Down too long in the midnight sea...

Posted by: mcjangles | September 22, 2008

Journey to the Demon Star (ALGOL report)

21-Sept-2008

Valves in the engine room on the Algol

The weather forecast for Sunday was looking like total slop for most of the week and with Saturday already blown out I had pretty much resigned myself to the quarry for Sunday when I got the afternoon call from Capt Dan that he thought it would lay down and we were giving it a shot. The Independence II left a little later at 0800 and the Diversion group wanted to head to the Coney Island to get something with a bit of relief since it was likely that the ground swells running all week had churned up the bottom. When we got out to the “parking lot” (aka the Shark River reef) the Stolt was taken as was the Coney Island so we slid in between and dropped shot on the Algol.

At a length of 459′, the Algol (AKA-54) is the largest ship sunk as an artificial reef off of New Jersey. I’ve only been on this wreck which sits in 140 fsw a couple times and the sheer size always impresses me. It didn’t take long for the massive ship to come into view in the 50+ feet of visibility as I dropped down to tie in. The shot had narrowly missed the top of the wreck at 70 feet and I had to force myself to be patient in exploring as I kept dropping down the side of the wreck until I found the shot on the bottom in near total darkness in the shadow of the beast at 142 feet just below the gaping hole in the engine room. I had a pucker moment as I sent up the shot as it had gotten tangled in monofiliment and the bottom appeared to be lifting out from under me. I jumped back as fast as I could hoping not to get tangled up and get to play rocketman. Luckily I was clear and after a quick swipe of the knife the shot was on its way. Next I got to play Spiderman as I climbed back up the wall of steel passing the main deck at 110 feet and continuing another 40 feet up the superstructure. I love dives like this where you get that sense of flying. After the boat was secured at 70 fsw I did a relatively short recon dive to scout some photo ops.

For the second dive I took the camera. I dropped my tripod on the main deck at 110 feet on the fly and barely paused to square away my strobes and rebreather before dropping right down to the engine room. Entrance is easy as the holes cut to sink the ship go right in, but care must be taken as it doesn’t seem as much attention was paid to cleaning and removing stuff before sinking in this area as in other areas of the ship. Cables and fallen pipes hang down waiting to trap the not so diligent diver and at 135 feet it warrants precaution. It seemed extra eerie today because although the visibility outside the wreck was still 20 feet or better on the bottom, entering the dark hole in the side of the wreck was like stepping through an invisible curtain. The vis inside dropped to maybe 5 feet or so and the pitch blackness gave me a really eerie feeling. I try to be extra careful when I have the camera so as not to get distracted and although I had been in here before I was not too happy when the large green “window” behind me faded to black. I spent a couple minutes poking around and was surprised to find the gauge panels further in still full of gauges. The empty rows closer to the entrance left me thinking I wouldn’t find much to photograph but I guess I’m not the only diver who’s had some trepidation in here.

I spent the rest of the dive taking shots along the deck and of the superstructure. I was a little disappointed that the vis had dropped a bit but it was still 30 feet or better so I couldn’t complain. It was also pretty warm, so I had a nice relaxing dive. The agressive cunners on the top of the wreck were there to welcome me back (they drew blood on 3 people today!) and with the near Caribean like conditions and the top of the wreck spread out before me, reminded me of a steel meadow with fields of mussels, lots of cunners, and a decent number of large blackfish prowling about.

Helen managed to spear one of those blackfish, and several lobsters, and bags of mussels came up. Who needs a grocery store when you can go food shopping on the Algol!

I really like the sense of atmosphere a long exposure gives on this shot of the top of the wreck

All images (click for full size)

Leave a Comment

Posted in ALGOL, New Jersey wrecks, wreck diving | Tags: Algol, New Jersey wrecks

Posted by: mcjangles | September 20, 2008

Site updates – Great Lakes

Great Lakes page updated with LILLIE PARSONS (70 ffw, 1000 Islands) and STRAUBENZIE (200 ffw, Lake Erie) pics.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Bill Bedford poses by the bell on the Sir C.T. Van Straubenzie

Leave a Comment

Posted in Great Lakes, Lake Erie, LILLIE PARSONS, Site Updates, St. Lawrence river, Straubenzie | Tags: Great Lakes, LILLIE PARSONS, St. Lawrence river, Straubenzie

Posted by: mcjangles | September 14, 2008

RHEIN porthole

After nearly 5 months it’s looking shiny and new…

Read the trip report from May here

Stolt Dagali 13-Sept-2008

The collision with the SHALOM was covered in the December 4, 1964 issue of LIFE magazine

Made it back out to the STOLT DAGALI Saturday on the Independence II. The heart beat of the Atlantic was pulsing slowly with only a slight swell which made a comfortable ride out to the wreck which sits in 130fsw. There were some conflicting visibility reports so I left the camera on deck and opted to to work on a project instead. Dropping off the stern of the Independence, I realized I made the wrong choice. The wreck was clearly visible from about 10 feet down as I passed some deco-ing divers. The extra weight of the tools I was carrying gave me a speed boost and I alighted on the top of the wreck at 65 feet just as my bottom timer clicked over to 1. I made it to my project at 120 feet 8 minutes later and kicked myself for not checking it when I originally found it… the “brass” turtle light I hoped to recover was steel 😦

With no plans and only 10 minutes of a planned 60 used I decided to spend some time exploring. The visibility on the bottom was still 30 feet or more and I considered looking for scallops but opted to head inside. I weaved my way through the tanker and had a really enjoyable dive. There are so many places to get into, especially now that it is coming apart and leaving rust holes big enough to swim through. At one point I got a little creeped out as I was looking at a shoe with my hand on a bulkhead and suddenly something was aggressively grabbing my neoprene cloaked finger. It turned out a hungry (or angry?) cunner decided to go for it. What he/she was doing that far inside the wreck I don’t know but it scared the bejesus out of me.

Deco was relaxing and it wasn’t until the ascent from my 20 foot stop that I finally lost site of the wreck. Several decent lobsters came up along with a fair number of scallops. Truly a wonderful day on the water.

Thanks to Mark Clark for sending me these topside shots…

Justin Clark with a tile and valve

2 Comments

Posted in New Jersey wrecks, STOLT DAGALI, tanker, wreck diving | Tags: New Jersey wrecks, STOLT DAGALI

Posted by: mcjangles | September 7, 2008

Independence II open boat 9/13

Independence II has an open boat Saturday Sept 13th. Destination TBD 130 fsw or less. Call Capt Dan to sign up: 732-232-7878

Hope to see you there!

www.deepexpeditions.com

Leave a Comment

Posted in Lets go diving | Tags: Lets go diving

Posted by: mcjangles | September 3, 2008

The Independence does Long Island

Today, Team Independence headed off Long Island to dive the USS SAN DIEGO (almost) and the OREGON. With the weather acting up, our offshore plans were diverted to the north where we could tuck in the lee of Long Island and take advantage of the opportunity to visit some wrecks we don’t normally get to. It was an all crew, all CCR trip, consisting of the usual suspects… Capt Dan, Frankie Pellegrino, Richie Kohler, Bill and Ginny Trent, Dave Oldham, Dan Martinez, and myself.

Our first stop was the USS SAN DIEGO which was an armored cruiser that sank in 110 fsw after hitting a mine in 1918. Danny and I were to tie in and the visibility was not that great. I found the bottom when I crashed into it. With only a foot or two of visibility we called it and headed 8 miles further east to the OREGON.

The visbility on the OREGON was much better at 10-15 feet. We were tied into the large winch near the bow. I ran my reel out a ways and found the remains of the kitchen which is indentifiable by the glazed bricks laying about. Coming back I found one of the many empty portholes was not empty and had a nice brass backing plate. It was still real solid and what interested me more was what lay inside. There was a piece of china and some other oblong obeject that looked interesting. I thought I might be able to reach the goodies so I gave it a shot. I inverted myself and stuffed myself up to the shoulder into the porthole and managed to grab object number 1. I pulled it out and when the surge and current cleared the black smoke I laughed at myself. It was an old axe that I assume someone working on the porthole had dropped inside. At this point Danny found me and when I showed him I noticed the china got lifted up when I pulled out the axe and was sticking up and easily reachable. I grabbed it and it was just a broken shard. I was getting cold at this point so I left.

1 Comment

Posted in OREGON, USS SAN DIEGO, wreck diving

Posted by: mcjangles | September 1, 2008

Fuzzy blocks

Got out to the “Granite wreck” today on the Independence II with the group from the Diversion dive club. This is one of the many nameless faces littering the sea bed off New Jersey. This particular wreck in 120 feet of water gets its name from the large stone blocks scattered about the site (that may or may not be granite), and is likely the remains of a wooden barge. It is known among the hunting crowd as a particularly good lobstering wreck due to the many nooks and crannies in between ribs available for these sea roaches to hide in.

The layout is pretty simple and consists of a continuous keel with ribs, a small donkey boiler, and a large chain pile at one end. Today we were tied into the donkey boiler and the visibility was good enough (about 25 feet) to spot the “granite” blocks in the distance from the anchor line which gave the feeling that you were descending into an underwater Stonehenge. The temperature was still a nippy 48F on the bottom, and sitting in place messing with the tripod made me feel it. A picture is worth a 1000 words so I am going to shut up and put up 4k. Gotta love Jersey diving.

Exposed tubes of broken down donkey boiler

Fuzzy block

Chain pile

Leave a Comment

Posted in Granite wreck, New Jersey wrecks, wreck diving

Posted by: mcjangles | August 26, 2008

EM CLARK

24-Aug-2008

Ever play tug of war with a 500 foot long, 9,647 ton oil tanker? I can now say I have. In fact, I was beginning to question my sanity (and the existence of a God) as I pulled myself against 1 knot of current down the anchor line that seemed to go forever. It was hard work but I took it slow, and as long as I was not winded I decided to power on knowing I would be rewarded at the other end with one of the most spectacular shipwrecks on the east coast…. the EM CLARK.

The CLARK was carrying a load of oil when she was torpedoed by the U-124 in March of 1942. The wreck now lies like a sleeping giant on its port side, perfectly intact in 240 feet of cobalt blue Gulf Stream waters. When my Jersey diving plans were canceled last minute, I managed to weasel my way onto Capt. JT Barker’s Under Pressure. The weather was looking iffy and with Saturday already blown out I knew it would be a risk to drive down to Hatteras, but eagerly hopped in the car with Bedford for the opportunity to dive this world class wreck.

Saturday night I got the opportunity to meet the legendary Capt Artie Kirchner who’s Margie II was docked along side the Under Pressure having just finished the 2008 MONITOR expedition. He was generous enough to offer up some tips on the CLARK as well as some other quality stories that I don’t think are appropriate for this G-rated blog. Needless to say I was all ears and felt the effects of the late night Sunday morning. The wind had laid down as predicted and with confirmation that we were heading out my groggy head quickly cleared.

Which brings us back to the descent… The prayers echoing through my DSV were mercifully answered at around 150 feet when the current finally let up. That plus the realization that I was actually looking at hull stretching into the distance in all directions and not the sea floor, kicked my adrenaline into high gear and that last 50 feet went quick as I landed on the flat side of the wreck at 200 feet. I did a precautionary loop flush and picked up my camera for the first time to see how it had faired being dragged behind me like a sea anchor up to this point. I fired it up and with a setpoint change it was all systems go. I slowly crept over to the edge of the wreck on my knees and bent over to look down and was just awestruck. Words really can’t describe it. It was like being perched on the ledge of a 5 story building, except this was an amazingly intact tanker from WWII towering nearly 50 feet above the seabed below. A big barracuda buzzed me as I took a “leap” off and free fell down to the sandy bottom.

I wanted to head aft and see the mighty props so off I went not knowing how far the stern might be. I soon came upon the dark gaping maw of what must have been the engine room skylight and could not resist the invitation to explore within. It didn’t help that Capt Art telling me that a Jersey diver would go in and not be a Sea Pu… uh… kitty, was also fresh in my mind. I soon spotted the unmistakable white gleam of china poking through the silt but it was only a broken saucer with no markings so I left it behind. I worked my way through the engine room much to the chagrin of some large amberjacks who came blasting out from behind some machinery. I proceeded aft and popped back outside into open water right at the fantail. I rounded the stern expecting to come face to face with the prop and completely forgot the massive height of the ship and could just make out the shadow of it in the distance beyond the massive rudder.

Unfortunately it was time to head back. As I worked my way along the bottom to stay out of the current I was surprised how many lionfish were on the wreck. The bottom was literally crawling with these invasive critters. Eventually I arrived back at the grapnel and with a heavy heart pulled it free and began my long ascent. Deco was mostly relaxing since we were drifting with the current. The only excitement came when I heard the boat leaving and looked up to see my only worldly friend was an orange tuna ball. I was a little worried someone had a problem but later found out it was only “Drifting Bob” taking a tour of the mid Atlantic. Nearly a perfect day and I can’t wait to get back!

My pictures don’t nearly begin to do this wreck justice…

Amberjack in the engine room

The stern of the EM CLARK

A couple lionfish (they were all over)

2 Comments

Posted in EM CLARK, Hatteras, North Carolina, wreck diving

Posted by: mcjangles | August 19, 2008

Bidevind 17-Aug-2008

Sunday found the Independence II tied into the stern section of the Bidevind, over 60 miles from Manasquan Inlet. This large freighter was a victim of U-752 in the second World War. Really the only word that comes to mind to describe this dive is awesome. This huge wreck sits in 190 fsw on a white sandy bottom, and generally has (as we did today) the warm clear Gulf Stream waters lingering overhead making for a relaxing decompression. This was my first time on this wreck and did a nice long swim. The temperature was 48F at depth with the visibility 50 feet or better but with lots of “snot” in the water that pretty much killed my pictures. That, plus the fact that I was too busy taking it all in to mess much with the camera.

The wreck sits on it’s side and is mostly collapsed but has sections that rise 30 feet of more off the bottom. With the good visibility it truly was an impressive sight. I started my dive swimming forward along the keel and noted several openings offering penetration opportunities. I rounded the wreck at a break and found myself overlooking a huge debris field that I’m guessing was the remains of the superstructure. I spent some time poking around and it didn’t take long to locate a compete porthole with intact glass. It was covered by a couple beams and would require more work than I was interested on this dive so I gave it a quick shake test, snapped a picture, noted it’s location for a future trip and moved on.

As I began my trip back aft I could spot Capt Dan a good ways in the distance and watched him disappear into the wreck. I still had some bottom time left as I passed the anchor line and proceeded all the way aft to the prop which is partially buried in the sand but still a pretty sight. There was a lonely bollard sitting upright in the sand off the wreck and for some reason it seamed almost surreal to see this part of a once great ship completely out of place in a vast landscape of sand.

At the end of the day I did a bounce to pull the hook and what should have been a mundane 20 minute routine, turned into more excitement than I had anticipated. On the bottom, one of my cells was reading lower than the other and I suspected it was bad. Well, back at 20 feet I was playing with my handsets when I caught out of the corner of my eye a HUGE tail and about 8 feet ahead of that a HUGE dorsal fin swimming off into the distance. The big fish must have swam right past me when I was fooling around and was at least 15 feet long. I think it was a basking shark, but I didnt get a face shot to confirm. It was definitely an exciting way to end one of my best dive trips this season.

There were TONS of cunners swarming the top of the wreck

Do you see what I see 😉

Not a very good picture but Capt Dan gives a good sense of scale of how big the wreck is and the visibility

Terry does his deco

2 Comments

Posted in Bidevind, New Jersey wrecks, wreck diving

Posted by: mcjangles | August 15, 2008

So you want to be a deep sea diver?

“Dive! Dive! Dive!”

After an all night boat ride and spending some time by the bottom finder carefully picking the mark, the command to dive seemed to come pretty quickly… considering the boys were dropping down to nearly 400 fsw!

Yesterday a team of New Jersey divers on the Independence II ventured nearly 100 miles off the coast in search of long lost shipwrecks resting in deep water, hidden from daylight and human eyes for years, decades, and perhaps centuries. The bottom divers, Richie Kohler, Evan Kovacs, and Frankie Pellegrino are no strangers to deep expedition level diving and were pooling together their combined decades of experience to turn the dial on Northeast diving to 11 (yes, one louder).

I was honored to be invited along as support diver and crew on what was an incredible team effort. This is my version of how I saw things.

It was clear from the start that this was not a group of cowboys only looking for the “extreme” factor. Every detail and contingency was planned in case of emergency, and the bailout gas alone took up half the boat. The plan was to shot the wreck and live boat the entire operation to minimize stress on the divers during decompression. Three safety divers (Steve “the scab” Lombardi, Dan Martinez, and myself) were available and ready to splash at any time to ferry tanks and assist the bottom divers. Bill Trent was acting as dive marshal and would be running the show.

Capt Dan Bartone had several sets of numbers to investigate in 350-400 fsw and we spent some time checking a couple out to determine the best site to splash on. There were interesting bottom features on both numbers but the excitement mounted when a big showing came 30 feet off the bottom on the second and it was decided to hit that. After deploying the shot and nearly 500 feet of line, and checking the current, the three bottom divers splashed into a deep blue sea of anticipation.

I will leave the details of the dive to the guys who did it (hint: look for an article in a upcoming Advanced Diver Magazine), but I will say that things went without a hitch and the guys did find a wreck and had a great dive. They reported relatively warm (51F) conditions on the bottom with water 70+ near the surface. Support divers were used to swap out bottles and check on divers starting at about 120 feet. A support diver was in the water with the decompressing divers at all times from ~40 feet to the surface to monitor for any signs of oxygen toxicity. The entire team was CCR with nearly every major manufacturer represented (Evolution, Prism, Ouroboris, 2 Megs, and an Optima)

For me this was a great learning experience, and to see how expedition dives of this magnitude can be conducted safely in a dynamic environment using a team approach was eye opening. I will say that we did not find what we hoped, which means it’s still out there, along with countless other lost vessels waiting to be discovered. The adventure continues, and when working with friends like these guys, I can’t wait!

Many thanks to Fourth Element, TDI, and OMS for supporting this effort.