored to the O. Took a while to figure out which line went up to our boat.

AL

 

[SelkieDVM]

My brother and I recently went out with Scuba Shack's "Wet Dream" and were very pleased with the experience. It is a long ride but we're accustomed to that. The boat is roomy. They served orange, pineapple and watermelon sections, grilled hotdogs and corndogs during the SI, and hand churned ice cream for the ride home. That have a sign (and rubber chicken) at the bottom of their tie-in line, so it was easy to figure which one to follow up. The shop let us leave our gear the night before and store it there for the next day's diving. They will take tech divers too, I understand. No experience with the other outfits but I would definitely dive with Scuba Shack again. Look for the octopi that inhabit the horizontal pipes and have fun!

Cheers,
Lilla