Immaculata 10-8-11

This weekend was like an Indian summer weekend with warms temps and calm seas predicted so I decided to dive as much as I can just in case the weather turns and I don't get out again this year (of course I hope to get out a few more times but you never know what mother nature will bring).  I signed on to go out on the Independence II to the Immaculata.  I have never been on this wreck but, I  heard about the abundance of bottles on this wreck from other divers so, I was going to go and get some bottles.  As we headed out the seas were not quite as calm as predicted but it was by no means rough and as the day went on it laid down nicely.  It was a chilly morning and I had to actually put on the winter coat to stay warm on the ride out.

The Immaculata sits in 95' of water.  They say that it consists of 3 old garbage barges that sunk in the 1920's.  This wreck sits in an area known as the Acid Grounds because it used to be a dumping ground for Industrial Waste.  The wreck is also known for having a large amount of silt on it that can easily be stirred up. I can attest to the fact that it is indeed very silty and since it was an old waste site, I wonder what is in that silt and if I should be diving in it..

Upon arrival at the wreck site, the surface visibility looked great..I decided to leave my camera behind for dive #1 so that I could look for bottles.  Capt. Bill told me that there are rows of ribbing but they all look the same and since this site silts up quickly I should run a wreck reel so I don't get lost.  Once I splashed I noticed the water was that nice n pretty fall blue color...which means the gulfstream is in!!  There was however a lot of particulate matter in the water and lots of jellyfish.  There was no thermocline and the visibility held all the way down to the wreck.  The vis on the wreck was a good 30' but, as soon as anyone dug for bottles it silted up fast.  Luckily there was the slightest current that took the stirred up silt away pretty quickly.  I initially headed down the edge of  the wreck towards the silted area assuming that they must be finding bottles in that area but, quickly I ended up with 0 vis so I turned around and actually swam across the wreck to the opposite side where the vis was back to 30'.  I saw quite a few lobsters, flounder, and tons of crabs but, given the fact that this was the acid dump site, I was not going to eat anything from this wreck.  Even though its has been a long time since they dumped on this site, I know since I am a chemist by trade, that these things still linger around for a long, long time.  So, I left the lobsters and crabs alone.  There also was not a lot of marine growth on this wreck which is another sign that the marine environment is not too healthy.  I picked a spot almost to the area they call the machinery pile and started digging.  All I found was broken bottles and sinkers.  I was down for about 30 minutes and finally realized that it was very warm down here, almost hot..a quick check to my gauge and it was 65 degrees on the bottom.  It felt great!!!

Up on the surface, one diver after the other brought up bags full of bottles.  All different shapes, sizes, colors and from all over the country.  It was really cool checking them out and trying to figure out what they were.  I will hopefully find some on my next dive.

Here we go, dive #2,  I was going to head back over towards the second row of  ribbing near the machinery and start digging.  Well I dug and dug and came up with nothing. All this digging did bring a ton of fish to my side to share in my digging.   I was running low on air so I headed back to dig more near the anchor line and I certainly found lots of broken bottles but nothing intact.  I sometimes don't have the patience or the "eye" to find artifacts or bottles so I naturally was upset that I couldn't find at least one bottle.  But then again, I found two awesome bottles earlier in the season on the Arundo!

Again, lots of bottles (too many to count)  and lobsters too were boated.  We had a nice crowd out today.  There were a few divers on board getting ready for Capt. Dan's expedition to find the third Black Sunday wreck he's been searching for offshore.  I yearned so much to go with them but, 250'-300' is a little deep without a rebreather.  I wish them lots of luck and with the great conditions for this weekend, I am confident that they will find it this time.

When I got home and told Bill how great the conditions were and  we decided to dive the next two days on our boat.  However, after my dive we were invited to a retirement party for a fellow diver, Joe Dobarro and had a few too many drinks so Sunday's dive was scratched.  The party had lots of old dive boat Captain's there such as John Slotnick (Robin II) and  Johnny Pratt (Ursula) and we enjoyed talking about the old diving adventures we shared.  The Ursula was the boat that brought us several times a week to the Varanger in the 1990's when we were working on a clam research project for Rutgers.  I was one lucky diver to get paid to dive the Varanger so often for that project..  It helped me gain valuable experience and confidence for deeper diving.  The Ursula was just sold this past April...another dive boat legacy gone...