Dive Report: Hydro Atlantic
Date: Sunday morning January 21, 2001
Boat: ReefCat
Captain: Jim Mims

By: Mike Rodriguez

Seven local divers, arrived in the morning for the dive on the Hydro
Atlantic, a popular 'real' wreck just outside the Boca Raton inlet.
The 300 foot long ship sank in a storm in 1987.  It sits upright
170 feet deep.

The wind had been blowing from the north at about 20 knots since the
previous night, so the captain opted to take the Intracoastal north
to the Boca Raton inlet rather than go north against the seas and
the wind on the ocean side.  All the divers and I appreciated this
as it's hard enough keeping drysuit underwear dry on an open boat
without wind and spray all over the place.  The dry run north allowed
us to relax and don our suits at the last minute before exiting the
Boca Raton inlet.

Out on the ocean, the conditions were much better than I had been
expecting.  There were mostly two foot long-period waves rolling by.
Way out on the horizon we could see 10 footers, but that was several
miles offshore in the Gulf Stream (or more properly the Florida
Current I've been told).  Fortunately, we would be diving less than
two miles offshore where the ocean was much friendlier.  I was dove
trimix 22/26/52 with 50% and 100% oxygen for decompression.

At the site there was a very light north current, but the strong
southerly wind drove us against the current to the south.  The air
temperature was about 60F and the water was around 72F top to bottom.
Everyone geared up while the captain set up to drop a grapple hook.
When we were ready, the captain put us in position and I jumped in
followed by several others.  A few seconds later, I was near the
bottom.  The hook had just missed the wreck and was hanging about 10
feet from the sand.  I grabbed it and swam it toward the wreck.  One
of the guys with a scooter helped out and the hook was quickly secured
to the stern.

I dropped to the sand by the hull and swam under the rudder looking
for lobsters; there weren't any.  I swam toward the bow on the port
side out of the light quartering current.  Amidships, I swam up to
the deck and continued forward at an easy pace.  I reached the
wheelhouse and went in one of the windows, then out the door.  I
continued forward to the bow and settled to the deck where I just
sat still for about 30 minutes looking at all the fish.  Eventually,
I rose off the deck and swam forward past the tip of the bow and out
over the sand.  I continued out about 50 feet but didn't want to get
too far from the ship since the visibility was only about 40 feet
horizontally.  I was about 100 feet deep and could still see the sand
70 feet below me so, as is usual, the vertical visibility was much
better than the horizontal visibility.  I turned around and relaxed
letting the gentle current carry me back to the ship.  In the
distance I could see dive lights, though I couldn't see the divers.

Once I was back at the bow, I'd been down nearly 40 minutes, so I
headed back to the stern letting the current do all the work as I
just hovered neutrally buoyant over the ship passing by beneath me.

At the stern all the other divers were already on the way up the line.
When I got to the line, I noticed a very big green eel under some
debris.  I hadn't noticed it on the way down and couldn't resist
staying an extra couple of minutes watching it.  Finally, I had to
go; I unhooked us and fouled the grapple, then started up for the
decompression.

Once everyone was back on the boat, we stowed the floatline and
headed home on the ocean side.  In the following seas and with the
wind behind us, it was a quick, smooth, dry ride home.  Everyone had
a great time and the dive was a great ending to a fun weekend of
diving.