With a group of adventurous passengers, the Independence II headed out to check out some old numbers. In bygone eras, boat captains used Loran to locate shipwrecks. (OK, not that long ago.) Many old wreck are only known by their Loran numbers. Unfortunately, Loran numbers do not always transfer easily into GPS (lat / lon), so we knew we would be doing some searching. Our target turned out to be very low lying with next to no vis. Captain Dan asked around, and the decision was to hit a nearby wreck with more relief.
After a quick vote, we landed on the Stolt. Frankie had us tied in shortly, and the pool was soon open. The vis on the top of the wreck was a good 30+ ft, gonfiabili with a temp of 68 degrees. Bottom vis was slightly less, but about the same temperature. There was a ripping current coming up over the top of the hull, but the super structure and interior were protected. I dropped in with the video camera, and had fun swimming through some of the open passage ways.
To me the wreck seemed unusually calm. Normally there’s a large school of fish waiting near the top for some morsel of food to float by. Today, they were mysteriously absent. Cunners where here and there, and off in the distance I caught a glimpse of a few Tog, but otherwise it seemed abandoned. Perhaps with the water being warm top to bottom, the fish were more evenly distributed along the wreck. What ever the cause, the wreck did not have it’s normal appearance of “teaming with life”. Even the facade of anemones seemed subdued.
Some of the more adventurous passengers delved deep into the wreck. Many emerged with small tokens of the visit. By the end of the day, the wind and waves we experienced earlier had subsided, and we headed back with calm seas.