Dive Report: Bibb
Saturday February 12, 2000
Diversity

By: Mike Rodriguez

Five divers dove the Bibb this afternoon on the boat Diversity out
of Key Largo.  We were under-way by 2pm and had about a 40 minute
ride to the wreck.  The sea was nearly flat, it was bright and
sunny with the air temperature about 80F with a light breeze.  There
was a light current, and visibility was good at about 80 feet.  The
temperature of the water was about 74F.  I was diving trimix
27/13/60 with 50% and 100%.

We geared up; the captain set us up upstream of the permanent
mooring buoy, and we jumped.  The ride down was quick since the
ship is in only 135 feet of water.  The Bibb was a Coast Guard
cutter and is 327 feet long.  It was sunk as an artificial reef in
1987.  Its sister ship, the Duane, was also sunk about 100 yards
away.  The Bibb sits on its starboard side in the sand.  The mooring
line is attached about mid-ship to the port side which is at about 90
feet.

Once I got down, I headed to the sand and swam toward the stern on the
deck side of the ship.  There's a long mast with a crow's nest
sticking out from the ship and there are a few interesting areas to
explore.  I rounded the stern and looked at the two huge propellers.
These make a wonderful backdrop for photography especially on a day
like today when the visibility is good.

After spending a minute looking at the two propellers, I continued
toward the bow of the ship, this time on the hull side.  Of course,
this side is far less interesting than the deck side, but it was
a worthwhile swim because at about mid-ship, I saw a nice jewfish
swimming along.  It wasn't very big, but it's still nice to see
a healthy member of a threatened species.  I followed it at a distance
as it swam up and over the hull to the other side.  Near the bow,
there is a kind-of dune in the sand.  When the ship settled, it must
have blown a bunch of sand away as it neared the bottom.  The ship
now rests in a depression in the sand which slopes up away from the
hull, then slopes down again about 40 feet away.  It's a cool effect.
I continued over the dune and around the bow of the ship to the
deck side again.

Near the bow of the ship there is a big hole that used to be a gun
turret.  I understand that a cover was welded on the turret before
the sinking to prevent divers from penetrating the wreck; during
the sinking, the cover came off leaving this enticing entrance.

I've been to the Bibb about four or five times over the years but on
my previous visits here I've always been in recreational dive gear
inappropriate for an overhead environment, so I've never gone inside.
Today I was in my usual cave/tech diving gear so of course I couldn't
pass up an opportunity to go in and take a look.

Once inside the turret, I was in a long corridor leading toward the
stern.  There's a lot of daylight for most of this corridor, though
it gets a little dark toward the back.  At the end of the corridor,
there's a right turn leading down into the wreck.  Remember that the
wreck is on its starboard side, so this right turn pointed me toward
the bottom of the hull.  At this turn, I lost sight of daylight
completely.

I tied in a reel in the daylight zone and went exploring.  Right at
the turn in the corridor, there's a restriction.  With doubles
on you have to maneuver a bit to get past it.  Once past the
restriction the corridor opens up a bit.  There were three openings,
two directly in front and one to the left of me.  I chose the one on
the right and swam in.  There was a stairway to my left which went
off sideways since the ship is on its side.  I continued down the
corridor to what looked like a dining room.  There were some
fluorescent lights on the ceiling (walls from my point of view) and
some electrical boxes.  It was very quiet and the water was very
still.

I was solo and didn't want to get too far into the ship without
a buddy, so I hung out in this room for a few minutes hovering
perfectly neutral, then I turned around and reeled back.  The exit
was uneventful; I passed the restriction on the way out without
trouble, retrieved my reel, and exited the turret.  It was nice to
be out in the bright sunlight again and in the company of the
other divers.

I understand there is another way into the ship near the stern which
leads to the engine room.  I looked for this opening but couldn't
find it.  I have a friend who has a blueprint of this ship.  I'll
have to take a look at this drawing before I come back here.
Hopefully, I'll be able to find the other way in next time.

By the time I exited the turret, I was nearing the end of my 40
minutes on the bottom so I took one last leisurely swim toward the
stern, then back toward the mooring line.  Along the way I noticed
how the steel side of the ship buckled slightly when it landed on the
bottom.  I find that kind of thing very interesting... I must have
been a mechanical engineer in another life.  :)

Back at the mooring line, I saw that all the other divers except one
were already on the way up.  The last diver was still on the wreck
and making his way toward the line.  Deco went smoothly, but since
we weren't drifting, there was a moderate current.  As the divers
began to bunch up on the line, I deployed a jon-line to get out of
the way.

During our dive, the captain moored the boat; when we surfaced, we
just drifted back toward the stern and grabbed the ladder as it went
by.  We all got back on the boat easily and were warming up in the
bright sunshine a while later.  Everyone had a great time!

If you visit this wreck, have cave training before entering the
turret.  It's silty and since the wreck is on its side, it's
disorienting inside; the walls become the floor and ceiling, the
stairs all go off in the wrong direction and the doors are all in
the wrong place.  If you're not proficient with a guideline and reel,
you may end up entangled and in zero visibility very quickly