Dive Report: Curb Date: Sunday April 30, 2000 Boat: Sea Hawk By: Mike Rodriguez The Curb was a 213 foot long Navy cable-layer. It was sunk off Key West, FLorida in 185 feet of water as an artificial reef on November 24, 1983. The top of the wreck comes to within 120 feet of the surface, but the deck is around 160 feet deep. It was a beautiful spring morning when the AUE team arrived at the dock in Key West. We loaded the boat and were on our way under a sunny sky a few minutes later. The air temperature was 82F and there was a light breeze. The ocean was calm with a light current at the site. The water was blue and clear with a temperature at the site of 76F. I was diving trimix 20/33/47 with 50% and 100% oxygen for decompression. The team geared up and set up at the exits ready for the captain's signal. When we were in position, everyone jumped in and in the great visibility we headed down. Around 100 feet, the visibility began to drop and by the time we hit the wreck it was down to about 30 feet. By the time I reached the deck I was surrounded by dozens of curious jacks swimming in a circle around me. These large, friendly fish seem to love divers. They're a curse and a blessing at the same time. On a free-descent with a marginal drop they often are the only reason I manage to find the wreck; they swim out toward me and literally lead me to the wreck. Other times, they're so dense and swim around me so frantically that they obscure my vision and prevent me from finding the wreck. They usually end up helping more then they hinder me, though. Anyway, I began exploring the wreck and swam along the port gunnel from stern to bow. Along the way I saw a few interesting corridors and made a note of where they were so I could look around inside on the way back to the stern. I swam back along the starboard deck and passed two medium-sized jewfish near the sand; they ignored me as I swam by. Near the stern, I found one of the openings that caught my eye earlier. I looked inside and could see no daylight, so I tied in a reel and went inside. I followed a short, very silty corridor to the end, then turned toward the bow and continued deeper into the ship. About 50 feet in, I saw a light and realized it was one of my dive buddies swimming in the opposite direction down the corridor. He'd entered near the bow and had gone as far as daylight would allow without a reel. He was getting ready to return to the point where he entered when he saw my light. Taking advantage of my line and knowing that it lead to an exit at the other end, he waved at me then proceeded past me to complete a traverse using my line to guide him. I continued to the point where my buddy had entered, then turned and reeled back to exit the ship. I clipped off my reel and swam down to the sand at the stern. I noticed the ship's screws are both missing but the twin rudders are still in place. By now it was time to return to the floatline. I swam back in a cloud of jacks and almost missed the line due to them blocking my view. The team did a quick head-count as we unhooked and started up the line for an uneventful deco. Back on the boat everyone started making plans to return to Key West later in the year to dive the Kendrick and the submarine S-16. Everyone had a great time and we were all sorry to see the great weekend of diving come to an end.