Ok, so part one was easily summed up with the words: "We died!"
Part two can be covered with the phrase: "Wreck penetration is freaking awesome!" But I figure y'all would like a little more than just that. And I feel obligated to make Cali laugh, since I haven't posted a good flippant report in a while!
Anyway, I spent the past four weeks in Albuquerque learning how to investigate aircraft accidents. So, after four weeks of dead people, airplane crashes, and actually going out to "investigate" several wreckages, I climbed on board a commercial flight to San Diego.
Brian picked me up from the airport and we had Outback and Cold Stone while waiting for Michael to arrive. AG called us about 300 times to make sure we didn't forget Michael...I think he was feeling a bit guilty from Part 1 where someone forgot to bring tanks for Michael to dive and Jonathan had to bail him out. But, we all got together and everyone was definitely excited about the upcoming two days of diving!
Day 1:
We got up just before 8 and met downstairs to learn the first and most important rule of wreck diving: Always know where the nearest Starbucks (or other coffee shop) is located. AG must have coffee...it's like jet fuel for airplanes! We spent some time discussing the plan and goals for the four dives and reviewed some of the academic material from Part 1. We drove out to the boat ramp and met Danny and the Yellow Boat. We loaded all our gear (two sets of doubles each) and set out across the bay for the mooring buoys. The seas were light, with maybe a 1-3 foot swell.
We geared up, jumped in, and planned our first 40 minute ~80 foot dive. Since there were three of us and AG wanted each of us to have the experience leading a longer penetration, the first dive would be three short penetrations, one by each person, and the remaining three dives over the weekend would be led by each of us in turn. We elected Brian as captain and he ran us through pre-dive info and we dropped down. The water on the surface was clear and blue...at six feet we hit the red tide and we were through it at 11 feet. It was much darker and colder below the red tide, and we followed the mooring line down to the wreck. It started to show in the gloom as we got within 20 feet of the wreck. What an awesome sight! I've always loved coming upon a wreck.
We made our way to the mortar well and Brian tied in. We recalculated thirds and started in. I was trying not to bounce all over the place in my excitement! We were going in! We spent about 5-7 minutes going into the ship and then turned around in a large-ish area to swap roles. I was the second captain, and I assigned roles, tied in, and recalcualted thirds. We went in, and made another 5-7 minute foray into the ship with AG again turning us around in the open area. Finally, Michael was in charge, tied in, and led us onward. AG left the choice of where to turn around up to him...and as we came back out we did our min deco on the line.
During the surface interval, I got real friendly with the contents of my stomach. But you don't want to hear about that!
With our tanks swapped over (thanks Danny and Michael!) we got back in the water. Brian was again the lead and would take us through a larger portion of the wreck on a ~20 minute penetration, with any time left on MDL to bum around the outside of the ship. During the course of the exit, we encountered a gas-sharing situation...I donated to the "out of gas" Michael, and we all discovered that depth, narcosis, small spaces, silt, line, and other things all pile on to hamper communication inside the wreck. After a few false starts, we wound up with the reel tied off and exited. A quick clean-up left the three of us to kick around the outside of the ship for 5-7 minutes.
After "extended" min deco (1-1-3-3), we got out and had the fast ride back into the dock. We got fills set up at SDUA and went in search of food...AG was blood sugar deprived! We had a nice lunch and went back to SDUA for video debrief. Oh, and more Starbucks.
Day 2:
We awoke to the ringing of our room phone and AG on the other end of the line: "You fellas ready?" Oops...overslept. A quick moment packing and we were out the door for another day of diving. Brian was going to remain on shore to be better prepared for the drive back to NorCal since we couldn't stay for Monday as well.
So, a stop at Starbucks (big surprise, right?) and we got to the docks. Michael and I set up our gear, loaded it on the boat, and made our way out to sea. The conditions were better, with a very light roll on the ocean. Danny had also brought along some ginger (candy and pickled) to help with the potential for seasickness. When we got out to the Yukon, there were already two boats moored to the buoys, but thankfully they weren't on our buoy of choice. A quick bit of gearing up and we were in the water. Michael and I discussed the plan while AG was getting in his rig.
We dropped through the red tide and made our way to the mortar well. I was leading, and I made the primary (and a much better positioned) secondary tie. As we were recalculating the gas plan, Michael thumbed the dive. It took me a few seconds to process it, but I agreed to ascend. We agreed on brief stops at 20 and 10. During that time I asked him what was wrong and he told me something was up with his left post. I asked for permission to "get in the kitchen" and I was able to determine that the knob would turn but was not opening or closing the needle valve. On the surface, Michael swapped out his tanks for the other set and we planned for one long dive instead of the two shorter dives. As such, the deco plan was to pay back what we owed at the end of the bottom time.
We touched on the plan changes and dropped to the ship. Once there, I tied us in and we started our way in the boat. Instead of just staying straight down the passageway, we made some left and right turns into the engine room, and some down and up movements into the dining room and kitchen. Thinking in 3D about where to tie and how to keep the line out of the way was definitely a challenging experience. After a few blunders, the light did turn on when I put some line directly across a doorway to the outside of the wreck, realized it, and moved the line up to a better tie point that kept the line out of the door. (Insert Joe's "Ding! *Rat eating a treat noises*") On our way back out, AG hit us with me being the reel-man and out-of-gas. I locked the reel and dropped it over a pipe to keep it temporarily in place and Michael donated. We got ourselves sorted out and I made a quick end tie around the pipe so we could exit. AG cleaned up the line behind us, and once outside, we elected to use the remainder of our gas to kick around and explore the wreck.
What an awesome wreck. The superstructure is incredible, and just seeing the variety of life that is present is amazing. We cruised around outside for a while, and by the time we made it back to the upline, we owed a total of 10 minutes. Since we had only backgas, we agreed on "driving the gradient" and the exponential 1-1-3-5 plan and a slow ascent from 10 feet.
What an absolute blast! And AG was happy to see that his students really were learning and not just regurgitating what he told them! From the time Michael, Brian, and I first started diving together in Part 1 to the final dives on the Yukon this past weekend, I saw the team grow and learn...what a great thing to be a part of...and even better to be inside a wreck!
