Dive Report: Lowrance
Date: Saturday Afternoon February 3, 2001
Boat: ReefCat
Captain: Jim Mims

By: Mike Rodriguez

A small group of divers arrived at the boat early in the afternoon
for a planned dive on the Renegade, but we would end up diving the
Lowrance instead.  I was the only AUE diver aboard, but I enjoyed
the company of several out-of-town divers from Kentucky who were
in Florida for the weekend.  The weather, unlike in Kentucky, was
wonderful.  It was a warm, sunny day with air temperature near 80F.
The ocean was less than two feet and the water temperature was about
71F.  On this dive I breathed trimix 19/38/43 with 50% oxygen and
100% oxygen for decompression.

The Lowrance was a 420 foot long freighter sunk in 210 feet of water
as an artificial reef in 1984.  Its enormous size has attracted a
wide variety of sea life.  Its engine room is huge; one could easily
spend a dozen dives exploring it before starting on the rest of
the ship.

When we reached the site of the Renegade, we found a brisk surface
current.  I geared up as the captain put the boat in position, then I
grabbed the hook and jumped in.  I was on the bottom in a few seconds
and could see the dark shadow of the wreck in the distance, but I was
already down current and there was no hope of reaching it with the
line.  I surfaced, with a brief safety stop, then boarded the boat.

Due to the strong surface current we decided to dive the Lowrance
instead.  The captain set me up for the second drop, and I jumped in.
I was at the wreck in less than a minute and was easily able to snag
the hook.

Once the line was secured, I swam toward the bow of the huge ship.
The water on the bottom was colder than on the surface, about 69F.
There was a light current to the north.  Along the way, numerous
fish of all types swam around me and I enjoyed watching them as I
slowly finned my way forward.  At the bow hundreds of fish of all
sizes and types swarmed in schools.  I stopped there for about 10
minutes watching them.  I noticed one school of small fish was
holding position into the current.  I wanted to swim into the middle
of the school but I knew my bubbles would disperse them if I did.  I
held still for a minute becoming very relaxed, then I took a breath
and slowly finned into the school.  It was great... the fish just let
me in then enveloped me.  There were about 20 within inches of my mask
tickling my face as they dodged into and out of my gear and around my
regulator hoses.  After about two minutes, I finally had to take a
breath.  As I did so, the fish dispersed.  I did this several more
times then finally, reluctantly, I left as my time ran out.

On the way back to the line I saw another large school of small
fish.  I abruptly shined my light at them; startled, they suddenly
changed direction in unison, then settled into one large mass again.
I had fun teasing them like that for a while, then finally I had to
leave.

As I started up the line, I watched the other divers swimming in
the 80 foot visibility and wished I could stay down longer.  I
finally lost sight of the wreck at about 100 feet.  During my
shallow stops numerous Portuguese man-of-war drifted by on the
surface, and I made a mental note to keep an eye out for them when
I surfaced.  Fortunately, none of the divers had a close encounter
with one.

When everyone was aboard, we headed home looking forward to more
diving the on the Sucre the next day.