Bill was Dive Sup while Tom sets up his gear
Rick & JB help Tom back from the dive as Rick film
Team Beta-Bravo
Kate in her mighty-morphin power-ranger drysuit.
Alpha Team mapping their grid
Kim helps the students map the terrestrial shipwre
Project Participants and Sponsors
Dive Rite Manufacturing
Sartek Industries
Ocean Odyssey Dive Center
Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse
Volusia County Marine Science Center
Sea Dog Diver
Spruce Creek Scuba
Golub Mechanical Contractors
Fuqua Schools
Underwater Dynamics
DAY 7: Still Hard at It
Tuesday, May 7, 2002
Team #1 consisting of TNT and Jimmy G, discovered the largest concentration of ammunition found to date on the SS Commodore. We would like to believe it was due to their great seamanship and diving experience but in fact it was being in the right place at the right time. It seems Jimmy G was shooing a school of Sergeant Majors away from the grid they were mapping and low and behold a large box of undisturbed ammo appeared in the sand. The hoops and hollering could be heard,by those, on the deck of the Sea Dog Diver.
Team #2 (Tom & Kate) were working in grids 9 and 15 mapping a little boiler. We were working great until we heard such a ruckus in the grid next to us ..thanks to the lovely rebreathers, the ocean wasn’t peaceful anymore. Team #3, Kim and Rick, made a video mosaic of the engine. While Kim started to map, Rick swam over to teams 1 and 2, capture our wonderful underwater mapping skills.
Jeremy Wyatt of Beta-Bravo wrote, “We started the day the same as always, rising early and going through the normal morning routine. Upon arrival to the lighthouse, we split into our groups. We, the “Beta-Bravo†team, helped the divers load and prepare all their gear. We learned about the assembly of rebreathers and the preparations required to use them. After a short ride over to the dock, we began to remove all the gear and place it where it belonged on the boat. Josh read off the gear checklist and we all helped the divers insure their safety. In the middle of the checklist we were interrupted when a manatee swam slowly by the boat. Upon completion of the checklist, we slowly made our way out the channel; we increased speed and headed to the wreck site. The ride there was great, and we all loved the high speed driving of the boat.
At the site we watched and listened to the divers as they talked about their plans for the dive. We helped them get into their gear, and they went on their way. We watched from the bow of the ship as the divers swam into the depths of the sea. We continued to sit on the bow of the ship and watch their bubbles move further away and watch the fish and sea life below. We saw several jellyfish, tiny batefish and a barracuda. We all then decided to relax, so we lay down and worked on our tans. The whole time of course we were looking to see if any of the divers were in trouble.
We helped the divers back on the boat, hooked their equipment down, and began on our way back to the dock. Again, racing at high speeds we made our way back toward land. On the way some of the team saw a swordfish racing along side. Finally we reached the dock and began to unload the equipment. We all had a great time and had no problems with sea sickness (thankfully). -Jeremy Wyatt, Beta-Bravo
While Beta-Bravo was enjoying themselves on the boat, the Alpha and Delta teams continued work on the terrestrial “shipwreckâ€Â. The two teams planned what each group would do before we “launchedâ€Â, we watched the dive team leave. After they left we planned for about 20 more minutes. The Alpha team’s assignment was to map grid 4 while the Delta team mapped grid 6. The two grids are side by side so it would ease the sharing of equipment. Since the real dive team had priority over the equipment we had to share the two measuring tapes. This proved to be a slight problem.
We finished mapping grid 6 and half of grid 4. The only major problem was being involuntary feed bags to the native insect population. The insects put a damper on our communicating with hand signals with the constant slapping at our legs and arms. As luck would have it a friendly diver (just passing through) happened to let us use some bug spray so we could get back to business. Overall the dive was a success. With the dive complete, we adjourned to the beach and the jetty.
The sun was very hot and the water was chilled. As the hour of the dive team’s arrival approached, the two teams enjoyed a cold beverage in one of the local restaurants. The tired beta-bravo team and fellow divers returned shortly after we finished our drinks. We helped them unload the equipment, and compared stories from an eventful day. -John Boswell, Delta Team
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