The Vandenberg Revisited Two

Where no great fish venture
nor small fish glitter and dart,
only the anemones
and flower of the wild sea-thyme
cover the silent walls
of an old sea-city at rest.
~Hilda Doolittle~

Cindy Bill and I spend the evening with a bottle of wine, relaxing on the deck and I get a sneak preview of pictures and stories to come from their trip to the Philippines. Dinner, once again, makes me too full for dessert and lulls me into a lazy comfortable haze calling out for a soft bed and softer pillow. I oblige and come morning we are once again on the dock of the Sea Eagle loading tanks and gear for our dive. Bill is using his old booties and a new dive friend, Mike, today. Cindy and I are doing a diva dive and plan on checking out the elevator shaft and poking some fish. At least I do.

Upon surfacing from our last dive yesterday, I discovered I had lost an earring, I am not sure how I feel about the pirate look and have skipped the earrings this morning while I decide. Bill suggested that the glitter of light on my silver hoops were the tantalizing draw that kept the barracuda so close to us yesterday and here I thought it was just my sparkling personality. I asked everyone aboard to keep an eye out for my earring, how hard could it be to find? It’s not like there are that many down there.

I like diving with Cindy, she, like me, loves to peek about and enjoys the small treasures each dive has to offer. We gear up and she gracefully steps off the port side and into the water. I follow with a launch and plummet as only I can do….. maybe this is what made me so memorable to the crew….. it is my signature move…..

We are again tied to the stern mooring ball, our second dive we will move to a mooring closer to the bow, and as we drop on down we can feel that the current has picked up ever so slightly since the day before, Earl is on his way. I follow Cindy as we make our way forward and she suddenly points and picks up a lone earring from the deck. What are the chances….. it is a pearl stud, not my loop but I tuck it into my sleeve before continuing on. It can only enhance that pirate look I am beginning to embrace, and oh the story it will add to it.

We come to the elevator shaft. The water is hazy and you cannot see all the way down. Cindy slips over the side and down we go slowly dropping towards the dark. At about 110fsw the first opening appears and it is completely dark, no light from a swim through cutout reaches this spot. I turn on my light and poke my head in but Cindy is not carrying doubles and chooses to explore other areas this dive and signals up and we head on back to the deck. She has much she wants to see and today she is not carrying her camera as she did on yesterday’s dives, it is the size of a small sofa with arms and strobes and gidgets and gadgets…. I have no idea how she does it, but I do love her pictures.

I have been soaking in all the changes in the 10 months since I was last here. Like each of her past unique services, Vandy is embracing her new position, this time beneath the water’s surface. Her final retirement duty is possibly her greatest success. She has settled upright on the seafloor sturdily riding out the currents without wavering. Soft corals and sponges are tentatively laying claim to her nooks and crannies. And fish…. Well the neighborhood is filling out. Size is the most notable since my last visit. The small parrotfish that last time nibbled at the algae on the radar dish are now gi-normous. They have little fear as they nibble their way along, their colors flashing against the still bland colors of the hull. Regal sized queen angel fish swim about the tie in and large blue ones flit about.

The grunts swarm the higher parts of the superstructure and the barracuda have bulked up dining among these plentiful schools of fish who dart about in an unimaginable unison. Like Dancing With the Stars, with no noticeable signal, they quickly take off and make a chain of graceful precision turns as if choreographed to some music only they can hear and practiced in the long warm water afternoons. I found myself in their center several times during these dives and just stuck out my hand as they washed over me, marveling at the scene unfolding around me.

The small damselfish still puff out their chests and protect their “hood” as if they were the size of small whales and not goldfish and as I dropped between two railing to escape some of the current I came across the telltale squiggles of sand leading to a black and brown sea cucumber the size of a size 10 Nike doing what sea cucumbers do best.

There were midsized fish also. Large yellow and black butterfly fish swimming in and out of doorways, neon blues with their single vertical white stripe outlined in black, and the rest of the rainbow of colors that mark fish that call the warm southern waters home. These, I am sure, were the tiny fish we saw last October, just hatched and hiding among the safety of structure below deck in their new home. Large spiny legged shrimp try to blend in with the butt hinges of the doorways as they await their next meal and tickle as they scurry over your hand.

And there were new hatchlings and small fish varying size and color. They have replaced the parrot fish grazing on the grate like structure of the dish.

All are now schooled in poking 101 and I imagine the ship makes a small sigh as she settles farther in.

While the interior porcelain still shows white, the thinner pieces of metal are slowly bending with the waters currents. The frames of shelves and bunks are slowly showing signs of buckling and the salt water and changing currents have made the thin pieces of grating fragile and starting to fall from the radar dish in spots.

It will be many long years past the time of my visits to her that her decks and sides fall away but the sea is very upfront with her intentions and has begun to slowly refit the Vandenberg in what will be her final wardrobe. Soldiers and sailors no longer scurrying about her decks, no radar dishes vacillating to and fro and the hum of electronics scanning the skies above are quieted and the strange glowing lights of aliens will no longer haunt her halls, just the TV screens of sci-fi enthusiasts. They are replaced with the vigilant sentries of barracuda, herds of colored fish and the glow of bioluminescent at night.

She will give up her battleship gray for the fields of color the corals and sea flora and fauna bring. She will sit in the center of the sea as its diversity washes over her and stick out her hand and marvel at the scene unfolding around her, just as I did, seeing what goes past and what catches and stays.

We end our dive day once again at a small table on the deck, this time I have dessert first, I do love key lime pie, and we marvel at the wonders we have seen and make plans to do this once more…….. we sit at the pier and watch the sunset in stripes of pinks and blues and look out over the water and I remember the words of Lord Byron ~ Roll on, deep and dark blue ocean, roll. Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain. Man marks the earth with ruin, but his control stops with the shore.

I’ll be back, I can’t help but to.

The Vandenberg Revisited

My soul is full of longing
For the secret of the sea,
And the heart of the great ocean
Sends a thrilling pulse through me.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “The Sound of the Sea”

In 1944, the USNS Gen. Harry Taylor served as a troop transport ship. In 1958 it was decommissioned.

In 1963, the USAFS Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg served as a missile range instrumentation ship. It was retired in 1983.

In 1996 the Akademic Vladislav Volkov did double duty as a Russian science ship and love nest for electrical aliens. It was dropped faster than Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Sutherland’s Oscar dreams. <1999 movie VIRUS>


So goes the history of a single floating steel structure, just over 522 feet long, 71 ½ feet wide and 10 stories tall. But her story doesn’t end there. Once again claiming the proud name of the General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, she began her final service assignment.

May 27, 2009 the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg became the second largest artificial reef in the world when her bow touched sand 130fsw just 6 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida.

Now affectionately referred to as the Vandy….. she has begun her final transformation on the ocean floor to ocean habitat, sea life sanctuary, fishie nursery, coral and algae magnet and dive site…. A little bit of fish pokey heaven in my book.

There are big ships and small ships. But the best ship of all is friendship. ~Author Unknown…. Bill and Cindy are my ships and I count myself lucky. They are just winding up a dream vacation and spending the last few days of it diving and shopping with me. I won’t bore you with the shopping part, although I did get a great little picture for my hall but did not get to hold the one eyed chicken. Stories for another day, but will say that I arrived in Key West mid evening and after a short stroll we settled in a small Cuban restaurant with mojitos and the Cuban version of nachos to catch up on news and goings on.

The next morning we head out on the Sea Eagle with Captains Corner and as we load onboard, the mate remembers me from my last trip with them…… not sure if this is a good thing or not….we will see.

Bill and I dove the Vandenberg in October, just a few short months after her sinking, and I am excited to return and see how things have progressed.

We are lucky to hit a small window of diving before the arrival of Hurricane Earl in just a few short days. The seas are choppy and we are thoroughly drenched when we arrive at the mooring ball. There is a brisk current from surface to sand and while the water registers at 89F the visibility is just 60 to 80 feet.

We drop down on the stern and as we descend the line we pass some of the largest barracuda I have ever seen. They slowly circle as drop on down and spend the remainder of our dive just out of reach with one unblinking eye on us at all times. A thickening coating of growth envelopes the ship and we set off on a grand tour. The current seems to run both sides of the ship and we do not get to the bow this dive. I head over the rail and while the impending storm has stirred up the waters I can just make out the anchor chain stretching out into the sand. We enter the first set of cutouts to get out of the current and check out the changes below. The carpet of silt on the ships interior is deepening quite quickly and we pass an array of disabled machinery before heading back out. We pass the radar antennae and dish which are also deteriorating much faster than I expected. You can easily spot small cross pieces already fallen away. We look down the gun turrets and in and out of doorways, drop back over the sides and again traverse the ships interior using the large cutouts in the ships sides. The Coast Guard flag still flies proudly flapping in the current and just below it is a new addition, a sign post from Duvall Street and we stop to pose and take pictures with it.

Noting the time, we head back up with just short of an hour’s dive. Our SI is very short as is our next dive as the captain plans to pull anchor in an hour. We regroup and plan a short dive to finish the day.

Cindy hits the water first and drops down to wait for us. As we begin to make our way down the line with me leading and pulling hard through the current down the line. Before I reach the mooring line Cindy has gone back up due to an O ring which had suddenly began leaking and Bill and I continue on. We enter through a doorway on deck and move through a passage heading down and passing by abandoned bunks, off kilter shelving and slender rooms filled with surprisingly still white porcelain. There are narrow oval openings with ladders spaced throughout the deck leading to decks below but I question squeezing my doubles down them and move onto larger openings.

We again exit near the radar dish and as we hover above it a tap on the shoulder scares the bejesus out of me. Here is Cindy back with us. As she hit the ladder and explained her dilemma, the mate in one swift move reached down and plucked her out of the water, gear tank and all, placed her on the dive platform, switched her tank out and pushed her back in in record time. Oh to be young again……

We continued on peeking and poking and as you can imagine….the poking does live on…. Did you know parrot fish have teeth?

We end our afternoon with burgers and drinks and back to our rooms to change before some wine, shopping, and a Key West sunset. And I swear….. I will not play tricks on Bill anymore…… the “great dive bootie incident” will be my last…. I am pretty sure…. I think….. kinda….. yea.

Jersey Diving in FLA

Why do New Jersey divers roll backwards off their boats?
Cause if they rolled forwards they would land in the freakin boat!

Hello…. My name is Cheryl and I’m from New Jersey …. we did things a bit different there…….
First off, we didn’t start a dive trip without breakfast….. there is a reason Dunkin Doughnuts is open 24 hours….. but I am in Florida now and there is a Florida way….. Hmmm………

All dive boats leave at O’Dark Thirty…... why is that? At least that part didn’t come as a shock. I loaded up the truck the night before and was on the road before first light. The black quickly gave way to the dark blues and deep reds of predawn, slowly morphing into the pinks that give the first hints of sunrise. As I make my way to the marina, the colors of morning wash over me and with the help of hot coffee I slowly awaken to a new dive day.

It’s been a while since I made a dive boat trip. The reasons don’t matter, just the time….. and I have missed it …..a lot. There will be people I know on this trip, friends old and new, and I look forward to the day.

Today I am diving on the Can-Tank-erous with Tanks-A-Lot Diving. Captain Mike and Captain Heidi are my hosts and MissD aka Tracy, the dive master. [In NJ, someone, goes down and ties in and a Styrofoam cup or empty water bottle is sent up when the hook is set and ready to dive. When the cup is up, the pool is open and divers roll off the sides of the boat like rats abandoning ship and the diving begins.] Dive masters are new for me. They go down and set the hook, come up and give a report, and as each diver steps off the platform into the water they stand by to retrieve errant gear and divers. Interesting.

Dive boat rosters are always varied and interesting and this one no exception. The requisite young couple, a father/ daughter team from New York, two brothers who looked almost like twins (although one claimed his brother got youth and he got the good looks), a very quiet local diver, and the ruffians from FDF who were to be my buddies for the day, Jonny Bravo aka Jens (who has been in a baby induced dry spell) and Megaladonbite aka Dave (who is renewing his love affair with diving after a lengthy hiatus). I round out this group of merry divers and quite the group we are. The Captain took a group picture before we left the dock so he could pick us out of a line up or maybe it was for his online gallery, I forget.

It is a long ride out and the time passes quickly with dive stories and chat. (no Danish just dive stories and chat). The air is warm and the water warmer and with just rash guards and dive gear we head for the stern and step off the platform one by one and make our way to the anchor line. The water is warm, 89F warm. And the viz looked suspiciously like 40-50 foot as we make our way down to the ledge. [Please don’t ask me which ledge, I am new here and still trying to figure out the difference between a reef and a ledge…… ]

We are greeted by colorful corals and fish. [NJ has colors, there are many different greens and browns…but the history more than makes up for it] I bought a set of books (the Humann/Deloach Reef series) so I could identify what I saw when I dive, unfortunately it didn’t help. There were mounds of corals that reminded me of giraffes with their shapes and markings and stripes of purple coral lining the ledges edge. Green leafy algae floated just above the sand and pink and green corals filled in the spaces. Collar shaped egg casings sat in the sand. Could there be moon snails in Florida? Like a little retirement village of moon snails with little white belts and shoes scurrying along to the early bird special at the Krusty Krab.

We peeked under and over as we swam about and small grouper and bait fish flittered back and forth. A large arrow crab sat in one opening and small blue and yellow butterfly fish ventured out into the sand. As we moved along Jonny motioned for us to look and tucked in a large cavern under the ledge sat 2 small fish. And behind them swam a giant grouper. In the 200-300 pound range I believe. Let it be known the silt cloud around us was not diver induced.

As we swam on back I poked and chased the fish and they darted in and out. Fingers of sponges waved in the current and I began to look for a shell for my bucket. As I picked a large piece of broken conch shell from the sand something jumped. A small leopard crab had been comfortably nestled underneath and I snatched him up and had a look. I had never seen one before and he was a beauty. I placed him back in the sand and the shell back on top and moved on to catch up with the boyz.

The good captain had limited us to an hour this dive and at 52 minutes we headed on up. We were met topside by choppy seas and pummeling rain. As I arrived on deck the captain was taking pictures and I nearly drowned smiling for the camera. Hey I was getting wet!

With everyone aboard we headed on to our next site another ledge and this time I know the name! Bent Knife Ledge. [so named cause some biologists bent their knives trying to get some samples…. In NJ they use a crowbar….]

Once again we lined up to step off the swim platform and this time I held my nose as I jumped off exhibiting my usual grace and agility as I plummeted into the water. What can I say, it’s a gift.

We again dropped down in the water and arrived on the ledge to be greeted by groups of blue tube corals dotting the sand. Joined by MissD we made our way up the reef in search of turtles but alas none were to be found. But I did spot a hogfish snuggled up against a wall of coral and apparently napping. I made a perfect poke to the midsection taking him totally by surprise. With an annoyed look in my direction he prepared to swim off and I reached out and grabbed him by the tail. As he darted away I got one last poke in….ahhh I still got it.
We turned and swam back still looking to and fro, at times hanging almost upside down to peek under the ledge.

There were several more hogfish dotted along the route but they must have gotten the memo we were about and kept their distance. Tucked in one small cave and nestled into the sand sat a midsized toadfish with what appeared to be leopard like markings. Jungle animals seemed to be the theme today.

As we continued on we passed over a small abandoned anchor and MissD pointed and giggled. Now I remembered Captain Mike mentioning his retirement plan of collecting anchors and decided to gift him this little beauty. No longer carrying my wreck diving lift bag I needed to improvise and slowly unfurled my safety sausage. A little puff of air and I clipped off my spool and began to wrap line on the anchor. Another puff of air but nothing happened…. Hmmmm……. I picked it up and began to jump it over to the anchor line…… this was not going to work……hmmmm.

I put two more puffs into the sausage and it began to strain….. like the Little Engine That Could, it pulled and reached its way upward…..you could hear the faint echoes of “I think I can… I think I can…” but alas, it could not…..

I don’t think so…… I am a Jersey girl….. I pumped air into that puppy til I heard the seams scream and then….. we had lift off!! And up it went. I swam over to the anchor line towing my prize behind me.

As I broke the surface of the water, the squall had ended but the black clouds still loomed around us. The sun peeked through the clouds to the west but our day of sun had ended. We loaded onboard and headed home snacking and chatting, telling stories of dives past and to come. [ Jersey divers pack a breakfast and a lunch and often grill on the back deck of the boat too….]

MissD makes a good dive master, Meg has returned to diving as if he never left, Jonny…. he will be given another chance to redeem himself with Guava Danish, and me…….. well, I might be a Florida diver now….. but I guess I will always be a Jersey Girl at heart…… and no Captain Mike….. I don’t have an accent…..

Venice Beach

You never saw a fish on the wall with its mouth shut. ~ Sally Berger

I always have a good time with Cindy...we drink wine, we talk, we drink wine, we shop, we drink wine, and most importantly we dive...... and then we drink more wine.... hey ...... dont be a hater....


Cindy flew in from PA on Friday night and at 5:30AM on Saturday we were loading up the car for a trip to Venice Beach to sharktooth dive. We could have taken the afternoon boat but there were other things to fit in the day along with our diving...... and so off we went, coffee in hand, heading for the marina in Venice Beach.

This was to be Cindy's first time sharktooth hunting, and while I had been several times before I am by no means a "shark tooth afficianado".

The sun was making its way up in the sky, white puffs of clouds taking shape above us and the air working its way up the thermometer to its hot and humid summertime temperature.

It is a short trip out to the underwater river beds and the mate gives a quick lesson in underwater fossils 101 and then we are gearing up to slide beneath the warm blue waters (87F warm) and hunt us some fossils.

Now we should be outstanding fossil hunters, after all we are world class shoppers and fossil hunting is much like shopping. You have to take your time and look at everything and sort through the junk to find the real bargains and treasures. But alas we are oft times distracted by the glam and glitter of the ocean floor.

We find several whale bones and manatee ribs, some teeth shaped like rocks and many rocks shaped like teeth. There are tiny starfish and , herds of sea urchins rolling like tumbleweed across the sand, sponges grasping onto the sandy bottom trying desperately not to be swept off with the currents, and eels dug into their sandy little caves, curious at our approach but not fond of the company. We have been given a compass heading to follow and Cindy diligently leads as I straggle behind poking and prodding and picking along the black sandy streams of sand looking for whole teeth.

Cindy's forte is shells....she knows them all and can pick up the teeniest of shells out of what looks like rubble, but it is abolutely perfect and a treasure and she can tell you all manner of information about it..... I on the other hand am easily distracted by the cunner hovering inches from my mask so curious about us and our search, the large oysters sitting upright in the sand.... they open their shells to let the water and food filter through but shut so tight when you poke..... you cant coax them open, I know, I tried. And hermit crabs.... they are like little shy playmates with short memories, I can spend hours just messing with them.

Two hours later, at dives end, I have bone in all shapes and sizes, shells I need names put to, a hand full of small teeth and one small meg. Not bad. I am not disappointed.

Unfortunately, as with any group, you have "those" divers without a clue. I had stood aside when boarding and loading and gearing up and let them spread out and thrash about but as we approached the dive platform in the current there on the tagline was one diver, long out of the water and just in swim trunks hanging on the tagline buoy and swimming it out from the boat and drifting back on it oblivious to divers surfacing and in need of a line to hang on while removing their fins and waiting their turn on the ladder.

I tangle myself in the slack flagline as I wind it in and swim it over to my divebuddy for a quick helping hand before climbing back onboard. It is a quick surface interval and we are back in the water a short distance from our last dive but this time all eyes are on me to man the compass. They must be joking..... so far my compass usage has been banging it on the oyster shells and failing to get them open..... hmmmmm.

The viz is slightly less here than the first dive just 5 or 6 feet but more than enough for our task at hand and there seem to be less teeth in this area, again a small hand full is all I get but I note there are less bones here and searching is harder. I find a toadfish hiding in a sandy hole and I spend some time hanging small shells off of the sea urchins scattered across the gulfs bottom. There were shades of black ones and red ones and bright purple ones which look quite pretty with small pink shells dangling from their spines. There were some with gold colored soft spines and several ran away when I tried to play with them.... humphhh the nerve..... I was simply givig them some bling for their saturday night date..... no appreciation those little urchins...but it is funny to see them do their own little version of scurrying along.

I find my way out and back as my dive buddy floats in the current following behind me, sorting through the fine sand in search of teeth. We dont have a huge haul but there is enough to impress the kiddies if necessary and we pack up as we anticipate getting ashore and heading out to a good lunch, a cold drink and some searching, sorting and collecting of a different nature...all those little shops along the boulevard.... sweet......

Now I See It

...And the sea cucumber turns to the mollusk and says, "With fronds like these, who needs aneomes."

Marlin ~ Finding Nemo

The following day Becky got called into work and I went out once again. This time a young doctor from Germany was looking to get in some diving while visiting and I was tour guide.

On our trip out a pod of dolphins played in our wake and the captain slowly circled for a few minutes making a small arean of wake behind the boat for the dolphins to frolic in while we watched from the deck and drank our morning coffee. As they tired of their fun and moved off we continued on our way.

We were again hitting the City of Washington, and this time I was seeing her from stem to stern. I stepped off the dive platform with my usual grace and form and slowly slid beneath the bright blue water. As I led out we looked around. I followed the slowly deteriorating sides of the ship. Low lying metal walls with distinct breaks showing where she broke apart as they tried to raise her.

There were low jagged walls and what appear to be encrusted bits of debris or machinery with not as many hidey holes as I am used to. Fish swam freely in and out and corals and sponges were taking hold where they please.

While fish abounded, no artifacts were to be found. I fanned for a minute to see if coal lay under the sand but none showed. I would have thought I was on a Jersey wreck if not for the 45 feet of viz and 83F water temps!

And yes. With my good ole Jersey training, I followed the outline of the ship from bow to stern and back, arriving at the anchorline just as I should be.

Our second dive was on a deeper reef called the Minnows. The reef fared better inthe deeper waters and while not in full bloom it was rich in colors and wore a healthy suppy of soft corals and sponges.

Barrel sponges and stagshorn corals were interspersed with brain corals sporting red and green christmas tree worms which love to be poked. really...they told me. Purple sea urchins were nestled in and several "quality" lobster were snuggled against the ledges. Alas there is a season for lobster here and this is not it. I pulled them out anyway...just for practice.

There were swimthroughs in the coral and portions reaching up in the water like towers of a castle dissappearing in the sunlight.

Peppermint shrimp with their longlegs crawled about and queen angelfish swam past. A crayon box of fish small and large skittered about. But alas still no eels. No octopus either. The summer is still young. We will see.

Memorial Day Almost on the City of Washington

Poor is the nation that has no heroes.
Shameful is the nation that has them and forgets.

It is Memorial Day Weekend and while visions of Bar B Q and watermelon, hot days and clear blue water, nekkid ocean diving and good friends danced in my head, I also took time to remember. Remember those who served and those who are serving, those who returned to their homes and families and those who did not. There is a plaque on a monument..... in Tennessee I believe.... it reads....."Poor is the nation that has no heroes. Shameful is the nation that has them and forgets." I believe in that......and I believe in good times and good friends and so I plan to round out my weekend with the latter.... in Key Largo.

Becky is a good friend..... she opens her home, with its two young boys and 3lb dog to me and my 90lb shedding wonder whenever I call.... without question..... good friends are a blessing. She is also almost as good at directions as I am, but more about that later.

I arrive in the evening, a jumble of clothes, dive gear, soda and chips and we awaken the next day to clear blue skies and warm air. I told Becky I wanted to see one of the Keys wrecks.... reefs abound down there but I am missing my Jersey diving. She obliges me with plans to dive the City of Washington for me and a reef for the others. Life is good. Sometimes......

We head out with Garden Cove Divers onto flat seas and light breezes, a day filled with promise and adventure. It's always an adventure when we two get together.

Just to show how truly small the world is, there is a new captain and crew on the boat this trip and they are from NJ, Atlantic Divers I think they said. A small taste of home which I am missing. We talk Jersey diving and divers and soon we are there.

The City of Washington was an iron hulled, masted brigantine ship launched in 1877 and aquired by the Ward Lines for passenger and trade hauling between New York and Cuba.

On February 15, 1898, she was moored in Havana Harbor near the USS Maine when the Maine exploded. The City of Washington suffered some minor damage but sent out its lifeboats to rescue the crew of the Maine. The captain and crew of the Washington testified at a Naval Court Inquiry which concluded the USS Maine was destroyed by a submarine mine which was attributed to Spain and shortly after Congress declared war and thus began the Spanish American War.

She was immediately chartered by the US Army for use as a transport ship for the invasion of Cuba, and paid $450 per day, our tax dollars at work.

In late 1898, the ship returned to passenger service between New York and Cuba and was retired in 1908. She was purchased by the Luckenbach Steamship Line and refitted as a coal barge and on July 10, 1917, the City of Washington and another barge, the Seneca, were being towed by the Luckenbach 4 when all three vessels ran aground near Key Largo, Florida. The other two vessels were refloated but the City of Washington broke up and was not recovered. She now sits in approximately 40fsw, laying in a north south direction off of Key Largo and we were about to dive her.....maybe.

Becky lives and dives in the Keys, a year round wonder of warm clear tropical waters and crayola colored corals and fish. She also has a GPS and a sense of direction akin to mine. With that in mind and the vision in your head of two women who are not yet done with their conversation, giant striding off the back of the boat, you see us entering the water laughing and talking without missing a beat. We slip beneath the water still laughing and signaling as we end our conversation and begin our dive. Becks is in the lead and as I stop to peek and poke I begin to fall behind and swim to catch up. Here lies the anchor chain, still leaning propped upon the metal walls of the wreckage which is broken into groupings of low lying walls and coral groupings.

I give the chain a moment of my time and motor to catch up passing by the most gi-normous conch shell I have ever seen. The size of a basketball..... this little beauty would have given one of Barts moonsnails a run for its money in the ring. I only poked it a little....it was pretty big.

Soon the sides begin to give way to more coral and I wonder why they have been covered so much more here. Actually encased compared to the first pieces we saw. I catch up with Becky and she taps her gauges. We are in water a bit deeper than we should be and she signals up.

We are about 150 yards off the stern of the boat....we should be about 100 yards off of the bow. Hmmmm........ I tell her I am not following her anymore! She is like a bad GPS...... and we can barely stay afloat laughing. But we have plenty of gas and a compass..... Becky has her compass...and takes a heading. I wish there were mussels in Florida.... I wish we had taken her compas and smashed open the mussels and fed the fish. We should have ran a wreck reel. We would have been better off.

Becky is worse at directions than I am if that is at all possible. We looked about on the reefs, taking notice of any damage done by the winters cold spell, seeking out the inhabitants in all their color. As for the reefs, they are recovering slowly. The purples seem to be the color returning first, they are the most abundant. The fish are about, no eels and no shrimp or sea urchins but small colorful fish and the beginnings of soft corals and sponges. BUT.... the water is still getting deeper....

We once again surface and we are now about 400 yards off the stern of the boat, the boat a small dinghy in the distance. Channel markers are nearby, as are fishing boats, no doubtably bait in the water. I search the waterline for signs of a fin while I rattle off my opinion of her navigational skills..... she pees in her wetsuit she is laughing so hard. I wonder if that draws sharks too.

Let me just say.... I have NEVER once in my diving career missed the anchorline. Never once deployed my SMB. Never once had the captain begin S&R for me. I surely was taught better. And here I sit, heading for Cuba, bobbing on the surface in gamefish waters with little Miss GPS. And I pull out my marker and begin to inflate.

We turn on our backs and begin to kick towards the boat, markers flying high. By the time the boat reached us we are once again talking and laughing just as we had been when we first stepped off the dive platform. One big circle from start to finish.

Since Becky works for the dive shop, the captain and crew are convinced we did this on purpose. A test of sorts to see how they would react. How they would handle a diver emergency. We told them no..... it wasn't... but they didnt believe us and we just shook our heads and laughed as we headed out to our next stop, the Fingers just off Elbow Reef.

The Fingers are a series of linear reefs, one after the other, in rows, like fingers of a hand and you follow them like the outline of a glove from one end to the other, up one side and down the other. I led.

And for a third dive we hit a shallow reef not far from there.... and I led again....

Great day on the water, great friends, great adventures..... gotta love it. And someday.... I may even see a wreck out here..... maybe even the City of Washington.

Apprentice Day 3

...There is chamber after chamber, Legolas; hall opening out of hall, dome after dome, stair beyond stair; and still the winding paths lead on into the mountains' heart. Caves! The Caverns of Helm's Deep! Happy was the chance that drove me there! It makes me weep to leave them……-- Gimli the Dwarf from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Two Towers

I am tired of being wet all the time, I am tired of bouncing like a rubber ball as I dive and looking like it’s my first time in the water, I am tired of not getting it right.

We arrive at Orange Grove and suit up to go into the water. I have my primary light back, not that there as any fault in the one I had borrowed up til now. I have dry clothes, not that I am diving dry in my dry suit. And Orange Grove has duckweed. Nuff said.

We enter the water and slip below the blanket of tiny little plants and hover below them performing a respectable imitation of an S-Drill. Moving on down to the jumble of branches marking the front of the cave I shine my light as Lee ties in and follow on behind him to the start of the gold line.

The line wends its way along through tunnels of lacey rocks and fine silt blanketing the floor. We move on and on as we pass line markers heralding the distance we have traveled. 300, 500, 800…… and I am trim and level and diving as I should. As I know I can, as I usually do….. Life is good again.

We move along from high domed rooms to low rocky openings and turn corners and run up and down hills in a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. At one turn the rocks narrow into a long vertical passage opening up into a low wide tunnel.

We are past the 800 foot marker when we turn and make our way back out. I am leading now and stop to run my finger through a long glittering puddle of air on the cave ceiling. I shine my light from side to side taking in the colors of white walls and jagged edges, black sediments of goethite and soft fine brown silt so beautiful to look at but dangerous if stirred.
We fin along the rolling hills and berms occasionally rising up and over and accidentally flicking fin tips in the fin floor covering. But over all…… we done good.

I spend my hang time chasing after little catfish hiding in among the rocks. I am sure no one else pokes them as they get quite the shocked look on their face when I do.

As we rise above the surface of duckweed I struggle with the suction of my fins. I need some silicone spray…… and a freaking DRY dry suit….. but not much more than that.

We are calling it a day. No more dives today but the review sheets, dive logs and final test are still to be done. I have been working on mine…. Lee has not….. I stayed up and pored over the book while someone went to dinner and got his beauty rest…… I am not letting him copy off me…… well maybe… if he carries my tanks….. hmmmmm……

Apprentice Day 2

Two things: 1) Replace safety / jump reels with spools - they are the right tool for the job
2) Your skills will never suck more they do in a cave diving class. Whether it is stress, task loading, a prying instructor's eye causing stage fright, etc. Don't get too down.

~Frank F, Wreck Valley Divers

Today is a cow butts day…. I am about to be blindsided with it as there are no cows out to view but it is definitely a cow butts day.

We are diving at Peacock Springs and I stop at the Dive Outpost and pick up my light, cannot thank Forrest and Fred enough for getting me back in my own gear.I also pick up an elbow and 12inch corrugated hose……I never changed the pull dump on the new wing and it was time…..many thanks to the staff at dive Outpost for getting that changed out for me.

I head on to the park and meet up with Lee and Jim and proceed to put on my dry suit, still wet on the inside from yesterdays dunking.

Our interpretation of an S-Drill is still giving Jim nightmares and we move on down to the cave opening and tie in.

My buoyancy is suffering even more today as I feel the legs of my dry suit filling with air and fight to keep from launching myself places I shouldn’t be.

As we make our turn to exit the cave I am have a communication /buoyancy gaff and find ourselves off the line and on the ceiling. I shine my light down and the line is not there. It is several seconds before we locate it……not a good thing. I am leading and have not gone far when I turn a corner and note that 2 lights are not following me. I see the ends of their light beams flashing in the dark corner and wait…. As I go back to look there is a look as apparently “my buddy was out of air” and I did not get back in a timely fashion to provide some. In real life I would be diving solo at this moment, but in class I get to now provide him with air and as we head on out our lights mysteriously go out and we continue on with a lights out touch contact exit. And we both lived to tell.

Right before the beginning of the gold line, where the cave floor is mostly rock and harder to silt we are stopped and asked “Where’s the line?” Well, dang, its right there I point ……uh uh….. black out mask in place and spun around I am now in search mode. Last time here and performing a lost line drill I doubled back on myself and found my own reel line and then proceeded to foul it so I needed to carry it out in a ball. This time I am happy to report that I found the line, much quicker than I expected and….. my rewound reel was intact and hanging from my D-ring at drills end. Much improvement from last time.

If only my special control would improve also.

As hard as it may be to believe my next dive is worse. My left secondary light pulls from its security band in the low flat tunnel at the beginning of the dive and I place it in my dry suit pocket without clipping it off as I am losing my place in the water column trying to find a place for it on the pockets bungee line.

I spend time plastered on the ceiling and just inches from the silty floor. At one point I am floating up just so out of whack that Jim comes to ask me if I am OK. I bang heavily at the ceiling and am most downhearted that it is getting worse.

I roll left and right, to and fro as I try to move air from my dry suit legs to my valve and from my wing top to my dump valve….. two different areas, tow different motions and I am sure I look like I am having a seizure but the best is yet to come.

As we turn to exit I look at my hand and see the clip has fallen off the light, luckily not a gear emergency…. Maybe.

We haven’t gone far when Jim turns to me and indicates OOA. I immediately try to stick my regulator in his mouth and he shakes his head and points me towards my “airless” buddy….. hey, an honest mistake.

As we exit again our lights go out …..we continue on and I pull my backup light from my pocket and juggle my backup light, holding the hose, touch contact with my buddy and managing my unlit light head I cannot clip off.Jim has a sense of humor. He ends our air share on backup lights exit and asks………”Where’s your buddy?” He’s right…..the little sneaker has his light covered…… and so begins a major misadventure.

I cover my light and do not see my buddies, I swim to and fro and the son of a gun is lost….. Oh my! Look over there, a side tunnel. I should look there. And so I tie off my safety reel, never letting go of my light head and begin to float up. I struggle to stay near the line as I dig in my pocket for a line arrow to mark my spot and place it on the line and now the bungee from my pocket is tangled on the line. I am floating up and attached to the gold line and fighting to stay level and trying to see how my leg pocket has gotten itself entangled. I pull line arrows and a spool, secondary light and some trauma shears and am still stuck. And I still cant let go of the lighthead. The only thing to do is cut the bungee before I am hanging upside down from the gold line by my pocket. But before I do Jim comes over and “unclips me. I wasn’t tangled; he had sneaked over and clipped me to the line.

I check my air and honestly ….. if I don’t find my buddy soon I am leaving him here…. But I make one run out to that side cave to have a look. The drill is called and I reel back in….. safely…. And we continue on. Again at the tie in I am struggling to dump all I can and not float away…..

I am struggling with my fins, soaking wet and have killed off my buddy several times today….. it’s a cow butt day….. dammed cows.

Apprentice Day One

…. They are but hovels compared with the caverns I have seen here: immeasurable halls, filled with an everlasting music of water that tinkles into pools, as fair as Kheled-Zaram in the starlight……..
~ Gimli the Dwarf from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Two Towers

I am back…. Back where the rivers have funky names and the springs run warm and clear into the flowing rivers with sometimes unpronounceable Indian names.

The world is setting itself right again, the frosty Florida winter is gone, replaced by warm sunshine and cooling nights. And I am back, checking cow butts for a glimpse of the day to come.

I stop on my way at the Dive Outpost and spend some time chatting with everyone while Hobie makes himself at home. A dog in a dive shop, not an unusual concept. I am happy to meet Forrest whom I have heard so much about and he shows me his slideshow from Mexico, another thing to add to my bucket list, what a wonderful trip. I torture the workers a bit with questions and my flooded lights and like magic there are bright beams of light and we while away the time as I wait for my 10W bulb to arrive.

Unfortunately, I discover it will not happen til morning and Forrest graciously takes the handful of parts I call a light head and offer to reassemble and have a working light for me when I arrive back and I thank him immensely for his help.

I move on and arrive at the trailer where things are changing, there is a washer and dryer now, a new chair, and air conditioner. But the old familiars are still there too. The showerhead is 8 feet in the air and while someone has stolen the stars off the ceiling, the glue residue is still there and glows if only for a short while. I miss the old stars and the soft glow is somehow comforting.

I awake the next morning and head for Ginnie Springs and day one of my apprentice class. I am not solo for this portion, my classmate is Lee, a quiet soft spoken man and he is in for a ride with my frantic antics and non-stop chattering.

We gear up and hit the water for a shakedown dive. Apparently Lee and I are well matched, we begin with S-Drills that have an unusual look to them as we bounce off of each other simultaneously spinning and claiming OOA. Lesson one….. part of dive planning is deciding who goes first.

We enter through the eye and the flow is kicking….. I remember now, you fight your way in like Wal-Mart on black Friday and ride the flow out like the water flume at the amusement park. Jim has left a reel in and we check it to make sure it is still taut and move on the start of the gold line. I drop my deco bottle and we make our way up to the ceiling.

I begin to pull myself along and feel the rub on my fingertips. I know I am not using my full hand for every pull and will be sorry later but I am struggling to keep up with Speedy Gonzalez in his wetsuit and double 85’s. Each time I tell him to slowdown he does but not enough for these old bones. I am struggling a bit with buoyancy and am just feeling exceptionally light, I know I am not but I am struggling.

We make our way to the Hill 400 line and Jim places a jump reel in and we make our way down the passageway waiting to hit our turn pressure and head on out.

The trip back out is uneventful, I emerge from the tunnel and make the turn for home, the right turn this time…. Last time there I turned wrong, misreading the twisted arrow and not checking the reel clip. This is improvement. Improvement is good.

I still struggle with my trim as we exit and as Lee pulls the reel and as I sit ahead of him waiting, I am plastered in the eye, feeling waaaay too light and trying desperately to dump more air from my arm valve before being shot out like a circus performer from a cannon.
I did not get to sit on the deco log as I spend my hang time still fighting to remain below the water. We rise up and over the lip and head onto the steps and lunch.

I am soaking wet, inside of my drysuit and thoroughly upset with my bouncing buoyancy. I hate Pinnacle and my soaking wet underwear. I do hope they read this. They stink worse than my trim.

The sun is warm and lunch is relaxing and we enter the water again. Skills this dive and again we massacre the S-Drills before heading on down to the eye and flow like an open fire hydrant. We make our way again to the gold line and make our way along to the catacombs.

I am tying a jump reel in and leading our way through the catacombs and out to the gold line again. I am still struggling to remain trim but am not leaving a huge cloud of silt behind me as I feared I would. We continue on to the lips and here we turn the dive and return back through the low dark tunnel as it meanders along with narrow passageways and low wide rooms, the silty rise to a dead end and more tunnels and twisting and turning. I reel on in and upon reaching the gold line I………. remove my reel and clip it off to my left D-ring. Uneventful you say…… you must not remember my ability to foul 3 reels in one dive and having to have my jump reel cut from the gold line last time here. I am jubilant, unfortunately my bouncing up and down was not the result of me jumping for joy. I was still struggling light. I pick up my deco bottle and it helps to have the extra weight as I make my way through the eye and spend my hang on the limb just above the deco log.

My fins stick to my boots with the suction of Hoover vacuum and upon removing my dry suit I pour water from the sleeve before extracting my wet arm. Did I mention how I hate Pinnacle?

I have accepted the fact that I will be wet for the week I am here and hope tomorrow is better for me.

Cave Country for Easter

Well there's a place you really get your kicks

It's open every night about twelve to six

Now if you wanna hear some boogie you can get your fill

And shove and sting like an old steam drill

Come on along you can lose your lid

Down the road, down the road, down the road apiece

~Rolling Stones~

We will not speak of Saturday. The cow butts and cow heads were interspersed and it gave me a bad feeling inside…. one that would manifest itself it utter frustration.

The day was off to a late start, I was annoyed but not deterred and continued on my way. Madison Blue Springs was just “down the road a piece”. After stopping for gas, an act of complete terror for me as this Jersey Girl still does not have the hang of pumping gas, I pulled out into traffic and the back gate of my truck flew open and out fell my dive light into the oncoming traffic.

I was lucky enough to be able to retrieve it, and lucky enough that it was in a protective pelican case, but not lucky enough that it actually survived unscathed, but I didn’t know that…. Yet.

I continued on and arrived at Madison Blue State Park much later than anticipated, “down the road a piece” is farther than I thought. Divers were entering the water as I parked and I never actually made it over to the pavilion where a social and bar-b-q was just finishing up as I stopped to talk at the edge of the spring when the discussion turned to She-P’s and never moved from there.

I did actually try to move, I went to the car to kit up and opened my light case to find the brand new bulb and light head I had just had installed were cracked. No diving for me today.
I moved back to the group of gossiping divers and was offered a lawn chair and sat down to while away the afternoon meeting new people, putting faces to old names and greeting the few divers I already knew.

Soon the day was coming to an end and it was time to move on. I was diving the next morning with a new friend, Russell, and he had no clue what an adventure he would be in for.

Heading for the dive shop where I planned on replacing my backup lights which had “somehow” flooded, we hooked up with Polly and Bob who we would be sharing a trailer for the night. They were staying the week and came prepared stay in and relax at night, but Bob was soooo easily swayed….I know this may be hard for you to believe, but I have never had Bar-B-Q. I thought bar-b-q was sauce but was forthwith educated on the finer points and we headed out for the anointed place of my initiation to this southern treat.

Nothing is close here… nothing…. It’s all “down the road a piece”. You can read a book or rebuild a regulator in the time it takes to “run out” to a restaurant. But we arrived and settled in to make our dinner choices.Apparently there is no other choice for the bar-b-q part but pork, anything else just isn’t bar-b-q, but sides are a different story and things like mashed potatoes, slaw and fried corn are up for the choosing.

After filling ourselves with dinner, finding our way back to the trailer was almost like a Lewis and Clark expedition in the old west. We ended the night sitting around the fireplace in the trailer living room yapping away to the wee hours (gotta love dive trailers) and then we settled in for a wee bit of sleep before our leisurely late morning start. Gotta love caves, they don’t know time of day, always there and always dark.

It didn’t take much arm twisting to convince Bob he didn’t want to eat in but grab something out and head for the first dive site, Little River.

Little River is located on the Suwannee River and when river water is low, spring water will run through, forming a "little river" of clear water that you can see through the darker river water.

After entering the cave you descend a corkscrew shaped tunnel to reach the cave system which levels off around 100 ft.

The flow is generally high and you work your way in and drift your way out. The system is basically one tunnel, with only a few offshoots and bypasses, and with a split that meets later on in the Florida Room and the passage continues on.

There was only one backup light at the shop and the second is on order to hopefully arrive by Friday and Russell is good enough to fill out my light shortage with a spare backup light and his extra 10W primary. Much thanks to him for that.

May it also be noted that part of my early morning dilemma yesterday was picking up my doubles from being VIPed at the shop and discovering they had reassemble them backwards. We will be revisiting there and discussing this. But moving on…..

Polly and Bob hit the water first and we were dropping a cookie and using their tie in. Russell gave me a rundown on the system. Turn left right inside the entrance you and drop down to the gold line and then descend a corkscrew tunnel about 360 degrees to the cave floor and move on.I still haven’t mastered the special distance of “down the road a piece”, maybe I never will but I keep trying. We enter the cave with me leading, I turn left, see the line and a drop off, I unclip and stow my O2 bottle under the ledge and drop a cookie on the line and move to drop over when I notice Russell giving me strange looks. He grabs my cookie off the line and continues on.

There is apparently another 40 yards to go here “down the road a piece” before hitting the gold line and where we want to be. We hit the rebar spike starting the mainline and he drops my cookie on it and we head out.The walls are all lacey rock with the look of swiss cheese and holes everywhere. The passage narrows and widens and I look mostly at the floor trying to find my next hand hold. The flow is pumping here but no worse than Devils flow and I pull along but am constantly floating as if I am light and struggling to stay level in the water.

The passage is low and I don’t have the height to rise up and get out of the flow of water pumping against me. I know there is no way I need more weight but am fighting to dump air and not bounce off the ceiling and loose my grip as I pull and glide along. I stop to breathe, slow myself down, regroup and catch my buoyancy, and move forward once more. I am just not feeling the love. Do I continue on and fight past it or turn and head out to try again later.

I pull ahead a little longer and give the signal to turn. How on this dive I managed to lead on the way in AND on the way out is beyond me…. It was just one of those dives. Riding the flow out I am still struggling to not bounce off the ceiling but I can now shine my light along the walls and see what I might have missed on my way in. In the struggle of this dive I had dropped my cookies and pick them up on the way out and grab the lone cookie from the line. I pick up my stage bottle and hang for my mandatory stops before heading on up to the surface and the steps. What the freak is it about cave diving and steps! There are ALWAYS freaking steps… and they are always going UP! ARRRGGG!

Well, apparently my education in cave country is quite lacking. I have never been to the Luraville Country Store and I have never had a slaw dog. Again Bobs arm is twisted and we head on over to lunch. Slaw dogs and dill pickle chips. Another cave country staple and interesting to say the least.We relax at the picnic table eating and talking and soon we need to move if we are going to get in a second dive today. We head on over to Peacock Springs and Orange Grove, another new cave for me.

The Peacock Springs State Park is the only Florida State Park dedicated almost exclusively to cave diving. The cave diving community supports this status providing continued support for improvement of park facilities.

Orange Grove and Peacock are two cave systems accessible at this site with interlocking passageways that meander on for thousands of feet in distance while generally quite shallow in depth.

Orange Grove Sink is the most upstream portion of these systems and consists of Orange Grove Sink, Orange Grove and Lower Orange Grove.The cavern is actually located below the cave entrance and from the cavern which goes to about 100 ft, you access the Lower Orange Grove system which is a silty advanced cave system reaching depths of about 180ft.

Again Russell explains the lay of the system and mentions that I can kick up a hellacious amount of silt in here if I bounce around. Who? Me? After that last shining example of my abilities. I wonder myself.

We hit the stairs…surprise huh? And survey the bright green carpet of duckweed. Just shoot me now. Duckweed, one more little ditty to deal with and Russell makes quick work of shoving it all my way as it appears he is not a fan of it either. As I sink down into the dark green water I am slurping wet air. There is undoubtedly some duckweed jammed somewhere in my reg and I am hoping to dislodge it before reaching the cave entrance and having to turn back. I purge. blow and shake the whole way down and finally am breathing dry as we enter the cave. Sludge with an Umlaut, don’t ask, ties in while I get myself neutral and we pass by Larry and Marcy as they exit and we head on in.

We make our way down the passages and I am much more comfortable this time and better trimmed. I keep looking behind to see if I am kicking up a trail of silt and am happy to report, if it was there…. It wasn’t me. Again we travel among limestone rock walls. Not as lacey and crumbly looking as the walls at Little River but the look is there. The rock floor gives way to a carpet of silt and while the ceilings are not looming high above me they seem to be a bit higher this dive. I have not seen any fish or the white crayfish that nestle deep inside these caves, never seeing the light of day, and it bothers me that I am not having anything to poke. That’s just not right. We soon turn to make our way out, the reel is pulled and we head down to the cavern to look around. Just lying in among the rocks I see a loose stone with the fossil of a scallop shell emblazoned on its side. I pick it up and marvel at it a moment before laying it down again among the jumble of rocks and moving on father in to the cavern and the nooks and crannies it has to explore.

In among the rocks is the entrance to Lower Orange, a deep dark silty hole that seems to go on forever. Maybe a peek farther down, maybe not, maybe. Not. So much more here I haven’t seen and I move along looking about and enjoying the sights around me.

We soon head on up and emerge through the blanket of duckweed, I poke it left and right but to no avail. It must be alive, it keeps coming back at me like curious cunner when you open a mussel. I am still removing it from my gear, car, clothes, rugs….. Help! I think it is multiplying!!!!

I say my goodbyes, to Russell, Marcy and Larry, Polly and Bob, Rueben and others I have met this weekend…. I have a long ways to go to get home…. It’s “down the road a piece".