scububa
July 9th, 2006, 11:53 AM
The third day was the Eagle. Very interesting wreck. It was Kristin's favorite. I liked it too. The weather and seas were a little different. Outside the reef the seas were 3 - 4 ft. By the time we got to the wreck, they were 4 and 5 ft and close together. Lots of wind. In the water, things were good. not very much of a current. We circumnavigated the stern section, saw the HUGE resident Jew fish. Two of them, one larger (400+) and a somewhat smaller one hanging together near the break in the wreck. Then we went back and around the bow section. Nice coral. Also large tarpon, sea cucumbers, one small dolphin and a spotted eel in a vent stack. This is the day the rebreather divers were on the boat. They both were effected by the motion. The rebreather divers had a problem with low O2 on one rig. The second one had it's sensors module flood.
Kristin wanted to dive a reef for the second dive. (We had talked with Mike about diving reefs the next day, too. He has a deal with another boat were they can send divers wanting reefs vs. wrecks to each other with a boarding pass.) Anyway, we saw lots of life. Big lobsters and lots, big puffer fish, nurse shark, flounder, barracuda, and two small rays. We were the only ones in the water. We kept it to 50 min. even though we had lots of air, but the rebreather divers were on the boat and even though the seas were not as bad as at the wreck, they were still not flat (around 2-3').
The last day we werre back on the Grove. Two excellent dives. Had the tech training diver, her instructor, another guy. Steve dove with Wendy, the tech divers with doubles didn't run too much longer than we did as they were training and doing skills. They saw us on the wreck and later commented on how relaxed Kristin is in the water. Our air consumption had us in the water as long as most of the other divers. We were hardly ever alone coming up the line.
I say hardly because on the first dive, we were on the ball on one of the well deck cranes. Well, we came back after exploring and started hanging around the crane structure to allow the most out of our tanks. Well, then I noticed the way the line angled away and we had come down over the wreck and this line was out over the sand. I knew we were on the wrong line, but the current had picked up some. We were okay on air, but I didn't see any sense in trying to have us free swim to the opposite crane and I didn't want to mess up our next dive by dropping below our limits to cross over. We passed several divers from another boat descending. They were confused, but not just because of us. We couldn't figure out what they were doing. Then one was having trouble equalizing at our stop. We got up. OKAY'd our boat and did a surface swim (only about 60') to our boat. Mike threw us a line about half way in and it was no big deal. Being on the wrong ball was a mistake, but I told Kristin compounding the mistake by taking a chance with our air or depth was not the way to correct it. Come up, take the ribbing and learn the lesson.
Great trip. Seven dives on three wrecks in four days and a leisurely reef to boot.
Kristin wanted to dive a reef for the second dive. (We had talked with Mike about diving reefs the next day, too. He has a deal with another boat were they can send divers wanting reefs vs. wrecks to each other with a boarding pass.) Anyway, we saw lots of life. Big lobsters and lots, big puffer fish, nurse shark, flounder, barracuda, and two small rays. We were the only ones in the water. We kept it to 50 min. even though we had lots of air, but the rebreather divers were on the boat and even though the seas were not as bad as at the wreck, they were still not flat (around 2-3').
The last day we werre back on the Grove. Two excellent dives. Had the tech training diver, her instructor, another guy. Steve dove with Wendy, the tech divers with doubles didn't run too much longer than we did as they were training and doing skills. They saw us on the wreck and later commented on how relaxed Kristin is in the water. Our air consumption had us in the water as long as most of the other divers. We were hardly ever alone coming up the line.
I say hardly because on the first dive, we were on the ball on one of the well deck cranes. Well, we came back after exploring and started hanging around the crane structure to allow the most out of our tanks. Well, then I noticed the way the line angled away and we had come down over the wreck and this line was out over the sand. I knew we were on the wrong line, but the current had picked up some. We were okay on air, but I didn't see any sense in trying to have us free swim to the opposite crane and I didn't want to mess up our next dive by dropping below our limits to cross over. We passed several divers from another boat descending. They were confused, but not just because of us. We couldn't figure out what they were doing. Then one was having trouble equalizing at our stop. We got up. OKAY'd our boat and did a surface swim (only about 60') to our boat. Mike threw us a line about half way in and it was no big deal. Being on the wrong ball was a mistake, but I told Kristin compounding the mistake by taking a chance with our air or depth was not the way to correct it. Come up, take the ribbing and learn the lesson.
Great trip. Seven dives on three wrecks in four days and a leisurely reef to boot.