Category — Wreck Diving

Every once in a while I get nostalgic for wreck diving.  I have been trying to organize a trip to the Puerto Morelos wreck for weeks and no one wants to go with me.

I learned to technical dive by diving the wrecks off of New Jersey.   If you haven't dove the North East, by which I mean Long Island and New Jersey, you are really missing out.  Let me describe some of the finer facets of wreck diving in the North East:

• Get up at 3:30AM to drive 1.5-2 hours to the boat followed by a 1.5-2 hour boat ride to the wreck.  50% of the time I find out the trip is called at the dock, 25% of the time divert to tug or the Mohawk in 50ft of water, 25% get to the planned dive site.
• Heavy seas make me sea sick.  I am chronically sea sick.  I have been since I was a mate on my Dad's offshore boat.  One summer, I went to Gloucester, Mass to chase giant tuna.  All I was able to chase for a month was my ass to the gunnel.   Now, I take Dramamine and live with medicine head.  I have  a pretty good solution, one the night before and half of one in the morning.  Controls the sickness and the medicine head.
•  Pull on drysuit with enough under-garments for a two hour dive in 54'F water while sitting in the 90'F summer sun.  Forget to attach the pee valve correctly.  Bath in my own sweat before I get off the boat.
• Roll off the boat into a heaving sea.  Drag myself down the anchor and only realize I am on the wreck when my hand touches it.  Navigate like a blind guy in the muck for 2 hours looking for 2 lobsters I don't eat.  Bag em and give em away.
• On the ride home help Rob Infante shell a couple of dozen scallops.  Sleep for a while.  Start to plan next week's expition.
• Upon arrival, drive 2 hours in the hot traffic home.  Rise my Meg in a 33 gallon garbage pail.  Dry the gear on the lawn and in the yard.  Spend the next two days recovering.
• Calculate the cost for the weekend:  $50 Car Fuel, $125 Boat, $20 Tip, $10Food, Plus Rebreather Costs.
• Schedule it again for the next weekend.

And just for comparison, typical day of cave diving:

• Stop working at 2PM and assemble/pack Meglodon or side-mount gear.
• Dive 25-40 minutes to  dive site.
• Pay $8.00 USD to land manager.
• Pull on wet suit and pee in it.
• Dive for 2-3 hours.
• Drive to Puerto Aventarous and buy a Magna Classic ice cream bar.  They have the best chocolate shell.
• Arrive home and dump scrubber, clean loop, and deposit dive gear in the living room to dry.  It all lives in a laundry basket from Walmart.
• Calculate costs: $10USD Fuel, $8USD Entrance, $1USD Icecream, plus rebreath costs.
• Schedule it again for the next day.

Even with all the insanity of wreck diving, I still love it.  And if I lived in NJ, I would be going almost every weekend year round!  I am one of those crazy guys who goes out in Decemeber, January and February.

My favorite wreck is the USS San Diego.  I can spend hours inside that wreck.  I think my second favorite is the USS Algol and third might be the Northern Pacific.  Unfortunately, I only got on the Northern once, but it looks like it offers tons of opportunities.  I know this is a cave diving blog, however, I think most of us have a soft spot for some challenging wreck diving.  Which brings me to the reason for this post.  My friend Brandon recently got a new camera and published a very nice dive report of a dive on the Stolt Dagali.   A very cool wreck that is just a couple of miles from the USS Algol.  His photos really fired my nostalgia.   And from my recount, I am sure you can see why I misss it!

Your turn:

• Do you wreck dive?
• What is it like for you?
• What is your favorite wreck?
• What boat do you dive from?
• Know any wrecks here in the Yucatan I can go dive?  Must be something out there!