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>Dan >The reason we do not drift dive a wreck is as I stated before, many divers >with different dive plans, we sometimes go to the same wreck for two days >or just one full day. I understand this, and sympathize with this problem. We like to charter the whole boat, so we have no Rule # 1 violations, and because with the stronger currents here in WPB, everyone HAS to dive the same plan, or Charlie may show up and start Fox Trotting with a Northeastern accent :-) The wrecks are on the average 30 miles out that's >east not 2 to 5 miles out and then up or down the coast insight of land >like Fl. Granted, our Juno/Jupiter dives are within 5 to 6 miles of land, although the runs from the inlet to the site can be 1 to 2 hours, easily, and more in bad weather. When we dive Stuart or Fort Pierce, the good wrecks or pinnacles (huge mound like structures covered in oculina, rising from 325 feet deep to as high as 180 feet) are approximately 20 to 21 miles out. On these trips you may have several single tank divers doing many >nondeco dives and some doing the monster deco dive. And as you make one >trip a day you get a mixed group(unless a whole group charter the boat and >even then this some time happens)and even on the deep tech dives not every >ones time is even close (skill level)and many things can happen on a wreck >dive that's keeps the hook in wreck a better Idea here. (too long to list, >all true wreckdivers know these)And if the current is too strong to descend >down the line the site is deemed not diveable at that time,but if picks up >and your into the dive you must deal with it! In WPB, you could not dive this way. It sounds like the most egregious violation of rule # 1 I have ever heard of!!! You would have to take either recreational or tech divers, not mix them----OR, let the recreational divers sit out during the deep or ultra long exposure dive, and then dive the single tank crowd with more than one float if more than one bottom time was likely. Any group of ascending divers would need to be drifting free of the wreck and bottom, with their own floatball/flag for the boat to track them with. Of course, if you have no current, its no big deal----maybe you should just admit you guys get no significant currents:-) But as your wrecks are concern >drift diving is best (I think,I tin to take local knowledge as the >expert.This is something you do not do, you sound as if you think your the >expert on everything whether you've done it or not.),this maybe true on the >currents as local divers will have more firsthand knowledge. The deep wreck dives in Fort Lauderdale/Pompano have very moderate or small currents, allowing anchoring in manner similar to NE style. We have done plenty of this, as these are spectacular wrecks. A shop called Ocean Diving ( Jim Mimms) still does a lot of this, and would be a perfect choice for you guys if you wanted deep technical dives, on wrecks that still have portholes and other artifacts available. Ocean Diving has found they can take relatively "weak skilled" tech divers on these dives, even the 290 foot deep stuff, because the huge advantage of anchoring, is that it helps the weaker tech divers "orient" themselves, makes it easier for them to collect themselves in their teams, and represents an emotional security blanket to these divers, knowing exactly where the extra gas will be hanging, not to mention the final "sweep" dive Mimms or someone else will do at the dive end, to make sure no lame techies have daydreamed past the planned end of the dive---in this relatively controlled setting, competent tech guys like Mimms can do a reasonable damage control for CF's , and end up losing very few divers. >But as I much as I'd love to say that I've dove deep (over 130) down there >I can not.It seems the boats only like to take locals(this could explain >the high number of accidents down there) You get no argument out of me here---with the huge numbers of bad instructors ( Like Andre Smith, formerly of Divers Supply fame), there are PLENTY of lame local divers, who probably could not survive recreational dives in the NE...... Florida has far more than its share of horrifically bad divers. This is one of the things we are trying to address on the tech list. or you most know someone to get >you on the boat.I once tried to get on a boat a month in advance ,but when >I was told I could not deco at 20 and 10ft on 02 that I had to use 80/20 I >dropped my plans. I already mention the Ocean Diving boat, you need to call Jim Mimms. If you want to do WPB, you will need to get a hold of me or George to organize a charter---we know the boats, and it will have to be a full boat charter, since they don't like to mix tech and rec together. I always use pure O2 for 20 and 10 foot stops. I gave up on the deep stuff down there as my research lead >me too believe there was nothing down there worthy of my skills and that >has any real artifact value. You should have done a little more research ;-) So I've been content to venture down there and >do the winnie dives with my girlfriend and other divers until this past >Dec. when I heard of Skycliff the more I heard of how hard it was and >number of locals who had got hurt there fueled my interest in the dive.I >made the calls,a team from here was forming I had the boat and I got THE >CALL about a better dive I was hired to dive a semi deep treasure wreck in >dec. o only 180ft(can be seen at www.quicksilverint.com)since the first >trip the Fl. divers that were hired will not be back and a handpicked team >that I dive with standby to go back(2 are overweight isn't that great) so >all other dives including Skycliff have been put off. Over 40 Spanish galleons can be found on the shallow 15 to 20 foot reef along the coast of WPB. I have photos of some. You have to recognize ballast stones, and cannon shapes. But this is treasure diving NOT tech diving. >As for Miami,Keylargo,and south not having currents here is your lesson for >the day,Once set in motion,the flows of water in the oceans are affected by >the Coriols force associated with the earth's rotation, so that they form >giant patterns of rotation called"gyres" in each of the major ocean >basins.These gyres rotate in a clockwise direction in the northern >hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern. >It is these gyres, or portions of them, that form ocean currents. The gulf >stream is spawned in the western Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, surges north >through the Straits of FL and follows a meandering course off the US >Atlantic seaboard to Newfoundland, where it turns eastward, crosses the >North Atlantic, and finally dissipates off northern Europe. Where it is >strongest off FL and South Carolina, it is 40 miles wide and 2,000 feet >deep, and it carries 100 billion tons of water at a velocity sometimes >approaching five knots.I got this info off my tug and if you could see >satellite charts >you would see that even Fl. south has the same current even inshore more >around Key largo area.It depends on tide and moon for its flood and ebb >speed in knots.(for you mph) This is one of the dangers you run into by assuming you know South florida dive conditions. Anyone who has done appreciable diving here will tell you what I have already, that current in Fort Lauderdale and south to beyond Key west, is very slow, while it picks up in Boynton, starts cranking in WPB, and really flies off of Juno/Jupiter. What you are missing is the degree of Gulf Stream intrusion that occurs, close to shore. By the Keys and Miami/Fort Lauderdale, the Gulfstream is quite far from shore, and is not close enough to our deep wrecks or recreational dives, for its intrusive effects to create too much current. It begins to come in close near Boynton, and by WPB, will frequently be right next to shore. It stays close to our reef lines till beyond Jupiter, where it turns out, and heads much farther from shore. This is fact, and if you like, I can give you the e-mail address of a prominent oceanographer here in South Florida, Dr. Ray McCallister, and you can ask him to explain this relationship to you. So what does all this mean it means that you >don't know about all the east coast your hardly an expert in your own area. Funny, I though it meant that you did your research, the way many NE divers rig their gear----badly. :-) >So what kind of artifacts do you have? I tech dive for spearfishing, but there are many who have collected portholes, lots of brass stuff, and the same junk you guys like to drag up. Regards, Dan -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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