Dive Report: Hydro Atlantic
Date: Saturday Afternoon July 1, 2000
Boat: Miss Conduct
Captain: Conrad Nix

By: Mike Rodriguez

Five divers showed up at the boat for the afternoon dive on the
Hydro Atlantic, a 300+ foot-long ship that sank in a storm just
outside the Boca Raton inlet in 1987.

It was a nice day with sunny skies and a light breeze.  The air
temperature was about 85F and the water was about 78F.  The sea was
running less than a foot.  I dove trimix 22/26/52 with 50% and 100%
oxygen for decompression.

One of the other divers volunteered to tie-in a floatline.  He jumped
in while the rest of us geared up.  It was soon apparent that the
north current was very strong as it nearly took the floatball
underwater.  We decided to do a free descent to the wreck rather
than try to go down the line.  The captain set us up and we rolled
into the water and reached the wreck a few seconds later.  I dropped
into the forward hold to get out of the strong current.

The visibility was only about 40 feet near the surface but it was
a little better on the bottom.  Once I got settled, I rose into the
current and let it carry me aft to the generator room where I dropped
in and poked around a bit, then I swam into the engine room and
watched some of the other divers exploring.

Near the bottom I noticed a group of tiny, colorful shrimp; I dropped
down and hovered just above them watching them for several minutes.
I wiggled my finger in front of them and managed to get one to climb
on.  It walked around on my hand and arm for a while, then dropped
off to rejoin the group.

As my time ran out, I exited the engine room and started up the line
holding on with both hands in the wild current.  It was strong enough
to rip my mask off if I looked in the wrong direction; I held it on
with one hand as I looked up the line to see some of the other divers
waving like a flags in the current.  I unstowed my jon-line and hooked
in for a hands-free deco as I used my arms like wings to duck out of
the way of passing jellyfish.  About 15 minutes into my decompression,
the line suddenly jerked downcurrent and I knew the last divers off
the wreck had cut the line.  I stowed my jon-line, finished deco,
then got back on the boat.  A while later we were back at the dock
and unloading our gear as we talked about the fun dive.