Captain Brian Larsen of the Atlantus Charters called me just a few days ago and asked if I wanted to join him to check out some numbers and go diving for fun. I told him I was diving on Sunday, June 5th and didn't think I would be able to get air to be able to dive with him. We actually have 8 sets of doubles but most of them were empty.... Well, the nice guy that Capt. Brian is, he said he'd hook me up with some tanks. So I decided what the heck, I'll leave my responsibilities of the real world behind and go diving for a second day in a row. It turned out that since the dive on the Pinta yesterday was so shallow, I was able to do two dives on one set of doubles so, I had another set to bring with me today. We headed out later than usual so we could all sleep in a little, and when we broke the inlet there was hardly a ripple in the ocean. It was an eerie flat calm. We went to check out numbers for two wrecks and found something small but, in the end decided to head over to the San Jose since it was the closest wreck to where we were.
The San Jose was a passenger freighter that no sits in 110' of water. It sunk in January 1942 when it collided with the Santa Elisa. It is a great dive for artifacts, lobster and fish.
When we arrived at the wreck the Miss AC was on it with a fishing charter but, they were on the extreme southern end of the wreck so there was plenty of room for us to anchor up and Capt. Collette had no problem sharing the wreck. Since there was only a few of us today, Tim, Henry, Mike, Capt. Brian and I, I was in the second team to dive. The reports from the first group in were of awesome vis and what a great dive. Capt. Brian and I splashed together and I was taking my camera and he was going to spear fish. The vis on the bottom was again about 30', seems to be the norm everywhere this week. It was cold though, another day of 43 degrees. Yesterday I lost one of my flash diffusers so as I settled in take some pictures of this wreck, I was getting bright spots in the photos, that coupled with the fact that this wreck is a little deeper than yesterday's dive and thus a little less natural light, I was finding it hard to get a decent photo. I didn't spend too much time fussing with the camera, I just took off looking for artifacts. I have been on this wreck so many times and I never seem to orient myself but today with this vis, I was able to cover some ground and get a feel for the layout. I call it a messy wreck because there is just pipes and things everywhere. When I surfaced it was so hard to believe that the day before, I was in such a 4'-6' sloppy sea and today, it was so calm, no current, and the diving was almost effortless. In fact, during the surface interval they were all fishing and it felt like you were not even on a boat.
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| Hmmm...some diver must of taken a valve from here on a past dive... |
Henry came up from his second dive telling us that he found some brass which we quickly named "Irish Gold". He left it at the anchor and asked Capt. Brian to send it up and they could share the artifact, 1/2 the year at one house and 1/2 at the other, they even negotiated weekends and holidays. So, as Capt. Brian and I splashed for our second dive, I left my camera on board, I was going to check out the wreck some more and then, we were sending the artifact up the anchor line before we went up. Henry found a large pipe valve that said "Luxenheim" on it. It was a nice find! I of course found nothing :(
I wish I was able to take better pictures of this wreck but, I inherently have bad luck with photos on this wreck. It is a silty wreck and even with good vis, the silt always compromises the photos. Maybe someday it'll work out and I'll get some decent photos of it.
Both dives today were so relaxing and carefree, but that wasn't only from the great conditions in the ocean it is the auroa of the Atlantus Dive Boat. It is always a laid back good time on that boat. I was just one of those perfect days to play hookey from all your responsibilities.
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| Mike |
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| Tim |
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| Capt. Brian Larsen, Henry & Mike with the "Irish Gold" |
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| Flat Calm!! |
2 comments:
Nice report, as usual. I dove with those guys a few years ago. Nice group of guys.
Thanks Mike, yes, Captains Brian and Andrew Larsen are the best, I really enjoy diving with them. I know I will be out diving with them as often as I can this summer.
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