Dive Report: Hydro Atlantic
Date: Sunday Afternoon February 18, 2001
Boat: ReefCat
Captain: Jim Mims

By: Mike Rodriguez

I arrived at the boat Saturday to dive the Renegade.  I met the captain
there but the other divers who'd committed to the dive were AWOL, and
the dive was canceled.  Frustrated, I took my airplane out for a spin
instead.  So it was that Sunday I showed up at the boat for a dive on
the Hydro Atlantic with a nitrogen deficit.  :)  Three other Association
of Underwater Explorers (AUE) divers showed up as well.  Although the
day before had been spectacularly beautiful with bright sunshine, not a
cloud in sight, and calm winds, the weather had decidedly taken a
turn for the worst.  It was cloudy, and windy with several broken
cloud layers essentially making it an overcast day.  It was raining
off-and-on and the ocean was running steady at four feet with
occasional five and six foot long-period waves.  Normally when the
weather is rough, we take the protected waters of the Intracoastal
all the way north to Boca Raton, then out to the ocean, but due to
sand shoaling up at the Boca Raton inlet and the low tide, there was
a good chance the boat would ground on the shoal, so we had to take
the ocean-side north to the wreck instead.

The 300-foot Hydro Atlantic is a 'real' wreck.  It sank in a storm in
1987 in 170 feet of water.  It's intact and makes a great dive.  I
never tire of diving it.  On this dive I breathed trimix 22/26/52 with
50% oxygen and 100% oxygen for decompression.  At the site  we found
a light north current.  The surface temperature was up to 75F but on
the bottom it was still 70F.

On the way out, I rigged the floatball and hook and set them up at the
stern.  Then, as we approached the wreck, everyone geared up.  When
we arrived, I took the hook and we all jumped in together.  The drop
was perfect and about 30 seconds after hitting the water I saw the
wreck.  We tied-in on the starboard side near amidships, then took off
to explore.

I went straight to the bow where there's always a large assortment of
fish hanging out.  On a recent dive I'd seen a Moorish Idol (Zancalus
Cornutus) hanging out on the wreck and wanted to find it again.  No,
I wasn't narced; several other divers also saw the fish.  :)  The
Moorish Idol is a tropical fish common in the Pacific and Indian
oceans from east Africa to Hawaii; it's not supposed to be found in
Florida waters.  The fish is popular among aquarium enthusiasts and
was probably released by an ignorant aquarium keeper who didn't know
(or didn't care about) the potential danger exotic species can present
to the local ecosystem.  As I looked around the bow at the native
species, my buddy swam by with his cool new digital camera snapping
pics.  I waved, then went back to my search. I never did spot the
fish and eventually gave up.

I drifted all the way aft about 30 feet off the starboard side in the
light current.  The visibility was at least 80 feet and I could see
the other divers swimming around as the wreck went by.  At the stern
I swam back onto the deck and made my way forward again looking for
the Moorish Idol.  Still no sign of it.

When I reached the floatline, I noticed a porthole neatly tied up with
a lift-bag attached.  It's amazing that after thousands of divers have
visited this wreck, portholes and other goodies are still being found.

I was cold by this time and decided to leave early (unusual as I'm
usually the last to leave) and signaled the other divers of my
intentions, then I drifted up off the deck and intersected the line
above the wreck.  My buddy and I scooted up the line and could still
see the wreck all the way up to about 80 feet where we lost sight of
it.  We could still see the other divers' bubbles streaming up and
past us, though.  The current near the surface was stronger than at
the bottom so we had to hold onto the line.  After five minutes,
though, the last two divers below unhooked us.  We swam around near
the line enjoying the 75F water during decompression.  Near the end
of my deco, I noticed a small floatball and dive-flag below me at
about 50 feet.  I was confused by it for a second and thought it was
our dive flag which I'd attached to the large floatball before the
dive.  I was concerned because the only way that could happen is if
the knot I used to tie the line to the floatball had come loose and
the dive-flag's small float wasn't enough to keep the line on the
surface.  I *know* how to tie a bowline, though, and didn't
understand how it could have come undone.  Fortunately, when I looked
up, the ball, line, and dive-flag were still there securely attached
to each other.  The one below us must have been dropped by someone
else.  I wanted to swim down to find out what, if anything, the other
ball was marking, but since I was already on oxygen and near the end
of my deco, I chose not to.

Everyone finished deco uneventfully and boarded the boat for the ride
home.  With following seas, the ride back was much nicer than the
ride out.  By late-afternoon we were back at the dock and looking
forward to diving off Cape Canaveral the following weekend.