Varanger 10-23-10

As I awoke to the alarm at 5:00am, I contemplated staying home because I had a mentally exhausting week and did not know if I should go out diving. BUT....it was the Varanger, one of the greatest wrecks to dive, and fall/winter is knocking at our door. So, I dragged myself out of bed and headed for the Atlantus Dive boat. The drive to the boat was so cool because it was a full moon and the light glistened off the Mullica River in the most mysterious way that it made you thankful for getting up and being able to see it. When I arrived at the boat the moon was just above the Borgota and I took some pictures of it.


The date is incorrect on this photo it should be 10/23/10

The forecast was for 3-6' seas and it was supposed to lay down as the day went on so we all decided to run for the Varanger and if the conditions worsened we'd hit the San Jose. We had 7 divers today including Steph McAllister, John Thomas, Jim, Jason, Ken, Bill and I. Most of the divers on board have never dove the Varanger so, they were very excited. On the way out Steph gave me some camera pointers since he tests Sea Life cameras and it was most helpful to me. I couldn't wait to get in and take some photos. The seas started to grow and about midway to the wreck Captain Andrew came down to insure that we all felt ok with diving in these conditions. It was rough but nothing we all couldn't handle so we pressed on.

After we arrived at the wreck we threw in the shot line and John Thomas and Ken were going to go down and tie us into the wreck. As soon as they splashed we noticed there was a current. They managed to get down, tie us in, and pool was open. I was splashing next and got held up because Bill's dry suit inflator valve got stuck and wouldn't stop inflating. Capt. Andrew worked on the inflate valve and got it to work better and we decided to head in. The seas were picking up as well as the wind so I decided I was only doing 1 long dive. Capt. Andrew also suggested that I take my tanks off in the water so that I don't get hurt on the ladder. I told him that is what I will plan on doing. After the week I had, I wanted to air on the side of caution. I splashed and immediately noticed the intense current because I had to really struggle to right myself and at the same time my regulator was massively free flowing. I quickly grabbed the granny line and went to pull my self to the anchor line and couldn't make any headway and I took 2 very large waves and I realize this was not safe for me. I am not strong enough mentally or physically to do this. So I aborted. It took all my strength to hold onto the line with one hand, this current was the most intense I've ever been in, and with the other hand take off my tanks and attach it to a line. During this the waves were a good 4-5' and were crashing into me, I'm sure you get the picture. All I knew is if I let go of the line to the boat I'd be out to sea. I managed to get everything off and then I had my tanks in one hand the the line to the boat in the other and was paralyzed, how do I tie off the tanks without letting go of the boat. In comes help, Bill whom never got in the water jumped in and grabbed my tanks and swam them to a line and I got safely on the boat. Even with no tanks I had a tough time getting up that ladder.

The next divers, Jim and Jason were getting ready to splash but after seeing my struggle they were having second thoughts. They nonetheless decided to go for it. Jason jumped in and the same thing happened to him, the current beat him and in no time he was back on the boat. He however noticed that the granny line was now wrapped around the shaft and prop. Jim never made it in the water. Now up comes John Thomas who was very exhausted and said he had to fight the current the whole way down and it was still present on the bottom. He said the vis was good but the current prevented him from making much headway. He also said the hang was unbearable, a two handed hang. I knew after hearing this that I did the wise thing by aborting, I would not have been able to deal with those conditions today. Maybe on another day I could handle it when I am stronger but, not today. Ken came up a while later and he really enjoyed the wreck.

Ken was gracious enough to go under the boat in these rough conditions and cut the granny line from the prop shaft and prop. Now who was going to go in and pop the anchor. Well Steph wanted to but, he got a stomach bug and was spending much of the trip in the head. I advised him that it was not a good idea because he was probably dehydrated and he also was weak. No one else felt it was safe to send another diver in to get the grapnel so we decided to cut the anchor and come back in a week or two and retrieve it. At this point there were some solid 6 footers and it was the wise thing to do plus there were little signs along the way saying not to put anyone else in the water. We all should have known that the current would be ripping with the full moon. If it was just the seas we had to deal with everything would be fine but the combination of the seas and the current is what made it for a miserable day for diving. On this day I got to swim for a short while on top of the Varanger but, no diving :(

Once we were all safe back at the dock, I realized one of the reasons I like diving so much is the adventure. When you leave in the morning you never know what unpredictable adventure lies ahead. However, this day...I should have stayed in bed! We will be heading back out to retrieve the grapnel in the next week or so, and I'll hopefully get to dive then. Always be safe!!