I love all men who dive. Any fish can swim near the surface, but it takes a great whale to go down stairs five miles or more; & if he don’t attain the bottom, why, all the lead in Galena can’t fashion the plummet that will ~ Herman Melville
The conditions were stellar, the dives unbelievable and the company grand. A repeat performance was in order and plans were made.
We are once again diving with the Captains Corner Dive Center and the dive boat Sea Eagle, a 60 foot aluminum vessel that you may recognize from the James Bond Movie License to Kill. We left our gear below the day before and our tanks were filled and waiting for us onboard when we arrived. With my computer on my arm and cup of coffee in one hand and dive light in the other Randy still had to trail behind me picking things up. Big thank you by the way.
A short 35 minutes later and we are on the Stern mooring ball. The skies are a little grayer this morning. Some threatening black mixed in but the air is warm and the water once again glass flat, unbelievably clear and an amazing shade of blue. Are we excited? We are suited up and making a mad dash for the starboard side even before the Captain declares the pool open. We have barely given the crew the OK when we are deflating and making a midwater beeline for the ship.
You can immediately make out the outline of the deck as you descend and as you approach, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and you begin to appreciate just how massive this ship is. We arrive on deck where another smaller American flag waves in the current and can see the swim back to the mooring line will take a little effort. There seems to be much more life on this end, still small, but with many more blue tetras and yellow butterfly fish. Small herds of 
white baitfish that remind me of NJ cunner swim by and a few more barracuda eye our every move. Large parrotfish appear everywhere snacking on the newly forming blanket of algae and damselfish, angelfish, arrow crabs, and the occasional sea urchin and varying shades of shrimp fill out the local inhabitants.
white baitfish that remind me of NJ cunner swim by and a few more barracuda eye our every move. Large parrotfish appear everywhere snacking on the newly forming blanket of algae and damselfish, angelfish, arrow crabs, and the occasional sea urchin and varying shades of shrimp fill out the local inhabitants. Over the course of our dives we drop down on the starboard side of the ship to see what is there and enter through a hole cut in the hull swimming through and down a floor past machinery I do not recognize and never will. Sorry guys. We do notice the tiniest of fish in here flitting about. It appears the interior is already being used as a hatchery for local fish and the interior bits and pieces making for safe hiding places until they grow a bit more. The Vandenberg has already begun fulfilling her next assignment moving through the years from troop carrier to reef.
We swim round the stern investigating the huge rudder planted firmly in the sand. The propeller has been removed and I imagine it would have made quite a site if it was still attached.
Finding another cut out we enter and small lockers or cabinets line the walls. We move down a hallway and there are small rooms and doorways to each side and as we get farther into the ship we recognize the crews quarters. Bunks line the walls and desks and cabinets do also. Small showers and heads with the porcelain still in them appear in the beam of our lights. Not much room for our sailors to live and work their weeks or months at sea. Not much room for divers with doubles either and the silt is already settled along the floors and walls in a thin carpet, foretelling things to come. Many of the areas are narrow and turning around is not an option. Backing out the only way to go.
There is a huge elevator shaft mid-deck and as you drop down you can enter and explore floor by floor, getting off at the openings lining the walls. There is way too much here to see.
Fish are already gathering on each radar dish grazing the cutouts and using the bowl shape to stay out of the currents. The walkways and railings harboring life as they swim about looking for a space to claim as their own.
For a little while we drop down holes, cutouts and doorways traveling just a short distance to see what is there and popping back up to move on to the next as we make our way along the deck. Small hallways and ladders…. Closet sized rooms and niches abound……. If I ever served on this vessel I would have had to run a wreck reel to the coffee pot… used a GPS to find the ladies head…. A bread crumb trail to the upper deck and sunshine. When I was younge
r I worked for a shipping line in the port office and when the ships came in I would take clients on tours, showing them the engine room and holds and living areas before arriving at the Captains Quarters for a drink and then done. But this has so much more, more spaces, more rooms. It held so many more people and did so many more things. 
We move up and down stairways and follow ladders up and down the walls as we move from room to room. With the exception of the small hatchery we found aft, there is no one here but us and it is kind of eerie as we pass generators, valves, sinks, cabinets, tables, ladders, stairs and doorways all recognizable, all painted and intact…. just a little dust on top….. brush it a side and you could use it…. You could walk here…..you know someone did once.
It will be interesting to see the difference a year makes. Next fall I will be back…to see how things have changed. Where the corals and anomies have taken hold. What fish have bought a “condo” and call which places home. Where the big guns hang out and who deems this spot “cool enough” to relocate to. I hear a large eel has laid claim to the anchor chain although I couldn’t find him. He must have been out. The barracuda are already lurking seeing if any of these “diver people” spears them dinner. It is unfortunate that some divers have chosen to make graffiti walls by writing in the new layer of algae covering the walls, but by next year it will be just a memory as the growth thickens and fills it in.
The dark clouds have blown past and the sun has come out. We make our way back in past the cruise ships and marinas and a cold drink and snack await right at the dock.
Convenient….sweet….. just the way to end the day….. maybe a little Duval Street later on but for now …. Cheese Burger in Paradise…… just not the Portobello mushroom and swiss …. trust me.
(Randy took the pics!)