The Vandenberg

Curiosity is only in vanity. Most frequently we wish not to know, but to talk. We would not take a sea voyage for the sole pleasure of seeing without hope of ever telling. ~ Blaise Pascal

Built in 1943, the Vandenberg was first commissioned as the troop transport USNS Gen. Harry Taylor serving in WWII and at the end of the war it brought troops home and carried refugees for relocation. In 1958 it was decommissioned.

In 1963 the Air force refitted it as a missile tracking ship and re-commissioned it the USAFS Gen Hoyt S Vandenberg monitoring US and Russian missile launches and the US space program. The telescope mounted on the wheelhouse was used for this.

It was retired again in 1983 and in 1996 it was used as part of the movie thriller Virus starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Sutherland before finally laying to rest on May 27, 2009, off the coast of Key West, Florida. The Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg became one of the 3 largest vessels in the world sunk as an artificial reef when it hit the bottom at 140fsw.

The Vandenberg measures 10 stories high 523 feet long and is over 71 feet wide. Some parts were rearranged and welded elsewhere to keep the top of the structure interesting and at least 50 feet below the surface.

From the bow there is the foremast and moving back the wheelhouse with a telescope mounted atop and seats for gun turrets as well as 2 large radar dishes, as well as the wheel house, crow’s nest, and a balloon hanger called the underwater Margaritaville because of the support of Parrot head Jimmy Buffet fans provided for the project.

Openings for penetration dot the deck and sides of the ship.

I got a message that a friend and his client would be diving the Vandenberg sometime this week and I was invited to join them. Here I am in Florida and still diving with the Wreck Valley tri-state crew….. go figure. I love it.

Bill made arrangements for us to stay at the Navy Lodge in Key West on base and found us a charter on the Sea Eagle. All I had to do was drive there. Pumping gas is still not this Jersey girl’s forte and they hide gas stations in store parking lots and you have to run a wreck reel to find your way out. Let’s just say I got there… a little late but got there.

9AM is a civilized time to set sail and we were loaded onboard doubles, deco bottles and assorted diving play toys and ready to roll in no time. The crew helpful and has a great sense of humor making for a tremendous day. The Blue skies, 85F water and 70-100 ft viz helped to, I will admit.

A 30 minute trip out and we were gearing up and giant striding off the side of the boat like rats abandoning ship. To the beat of a Jimmy buffet song I waddled over to the side and plummeted into the water impressing all who looked on. What can I say…. I have a gift.There was a slight surface current, swimmable but a workout. I dropped down about 20 feet pulled along the hang line a few feet to the mooring line and at about 40fsw, with the bow of the wreck in sight I let go and floated down on her with little to no current for the remainder of the dive.

The water was a crayola color blue with just a hint of green and I arrived on deck at 85 fsw with Bill nowhere in sight…… And they say I get excited and have no patience…..

This ship is still newly sunk and there is very little growth on her. I sparse carpet of white covers the deck but I am sure the other sponges and corals of more color are not far behind.

Tucked under and about all the ships hardware are long legged shrimp of varying size and color and small bait fish swim about. Tiny schools of butterfly fish swim circles about the mooring line and blue and yellow fish of solid and all manner of stripe configuration flit about.

We head back along the deck and I peek over the side again and again seeing only sand and the anchor chain on each side of the ship. Doorways and cut outs beckon me and I peek my head in and maybe just a little trip to see where these stair lead or what is about. I know we are touring the deck this time but there is way too much to see. On deck sits the sockets for gun turrets and two large radar dishes, one of movie fame. It wasn’t blown up and is perfectly intact and welded to the deck. We move along and I am eerily aware of how few fish I see. I know next year this will be a totally different dive and I take in all the outside structure for future reference.

This is our recon dive and we haven’t come across Bill yet so we turn and head back to the bow swimming along the walkways and following the routes walked by our servicemen so many years ago. A lone barracuda about 3 foot long hangs in the water just off the side of the ship stalking our movements and appearing each time we emerge from a swim through.

At the bow we meet up with Bill and begin our trip to the surface. Well…. Maybe a quick trip down the hull to the hawse pipe and to see the chain….. But then up the line. The bottom of the boat and the hang line in sight the entire time as we look up and the outline of the Vandenberg below as we look down. Large jelly fish float along in the water column framed in the blue water, their pink red veins well defined in the clear water.

It will take me forever to get used to removing my fins before I climb a dive ladder….. just doesn’t happen in Jersey…. You hit the ladder and you keep moving. Things are leisurely here….. the crew greets you, takes your fins, little pull on the manifold, dive platform… must all go with the civilized sailing hour….. I can do this…..

After an SI filled with snacks and stories of diving around the country and the world we are once again lined up like 4th graders in the cafeteria waiting our turn to step off the boat. They claim they seldom get days like this, so clear, so little current. We are lucky…. Me …… I don’t know any better this is my first time and this is what I will always expect.

We pull down a few feet and then let go of the line, like parachutists choosing our landing area as we survey the deck of the ship. The same small bait fish swim about the deck as well as the tiny bit of color from the tiny butterfly fish and friends. There are parrotfish now and some decent sized black angelfish appear here and there. The lone barracuda floats effortlessly trying to keep an eye on all the comings and goings.

We swim aft once more, this time poking in all the holes and doorways, down into the hull before the bridge, choosing which of the large cutouts to explore we find ourselves in among machinery. Machinery is my nemesis, I have no idea what I am looking at, I can just tell you it wasn’t the kitchen and these were not can openers or blenders…. I don’t think.

We now come out a hole cut on the starboard side and work our way back up to find more playrooms. I go in a doorway and down a stairway and back up and stick my head through a porthole shaped opening in the door and Randy is right there camera in hand. Will have to get that picture. We swim all about and finally turn for the line.

We make our way once more along the deck and dropping down occasionally but as we come across the bridge I look up and hanging in front of me, majestically fluttering with the waters currents hangs an American flag. I stand on the bridge, just as the captain and crew one did( well maybe they weren’t wearing fins but they stood there) leaning on the railing and just watching the flag wave. The bow of the ship behind it, framed by the bluest blue of the water and fluttering as if in a slight breeze, still so new to the water you can make out each star and stripe. I just leaned and watched imagining this proud ship sailing above the water.

Time to get going and as I hit the bow I dropped down the starboard side to the hawse pipe with chain running from it to the sand. I moved across the bow sitting so straight in the water and peeked in the port hawse pipe and sank down to the chain where it stretched out beyond my sight into the sand. The waterline markings are still clear on her hull, the chains links all intact. It looks just like it should be afloat. At the tie in sits a lone damselfish. Feisty little suckers and I bat back and forth with him getting in my needed dose of fish poking. We move up the line and the last of the divers are hanging at the 20 foot line until it is just myself and a crewmember. He gives me a questioning look, but my little trip down to the chain cost me a few more minutes than the rest but I am just a minute behind them and I follow him back to the ladder as he collects the line and hanging stage bottles.

Not a bad day… excellent actually…. So good we are staying an extra day and doing it again tomorrow. Thank you Mr. Barrow for inviting me.

(Randy took the pics)

Coral Spawning

I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it. ~ W C Fields

First of all, let me just say “everyone should eat at the Waffle House once in their lifetime” …….. and that is enough…… apparently waffles are not their forte. We will leave it at that and move onto diving.

I threw my 90 lb dog in the car and drove to the Keys. I was staying with a friend …. So imagine me… my dog….Becky, her 2 lb dust mop dog …I mean Maltese…. Her 2 boys and 2 of their best friends all at her house… it was rockin….. but these stories are for another time…….

Captain Slates Atlantis Dive Center is at the very north end of Key Largo and has a big white boat called the Coral Princess II, our chariot for this adventure……. And a captain with a penchant for watermelon…. Luckily I brought plenty. The shop sits on the dock behind the boat with covered tables, showers and rinse tubs for the divers use. I would recommend them and their friendly and helpful crew if you get the chance to come down.

Becky and I met up with the rest of our group and we were off to Dry Rocks Reef to see the Christ of the Abyss statue and coral spawning.

Hard coral is formed thousands of tiny identical individual polyps. Over time the polyps lay down a skeleton that is the foundation of a coral reef. While some heads of coral grow by asexual reproduction, many others spawn by “Broadcast Spawning.” The coral polyps send their eggs and sperm into the water in massive quantities by a mass simultaneous release. When egg and sperm unite, they form a larval-stage called “planula”. These drift in the current and those that are not eaten or otherwise destroyed look for just the right surface to attach to and grow, thus forming additional coral formations and reefs. These mass spawning releases have been carefully tracked and predictions of the occurrence are based on just the right timing when conditions of water temperatures and phases of the moon coincide. Tonite was the night,

Our first dive was to acclimate ourselves to where the coral heads were and which ones we wanted to watch. In the clear 87F water, our visibility was limited only by the beam of our lights. I was using a 10W canister and not missing a thing.

We descended to the top of the coral reef and made our way down along its walls looking all about. Since this is a marine sanctuary, there is no fishing or taking of marine life and since this is Florida, many divers have a look but don’t touch attitude, these fish hid quietly among varied corals and sponges with that “you can’t see me” look in their eye. By the end of the evening….they were duly educated. If you shine your light in front of a Spanish lobster (they are black with teeny tiny white polka dots all over them and no pincer claws) they keep a sharp eye on the light and slowly move backwards to safety….or my hand….. they are really spiny and yes Captain Bill, I screamed like a girl when I grabbed them…. But then again… I am a girl….. so all is good. But alas I also had to then release them and move on.

Tucked in among the various corals and sponges all configuration of parrot fish lay quietly hiding. These fish are bright teals and greens with some sporting reds and yellow accents. Some had huge scales that you could see the texturing and fine shadings of black and brown. They are beautiful fish. Toad fish lay in amongst the coral fragments with varying colors, their texture blending almost perfectly with the rough coral rocks. Large heads of star and brain corals were interspersed and since this was the second release, we noted which of the nodes were filled with their soon to be released gametes and which were now empty from last weeks spawning.

Large brown angel fish swam close to the rocks for protection and blue on blue striped fish swam among them. There were Black angel fish with yellow tails and small red squirrel fish swimming about. In the sandy valleys between the sections of reef swam large trumpet fish, either unafraid or dazed by the brightness of my lights. I could get almost close enough to pet them. Peeking in the nooks and crannies I spied a long red tentacle…. Could this be an octopus? Alas no… but are really cool 4 armed starfish with long wiggly arms over a foot long. There were magenta crayfish looking things hiding in the holes and their eyes sparkled pink when you shone your light on them.

And then suddenly my light shone upon a man in flowing robes, with his arms spread out and raised, palms up, towards the surface and the skies. A surreal sight appearing from the dark and depths. The Christ of the Abyss Statue.

The original "Il Christo Degli Abissi" statue was placed in the Mediterranean Sea off Genoa, Italy, in 1954. In 1961, a second statue "Christ of the Deep" was cast from the same mold and ultimately donated to the Florida State Park Service. At 4000 lbs and 9 ft tall, in 1965, the bronze statue was placed on a concrete base and placed in John Pennecamp Marine Sanctuary at Dry Rocks Reef. An unauthorized plaque was attached in the late 1980’s reading:

"If I take the wings of the morning
And swell in the uttermost
parts of the sea,
Even there your hand will lead me
and your right hand hold me fast.
1927 In memoriam 1988
Michael M. Kevorian"

The statue is magical at night. Invoking each diver as they came upon it to stop for a moment and reflect. As I read the plaque my eyes moved up the robes to the uplifted arms and my light could barely made out the shimmering surface of the water above. I remained still for a few moments and just watched.

After an hour in the water it was time to head up and grab some coffee…. The captain put a fresh pot onboard so I would drink coffee while he ate watermelon…. Hmmmmm. I like it.

11:20 seemed to be the appointed witching hour and we geared back up and dropped one by one into the water. As we made our way along we checked each coral head to see what was transpiring. On the large star coral heads the polyps were slowly opening and tiny tiny elongated white gametes were wiggling their way out and into the water. As you shone your light on your hand it filled with hundreds of these tiny creatures as they caught in the current of the water and started their life’s adventures, settling they knew not where.

Dark green coral heads with smaller polyps were beginning to burst open and rounded white balls began to appear. Looking kind of like hundreds of whiteheads dotting the coral. These would soon also release into the waters to be carried along.

We all know I couldn’t sit still and watch forever and I soon began to look around again. Several times among the rocks I spied and unusual burst of color in the beam of my light. Octopus! Sweet! They flowed more than moved…… and oozed and ebbed among the corals hiding just out of reach. Most preferred a bluish teal hue, changing color occasionally with the new surrounding corals but soon returning to their preferred color of the evening.

But there was one…there always is in the group. I call him Skeeter. He was a little bit country…. And a little bit rock and roll. His body slightly bigger than my fist, his tentacles just slightly longer than my forearm, he was much braver and more curious than his friends. He was sitting quietly in a small well in the coral, the tell all teal color, leaning at times slightly to the greenish tint. I placed my hand at the edge of the makeshift cave and waited…. He advanced slightly giving me the octo eye and waiting. So I wiggle my fingers and he moved a bit more. Then he was out! Just oozing about and giving me the once over, his tentacles tickling my fingers and moving up my hand.

And then it happened. A small crab mesmerized by the light swam into my beam not watching what else was going on and Skeeter was on him in a heartbeat. This little crab was swimming for his life trying to use me to hide as if I was a part of the safety of the reef. Skeeter was mid water and drooling over the thought of crab Rangoon just ahead and the two of them swam and bounced off of me in a whirlwind of drama worthy of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. As they began to approach my mask, I kept swatting the little crab back out into the open but he was quick and he was determined. One final swat and he was off and Skeeter, unhappy at losing his snack, dropped back down to the reef and settled in among the various colored corals and sponges to wait for more.

I moved on to see what else was waiting in the dark recesses for me to light up. Sitting in between tow waving blue gray corals sat a hogfish. A large hogfish which could have made dinner for a small family had this not been a no kill zone. And this guy was holding his ground. Took a poke to send him on his way and that was only but a few feet. These things are funny looking with their wavy little finger thingies on their backs and googly eyes staring out at you. I like em.

More colorful fish and lobsters about and in one hole the largest stone crab I have ever seen. Tucked in the mouth of this small cave in the reef face, he looked like something out of Jurassic Park. A small black and white striped angel fish with long flowing fins top and bottom at least 3 times his length flitted in and out. Tube worms looking like brown makeup brushes with white handles were tucked among the corals. As they pushed out of their white tubes the flowing heads rippled in the current. a herd of red squid aobut 8 inches long swam back and forth between the divers making a race track kind of circuit amongst us. And finally, just below the boat, there sat a large coral head and it began to puff thousands of tiny future corals into the water. They flowed off of this coral like puffs of smoke in the water. Thousands of tiny gametes sweeping past the glow of each divers light. Absolutely amazing. How they predict these releases. How each coral gets the memo and they release simultaneously across the ocean floor. There were two releases this year because there were two full moons close together and all the corals knew…. They all knew and they all waited. Humans cant coordinate 6 people on a dive boat with lunch but millions of coral polyps ranging in size from tiny pinheads to small nail heads can orchestrate mass sex and birthing across the ocean floor. Amazing. Absolutely amazing.

Not sure what is next….but we will see.

Venice Beach 2009

To me there is something completely and satisfyingly restful in that stretch of sea and sand, sea and sand and sky- Complete peace and complete fulfillment. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh


It is Labor Day Weekend and I have just arrived….. too late to book a charter ……they are all full but the stretch of beaches call to me. I miss my beach diving, I have not gotten into the inlets this year like I am so used to. I missed the changing of seasons... It’s time to get back into the rhythm of diving for the sake of diving. A beach, a wreck, a cave, a spring….. Florida should have so much to offer if I just jump in.

Only so much gear fit in my car for the trek down. Kayak, dog and clothes needed room too and so I have but the bare minimum with me at the moment. I have only one single tank with me and have used down a good portion wire brushing the stains on the pool bottom and need to rent. Cleaning is quite the chore here. So I toss a rash guard and regs, fins and a dive flag in the truck. Hmmmmm. Doesn’t seem quite enough somehow….. add my BPW….. still so bare…… a towel…… a 3ml just in case….. that’s it there is nothing else….. so minimal….. I think I like it.

I am headed for Venice Beach, just a short ride from my temporary digs. The trip should be short and uneventful but as usual it is not. I need gas….still a blot on my independent nature. Last time I tried a man from the next pump had to come over and show me how to get it started and as I pulled out another man pulled me over and suggested I screw the gas cap back in and close the little door. This time faring only slightly better I pulled out into traffic only to see flashing lights behind me. Pulling over I am gifted with a $276 speeding ticket. I question this whole process but continue on my way.

I stop at the shop at the bridge and rent a tank for the day and continue on to the beach and the group I am meeting. Once there, I am late and see only dive flags in the water and they all look alike and I have no way to know which is them. A group leaving the water informs me there are jellies in the water today so I throw on my 3ml and head for the surf.

I haven’t done this dive in 2 years but remember….swim out a couple hundred yards, drop down, look for black sand. The water is flat, lake flat. And warm, 88F warm. I walk out a bit, put on my fins and drop down to swim out. Visibility is around 7ft but this is usual for this area due to warm water algae blooms. I navigate using the ridges in the sand to keep me on course. Yes, l know how to do this! It doesn’t require a compass silly!

As I swim along I hit….. cement blocks? Covered in flowing brown algae. With fish. I don’t remember this, I like it but I don’t remember it. I head to the surface to see where I am. Right where I want to be and there are dive flags all around me. Very strange……. But not one to pass up a chance to poke I drop back down.

The blocks are around 3 feet square and dropped in a similar fashion to the jacks in Manasquan inlet. About 20-25 feet across in a long meandering line. In among the blocks I begin to peek about and several curious spade fish come out to see who is there. They are no longer curious and no longer about. There are white fish, almost clear in color and small bait fish with horizontal stripes. They are really quick. And grouper…. about 18 inches long. Picking up some shells I find hermit crabs of various sizes and tube worms in the sand. I come across some sand dollars and pick a few to take home. The occasional sheep head goes past and various corals and sponges dot the landscape and this is all very interesting….but where are the sharks teeth? The black sand denoting the underwater river bed? Where are my friends? I decide to head in and await their return and some answers and so I surface and begin to swim on in. As I approach the beach, I see the Bulla children frolicking in the water and as I turn I see a group swimming inand waving….. I have found them.

After a short SI we head out again. Apparently the state has been busy putting in an artificial reef…. Right on top of the riverbed! Unless we swim out much further to the next bed, the tooth hunting is slim.

Colin, Kris, Jenny and I swim back out and just beyond the blocks drop down to see if we can get luck at the edges of the bed. I am again greeted with the occasional fish in the open sand and jelly fish with long waving tentacles swim past. I am lucky to only watch them but Kris is not watching and gets stung. You can hear her yell even under water….Ouch!

I don’t find any teeth…. I find a petrified manatee rib, a prehistoric chicken bone, a fossil of a clam shell (really cool), and a rock in the shape of a tooth…. I am losing interest fast and off I go in search of things to poke.

There are tube worms to torture and small fish and a flounder hiding in the sand…..not anymore. A lone pink coral lies on its side and I pick it up and replant it in the sand. Small curious fish follow after me staying just out of reach, they are quick learners.

As I watch, a small sponge slowly moves across the sand. A bit fast to be moving in the current and I look closer. Do sponges have skinny little legs? I don’t think so…. I pick it up and it is a 2 fer. A large hermit crab in a shell covered in sponge. Sweet!

I have been cruising about sightseeing for over an hour and it is time to head back in and I move along picking up interesting shells for my bucket. Coming over the blocks there are more grouper and fish and I later learn I missed the 3foot ray swimming about.

We soon surface and swim back in talking about all we saw and what we found. Colin picked up the top part of a meg tooth, the bottom part nowhere to be found. Jenny found a few small teeth as did Kris along with a beer can and abandoned inflator hose. Her sting has subsided and the day is full of sun and warmth as we talk about the new reef and the fish. Past finds and friends old and new. Divers are divers, Florida or NJ. A day in the water is always better than a day on land. I will keep at it. Who knows?