Winds: NW 5 knots
Seas: 1ft, becoming calm
Air Temp: 83
Water Temp: 74
Current: slight south
Visibility: 80ft



I was at Diver’s City before 8 AM and loaded the boat. Everyone else showed up at 8:30 AM and we left the dock at 9 AM. We had a 21-mile run to the Northern light.

10:51 AM
S: Matt and Robert

A: 21/35, 50%
D: 170’ plan 184’ max
D: 20” plan/bottom time, 58” run time
D: around the site, penetrate to boiler room following line
D: 130 deep, 70/5 60/3 50/2 40/2 30/3 20/10 10/5
PSI: 3500/1500



Robert and I reviewed our original plan of 170ft for 20 minutes with 30 minutes of deco on 50%. Robert would carry a second al40 of 50% as back up in case there was a problem with either of our deco bottles. The boat tossed a grapnel and line as a reference, but didn’t check to see if it was secure. We would be hot dropped on wreck to smart bomb it. Barb, the owner, would be the safety diver and asked if we wanted her to drop in on us. We said it wouldn’t be necessary unless we sent up two liftbags on the same line as a problem signal to the boat. All the dive teams agreed to play by these rules.



Robert and I worked out our ratio deco tables for our dive and contingency plans. I joked with Cliff about having an air plan to 140ft so we could touch the top of the hull. The other team on the boat called me over and asked what my plan was? I happily shared our plan and that we were planning on penetrating to the boiler room. The other team didn’t share their plan with me and responded, “If its there, we’ll find it!” None of the divers had been on the wreck besides Robert. After that conversation I saw the other two teams huddled around a palm pilot working out their deco. Cliff didn’t have a wetnotes or a slate, so he used a ballpoint pen on a piece of gray duck tape and placed the tape schedule on his deco bottle. I couldn’t read it, but that wasn’t my problem. I asked him if his deco table was in brail so he could read it if he lost his mask?



We were given the 20-minute warning and began to suit up. Barb hooked the wreck and we got ready to jump. Getting ready to dive DIR takes a lot of time and I need to start getting kitted up sooner so that we have all the time to do all the checks before the boat wants us in the water. Robert was the last one to get ready and Barb kept saying, “C’mon Grandpa, were waiting for you!” We told them to drop the other team in, they stood at the back while we finished, but the time the boat was set up, we were ready to jump and all five of us got in at the same time and headed down.

The wreck was hard to see, I missed it a first, but found the white grapnel line and it lead me to the wreck. There was a mid-water current, but not much on the bottom. As we swam up to the bow, the sharks moved out of the water. We swam up the port side of the bow to get out of the current. We paused, checked for bubbles and took in the site.

The wreck was amazing. When she sunk, she broke in the middle and the stern section folded back over towards the bow. In the middle of the wreck, the stern and rudder are starring right at you! I looked back over the bow and the other team was having an equipment problem. All three divers were addressing it, so we continue to find the entrance to the boiler room. Down the port side, we followed the bow section until the stern section was overhead. Robert didn’t find the line right away, so we ran a reel. Then we quickly found the line and tied in. The cavern was huge!



The line leads us to the back of the wreck. There was natural light coming in from the sand, but I didn’t notice a hole big enough to exit from. We were a good 5ft off the bottom and didn’t have to worry about stirring anything up. At the back of the wreck we took a left and ascended up on top of the bow section into the stern section. The line went right past the three-chambered boiler. Some Spotfin Butterfly fish hung out back in the corner. Looking back, the other team had found the entrance, but instead of swimming to the back of the wreck and around, they were trying to cram a set of doubles and two deco bottles through a small hole between the sections in order to make a short cut.

We exited to the right side of the stern section where there was plenty of room to duck out to open water. We circled around as if to go through the line again, but this time we simply recovered the reel. Being so close to the sand, I couldn’t resist the temptation to put my bottom timer in the sand to get it to 184ft. After my moment vanity, I looked to the left and saw 5 huge African Pompanos swimming into the current just off the wreck. They were beautiful!

We swam back to the middle of the wreck and shined our lights into the cargo hold. It was empty, as Tom had mentioned, so we decided to swim down the Starboard side of the wreck at 165ft for our last 10 minutes. There were a few Greater Amberjacks following us around on the wreck. They caught me off guard a couple of times as I was edgy seeing two Bull Sharks and 4 Reef sharks on the site. As we swam back a huge Black Grouper looked up at me! The sharks should keep him safe from any adventurous spearfisherman. With 5 minutes we turned around and slowly drifted back up to the bow.

I used my remaining minute and a half to look around the winch for juvenile Sunshine and Yellowtail Reef fish darting about. I forgot to look for the anchor hanging in the hawse pipe. I’ll have to catch that next time. The grapnel was buried deep into the winch and I felt bad for the other team who said they would be responsible for freeing it. We were at 150ft at the bow and we drifted off in the current allowing the wreck the fade away into the blue.

We were a good 20ft from the line when I shot the liftbag. Thinking back, I should have used the reel, but the fresh wind on the 150ft spool got the bag to the surface with line to spare. There was quite a bit of line out and we ascended through the deep stops without much winding due to the current.

At 70ft we made the switch to 50% and I began wrapping the line up. I had never drifted in some much blue before. It was blue all around. At 20ft I pulled out the wetnote to start making notes on the fish I spotted. I let the spool bob on the bag without holding on to it. While writing, I was startled to see a 2 ft Dolphin fish (Mahi Mahi) hit the spool like a baited hook! I looked up to see a school of 10 or so under our liftbag. The fish are beautiful in the water, considering how ugly they look on the walls at Flanagan’s.

At the end of the 20ft stop, Robert pointed at my chest with a smile. Two sharksuckers were trying to hitch a ride on my belly. When I looked down I screamed through me reg, these things always freak me out! I broke my DIR prone positioning to shake them off. After a bit then swam down to disappear into the blue. 10ft stop was a breeze to the surface. At the boat we stripped our bottles and climbed up. The seas were flat now.

We picked up Cliffy a few minutes later. Then the other team of two popped up 10 minutes later. Cliffy told us we drifted right by him. His bag got entangled on the grapnel line. As the line tightened in the current, it became a Jon line and it wasn’t going to be a pleasant deco for him. Fortunately the boat saw the problem and the safety diver brought down a flag on a reef for Cliff to drift with. I asked him why he didn’t abandon line and drift on our bag? He said he didn’t think of that, but he was touched would share a line with him. Being that he was 30ft above us, we wouldn’t have noticed he was present if he didn’t tug on the line.

The other team got on the boat and I asked what their problem was on the bow? They said one team member didn’t zip up their wetsuit and the 72-degree water was chilly. The diver loosened their rig enough so his buddy could get the zipper up. I took a moment to learn from these problems I have never pondered or experienced myself, yet.

Barb asked us if we wanted a second drop as we had the boat for the whole day. We decided on the Spiegel Grove, as I wanted a personal tour from Robert. I gave him a new nickname, “The Ant” because with two al40 stages and a set of 104s, his gear weights more than he does! Robert was packing plenty of gas and I brought a stage of 32% for the dive. The other three divers on the boat told us they were too old, didn’t have enough gas, and were too cold for a second dive.



15 sec, Pan Across the Deck of the Spiegel Grove

12:52 PM
SI: 1:01
S: Matt and Robert
A: 18/45 back, 32% Al80 Stage, al40 50% deco
D: 77’
D: 44 minutes
D: around the site
D: 50 deep, 20/3 10/3
PSI: 1500/1000, 3000/1800, 1000/100



After gearing back up, we requested a drop on the wheelhouse, as it was the nearest penetration point. I forgot to review, where in the wreck we were going. Robert said that he was going to show me a couple of good spots. Robert carried both 50% bottles and I had my Al80 stage. We dropped into one of the large holes in the hull of the ship.

I was impressed with size of the rooms. There was a large mooring line size rope guiding down the hallway. We went a little ways until we came to a small square hole and Robert went through and tied off the deco bottles. This was a narrow hallway, about as wide as a set of doubles, but since the ship was on it side, it was plenty wide, but just tall enough for a diver in doubles to get through. There was a small string of cave line marking the way out. To make matters worse, the flooring tiles have peeled off and litter the floor and the wallboards have warped up. Every few feet there was a board pointing up just enough to grab the tip of my stage bottle and stop me. I was pulling through the wreck, rust was percolating down from Robert’s bubbles and fine silt was kicked up.



We worked our way down the hallway with one hand to pull with and the other holding the stage bottle up. After we went further I pondered having to swim back the way we came in. That would not be pretty. We peaked into several of the openings. One very small one was the old entrance to the engine room. I back up after looking in and my right foot became entangled. Robert swam off and I couldn’t move. I flashed him and stopped him while I calmly worked my fin and foot free.

We went a couple doors down and he swam through a half open hatch near daylight. I followed him in and found a shaft where my light couldn’t reach the bottom of the black hole. We were at 75ft and this was the way to the engine room at 120ft. I gave the turn around signal as my stress-o-meter was in the yellow zone heading to the red zone. I was ready for some wide-open spaces. I followed the line arrow to the exit point right before the big well. As I came out of the ship, four large Black Grouper pause and angled up to look at me, then swam off.



I switched to my back gas and stowed the stage. After a minute or two the stress-o-meter dropped significantly to where I was comfortable again. We swam over the deck guy and Robert stopped to show me the range finder knob still turned and you can see the dial move in the crusted over window. Cool! We drifted over the top of the hull again looking for our entry hole to get our deco bottles.



Three open water divers were kneeling on the side of the SG looking over the sides like baby birds getting ready for their first flight out of the nest. We dropped in behind them and Robert was looking around like he was lost? I was confused and turned around as all heck as this was my first time in the wreck. Progressive Penetration doesn’t sound like such a crazy idea after swimming around and following lines for the whole dive. We popped out again on the hull and went into and other hole which lead to our bottles.

I could not get the floaty 1000-psi al40 clipped off on top of my AL80 stage. I was quite frustrated, but I calmed down, nose clipped the 80 to the left D and clipped the deco bottle off. I clanged like a gong on the way up and out to the ascent mooring line. I noticed they put numbered flags on the lines to help dives from coming up on the wrong boats. We switched to the deco mix at 50ft and chilled out for a couple of minutes. I didn’t notice Robert had taken my 80 until I saw it nose clipped to him. Fricking GUE instructor wanna-be! After a slow minimum deco ascent up the line we got back aboard the Diversity.



Sitting down I pondered how this shallow penetration dive pushed my personal limits of my comfort much more than the deeper decompression dive. Even though I really wanted to see the engine room, it will be there on another dive and I was glad I turned the dive when I did instead of crossing the line that I was right up too. Now that my expectations have been set, a fresh set of doubles should make that trip a piece of cake. After loading the gear. Robert gave me a excellent gift, a copy of the deck plans. I thought cave maps were hard to read, understanding this plan and where I’m at inside the ship will take a lot of study.



On the way in I found a couple of drops of water inside my Proteus head. I checked the front cap and it was loose. That night I opened it up to let it dry out. Hopefully it will be fine. This was an awesome trip and defiantly worth the day off to make it. The Northern Light is going to be a great dive after Tech 2 when I can use 100% O2 with the 50% so I can get another 10 minutes of bottom time.

Dive Operation: Diver’s City
Boat: Diversity

I was really impressed with how this dive operation was run. First the weather did not look good. Barb was going to call us Monday, 2 days before had to say if it was a go or not? The weather didn’t say, don’t go, but I wasn’t worried at all that she was going to make us dive on a day that was not suitable weather wise. The owner Barb gave us great directions. While filling out the paperwork she also noted my team member, mix, and runtime on the manifest. The boat was ready to go when I got there.



Barb gave a full briefing and not the hurried up, abstract, the Coast Guard is making me do this speech. The island hopper had a padded engine cover that was comfortable to sit on the whole way out, plus a padded bench seat on the igloo cooler that was used to keep items dry. There was fresh bottled water in a cooler and not hose water to drink.



The boat was well kept and painted; there weren’t any signs of abuse. I had un-bungeed my tanks to get ready and then fell into me while I was helping Robert. Barb said if those tanks fell I was going to get fiber glassing 101 and 2 hours to work on her boat. She takes a lot of pride in her boat and it shows! I would not hesitate to dive with her in the future.

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