Dive Report: 11/15/03 Miami Project dives Deep Freeze and Miami Wall

Photos: http://www.geocities.com/tiswango\0311deepfreeze\index.htm

Conditions:
Sunny Day
Seas: 4-6
Current: Slight North
Visibility: 35ft

Dive 1: Deep Freeze

S: Matt (lead, lift bag) Jody (Deco)
A: 21/35, Deco on 50%
D: 130ft plan, 133 max depth, 110ft on deck and 100ft at bow
D: 25 minutes bottom time
D: Around the wreck, drifting ascent
D: 100/1 90/1 80/1 70/3 60/1 50/1 40/1 30/2 20/6 10/2

It was a bumpy ride out to the wreck. Ralph took a big wave and throttled back to ease the impact as we were there. Jody gave Ralph a couple of pointers on how to line us up and live drop us on the wreck. All the super structure was taken off the wreck by Andrew so we planned less bottom time as our average depth would be deeper then my last dive.

The water was nice and blue, but cloudy. On the way down I was searching to find the silhouette of the wreck as we descended. At 80ft we saw that we were just a little ways off. We swam down to the sand on the starboard side of the wreck. After we exchanged an "Ok" I headed to the bow as there seemed to be a lot of action. There were 15 or so large Horse-eye Jacks schooling. The bow was encrusted with deepwater seafans and there were Gray Snapper darting in and out. Off to the Port side was a school of Scad trying to huddle for the protection. I missed the bow swim through and headed down the port side to the stern. There was a big poof of silt as a Black Group took off.

There were a few French Angelfish, but not much living under the wreck. Just past half way down the wreck there was twisted metal and schools of Grunts hanging out. At the stern was another Black Grouper, which quickly ducked under some wreckage. The stern looked like it was twisted and listing to starboard. There were large schools of fish in the twisted metal.

We worked our way forward to amidships and ducted down into the large cargo hold. Beside the snapper, there weren't that many fish. The hold was two stories at about 10ft each. I ducked do to peak in and my light didn't hit the back wall. Jody swam inside and I noticed something hanging down from the ceiling at regular intervals. We didn't know what it was. We left the hold to move back towards the bow. The sand was 130ft, the deck was at 110ft.

At the bow we ascended to 100ft and there were narrow holds that would be fun to swim through if I had more bottom time. At the deeper depths I was intrigued to find fewer Bluehead Wrasse and many more Sunshine fish. At the bow there were several full size Coney which I find quite rare in this part of Florida. There was a large opening at the bow for penetration. As I swam up, a huge head moved out of the shadows. This Cuda was guarding his territory. I decided to skip the last swim through and moved up and to the left as Jody continued swimming forward. His light was straight down and he was focused on something beneath him as he slowly moved forward. I flashed him and pointed out our new toothy friend.

Jody floated off to the right and we went over the bow. I could feel the slight North current which was less than a half a knot. I just hovered and looked over the bow at the fish below. Diving a wreck with just a team of two shows you how many fish leave the wreck when a pack of divers descend on it.

We hit 25 minutes and Jody tossed a thumb. We ascended to 90ft and let the current drift us back over the wreck. At 80ft we pulled out our deco regs and prepared to switch at 70ft. After watching each other switch I prepped the lift bag to shoot. While fiddling with the line I noticed my depth dropped to 75ft. I moved back up to 70ft and continued. Since I had a closed cell back I shot it manually from my mouth with oral inflation. After two good breaths I checked above and let it fly. The rest of the deco went smoothly and Jody kept us right on schedule. At 20 ft I put my hood up to protect my head against the jelly-kline.

We popped up the find William giving us big "OKs" at the surface. Ralph backed the boat up with the bow facing into the waves as Jody taught him. We stripped out of our gear and started getting Ralph and William ready for their dive on the Miami Wall. This gave Jody and I some good time to review our dive.

Debrief:

1. When descending, its rare you go straight down. Since our prevailing current is heading North, Robert came up with always turn and face South for descent. This will help you stay together as a team and help to reduce any distance traveled by current. If the wreck is East or West of your position this won't matter much as your going parallel. The only exception would be if the current if running strong to the North.

2. There was a large opening at the bow we could have swam into. I didn't see it as I was mesmerized by all the fish. Jody could have pointed it out to me.

3. At the gas switch at 70ft, I deployed my reg on the way up and looped it over my head before Jody had a chance to verify I was on the right bottle. Its better to deploy the reg, but leave the hose out in front of you so your buddy can trace it back to the bottle. Then do the second check, purge, turn on, and loop the hose around the neck.

4. I manually inflated my Halcyon closed cell bag with two good breaths. My buoyancy was off and I dropped to 75ft in the process. On the surface the bag was half full. I will have to get an open cell bag or inflate off my inflator hose.

Dive 2: 12:11 AM SI: 1:34

S: Matt (lead, deco) Jody (drag lift bag)
A: 32%
D: 80ft plan, 88 max, avg 70ft
D: 40 minutes bottom time
D: Start with swim South, then drift North to end of wall
D: 40/1 30/1 20/3 10/2

Jody showed me the wall on the sounder. Wow, there was a huge rapid drop off. Holy Jellyfish Batman! Jody smashed two of them on impact with the water. We headed down over the ledge which started at 50 ft and went past 90ft. A Green Moray was out swimming at the base of the ledge to greet us. As we swam up and down the wall dodging our transparent, pulsating friends we ran into pockets of grunts. I was surprised to find a lack of growth on the wall, mostly deep water seafans. Its a great site to dive, but its no Del Ray Ledge when it comes to life and abundance.

--Matt