Behind every effort is passion
Behind every passion is someone with the courage to try" unknown
As you all know, I have developed and intense passion to wreck dive but most people, other than other wreck divers, are not aware of the courage it takes to "try" to dive a new wreck, deeper wreck, or more challenging wreck. Sure there are many divers and mentors that may help you to gain the passion to dive but, it takes your own personal courage to take that leap of faith off of the boat into the deep blue Atlantic Ocean to explore another wreck.
Today was no exception, we were destined to the Northern Lilian via the Independence II but, the weather predictions precluded us from reaching that wreck so, we decided to try and get out to the Stolt Dagali. As we broke the inlet we were greeting with some nice swells but they were far apart and there was no chop. The further offshore we went the calmer it got and by the time we anchored up it was Lake Atlantic. Boy was the weather predictions wrong for today, I am glad that Captain Dan was willing to give it a try because what a great summer like day it turned out to be!!
The Stolt Dagali was a tanker that was sunk in a collision on November 26, 1964 with the liner Shalom. The tanker was sliced in half and there were casualties. The bow was salvaged and the stern remains on the bottom today at an angle in water ranging from 60-130'.
My camera has not been cooperating lately and I was hopeful that I had repaired the problem that was resulting in both my strobes not firing up. When I splashed I simply could not believe the visibility. The water was the prettiest blue and from about 5-10' I could see the wreck. The visibility had to be at least 70-80', just spectacular. As I descended I could see the vibrant red growth all over the wreck that just added to the beauty of the dive. I was so excited to take some pics so that I would always remember this great dive. Wrong...strobes would not power up at all. I was however, able to shoot video or pictures with the available ambient light but that was it. So what else could I do but shoot video. I am not a fan of shooting a lot of video because the editing is so time consuming. As I swam along the wreck I saw a few tropical purple fish with yellow stripes, I remember seeing and photographing these in North Carolina earlier in the summer. They are so cool to watch!
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| My lone photo that someone came out... |
I then dropped down to about 100' and was below the thermocline and swam along the wreck and noticed a bunch of winter flounder. I was able to catch some video on one before I spooked it away. There was also a lot of taug on this wreck that seemed to be rather large. Below the thermocline the temp was about 65 degrees but above it I had a balmy 74 degrees. So after a short visit on the lower part of the wreck I went back up to the warmer water. This wreck is deteriorating, there are parts of it that are flapping in the current about to break off. One thing about this wreck as compared to so many other wrecks, it is memorable. I have only dove this wreck two other times and my last time I dove it was about 6 years ago and it happened to also be on the Independence Dive Boat. The divemaster at the time buddied me up with a diver that took off on me and on that particular day there was lower viz and it was dark with some current on the top. I recall losing track of the anchor line and simply not enjoying the dive. I guess that day sort of stuck with me because I have not gone back to the wreck again until today. I did remember that the wreck sat on an angle and that is why I think I remember it more than others. Today, I was able to give myself the grand tour since you could see forever.
Back on the boat, there were large cod and taug speared, lobster and mussels. I tried to repair my camera between dives to no avail..I used the GoPro as a back up and even that failed. The GoPro was on when I jumped in and turned itself off...Here is the video taken, not very good but, better than nothing:
Stolt Dagali Video
So, as I began this post, at least I had the courage to try to dive this wreck again and to also take pictures and video. Sometimes nothing works as intended but, I keep on trying and that's all anyone can do.
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| Till My Next Adventure in the Atlantic!! |
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