Trip Report: Deerfield Beach, Florida Wreck Diving

**sfldiver** · 12th November 2007, 02:30

On Saturday, November 10th, Don (Dsix36) and me (sfldiver), two recent and proud members of the Florida S.C.R.U.B.’s joined Dixie Divers (www.dixiedivers.com) of Deerfield Beach, Florida for the Saturday portion of their Wreck Mania Weekend. Wreck Mania is a weekend filled with nothing but wreck dives – That’s right divers, no shallow reefs that weekend! Dixie Divers’ boat, the Lady-Go–Diver, is a 48 ft twin engine dive boat that offers a stable ride and a roomy and comfortable onboard experience, even when filled to capacity (28 divers max.). The Lady-Go-Diver is also rebreather friendly.

As relatively new Dive Rite Optima divers (approximately 20 to 25 rebreather hours each), we figured this would be a great opportunity to log some additional hours and practice our buoyancy skills by engaging in some easy penetration on four South Florida wrecks.

Our Saturday diving started at 8:00 AM. The boat picked us up at the dock, which is located directly across the street from the dive shop. Our plan was to dive four wrecks that day, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. The dock where the boat picked us up was a bit low relative to the height of the transom of the boat, but the captain and divemaster did an amazing job of loading all the gear and tanks, once each diver brought their things to the transom. After a thorough briefing from the captain about the boat and the planned dives, we tied off and were headed up the intra-coastal and out Hillsborough Inlet.

The scheduled weather for that day was calling for 2 to 4 foot seas, with increasing winds in the afternoon and seas increasing to 3 to 5 foot seas. Fortunately, the weathermen had another off day and got it wrong, once again, because it turned out to be a beautiful day with temperatures in the mid-sixties to seventy and seas that actually appeared to be closer to 1 to 3 foot seas, with no sign of those increasing afternoon seas. Water temperature was still around 81 degrees from surface to bottom, with no signs of thermoclines to speak of.

After a short ride out (approximately 20 minutes), we reached the dive site. We were excited about getting into the water and commencing the “Wreck Mania.” Unfortunately, as is so often the case, Murphy decided to show his ugly face and Don had a problem with one of his O2 sensors just as we were ready to stand up and head for the dive platform. After ten to ten minutes or so of creative trouble-shooting, Don found a solution to the problem, but by that time, we were clearly the last divers in the water - Better late than never!

Our first dive was on the wreck of the RSB-1. The RSB-1 is a 160 foot long U.S. Tender that was sunk in 1994 in approximately 120 feet of water. The RSB-1 is not the largest wreck in this area, but does have a decent amount of growth on it and definitely made for an interesting first dive. The delay in getting into the water, regrettably, cut our dive a bit short. After approximately 15 minutes on the bottom and a maximum depth of 117 feet, we realized we were the last divers on the wreck. We therefore started out ascent and safely boarded the boat in preparation for the next dive.

The next dive is a popular local dive and considerably shallower. The wreck of the Anchient Mariner sits in approximately 70 feet of water and has been down since 1991. She is a 165 foot Coast Guard Cutter which was also used to hunt submarines during WWII. Upon arriving at the wreck, we noticed there were two other dive boats anchored there, so the captain turned it into a hot drop and safely dropped us at a mooring ball to begin our descent. With that many divers in the water, the visibility was poor at approximately 50 to 60 feet, but it was still an enjoyable dive. We managed to find a few places to penetrate the wreck, which is always fun. We also saw a contingent of other divers, which included a spearfisherman, a heavily geared tech diver and three other Optima divers, whom we are still trying to identify, because it is a rare site. We hit a max depth of 72 feet during the dive and had a total run time of approximately 50 minutes. After that dive, we headed in to unload the morning group, get some lunch, then head out for two more dives.

The afternoon group was significantly smaller and included 10 divers that were in town from the Florida State University Dive Club. They seemed more advanced than your average divers, with a few of them diving larger double cylinders. They were a friendly group of divers, and as usual, several of them had lots of questions about the rebreathers we were diving, which we were happy to answer.

The first dive in the afternoon was the wreck of the Jim Atria. The Jim Atria is a 240 foot Dutch Freighter lying in approximately 130 feet of water and has been down since 1987. This wreck offered us several opportunities to practice out wreck penetration skills and work on buoyancy with the rebreathers. It also had a friendly resident green moray eel that was not exactly camera shy. On this dive, we hit a max depth of approximately 132 feet. After 31 minutes we departed the deck of the wreck, completed the required deco stops and surfaced with a big smile, because this wreck reminded us of why we dive in South Florida.

The last of our dives for the day was on the wreck of the Captain Dan. The Captain Dan is a 175 foot Coast Guard Cutter, which spent most of its years as a buoy tender. It was sunk in 1990 in approximately 112 feet of water. Once again, we dove a wreck that offered ample areas of overhead environment. After about half an hour of playtime, we began our ascent. By that time, the evening sunlight had begun to slowly sink into the horizon, so we ended up doing our required deco as an early evening hang. Even underwater, the other divers’ sentiment about the dive was evident by the grin on all the diver’s faces during the hang.

All in all, it was a great day of diving. Dixie Divers and the crew of the Lady-Go-Diver attended to all our needs. They run a great operation. If you are looking to do some South Florida wreck diving, give them a call, as they are definitely rebreather friendly – Two thumbs up for Dixie Divers! (www.dixiedivers.com).

In South Florida, we often take for granted the great wreck diving we have available to us and complain when the winter brings the cooler air and water temperature, but with days like this in November, what have we really got to complain about!

***ScubaDadMiami*** · 12th November 2007, 20:08

Great report. Nice pics, too. Sounds like you had fun.

mriopel · 13th November 2007, 01:47

Cool pictures looks like it was fun

Mike

12th November 2007, 20:08	#2 (permalink)
*ScubaDadMiami* Moderator Current Rebreather/s: Optima Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Florida, USA Posts: 2,044	Re: Trip Report: Deerfield Beach, Florida Wreck Diving Great report. Nice pics, too. Sounds like you had fun. __________________ Howard Packer IANTD CCR Instructor Miami Beach, Florida CCRDiveTraining.com
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13th November 2007, 01:47	#3 (permalink)
mriopel Sadly Missed (RIP) Current Rebreather/s: Optima Dolphin Other Rebreather/s: Dolphin Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: usa Posts: 167	Re: Trip Report: Deerfield Beach, Florida Wreck Diving Cool pictures looks like it was fun Mike
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