Photo Gallery:



 

The Barge formally known as the Merci Rabbi

The October 03 update of the Miami Dade DERM Wreck list had two additions to it. The Merci Rabbi and Captain Harry, both listed as 90ft ships in 130ft of water that have been sunk for about 4 years. We put them to the top of our “to-dive” list and hit them in 2004. We were disappointed to find both sites were barges, and not ships. The good site being the Merci Rabbi as there was ample concrete culvert debris to the south.



We contacted Tim McIntosh at DERM for a clarification? He provided us a picture of the Merci Rabbi and we discovered that the Merci is sunk in 165ft of water and it is listed as the “Nick Comoligio.” This dive was to photograph the site for Tim and prove we know the difference between a ship and a barge.



Seriously, Tim has inherited the site list and records from previous managers and there are a few things that need to be found or updated. These photos show there is a barge at the Merci’s listed GPS #s and a large culvert debris field. Next to the Merci’s listing is “600 Tons Concrete” at an “unknown” location. I believe we found that too.



Same numbers, same drop, all barge. This time there were twice as many Tomtate Grunts as I remembered. Along with some Ocean Surgeonfish, Porkfish, and Sunshinefish now called the barge home. I attempted some wide-angle photos, but the 40ft of visibility and green water didn’t help any.



After two laps around the barge we scootered off over the debris field to explore. The concrete culverts were the big square intersections and round pieces 4-5 tall and 4-6 ft in diameter. The growth really varies as some are covered with deep-water sea fans and others are almost bare except for the algae that will grow on anything.



After 7 minutes, we came to sand, but there was something in the distance. We went a bit further and noticed the concrete changed to sections of 2ft diameter pipe in 6ft lengths. The pipes were scattered with groups of 4-7 in place. After about another 5 minutes there were some more junctions in large formations, then sand, sand, and sandier hard bottom.



We circled back and headed east to see how wide the field was? We make it another 5 minutes North when we reached the 30 minutes mark of a 25-minute plan. Time to go. The Barge is only in 115ft of water, but we reached a max depth of 129ft further south in the debris field.




 

Andro

The calm seas and no current made it easy surprisingly easy to anchor on the Andro. There wasn’t a fishing boat on her, which was strange. We finished our surface interval and Charlie and Andrea geared up to swim the wreck. After then left, Jody, Robert and I geared up to scooter it.



Our anchor was right off the bow in the sand. The bow is on its starboard side. Around by the winch, the grunts were so thick I couldn’t photograph the wreck. I moved it to and instead of moving off, I was engulfed in fish. It reminded me of my 12th dive in Bimini when I floated without moving in a ball of grunts.



Down the wreck, the large stack is almost upside down after if fell over. Next to it, one of the Andro’s huge engines and a storage tank.



The stern is listing to port, both screws are still visible and twisted looking more like it ran aground than was sunk. There is another winch on the stern section.



The cargo holds have collapsed and formed caverns for the fish to hide in during the day. One school had a bright yellow trumpetfish hiding within. Grunts were packed into every nuke and cranny of this wreck. It is now decorated with discarded monofilament and snagged anchor lines.



I finished up my photos and did some power scootering around the wreck. I cut a few corners and got myself turned around. I thought I was heading to the bow when I ended up at the stern with 1 minute left in the dive plan. I turned around, put my head down and hammered back to the bow. Jody cleared the anchor chain and we ascended.