Max's Wreck/ Montgomery 7-31-15

What a great week I had wreck diving, here we are at day 4 of diving on the Independence II out of Atlantic City.  I did not think we would make it out today and it was a little rough on the ride out but, it laid down and was quite nice out.

We ended up at Max's wreck which sits in about 150' of water although I know one area of the wreck can reach depths of 160'-165'.  Brandon and Sean tied us in and there was no current but it was quite choppy up top.  I splashed next and noticed right away that the anchor line was doing quite a dance, note to myself...remember, the hang will not be fun.  At about 106' the wreck came into view.  We were tied in next to the engine which comes up about 20'-25' from the bottom.  The visibility was only about 15'-20' and was quite silty.

I saw this the other day on the Miraflores, not sure what it is..

I followed the edge of the wreck along the sand and spotted what appeared to be the largest starfish I had ever seen.  I tried to take a photo of it but, Jon had reached the bottom and was creating a giant silt cloud as he looked for brass.  This is a wooden wreck and the wood edges of the wreck are extremely thick.  There are lots of nets on the wreck and also piles of coal.  There is a prop shaft and large props at the stern of the wreck.  This wreck is really old (1877) yet the wood is still so prominent.  My old blog dive report for this wreck on 8/20/10 shows that the conditions I found on this wreck 5 years ago remain the same..After a while I retraced my route back to the anchor line and swam up to the top of the engine.  There were square vents/holes in the engine block and each one had a giant lobster in it.  I tried to take photos of them and they would back deep in the hole as I approached.

 I then noticed brittle stars that were hanging on pink-hearted hydroids, this looked so cool.  I spent the rest of my dive trying to tease the lobsters out so I could get a better photo of it.

My hang was miserable, I actually pulled the John line out of my bin and for some reason put it away before I splashed...big mistake.  Up on the surface, Brandon had found a silver spoon and chards of china with patterns and writing on them.  Perhaps these finds will help to identify this wreck.  Jon brought up a rock (which he took much abuse for), piece of wood (supposedly a spoon holder), and chards of china too.

Brandon and his spoon and his nice smile!

The seas laid down beautifully and we had a nice and fast ride in.

This has been a great week of diving for me!!! How often can you dive the Texel, Varanger, Miraflores and Max's Wreck all in the same week???  Thanks to the Independence II and the great crew for a fun and very safe week of diving!

I will be taking my kids out diving next week, a day I am really looking forward to!