Oriskany (part 2)

[DeepDiverBob]

I am taking a break from packing now. I leave in a few hours, once again Florida bound. I am curious to see how quickly fish are taking to her already. I will do my best to post reports after diving Saturday, but will be on the road back as soon as we are done on Sunday. I know, its not the Doria (Yes, I am jealous of that) but I think this is still going to be a cool trip again.

[VuDuLou]

Looking forward to your report...we're scheduled for the Big O 10-11 October...

[DeepDiverBob]

Just got back home about 6:30 this morning. What a trip.

The Oriskany is getting fuzzy. I am amazed how quickly it is getting growth on it already. I have some pictures I will upload onto the site a little later today. I was there just over a month ago, and there was no growth on it at all, now it is definitly becoming the reef they wanted it to become. Still no big grouper on it, but snapper and yellow tail have been spotted. My buddy thinks he saw a shark on the flight deck, but he isnt sure. We was towards the end of the second dive, and already hitting deco, so I didnt want to drop down to 140 foot again to check it out. Okay, I wanted to, but it was smart not to. We did some slight penetration this time. Swam up a few flights of ladders in the tower. There are a lot of openings in the tower, so this is one occasion when it is not needed to run a reel to do penetration.

Water temp was warm, in my opinion. I brought my Henderson 5 mil, but didnt wear it. Just went with shorts. Water temp was mid 80's on the surface, dropped down to upper 70's for most of the island, and I hit 72 on the flight deck. It was a bit chilly at 72 degrees in shorts, but on a single tank, I was only there a few minutes anyway.

I now have 6 dives on her, and there is still so much I want to see and do. I am really anxious to get my doubles out there, and dive below the flight deck, and check out the hanger bays.

I cant say enough about 3 wire charter, and the crew on board. Captain Doug, Kelly and Travis was once again incredible, and went out of there way to make sure everyone had a great time. They even surved up some hot dogs on the grill for service interval, along with the watermelon, oranges and honeydew. Anyone going down that way, I highly recommend them to anyone wanting to dive the Mighty O.

I cant wait to go back, thats for sure.

[nauifins73]

Thanks for the report. Sounds like a great trip. Terry & I may have to tag along on the next trip down.

[DeepDiverBob]

I have put up a few pics. I will put up some more later.