Only 6 divers joined us at the Rusty Anchor on Monday night for a week of
deep wreck diving on the wrecks west of the Dry Tortugas. After briefing, as
well as endless gear setup, we got underway for the Rhein.
We arrived at the Rhein at 0730 for a 0800 drop. Before we could get set up, we
saw a de-masted sailboat off in the distance. We decided to make way for the
sailboat just to see if we could render assistance. After rendezvousing with the
sailboat, we determined that it was an old “marina queen”, with no mast, engine,
and with a household air conditioner stuck through the aft wall of the cabin.
Richie Kohler offered to jump over and see if anyone was onboard, but a call to
the Coast Guard in Key West confirmed that the boat was, in fact, derelict, and
that the Coast Guard was tracking it into the Gulf. Without further ado, we went
diving. Our first jump on the Rhein was with spectacular conditions, as always.
Seas were glass flat, current was mild, and there were fish everywhere. I got
mildly irritated on my dive because there were so many fish, you couldn’t see
the wreck. Big goliath grouper, gags, sharks, AJs, and other reef fish abounded,
and the little bait fish (glassy sweepers?) were in huge clouds. On my 10 feet
deco stop, a scalloped hammerhead swam up right behind me; I turned around just
in time to have the crap scared out of me. Mel was busy playing in the sargassum
weed with the baby scrawled filefish, sargassum triggerfish, and a small gray
triggerfish with polka dots.
Next morning we went to dive the Araby Maid. As usual, the divers watched Pigpen
I and Pigpen II digging in the wreck and coming up with portholes, deck prisms,
a door lintel, a saucer, and other goodies. The decision was rapidly made to
spend 2 days “exploring” the Maid. Many brass goodies, as well as glass,
portholes, bottles, jugs, and other 100 year old junk were found. The bell still
eludes us, though. When I got to the wreck, it looked like a group of Pigpens
(Pigpen III, Pigpen IV, etc.) had descended, with their heads buried in the
silt, their fins sticking up, and billowing clouds of silt all around them.
Weather was spectacular for the 2 days, with a 5 kt north wind, slight to strong
surface current running from east to west, setting us in the trough, bottom
temps of 70, and surface temps of 81.
We dove the submarine wreck U-2513 on Friday morning. Seas had once again
slicked out, current was nil, and vis was in the 100 foot range. The divers
decided to do a night dive on the Vandenberg rather than another on the U-2513,
so after an 8 hour steam, we arrived at the Vandenberg. Mel got in to set the
sideline in zero current. By the time it was set, current was ripping. The
Vandenberg has been populated by some pretty cool fish, but the highlight, at
least for those on deck, was the ocean sunfish, or Mola Mola that came to visit.
It was a small one, about 3 feet fin tip to fin tip. It hunk out at the boat for
a little while, then wandered off to do fish things.
Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, with a screaming current. No one could
swim against it. Melanie used all of her wiles and tricks to put in a sideline,
and off we went…. Er… Off we looked and said “Ummm… Maybe another cup of coffee.
Folks started jumping in around 1100, including me. I went to the sand at 157
feet, and sure enough, you can do an advanced nitrox and deco procedures class
here. Vis was poor, and current strong, and I saw my gauge go from 3500 to 1100
is short order and that’s about it.
Next week, sport diving in the Tortugas. |