Dive Report: Hydro Atlantic
Date: Saturday Afternoon March 18, 2001
Boat: Miss Conduct
Captain: Conrad Nix

By: Mike Rodriguez

My buddy and I met up with two new but avid divers at the boat
Saturday afternoon for a ride out to the Hydro Atlantic, a 300 foot
long wreck that sank in a storm in 1987 in 170 feet of water.  It was
a warm, somewhat cloudy day with the air temperature around 80F.  As we
waited by the boat for the morning divers to unload, an over-zealous
parking meter lady with an attitude showed up, pen and pad in-hand.
She was complaining that we were in a loading zone (duh) and couldn't
park there.  We managed to fight her off then quickly loaded the boat
and parked the cars before she could return.  As we prepared to leave
the dock it started to rain; fortunately the rain passed quickly and
by the time we exited the Hillsboro inlet, it had stopped.  On this
dive I breathed trimix 22/26/52 with 50% and 100% oxygen for
decompression.

The ride to the dive site was quick in the smooth seas but when we
arrived, we found a fishing boat trolling back and forth over the
wreck.  The captain tried unsuccessfully to raise them on the radio
but as we circled, the other boat yelled out that they'd be done in
about 15 minutes.  We started to gear up as the captain set up the
floatline.  True to their word, the fishing boat left the area
on-time.  The captain lined us up, gave me the floatline, then called
the drop.  My buddy and I splashed into green water with 20 foot of
visibility which opened up below to about 60 feet.  The drop was
perfect and we landed right on the bow with the light north current
going aft.  I tied-in the line, then followed my buddy around to
help provide light as he snapped pictures.  Although the temperature
was about 75F at the surface, the bottom temperature was only 68F,
an unusual condition for this time of year in Florida which has
persisted for a couple of weeks so far.

My buddy swam aft toward the generator room and I followed trying to
keep the pace up to stay warm.  We dropped into the generator room
where my buddy took a bunch of pictures, then we rose to the deck and
continued aft where we ran into the two other divers who'd splashed
in a few minutes after us.  We continued to the stern snapping
pictures all the way, then turned back and started forward.  At the
engine room skylights, we dropped down and took some more pictures,
then headed forward as our time ran out.

I hung around near the bow for several more minutes enjoying the
abundance of sealife in that area, then finally started up the line
for a brief deco.

Later on the boat as we waited for the last diver to finish
decompressing, a clueless boater approached our floatball despite the
dive flag we were prominently displaying.  He apparently thought our
floatball was a reef mooring marker.  Even after several warnings of
divers below and requests that he move away, he ignored us and continued
to fish near the floatball.  We told him there was no wreck or reef
(or fish) under the free-drifting ball,  but he still refused to move
away.  All the captain could do was to keep our boat between
Mr. Clueless and the ball.  When the last diver was aboard, we quickly
pulled in the floatball, line, and hook to the astonishment of the
other boater.  The whole scene was reminiscent of elderly drivers on
the highway in Miami who go for miles and miles oblivious of their
turn-signal as it blinks uselessly.  At least everyone got a good
laugh at this guy's expense.

Everyone had a great time.  We stowed our gear, still laughing, and
headed home to get our gear ready for the dive on the Skye Cliffe
the next morning.