Phase III – August 2

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Back In The Routine

Wednesday, August 2, 2000 – Today’s participants:

• Team 1 – Kyle Creamer
  
• Team 1 – Terrence Tysall
  
• Team 2 – Bill Gambrill
  
• Team 2 – Tamara Ebert
  
• Team 2 – Gary Byrd (ECU)
  
• Team 2 – Tane Casserley (ECU)
  
• Support – Chris Cote (NURC)
  
• Support – John Barone
  
• Standby Diver – Andrew Donn
  
• Chase Boat Support – Grant Graves
  
• Diving Supervisor – Tim Gallagher
  
• DMT – Doug Kesling (NURC)
  
• Photographer – Cindy Creamer
  
• Project Director and Chief Archeologist – Dr. John Broadwater
  
• MNMS Historian – Jeff Johnston
  
• Captain, R/V Cape Fear – Dan Aspenleiter
  
• The Mate – Mike Rodaway
  

The surface conditions continue to be outstanding. When we arrived on site, we could see that the current had increased from yesterday as well as the water looking a bit greener. The greener water indicated a push of the Labrador Current. This usually means colder and poorer visibility.

We planned a staggered dive deployment with the teams 5 minutes apart. Team 1 was on a 30 minute bottom time and Team 2 on a 25 minute bottom time. The 30 minute schedule has the divers out of the water at 2 hours 26 minutes runtime, while the 25 minute schedule runs for 1 hour 58 minutes. The visibility on the bottom was about 25 feet, the temperature about 70 degrees and the current was just under one knot. The teams continued their tasks in the engine/fireroom and around the turret.

Congratulations goes out to Tamara Ebert and Bill Gambrill, who made their first dive on the Monitor today. Conditions look the same for tomorrow; so, see you then!

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Send questions or comments to the trilobite.

Questions and Comments To the Trilobite

Hi to all the team members! We made it safely back to Gainesville after stopping by the Hatteras light house and the new N.C. Aquarium. The aquarium was well done with their biggest tank focusing on marine life around the Monitor wreck site. Of course, there are some (OK, quite a few) fish in the tank that we didn’t see out there and there is definitely a shortage of oyster toadfish in the tank compared to the real thing! Also the sandbar sharks in the tank look a lot like the sharks that we saw on deco. At $4 a head and being open to 7 pm, the aquarium is definitely a pleasant way to take an hour break from the road on your way back home. Wishing you success and safe diving on the rest of the expedition.
Ray & Cyndi Blanchard

Thanks again for your help and for the heads up on the aquarium. The model in the tank is a 1/3 scale model of the wreck. You can check out what is going on at the aquarium on their website http://www.aquariums.state.nc.us/ri/.

I just wanted to let everyone in the group know that I am extremely impressed with the web site. It’s amazing how much goes on down there in a days’ time! Question: how long and how many classes does it take to get your diving license? We were just debating here in the office. Keep up the good work, we’ll all see you Thursday night at the Civic Center!
– Meg (Midgett Realty)

Thanks for your support. In answer to your question, it depends on what you want to do underwater. The first and basic course, Open Water Diver, is usually 4 to 5 full days (sometimes done over several weeks in the evenings). If you want to know what it takes for the divers to dive the Monitor, well it takes several courses and usually several years of experience. After the initial course, most divers take the following courses: Advanced Open Water Diver, Rescue Diver, Enriched Air Nitrox Diver, Deep Air Diver, Technical Diver/Extended Range Diver and Trimix. This costs about $3000 and is usually done over a couple of years with lots of other diving in between. The divers also have to purchase their own equipment, and for this type of diving is generally about $3000 to $5000.

We will be giving a presentation at the Hatteras Civic Center at 7:00 pm tomorrow – Invite your friends, and we’ll see you there!