Sunday morning the NOAA forecast read 3-4 foot long period swells, winds 5-10 kt. That can be good and bad. On the surface the swells don’t bother the boat much, but can wreak havoc on the bottom with surge and low vis. The sky was about 50% sunshine with high hazy clouds wondering through.
The dive today was off the Spring Tide in Brielle. Capitan Ron and the mate John were on the boat welcoming the arrivals. I had showed up to the dock a little behind schedule, but soon learned the DM was even later. I had plenty of time to load my gear and talk about the upcoming dive. The trip was to the Ayuruoca commonly known as the Oil Wreck. She sunk during the war after a collision. She had been running with her light out to avoid submarine attack. She landed on the bottom in 175 fsw of the mud hole. She was intact and upright with the deck at 150 ft and the masts extending up to 80 ft.
Once my gear was stowed, I sat with the other divers and crew waiting the DM and last two intrepid souls. Once they arrived and started loading gear, I started to notice a few Argon bottles showing up. A quick inspection of the tank labels soon confirmed my suspicions. At least two of the divers were on Mix. Without proper training, air was my limit for this dive. 175 fsw on air, it’s going to be a fun day.
Since the wreck was in the mud hole, I had borrowed a buddy’s HID light. I added it to my gear and did some final checks. The boat was soon underway and we hit the racks and benches for the ride out. Some of the group were generating deco tables and writing them down on slates. Others were assembling gear do to the late arrival.
When we arrived at the site, there was a fishing boat on the front of the wreck. She waved us in. We anchored behind them. The DM jumped in to set the hook, but was unable to make headway in the ripping surface current. The surface water was brown and cloudy, maybe 2ft vis. We threw him a line and pulled him forward to the anchor line. Soon the bottle was up and we jumped in one by one. After doing a final check and switching on the light, it was my turn.
Once over the side I quickly grabbed the down line and started to descend. Once below 5 ft, the vis cleared and the current stopped. The anchor line could be clearly seen for 40+ feet descending into the thermocline below. With the current gone it was a simple task to glide down the granny line to the anchor, then down into the darkness. At 90 ft the HID’s light became apparent as the sunlight was quickly eclipsed by the small particles floating in the water column. At 150ft the deck suddenly came into view in the 15ft vis. There was a slight surge, a very slight current, and it was very dark.
As it turns out, we were anchored into a lobster trap. The deck of the ship was littered with them. While waiting on the surface we had seen many buoys off in the distance. Apparently over the years many traps had landed on the deck and been snared by the ship. The deck was now covered in rope and lobster traps. Descriptions of monofilament webs quickly came to mind. Tying off a reel, I carefully started to navigate the deck. Trying to avoid entanglement, I struggled to determine where on the wreck we were located.
After a few minutes a railing came into view. Up, over and down to the bottom. The vis on the side of the deck was poor as I waved the light back and forth between the hull beside me and the void below. Soon the bottom came into view. It was dark and muddy. Not much character to it. Swimming a few feet into the light current, nothing came into view. The hull beside me was the only item of interest around. It was encrusted with hydroids and muscles. Large starfish were there to pray on the muscles. Ropes were dangling down from the deck above then off into the distance.
Heading back to the deck, the hull did seem to have more character than on the decent, probably just the narcosis fog clearing a little. Once on the deck I did some more investigations of the immediate area around the anchor. There was a mass of rope and traps to the left that prevented me from heading that way.Inflatable Water Slide To the right the deck dropped off without a railing to another deck below. We must have been behind the wheelhouse.
The time was up for the first dive, so I reeled in my line, and started up the anchor. At the 100ft stop the water started to get warmer. It was 54 deg on the bottom and 68 deg at 70 ft. The vis also cleared. One of the masts stuck above the thermocline, 30ft off the line. This could be clearly seen in the ambient light. Shutting down the HID to conserve battery, I waited out the stops slowly. It was a two deco bottle dive, so the wait was not long. Once at the 10 ft stop the thick surface layer could be seen again. The surface water was dark and brown, thick with jelly fish. From 10ft to the thermocline at 100 ft the water was green and somewhat clear. My guess was that the surface water was brackish water from the Hudson, headed out to sea. This would explain the color and the current.
Back on the boat, several divers talked about the monofilament, I had not run into any. We swapped stories of what we saw. It was a long wait for next dive. We were entertained watching the fishing boat try to pull out of the wreck. With all that debris, I don’t know how anyone could anchor and pull out again. It took them half an hour to finally get the hook out.
On the way down the line for the second dive, it became apparent that the boat had swung around on the anchor. The line was now wrapped 90 deg around the mast we had seen on the first dive. I was tempted to drop down the mast to the deck, but was concerned with the number of ropes and line hanging from it. I did a quick check to verify that the line was not chaffing on the mast, and went down to the anchor.
This time, after tying my reel, I went up and over the rope mass that covered the wheelhouse. The vis on this side was 20-30 ft, but still very dark. There was a little more surge, but the current was still slight. I swam out for a while examining the structure of the deck, and gear. Hoists stuck up from deck and in some places the deck plates were gone revealing the structure below. Hydroids swayed in the surge, cunners darted in and out of the holes in the wreck. Here and there a tog could be seen popping out of the ships structure. The ship was 468 ft long. I quickly ran out of time before I could reach the bow. Turning around and reeling in line, I quickly arrived back at the anchor, untied the reel and headed up the line.
The 100 ft stop was right at the place where the anchor line wrapped around the mast. The stop was short, but disconcerting. Most of the time was spent trying to keep rope from ensnaring gear. Back at the 80 ft stop, the top of mast was 20 ft away. The current was such that I was facing the crows nest. Several large tog were circling it with many cuunners and small fish hiding in the web of rope. Looking closer there was one huge tog swimming slowly, nibbling at something on the mast. By my estimations he was 3+ ft long (other divers said 4ft). He could still be seen at the 70 ft and 60 ft stops. He was mocking me. The great white hunter would have to come back to this wreck and teach him some respect.
I encountered divers a the 10ft stop. Apparently one diver’s computers had failed, and he was now doing a worst case deco plan. (Don’t leave the surface without one.) Once the last diver was onboard, John jumped in and pulled the hook. He did not have issues with the mast, but had to ride it up over some lobster buoys. By the time we were underway most of the divers were asleep in the racks or benches. We pulled in and unloaded our gear. This had been another great dive, but no dinner.
Tags: dive, SCUBA, scuba nj, scuba training, wreck diving