Dive Report: Miller Lite
Sunday January 23, 2000
SeaHorse, Mike Halprin

By: Mike Rodriguez

About eight divers dove the Miller Lite today on the SeaHorse out of
Hillsboro.  Conditions were good with the seas running about two to
three feet.  It was sunny and the water was about 75F.  There was
a light north current and the visibility was in excess of 60 feet.

Chris, the divemaster, tied in a floatball for us to the top of one
of the masts.  The captain set us up and we jumped in.  I was in the
first group with two other divers.  We planned 40 minutes bottom time
while everyone else planned shorter bottom times.

We jumped in and I was on the wreck on the wreck in just over a
minute.  The sand is at 165 feet and the deck is around 145.  The
Miller Lite was sunk as an artificial reef in 1987 and it's 13+
years on the bottom have given it a chance to really grow.  The
wreck is coverd with soft coral and some of the external walkways
are so choked with growth that it's impossible to swim through them.

Once I reached the wreck, I headded for the sand.  I swam toward
the stern all the while enjoying the numerous small fish.  One was
startled by my light and darted away erratically.  I followed it
with my light and it again darted around.  I wanted to get a good
look at it, not to harras it so when it flipped out for a third time,
I stopped trying to point my light at it and left it alone.

A little farther along the wreck, I reached what seems to be one of
the lifeboats capsized in the sand next to the hull.  It's made of
wood and has a hole in the bottom.  There wasn't anything of
interest, so I continued toward the stern.

Along the way, I saw one of the holes left by the scuttling charge
that sank the ship.  I looked inside, but it was too small to swim
through.  I did see some interesting machinery, though, so I covered
my light to see if there was daylight... there was.  I made a mental
note to return here when I finish swimming around the wreck and find
the way into that room from above.  I later figued out it was the
engine room.

I continued swimming and as I approached the proppeler, I saw about
50 medium-sized barracuda holding position above the sand.  There
was no current to speak of so they were all pointing in random
directions in very clear water that faded away to blue in the
distance.  It was a wonderful sight.  I relaxed there in the sand
for about five minutes just enjoying the view and wishing I had a
camera.  While sitting there, I heard another diver breathing
nearby.  I looked behind me and watched as one of the other divers
swam by.  He briefly disturbed the group of barracuda and caused them
to line up pointing in the same direction.  Then, after he passed,
they rearranged themselves at random again.  I stayed a few more
minutes then rounded the stern and continued along the bottom toward
the bow.

There were more pretty fish to see and a bunch of soft coral growing
on the side of the hull.  I swam around the bow then headed back
toward the stern.  I passed the lifeboat for the second time and
continued to the hole I'd seen on the prior circuit.  There, I swam
up toward the deck and into one of the cargo holds where I searched
for the enterance to the room I'd seen through the hole in the hull.
It was the engine room.  I entered it and found two other divers in
there already.

Damn!  I figured the with two divers in there, the silt would be all
stirred up by now.  Well, as soon as I got inside, I could tell the
other two divers must be cavers because the water was still perfectly
clear.  The three of us spent several minutes in there exploring.

The engine room is pretty big with lots of interesting things to
look at.  I really enjoyed my stay in the clear water.  After a while,
I headed for an opening and exited the engine room where I ended up
in another cargo hold.  There were a bunch of old truck tires piled
up in the hold as well as assorted other junk.  At the far end of the
hold, there were what look like big radiators or maybe refrigeration
coils on either side of a passage to the next hold.  I swam through
the passage and explored some more.  There was nothing much else to
look at here, so I went up to deck-level and swam toward the
wheelhouse.

The area around the wheelhouse is so utterly covered with soft coral
that you can't even enter the wheelhouse very easily.  Inside, there
are numerous hanging wires and cables.  I exited the wheelhouse and
saw some other divers nearby.  I followed them for a while, then let
them continue ahead as I slowed down to look more closely at all the
critters on this wreck.

By this time I'd been down for about 30 minutes and still had plenty
of gas left.  I began a slow swim toward the mast where the floatball
was tied off and saw a big fish swimming by near the sand below me.
It was well over 100 pounds.  I signaled some of the other divers
with my light and pointed at the fish.  One of them scootered closer
as I dropped slowly to the sand to get a better view.  The fish
drifted away from the wreck as I sat in the sand and once again
wished I had a camera.  It was a beautiful sight to watch as this
fish swam away in the clear water against a blue background.  When
the fish was about 50 feet away, I pushed off the bottom and swam to
the deck again.

By this time, most of the other divers were on the line heading back
up.  I still had a few minutes, so I very leasurely swam toward the
mast where I let the very light current move me over the side and off
the ship.  I hovered over the sand at deck level, then took a deep
breath and began a gentle ascent toward the line.  The two other
divers who'd jumped in with me had agreed to release the line at the
end of 40 minutes.  I saw them and a third diver in the immediate
area.  I continued my slow ascent until I was level with the top of
the mast and about 30 feet downstream where I waited for the others
to release the line.  Then, we all slowly drifted away from the wreck.

I continued my ascent to my first deep-stop and began decompressing.
In the clear water I could see the surface from 100+ feet and I could
see the sillouette of the other divers from even deeper.  It was a
great sight and for the third time that day I wished I had a camera.

Everyone completed deco without any trouble and we were all back on
the boat a while later talking about the dive.  I found out that all
the other divers also saw the big fish and I was actually the last
one to see it.  Apparently, it was inside the wreck and when the divers
arrived, it left and swam around outside.  Since I began the dive by
swimming around the hull at the bottom, I didn't see it until it had
left the wreck.

Maybe next time I'll take a peek inside the holds before touring the
hull.  I'm looking forward to my next visit here.