Trip Report: Wreck of the Hydro Atlantic in Pompano Beach, FL on 05-18-2008

**sfldiver** · 19th May 2008, 03:45

On Sunday, May the 18th, the Florida S.C.R.U.B.'s boarded the Aqua View in Pompano Beach, Florida for an afternoon dive on the Wreck of the Hydro Atlantic.

The Hydro Atlantic is a favorite dive of all those who have had the opportunity to see her in person! The Hydro Atlantic is a 320' long freighter that sank in 1987, fairly close to shore and in approximately 175' of water. Over the years, this wreck has developed an impressive amount of growth, and continues to blossum and attractive divers.

On this trip, we had a total of 10 divers, six on rebreathers (5 Optimas and 1 Classic Kiss) and 4 on open circuit. Everyone was excited, because the surface conditions were beautiful, so the expectation of a great dive was in the air.

When we arrived at the wreck, it took the captain a few minutes to locate her and position himself to send down the divemaster to attempt to tie off on the wreck. As fate would have it, upon the divemaster returning to the surface, he verified what we wanted to hear - minimal current! Unfortunately, the visibility was not spectactular, but given the lack of current, we were all happy with the 50+ feet of visibility on the wreck.

I buddied up with Don (Dsix36) and John (jkaterenchuk) who had come all the way from Lititz, PA to dive with us for a few days. We hit the water and immediately noticed a bit of surface current, which is not unusual, especially in light of the mild breeze that had developed. Fortunately, by the time we made it down to the bow of the wreck, which is where the divemaster had tied us off, the current was minimal.

Once on the deck of the wreck, I took a few minutes to unfold my camera's arms and prepare to snap a few shots for you folks out in Rebreather World. Don and John signaled that they were headed for the bottom, at the bow section, so I immediately headed to try to get a shot of the bow of the wreck, looking at it from head on. The amount of growth in this area of the wreck is stunning. I don't think I got any great shots, as the amount of light available wwas minimal, but I did manage to get a few shots to share what the bow of the Hydro looks like.

After I took a few shots, Don and John, who had been below me in the sand, ascended a bit and we headed around the port section of the bow and back onto the deck of the ship heading towards the stern. after a couple of minutes browsing around the deck, Don headed into a roomy cargo section within the ship near the bow, so we both followed. We entered down into the large open room, which apparentely contained a large Goliath Grouper which I never saw. After several minutes in there, we each slowly exited on the starboard section of the wreck. We then browsed around the starboard setion at the deck level for a bit. I then ran into Chris (chrisp), so I snapped a few shots of him and his large domed camera setup.

At that point, Don signaled that he was having sensor problems. I helped him out and tried a few slight raps on his head, but no luck. At that point, which was about 23 minutes into the dive, Don indicated he was not comfortable losing a sensor and signaled he was heading home, so we all thumbed the dive. We made our way to a large area near the bow section and all retrieved our lift bags and reels and prepared to begin our ascent and deploy our bags. We started our ascent and deployed our bags at about the 26 minute mark. We had hoped to stay down at least 40 minutes, but better safe than sorry!

The ascent on lift bags went smoothly. We were all happy we didn't have to ascend via an anchor line and fight the current while completing deco. We completed about 18 to 20 minutes of decompresson on our bags and surfaced to find the boat following our bags and ready to pick us up. It turned out to be a short dive, but everyone was happy, because we made it back safely and got to spend some time on that amazing wreck!

One footnote, the folks at South Florida diving Headquarters (South Florida Diving Headquarters) did an amazing job of accomidating our needs and making it a safe diving experience. They discussed our plan and their plan with us ahead of time, and were EXTREMELY accomidating and attentive to all our needs! I definitely recommend them for this kind of a tech dive, because they went the extra mile to make our experience pleasant!!

After arriving back at the dock and dealing with all of the equipment, a few of us headed over to a Florida S.C.R.U.B.'s favorite, Bonefish Mac's for a bite to eat. Please excuse the blurry picture of us at the restaurant, becuase the waitress was cute, but she definitely doesn't have a career as a photographer!

As usual, here's a few pictures to give you folks out there a small taste of what we saw. I was playing with some different settings on my camera, so I'm not terribly happy with my shots, but if you have seen any of my other trip reports, you know by now, that I always like to share pictures, good or bad!

Enjoy!

Mike448 · 19th May 2008, 05:00

Nice photos as always. Glad to hear you guys are having fun - wish I was there.

phreaticus53 · 19th May 2008, 11:39

I'll second Adrian's assesment of SFDH's handling of the trip...they did a great job setting up the down line, had tag lines in the appropriate spots, and did a great job of helping divers in and out of their rigs.
Water temps, for those of you not so lucky as we Floridian's, were 78 on the surface, with a degree or two drop around 130' or so...and the usual cooler, stagnant water in the holds and engine spaces.
We drove over from the west coast of Fla. to get wet, as our loooooong boatride out to an "unknown" wreck 60 miles offshore in the Gulf got scrubbed because of weather. So we did a 7 hour (rt) ride in an air conditioned vehicle, listening to XM and discussing the vagaries of rebreather diving on the way. Turns out the cost for fuel for the car (split three ways = $30 ea.)) and the dive ($70) was roughly the same as if we had gone out to the wreck in the Gulf, divided by the original four divers who were scheduled to go. Turns out we lucked out getting on the boat going out to the Hydro, had the right gases already mixed...and my two dive buddies had never done the wreck, so they had a great time....except for Mike having an issue with water (teaspoon or so) in his handset at 70' on deco...handset crashed, O2 solenoid went crazy, so he did manual on-offs with the handwheel of his O2 supply bottle for 30 minutes or so...a PITA! I suggested he put an in-line on-off switch on his O2 solenoid hose...that way he could fly manual deco and not have to keep twisting the valve on and off....much 'mo betta!
We did :40 BT with :42 deco.......had a big sea turtle swim right under one of the guys at 20', the boat was right there when we surfaced...always a nice sight after drifting for :40 minutes-plus.
The Hydro's a great dive, probably the prettiest on the East Coast of Fla.....highly decorated, lots of critters...and multiple competent boats in the area will take you out there.
Highly recommend it!

Mike Costanzo · 19th May 2008, 14:31

Hi Adrian, good report and always enjoy your pictures. The Hydro is one of my favorite dives in South Florida and SFDH'S runs a good operation. I see you are wearing the Conch Republic T-shirt from the April trip. I will be in the Jupiter area the last two weeks in June if your interested in diving the hole in the wall.

**sfldiver** · 19th May 2008, 14:58

Quote: (Originally Posted by Mike Costanzo)

Hi Adrian, good report and always enjoy your pictures. The Hydro is one of my favorite dives in South Florida and SFDH'S runs a good operation. I see you are wearing the Conch Republic T-shirt from the April trip. I will be in the Jupiter area the last two weeks in June if your interested in diving the hole in the wall.

Hi Mike,

Glad you enjoyed the pics!

Yep, I did pick up a souvenier t-shirt during that Keys trip last month and I like to wear it, because Conch Republic Divers is a great Keys dive operation.

I dove the Hole in the Wall in Jupiter, FL last September, my first and only time diving it. I really enjoyed it and would love to do it again! Definitely keep us posted before you come down, as I, and if there's room I'm sure others too, would love to join you!

Adrian

tflaris · 19th May 2008, 18:16

Great report and Pics. Our trip was blown-out. Thanks for the memories for next time.

debersole · 21st May 2008, 01:52

Adrian:

Thanks for the great report and photos. I, too, love the Hydro. Wish I could have been there with you. Besides, it sounds like you needed some Kiss rebreathers to offset all of you Optima guys!

Doug

**kevin stone** · 21st May 2008, 02:13

I guess it's true S.C.R.U.B.S have more fun

***ScubaDadMiami*** · 21st May 2008, 02:30

Sorry I couldn't make it for this outing. At least I got to live vicariously through the S.C.R.U.B. divers. Great report SFLDiver

19th May 2008, 05:00	#2 (permalink)
Mike448 Mike O'Neill Current Rebreather/s: Megalodon Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Knysna (South Africa) & Florida Posts: 41	Re: Trip Report: Wreck of the Hydro Atlantic in Pompano Beach, FL on 05-18-2008 Nice photos as always. Glad to hear you guys are having fun - wish I was there. __________________ Cheers Mike mike448 @ mac.com www.shadowdivers.net
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19th May 2008, 11:39	#3 (permalink)
phreaticus53 New Member Current Rebreather/s: Optima Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Florida Posts: 50	Re: Trip Report: Wreck of the Hydro Atlantic in Pompano Beach, FL on 05-18-2008 I'll second Adrian's assesment of SFDH's handling of the trip...they did a great job setting up the down line, had tag lines in the appropriate spots, and did a great job of helping divers in and out of their rigs. Water temps, for those of you not so lucky as we Floridian's, were 78 on the surface, with a degree or two drop around 130' or so...and the usual cooler, stagnant water in the holds and engine spaces. We drove over from the west coast of Fla. to get wet, as our loooooong boatride out to an "unknown" wreck 60 miles offshore in the Gulf got scrubbed because of weather. So we did a 7 hour (rt) ride in an air conditioned vehicle, listening to XM and discussing the vagaries of rebreather diving on the way. Turns out the cost for fuel for the car (split three ways = $30 ea.)) and the dive ($70) was roughly the same as if we had gone out to the wreck in the Gulf, divided by the original four divers who were scheduled to go. Turns out we lucked out getting on the boat going out to the Hydro, had the right gases already mixed...and my two dive buddies had never done the wreck, so they had a great time....except for Mike having an issue with water (teaspoon or so) in his handset at 70' on deco...handset crashed, O2 solenoid went crazy, so he did manual on-offs with the handwheel of his O2 supply bottle for 30 minutes or so...a PITA! I suggested he put an in-line on-off switch on his O2 solenoid hose...that way he could fly manual deco and not have to keep twisting the valve on and off....much 'mo betta! We did :40 BT with :42 deco.......had a big sea turtle swim right under one of the guys at 20', the boat was right there when we surfaced...always a nice sight after drifting for :40 minutes-plus. The Hydro's a great dive, probably the prettiest on the East Coast of Fla.....highly decorated, lots of critters...and multiple competent boats in the area will take you out there. Highly recommend it!
(Offline)

19th May 2008, 14:31	#4 (permalink)
Mike Costanzo Never E nuff Current Rebreather/s: Classic Kiss Other Rebreather/s: Classic Kiss Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Maryland & Florida Posts: 133	Re: Trip Report: Wreck of the Hydro Atlantic in Pompano Beach, FL on 05-18-2008 Hi Adrian, good report and always enjoy your pictures. The Hydro is one of my favorite dives in South Florida and SFDH'S runs a good operation. I see you are wearing the Conch Republic T-shirt from the April trip. I will be in the Jupiter area the last two weeks in June if your interested in diving the hole in the wall. __________________ Mike
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19th May 2008, 14:58	#5 (permalink)
sfldiver S.C.R.U.B.'S Photographer Current Rebreather/s: Optima Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Pompano Beach, FL Posts: 792	Re: Trip Report: Wreck of the Hydro Atlantic in Pompano Beach, FL on 05-18-2008 Quote: (Originally Posted by Mike Costanzo) Hi Adrian, good report and always enjoy your pictures. The Hydro is one of my favorite dives in South Florida and SFDH'S runs a good operation. I see you are wearing the Conch Republic T-shirt from the April trip. I will be in the Jupiter area the last two weeks in June if your interested in diving the hole in the wall. Hi Mike, Glad you enjoyed the pics! Yep, I did pick up a souvenier t-shirt during that Keys trip last month and I like to wear it, because Conch Republic Divers is a great Keys dive operation. I dove the Hole in the Wall in Jupiter, FL last September, my first and only time diving it. I really enjoyed it and would love to do it again! Definitely keep us posted before you come down, as I, and if there's room I'm sure others too, would love to join you! Adrian __________________ *Currently piloting & shooting...* Dive Rite O2ptima FX Rigged w/ a Dsix Custom Aluminum Frame, Nomad Wing, Transpac Harness and VR3 Computer w/ VPM-B/E & a 4th Cell Sensor Link.* Canon PowerShot G9 Digital Camera *Rigged in a Patima-PDCH 2008 G9 Aluminum Housing w/ an Inon UWL-100 Achromat Wide Conversion Lens, 2 Inon UCL-165M67 Close-Up Lenses and 2 Inon Z-240 Strobes.
(Online)

19th May 2008, 18:16	#6 (permalink)
tflaris God save the Queen Current Rebreather/s: Evolution Megalodon Other Rebreather/s: Evolution Megalodon Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Neptune Beach, Florida Posts: 249	Re: Trip Report: Wreck of the Hydro Atlantic in Pompano Beach, FL on 05-18-2008 Great report and Pics. Our trip was blown-out. Thanks for the memories for next time. __________________ "Except for this one, I have come to the conclusion that all generalizations are false" -Jim Hayes
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21st May 2008, 01:52	#7 (permalink)
debersole Custom Title Allowed! Current Rebreather/s: Sport Kiss Dolphin Azimuth Other Rebreather/s: Sport Kiss Classic Kiss Dolphin Azimuth Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Lakeland, Florida Posts: 225	Re: Trip Report: Wreck of the Hydro Atlantic in Pompano Beach, FL on 05-18-2008 Adrian: Thanks for the great report and photos. I, too, love the Hydro. Wish I could have been there with you. Besides, it sounds like you needed some Kiss rebreathers to offset all of you Optima guys! Doug __________________ www.debersole.com
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21st May 2008, 02:13	#8 (permalink)
kevin stone Supporting Member Current Rebreather/s: Sport Kiss Classic Kiss Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: us ct. Posts: 214	Re: Trip Report: Wreck of the Hydro Atlantic in Pompano Beach, FL on 05-18-2008 I guess it's true S.C.R.U.B.S have more fun
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21st May 2008, 02:30	#9 (permalink)
*ScubaDadMiami* Moderator Current Rebreather/s: Optima Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Florida, USA Posts: 2,132	Re: Trip Report: Wreck of the Hydro Atlantic in Pompano Beach, FL on 05-18-2008 Sorry I couldn't make it for this outing. At least I got to live vicariously through the S.C.R.U.B. divers. Great report SFLDiver __________________ Howard Packer IANTD CCR Instructor Miami Beach, Florida CCRDiveTraining.com
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