Wreck Diving

Miles from Home - 3013.0 miles
Firsts / Highlights - First wreck dives
Activity - SCUBA diving
People - Mark & Suzy Pinnell (owners of The Dive Bus), Alex & Kimberly (D.C.)

This post is for August 18-19.



In the past 2 days, I have completed dive numbers 22, 23, 24 and 25. Until now, I had never done a wreck dive of any kind. Now I have done 4. They all have interesting names like “Car Pile”, “Superior Producer”, “Tug Boat” and “James Bond Pier”. They also have interesting stories. Superior Producer, for example, was a large freighter that sank right off shore in 1977 (see picture of me in the cargo hold and someone else’s video below). It was carrying whiskey and blue jeans, both of which were scavenged by divers within hours. It sits in 80 – 110 feet of water, so it was right at the advisable limit for my new nitrox certification.





Yes, I completed my educational objective for my trip to Curacao yesterday by passing my final exam for nitrox certification. While traditional SCUBA tanks contain 21% oxygen (the same as ambient air), enriched air (a.k.a., nitrox) contains a higher percentage, typically 32% or 36%. The higher O2 percentage means that you absorb less nitrogen, which means that you can stay underwater longer without requiring decompression. The official benefit is the greater bottom time. The unofficial benefit is that you get less fatigued by repetitive dives because of the reduced nitrogen accumulation.



You couldn’t have proved the reduced fatigue benefit by me yesterday. After two 100-foot dives and a ripping-strong current on the Superior Producer, I was ready for some power-sleeping. I went out for 11 hours! The current we ran into on the Superior Producer was the only affect we have seen of the hurricanes brewing further north in the Caribbean. We are too far south to be directly impacted.



Here is a picture of my reflection in a chrome bumper in the Car Pile dive site.



Yesterday was an exceptional treat. Although I have not had to dive with any big groups on this trip, both my dives yesterday were just me with the dive master, Mark. With only two of us, Mark was able to take me on some deeper, more advanced dives. There is plenty of good diving around here at shallower depths, but it was good to get those dives in when Mark didn’t need to be concerned about divers who he didn’t think were ready for them.

Here is an unsually bold Scopion Fish. They usually sit motionless on rocks where they blend in so well that you can very easily miss them. This one was laying out in plain view on a sponge. He was still sitting motionless, so I assume that he thought he looked like a sponge.



The James Bond Pier, whose name does not appear any any guide book other than Mark’s head, was pretty cool. It is an old commercial pier where the pilings are fully encrusted in coral. We saw the BAB (big-ass barracuda) there. Mark figured it was about 4 ½ feet long and “gurthy”. Unfortunately, he swam off before I could get close enough for a decent picture. I’m not sure who got away. Maybe it was me.