Photos: http://www.tiswango.com/photos/0309sthenry/

Why does the work day slow down when you have a fun dive scheduled after work? We showed up at the boat at 6:30 to make our 7 PM departure. Watching the sunset over Miami and seeing the lights on the way back makes for a great evening. Add a little diving in the middle and its all good!

Last time we tried to dive the St. Henry we ended up on a 75 steel dive boat that's about 150ft away. This time we tried the GPS #s for the dive boat to see if we hit our original target, the St. Henry. Laying in 110ft of water, this 110ft steel freighter was put down in 1997. The sounder hit the wreck on the first pass and the anchor grabbed on the first drop. I paired up with Steve and we worked out our plan. I would lead, 25 mins bottom time on 32%, 1 min per 10ft  ascent starting at 80ft and I would switch to my 50% bottle on the fly at 70ft with no additional stop since my buddy was on 32% the whole way up.

Seas were choppy 3-4 with a few rollers spilling over the bow. I just got my camera in the housing before a big wave rained down on me, the saltwater electronic gods were smiling on me. Surface current was slight, so we jumped in for the line. Anchor diving always has the mystery of "where's the wreck" the whole way down. Seeing the anchor in the sand always makes me wondering, "Where is it?"

Fortunately with sunset there was a dark shadow just ahead. I tied off my reel and Steve and I headed off. The water was clear blue so the stern appeared to us. I tied in and we headed off towards the bow. There was a thermocline at 60ft. On the deck there was cold water 76-78 degrees washing over us in waves. Steve kept sticking his head into the cargo hold, he told me on deck it because it was full of warm water!

Besides the big school of jacks that met us at the anchor, there wasn't many fish on the wreck. Only a hundred or so grunts (that's not a lot, really), a few Redband Parrotfish and the traditional Sharpnose Pufferfish. On the second lap around I realized there wasn't much growth on the wreck for 5 years of sitting on the bottom and the surfaces were smooth. The deck covered the cargo hold except for two openings big enough for divers to go through single file. There were no fish inside. The most unique thing about this wreck were the sea slugs everywhere.

We circled the wreck twice in 15 minutes and I shot some photos of what I could find. We left the reel in for the second team. Before leaving I noticed there was some stuff on the stern deck I didn't look at. On the ascent, we noticed the current had picked up to about a knot or so. I grabbed the anchor line and relaxed on the trip up. Steve runs a mean, well timed deco. I made my gas switch and kept the pace right up to the surface. The 10ft stop was not fun, but manageable. I just relax and go with the flow of the line. Steve gave me the thumbs up and I let go to drift to the boat. As soon as I let go the peace and joy of diving returned.

We reported conditions to the next team who also noticed the current and they put a granny line (Anchor to stern of boat) out for them. After their dive they reported no cold water and 1 knot current on the bottom over the wreck. It was amazing how fast conditions can change!

Now that we have been there and dove that wreck, I don't think we'll be going back anytime soon. This is one of wrecks you dive just to say, Yeah, I dove that.... don't bother.

–Matt