Anybody dove the Oriskany?

JOHNU

I watched them sink it on the news a while back. Looks interesting.

Benthic

Even though we live in Pensacola, Heather and I haven't made it out there yet. But we're going in a couple weeks.

In the meantime, check out this thread. There's news of the sinking and some photos from Barney's dive.

Brian

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Nad

I'd like to go there next February so, any info about Dive Centers and so on are welcome.
For the moment just got those infos last week:

Location: 22.5NM 133* from Pensacola Pass. 32.7NM 236* from Destin.
Coordinates GPS: N30:02.6, W87:00.4 or 30*02'38"N Lat, 87*00'25"W Lon
Orientation: Sitting upright with bow facing South.
Depth: Bottom 212ft, Hangar deck 150ft, Flight deck 130ft, and Island 70ft.

Nad

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EBT

Dived lads, dived... doves are fluttery buggers with wings

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kozmik

Hi there Jim Kozmik here ,we were the film team from National Geographic..we got to due ,2 hour rebreather dives on the Oriskany filming for the new show Sea of Steel,
It was a long run out in a small boat and 4 of us were on inspirations,evolutions and 1 optima...all went really well..it sank a little deeper then planed the deck is at 136 and dips deeper to the bow..very long swim with a big camera housing.I got to shoot 80 minutes of High defintion broadcast material on it..great visibility..probably 100 ft.The only thing is that all our wetsuits were covered in light blue navy deck paint when we surfaced.
We did not have alot of time to explore the lower deck bay..probably at 170 plus feet..this will be a awesome wrecktech dive throughout the decks.

The only weirdness is they are not planning to put marker boat bouys on it..I don,t get that but,in those rough seas out there, there will be dive deaths on this wreck if not carefull.What they are also lacking are big allday dive charter boats out of Pensacola perhaps a opportuniy there for a dive shop.

Dave Faye

I'm thinking about going during the last week of June if any other ccr divers are interested.

Dave

Explorer

Nad,

What datum? NAD'27, NAD'83?

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barney

These are confirmed GPS coordinates to the carrier island of the USS ORISKANY:

30 02.340N, 87 00.234W

Cheers,
Mike

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PacketSniffer

A group primarily from Houston made the trek to dive the Oriskany last weekend. It was a blast. I can't wait to go again.

We used MBT Divers who I would recommend. One of their DMs is also the demolition guy who actually rigged up the Oriskany for sinking. He was the last one to step off the ship. MBT will take rebreathers but if going out with rec divers, your profile will need to match them. I'm thinking you could get dropped first and then follow the last OC diver up. Otherwise, you can book a "tech only" trip where you could take full advatange of the rebreather.

Temp was 72f at 130fsw. Vis was running generally around 75'. Wear some leather gloves (Amara or whatever) as there is some flame-cut metal exposed around the tower. Current: There is definitely current (Warning: 15mb download). Needless to say, bring a scooter if you have one not only for the shear size of this thing but for the current. It would make the dive a lot more enjoyable. We managed without though. We hit the flight deck on our first dive. On the second dive, we bummed around the tower doing the swim-throughs and such.

If you're interested, there are more pics here.


Richard

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webhead

Richard,

Thanks for the trip notes. Looking forward to see this ship myself. I was wondering if you'd share more about your trip.

How was the trip out? Wave height and time to site? Where there a lot of boats (fishing and diving) on the site? Any personally owned dive boats or does everyone take a charter dive boat?

Any comments on hotels in the area? Or recommend an area to look for a hotel in?

I'm curious about MBT Divers. According to their web site http://www.mbtdivers.com/Oriskany%20Misc.htm Looks like a good shop. It says "we do not own the boats, and all charter fees and policies are set by the captains. " and also that "tanks and weights are not provided, but can be rented at MBT Divers." So the $145 price listed gets you a ride on someone else boat? Why not charter with that boat directly? (not a negative comment about MBT, just want to understand their role and responsibility and total cost).

Does MBT have sorb and/or trimix fills (not listed in rentals or sales)?
Thanks

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