Dive Report: Captain Dan
Date: Saturday afternoon December 2, 2000
Boat: ReefCat

By: Mike Rodriguez

The 175 foot long Captain Dan was originally a Coast Guard tender
named Hollyhock.  It was decommissioned and sold to a missionary
who renamed it Good News Missionship.  The ship developed mechanical
problems and was towed to the Miami River.  It was eventually renamed
and sunk on February 20, 1990 as an artificial reef in 110 feet of
water in the Rodeo Reef area.

After diving the Jim Atria early in the afternoon, over a dozen
divers, technical and recreational, prepared to do their second dive
as a night dive on the Captain Dan.  At the site, we found great
conditions; there was a light south current, the water was 77F and
the air was 78F.  I was diving trimix 28/10/62 with 100% oxygen for
decompression; leftover from the Jim Atria dive earlier in the day.

The captain set us up north of the wreck, and I jumped in with a
grapple hook ready.  My buddies followed me in.  On the bottom the
visibility was only about 40 feet.  It was a dark, moonless night,
and even with three of us diving HID lights, it wasn't possible
to see far.  After six minutes, I signaled everyone, and we followed
the line up and boarded the boat.  Despite having missed the wreck,
drifting along the sand with several HID lights was actually kinda
fun; I enjoyed it.

The captain repositioned us, and we jumped a second time.  This
time, only my buddy and I went in; the rest of the divers waited on
the boat.  The drop was right on target this time, and I hooked the
wreck on a large ring near the top of the wheelhouse, then we went
exploring.

The Captain Dan isn't very big, but it has lots to see.  Near the
bow, we entered a large room with lockers and the remnants of what
appeared to be sleeping accommodations.  The two of us in the one
room, both with HID lights, lit it up like it was daytime.  I
noticed a few tiny crabs with their beady red eyes shining back
at me in the bright light and went over to play with one.  It
gestured menacingly toward me with it's tiny claws, and that made
me grin.  We spent several more minutes in the room then my buddy
signaled to leave, and I followed him out.  It felt strange to be
out in the dark open water again after being surrounded by light
inside the ship.

Once outside, we swam the length of the ship as the other divers
began to arrive.  We watched their lights as they splashed in and
followed the line down to the wreck to begin their own exploration.
All too soon our time was up, and we followed the line up while
watching the other divers below us on the wreck.  By the time we
reached 20 feet or so, we could no longer see the lights of the other
divers below us.  I contented myself watching big purple Aurelia
jellyfish drift by in the light current.  Placing my HID light right
up against them made them look like fancy lamp shades, and I grinned
at the thought.

When our brief deco was over, we boarded the boat and I hurriedly
dried off and stowed my gear, all the while freezing my butt off.
The air wasn't cold, but the breeze and lack of warm sunshine
made for shivery conditions.  I huddled out of the wind and
waited for the other divers to return from their dive.

After a while, everyone was back on the boat and a quick
head-count confirmed we were ready to head home.  By the time
we reached the dock I had warmed up again.  I packed up my
gear and went home reminiscing about the great time I had
diving that day and looking forward to more diving the next
day on the Rodeo 25 and a lobster hunt on a reef.