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Conditions

Winds: East 15 knots

Seas: Calm

Air Temp: 79

Water Temp: 72/74

Current: slight East

Visibility: 30ft

Learning our lesson from the last trip. We took three minutes and reviewed all the safety equipment on the boat. From bow to stern, there is a life raft in the floor compartment to the left of the head. There are common first aid items and drugs in the cabinet above the head. Fire Extinguishers are located behind the kitchen sink in plain view. O2, charts, and vessel registration are located in the cabinet above the refrigerator. Life jackets are located in the cabinet to the right of the refrigerator. In the cockpit to the left of the helm station there is a cabinet with flares, first aid kit and blue pelican box with more first aid items. Next time out I hope to get a picture of all these location to put on the website so new team members can get up to speed.

It was good to see Robert again! He was back for spring break and ready for some diving. There are three wrecks known as the “Custom’s Reefs” as they are seized. We will need another couple of dives to make sure we know which of the ships we were diving on. Last month, Jody and I think we dove the Miguana, which has a mesh screen protecting the screw of the vessel. We thought the Etoile was East of her and further south was the Brandy wine. Heading North should take you to the Lakeland and its large debris field.

It turns out that the Etoile is SE of the Brandy wine and the Miguana is WNW of the Brandy Wine according to our most current dives using the size of the vessel as the determining factor in identification.

Dive 1: Etoile De Mer

9:18 AM

S: Matt and Charlie

A: 21/35, 50%

D: 150’ plan 139’ max

D: 25” plan, 30 bottom time, 62” run time

D: around the site, swim west to Miguana

D: 110 deep, 70/5 60/3 50/1 40/1 30/2 20/8 10/5

PSI: 3800/1600

Charlie and I jumped in slightly down current of the ball, but made the swim to the line. It was solid and we pulled down to the wreck, at 40ft I could see the sand bottom, then the bow of the Etoile De Mer appeared before us. Eric S. informed me that our “baby plow” was really a “Bruce” anchor and it scored another perfect hit in the sand 5 feet from the bow with no drag marks. We were not sure which wreck we were on so we swam to the stern to check out the prop. There wasn’t a guard, so we were on a new site.

This 80ft steel ship was sunk in July of 01. It was covered with algae and Bryozoans, but lacked large gorgonians and hard coral. I counted 37 species of fish on it including some large Rainbow Parrotfish, Creole fish, Hovering Gobies in the sand and a Slender Filefish off the port side bow rail.

The engine room was open with the engine stripped out and only part of the propeller drive shaft remaining. We swam up to the bow from the inside and there was a large electrical box hanging from the right side and a bunch of wires on the left. There was a large school of Cardinalfish in the middle of the ship. Charlie ventured into the forward bow section as there was natural light, but the hole was not big enough to get a set of doubles through easily. We turned around and headed out.

According to Jody’s dive plan, the Miguana should have been West just outside of visual range. We swam for it and found noting but sand covered with algae meaning nothing was around. We turned around and headed back for the Etoile. There was a lot of anchor or lobster trap line wrapped around the wreck. At the bow, I saw a large Danforth anchor and 5 ft of chain sitting there. I tossed the anchor and chain next to our Bruce and cut the line. Jody and Robert came down, but Jody didn’t want to hassle with the find and set our anchor up on the liftbag. I contemplated using one of our two bags to send it up, but the chain was rusted over so I let it be.

Charlie was leading the dive and I noticed several more species of fish under the bow. After a minute I looked around and there was no Charlie? After a couple of 360 turned and checking above me, I was alone. I swam to the Port side of the ship and found my team member there. We planned a 25 minutes bottom time at 150ft and gave ourselves another 5 minutes since our max depth was only 139 ft. After we thumbed the dive we Charlie and I looked at each other waiting for one of us to start deco. He gestured to me and reminded me it was my job. We switched roles and it messed up our normal rhythm, which is a good thing now and then.

We drifted off the wreck to the east to see if we could find the Brandy Wine. First we hit a school of baitfish, and then we crashed a party of 50 Barracuda. Below us 40ft or so was the Brandy Wine. I made a couple quick mental notes of the ship so I could Id again on the next dive.

We switched gas and Charlie shot the liftbag. In less than 10 minutes we heard the Wave Dancer overhead and Jim V. jumped in and pulled on our line. We pulled back and I circled my light trying to give him the ok, but we were too deep for visual contact. Then, Charlie felt something had the liftbag. He let out some line, then some more line. He looked at me with eyes wide open! More line left the spool, I could see the question in his face and I made the liftbag signal trying to say, “just let go”. Finally, the 150ft spool was empty, Charlie tried to fight it and went up 10 ft, I grabbed his leg, shouting through me reg, “Let go!” He finally did. We watch the spool go up and out of visual range. I have lost a liftbag before, and know most of the time it will be found again on the surface.

Charlie had a sunken heart. I was laughing at the look on his face. I pulled out my bag and began to string it. We shot it at 30ft and I tried to get as much gas into it as possible. I started wondering, did Jim hold onto the bag, did the Wave Dancer get tangled in the bag, or perhaps we tangled with a fishing boat?

At 10ft Jim jumped in on us again and got the “ok” back, then we surfaced. It turns out the Wave Dancer did drift over our bag and Ralph didn’t want to put the engines in gear and risk a Charlie Foxtrot. From now on, Ralph will approach a bag down current or wind so the boat doesn’t drift into it. Charlie’s liftbag was safe and sound on the deck.

10 minutes later we picked up Jody and Robert. They did make the swim to the Brandy Wine during their dive and said there was some good penetration into the engine room, with engine intact.

I dropped Ralph and Jim on the Princess Britney, as it was close by. They had a good 50-minute dive, though they said conditions were poor. I wanted to fish count the Dema Trader, as it had been 5 months since she went down. Jody and Robert were going to dive the Sara Jane in 100ft of water and swim for the Dema Trader.

Dive 2: Dema Trader

11:56 AM

SI: 1:35

S: Matt and Charlie

A: 32% Al80 Stage

D: 80’

D: 54 minutes

D: around the site

D: 50 deep, 20/3 10/3

PSI: 3000/400

Ralph gave us a good hot drop on the Dema Trader. The water was pea soup green with poor visibility. We swam down under the prop to get 80ft of depth. The deck is at 60ft and cargo hold is 73ft. We swam over the hold with the different concrete structures. There are three large boxes, then concrete rubble, then 8 concrete tubes with several smaller tubes placed inside and a few more boxes as you get to the bow.

The bow had a few baby fish in the large winch assembly. There were also two wheels on the bow rail with baby Bluehead darting in and out of the small holes. I counted 31 species of fish on this site and it has been down for about 5 months. It is going to be an awesome dive in a couple of years!

As we swam back to the stern I wanted to penetrate the engine room, there are three ways in and I choose the narrowest entering from the cargo hold. The engine is cool to see and you can swim around the port side to see the back of the engine and the hydraulic pump powered from a chain off the drive shaft. We exited from a door to the left of the engine to find Jody and Robert.

They swam into the crew quarters first. I noticed the large floating table was gone. I got a nice shot of the two open portholes. There is a toilet on the starboard side of the room. I tried to get a picture of Jody looking in the bathroom, but no luck. The bathroom has a since and water holding tank for a toilet. Past the bathroom is the mechanic room with several motors and parts left in it. This wreck doesn’t look as stripped as the other.

Ascending to the stern deck, there still isn’t any fish life on the pyramid that was attached to the deck. 10 barracudas were hovering in the east current. We swam underneater them into another compartment holding a Queen Angelfish and several Purple Reef fish. I exited to the right on the bridge, which is wide open.

Charlie and I swam back over the cargo hold and drew a crude map of the contents of the hold. The bow is at about 50ft, I stored my camera and wetnotes and Charlie shot the bag for our ascent.

Another great set of dives!