Varanger 7-27-15

Well today the boat was destined for the Carolina but, the weather had different plans for us all. At departure time a storm rolled in with thunder and lightning so we stayed at the dock until the storm passed through.  It was about 7:30 am when the storm started to pass which was too late to head for the Carolina so we opted for the Varanger.  There were a few swells left over from the day before but as we go closer and closer to the Varanger it laid down to 1' seas and no current.

The Varanger is a tanker that was torpedoed 3 times by the U-130 and sunk on January 25, 1942.

Upon arrival at the wreck site it became apparent that the Varanger was not offshore far enough to get out of the green ocean water which provides for poor surface visibility and a darker bottom. When it was my turn to splash the viz on the bottom was about 25-30' and dark.  We were anchored high up in the stern of the wreck in about 110' of water.  The stern is still relatively intact and you can still penetrate inside of it.  I splashed just before Sean and Sabastian and saw them go inside the stern so, I opted to hang within site of the strobe and shoot some photos.  This wreck is very large and when there are other divers on the bottom below you lighting up the wreck it really shows how much relief there is..It is impressive!  The bottom temp on this dive was 45 degrees and even though that is cold, I felt like it was tropical compared to the Texel.

I noticed that this wreck is being taken over by mussels, they are actually choking out the sea anemones.  There is still a lot of brass on this wreck for those that enjoy recovering artifacts.

 I did a 20 minute dive and shot about 50 photos.  This was definitely a much better dive than they last time I attempted to dive this wreck in October 2010 when I had 6' seas and current.

Once I was up on the boat there were lobsters boated and a few scallops.  There were quite a few divers whom never dove this wreck and they all enjoyed it, some liked it even more than the Texel. I have dove this wreck more than most wrecks and it will always remain one of my favorites!