They started trickling in on Wednesday, coming from all over
the United States, anticipating, curious, apprehensive, confident, and downright
scared. Their instructors would be some of the best known folks in the Northeast
Wreck Diving community, although they are now located in Lake Havasu, AZ. The
Staff are old Seeker and Wahoo crew, and the plan would be ambitious. Take 6
individuals and create a team. The three from Texas were already a team, part of
the Goodenough Springs Exploration Project. The individuals from Michigan,
Arizona, California, and upstate New York would soon be a part of it, forged by
the instructors from New York City. The weather would provide challenges for
divers wearing doubles and stages, not used to climbing back on a 100 foot dive
boat Their efforts would be captured by the world-class video team of David
Ulloa and Dee McHenry for later use. Todd Bissonette would capture the stills,
and create the photo montage.
All day thursday was spent blending gas, picking folks up from the airport,
explaining again and again that shoes were not to be worn in the house, only 10
sheets, etc. We went to the Hogfish for dinner, then settled down for the
briefing. Joel Silversteen and Kathy Weydig sponsored the Tech Diving Limited
Wreck Tech Extravaganza on the Spree this past weekend. The vessel was staffed
by Dave Sutton as Gas King, and Mike Pizzio as mate. Joel was instructor and
Dive Safety Officer, and Kathy was Instructor. Gregg, Jay, and Ryan came from
Texas, Steve from California, Kevin and Craig from Arizona, and Neil from
Michigan.
We got underway from the dock at 0600 Friday morning bound for the Vandenberg.
Plan was to perform skills on the deck of the Vandy and perform some
recreational penetration. Dive gas was NTX32 back gas, and 50% and 100% O2 for
deco. Seas were 4-6, and the doubles made re-boarding difficult. Joel got his
butt kicked by the ladder twice, but didn't feel so bad when I told him I got my
butt kicked by the ladder in those conditions too. We did 3 dives and returned
to the dock for the night to blend more gas.
Day 2 found us on the site of the Curb at 0700 Saturday morning. I performed the
"orange test" and determined that we would not dive the Curb that day due to the
swiftness of the current. Back to the Vandy we went, and did 3 more dives. This
time, back gas was 18/40, with 50% and 100% O2 for deco.Skills were performed in
the sand at 150+ feet, and more progressive wreck penetration was performed.
Sunday morning we woke up, and the wind was finally laying down. We rapidly made
the decision to head 11 miles east and check out the conditions on the King of
the Keys wrecks, the Wilkes Barre. The Wilkes Barre is a Cleveland class
destroyer intentionally sunk by the U. S. Navy in 250 feet of water back in
1972. The site is washed by current, and visibility is often poor. We hooked the
bow section with the grapple, Threw in the mate and gas king to tie in, and had
12 divers off the boat with military precision. Current was noticeable, but
easily swum against, Visibility was 70 or so feet on the bottom, not unheard of,
but pretty spectacular. The divers had runtimes of 90 or so minutes, and were
subjected to live boat pickup.
All in all it was a spectacular trip. Congratulations to Jay Dryden, Ryan
Despain, and Kevin Kenworthy completed Advanced Trimix, and Stephen Pahl
completed his Trimix course. Neil Winkler and Todd Bissonette completed a trimix
refresher course.
|