Photos of the Ophelia Brian: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiswango/tags/ofeliabrian

Don't get your hopes up about the photos, they are pretty bad. The ocean was flat black oil as we cruised out around light house at Key Biscayne.

Ophelia Brian

The current was running about .7 knots as we ran over the new artificial reef, the 210ft freighter Ophelia Brian formally the Sea Taxi. I was diving with Kevin Carby and as we planned I explained that is a good skill to learn to drop down 100ft in under 1 minute from getting off the boat.

The boat captain gave us a good 100ft drop and we hit the water. A quick ok and we swam down. I landed right on the stack and saw that we were getting blown off fast so I grabbed the rail and got out of the current. Kevin landed next to me and relaxed. The vis was about 20ft.

The right side of my new mask was fogging up making it hard to read my depth gouge and watch. I kept clearing it and took a quick look around the stern. The wreck is bare rusty metal and spray paint marking the groups that help make the new reef possible. I fired up the camera to document a few of the markings.

A section has been cut out making access to the engine room easy. We didn't do any penetration on this dive. The cut out has some very rough edges that could do a number on my dry suit. On the main deck the door to the interior has large screws still in place that could easily puncture a dry suit or a wing bladder. Please be aware, I took a pic just in case you don't believe me!

We dropped down into the cargo hold and swam for the bow. There were a few pieces of concrete culvert in the cargo hold, but not as much as say the Princess Brittney. I would have liked to have seen more concrete in the cargo hold as otherwise there is no shelter for the fish. When the wreck collapses the concrete will hold up the sides and make a great habitat for a longer period of time.

The bow a large mast supported by three cables so it should last a while. I was sad to see the bow winch was removed before sinking. Hopefully it raised some money towards the sinking of the ship. Usually the bow winch is home to the juvenile fish and is one of the most interesting areas of a artificial wreck reef.

We then swam back to the stern, low on the deck to stay out of the current. The main deck offers access to what is left of the gallery and the windless is still on the stern. I'll wait for a calmer day light dive to penetrate the inner sections of the stern.

All in all its great to have another large freighter in recreational depths off Miami. The last ship was the "Dema Trader" sunk in 2003 in honor of Dema being held in Miami.

Emerald Reef

As we were gearing up, we were looking at the four new mooring balls with a 1.5mil handheld light. The fish were jumping out of the water in a big boil. Something big was down there!

We dropped in on the 20ft reef to check out the new morning balls and play with the scooters. Rick didn't have a chance to buzz around on a Gavin in a while. Rick's primary light failed. It was flickering on and off which seemed to me to be a cord issue. We surfaced and the boat came up and we exchanged the lights in the water and dropped back down to play some more.

A school of small tomtates went flying by and then I saw what was causing all the concern. 5 4-6ft greater amberjacks were feeding on the reef fish. The lights didn't phase the fish at all as they charged all three of us. I used the Gavin as a sheild, but the fish came right at us. I was hit in the chest, legs, and back several times. Rick and Jody were as well. We tried to go back to back to defend ourselves, but is hard to fend off a fish that is faster, more agile, and has three dimensions of water to swim in. After a few minutes they took off and left us alone.

We cruised up and down the reef. Found several spotted and spiny lobster out for a walk. We surfaced after an hour and headed it.

The air temp was 55 degrees. I puffed up my dry suit and was quite comfortable on the way home. Every one else bundled up to stay warm. Overall we still had a great time even with the bad vis and high currents! I really enjoyed watching the moon seen in a blood red color after midnight as we came back in across the bay.