Florida Keys - Eagle Dive (2 actually)
It was a dark and stormy night.... Not really, but at 6AM it was dark and we did hit about 5 minutes of fog.
Bill B and I started out for the Keys , but first I needed gas. There is a reason I don’t pump the stuff, and luckily Bill was doing it for me. The first gas pump only gave 9 cents worth of gas in the first minute or so. Apparently this level of speed is not normal so I moved to another pump, now my credit card doesn’t work cause I am trying to use it twice at the same station, and finally, pump #2 does not turn off and the gas is running out of the car and onto the ground..... Glad it was Bill and not me doing this.
Again I see no alligators in Alligator Alley, but we do arrive at Divers City in 84 degree weather and not a cloud in the sky. You couldn’t ask for a better day.
We are diving the Eagle, once known as the Rail Dan. A conventional hull freighter, she had several owners and seven name changes after her launching and in 1985, caught fire. She was purchased by The Florida Keys Artificial Reef Association and with donations from Joe Teitelbaum, and then named the Eagle Tire Company. The Eagle lies on her starboard side in 110 feet of water three miles northeast of Alligator Reef Light. On the night of December 19, 1985, while waiting to be sunk as an artificial reef next to the Alexander Barge, the Eagle broke from her moorings. Her port anchor was dropped to prevent further drifting in the current and she was sunk at that spot.
The wreck has a large anchor chain that exits the hawse pipe on the port bow, and continues a considerable distance before disappearing in the sand. Two large mast assemblies rest on the bottom and each has its own ladder and observation platform in place. Toward the stern there is a tandem set of cargo booms. Heat damage from the fire can be observed in the stern quarter. The deck railings at 70 feet, and her propeller and rudder at 110 feet, are still intact. In 1998, the Eagle was broken in two by Hurricane Georges.
Bill and I have the dive boat to ourselves as the other group called last minute and cancelled and we headed out with the clear blue skies and turquoise seas that make for a great day of diving.
We tied in at the stern on the buoy and over we went to see what the wreck had to offer. Going down the mooring line the ship came into view quickly as we had about 80 foot of viz and 78F water temps. Since the ship is broken in two we took a tour of the stern first which contained most of the superstructure. There were tons of bait fish but no fish of notable size lurking about. Swimming through part of the structure to get to the bow we did come across some wonderful angel fish, green and queen I believe. After a tour of the bow, we were ready to go up. We had spent 28 minutes at 108 feet just cruising about.
Back on the surface the seas had picked up to a gentle rolling 1-2 feet but this was to be a dive of firsts. This would be the first time I had to take my fins off to climb back in the boat and the first time there was no open sided ladder. Not brain surgery but new to me. I started removing my fins way too far from the ladder while holding onto the tag line, and thanks to the compression of my suit mondo knife was spinning around my leg just getting in the way. Not pretty , but I did it. Carrying the steel tanks and mega pony the ladder was a challenge but I did get where I needed to be and taking just a minute longer than usual I was standing on the deck.
And Bill immediately followed.............but both of his fins did not. The Captain was yelling to him to drop down and chase it, but it sunk like a rock. He was destined to swim in a circle like a one legged duck.
The Surface Interval was informative, getting a crash course in local wrecks and history and some top notch assistance in reworking my weighting.
The second dive was to be a drift dive through a reef but we opted to dive the Eagle again and then do a drift dive while looking for Bills wayward fin.
Drift diving, again a first for me, and we were going in at the second tie in on the wrecks bow this time using a live drop (I think that is the term he used) where we stood on the dive platform and the boat moved over where we wanted to be and on the Captains mark we jumped in and descended and swam for the mooring line, another first for me. Worked like a charm.
Using a pair of loaner fins on Bill, we dropped in on the wreck a second time. I lead this time coming down the line and right at the tie in was a Goliath Grouper just sitting and watching us descend. We did a quick check in several holes for more sea residents as we headed for our drift sending up a surface marker for the boat to follow and we were off. The current had picked up some so we moved quickly along on a heading that should have brought us right over Bills fin, but it was not to be. We covered quite a bit of ground drifting according to the captain almost back to the reef line. Leisurely and relaxing, 31 minutes at 100 feet and with my realigned weighting I had no trouble with my free ascent.
This time, I was up and in the boat like a pro, even got complimented by the captain, and Bill made it in with all of his belongings.
Great afternoon of diving and afterwards, Bill headed off to Haiti (Good luck with that) and I headed on home.