Dive Report: Northern Light
Sunday February 13, 2000
Diversity

By: Mike Rodriguez

Four divers dove the Northern Light this morning on the boat
Diversity out of Key Largo.  We were diving the Bibb yesterday in
nearly flat seas, but things had picked up a bit.  It was still a
nice day with two foot long-period waves, a light breeze and lots
of sunshine.  At the site there was a fairly strong surface current
and a light bottom current.  The visibility was good at about 80 feet.
The water temperature was about 74F and the air temperature was about
79F.  I was diving trimix 21/32/47 with 50% and 100%.

The captain got us in the vicinity using GPS, then found the wreck with
a sounder.  We tried to snag the wreck using a grapple-hook, but after
a few passes, it didn't look like this technique would work.  My
dive buddy and I routinely hook the deep wrecks off Ft. Lauderdale
by just jumping in with the hook, so we suggested this to the
captain and he concurred.  The other two divers would follow us
down once we had the line secured.

We geared up, the captain set us up, and we jumped in.  We were in
sight of the wreck within about a minute and snagged the edge of the
bow shortly afterward.  We tried to reposition the hook to a better
spot, but it was loaded down with the current and there was no
moving it so we left it and went exploring.

The Northern Light is a bizarre wreck on first sight.  The stern
of the ship landed up-side-down on the bow with the rudder closer
to the front of the ship then the other end.  Once I figured out
how everything was laid out, I headed toward the sand at about 190
feet and swam where the stern would normally be.  The first thing I
noticed was the enormous amount of sea life on this wreck.  In the
distance I saw a bull shark swimming by.  There were all kinds of
fish, mostly big ones, everywhere you looked.  They swam by in all
directions, often passing right in front of me.  No wonder this site
is so popular with fishermen.

I continued swimming slowly along the starboard side of the bow
and studied the wreck and all the sea life then went around the end
of the ship where there is a very low cavern formed by the ship
against the sand.  I thought briefly of entering and having a look
around, but it was really very low, and I couldn't even tell if it went
anywhere.  Instead of entering, I just continued swimming back toward the
bow.  Along the way I took a look at the rudder which is up-side-down at
about 150 feet.  Next I swam over the area where the stern impacted the
bow and tried to visualize the ship before it split up.  Then, I swam
across the wreckage back to the starboard side where I found an opening
into the stern and went inside.

The way in is through a large tunnel taller than it is wide.  There
aren't any wires or other electrical equipment inside, but there are lots
of metal beams and various metal parts strewn around.  About 50 feet into
this tunnel something fell on me.  It was a piece of metal weighing maybe
10 pounds.  My exhaust bubbles must have dislodged it from the bottom of
the hull which was above me.  This made me pause for a second and
reconsider if it was smart to continue.  Most of the ships I dive are
fairly recently sunk and are visited frequently by divers.  This means
that the ships are still in fairly good structural shape and anything
that might collapse would have already collapsed due to all the diving
activity.  This ship, however, has been underwater for over 70 years and
is very infrequently visited by divers.  There was a real possibility
that a thousand-pound thing might fall on me.  I looked up at the
curved hull above me and thought for a second about turning back, then
the explorer in me came out, and I decided to continue.

At the end of this tunnel is another room to the left with assorted
machinery strewn around and covered with growth.  It's dark, but there
is some daylight from numerous small holes in the structure.  I made
another left turn at the end of this room, passed through an opening and
slowly entered the engine room.

The engine room is a little darker, and you need a light to get around
in it, though there is still a little daylight filtering through various
small openings.  I saw the big boilers used to run the three-phase steam
engine this ship used.  These engines are fairly rare and an interesting
piece of history to study on this dive.  I stayed there for a while
looking at the engine and a cute snowflake eel that popped out of the
floor, then continued further through another opening into another room.

This room was pretty bright, and I realized the light was coming from
the point where the two halves of the ship impacted.  Then I saw
there was a large enough opening to exit through.  I didn't see this
opening last time I swam by outside because it's underneath an
overhang.  I'd have had to swim down and look under an unlikely
part of the ship to have found it.

Once I was back outside, I was again surprised by the abundance of
sea life here.  I waved at one of the other divers who was taking
my picture then swam around the wreck one last time as two more bull
sharks went by.  I reached the downline at the end of my bottom time and
began a free ascent next to the line.  There was a light current on the
bottom so holding position was easy as I followed the line up.  Since I
was one of the first in the water, I was one of the first on my way up
and I watched the other divers still enjoying the wreck.  I noticed one
of the divers' fins were mismatched colors and realized he wasn't part of
our group and was in fact something called a "Support Diver".  This is a
very rare species which is not indigenous to the Palm Beach, Ft.
Lauderdale, and Miami area where I dive most often.  Imagine... not only
was he there to help out if there was a problem, but later on the boat
he even helped unload our gear.  I wonder if there's some way to seed the
population of support divers off Ft. Lauderdale... we need more of these
rare creatures around here.  :)

After getting over the shock of actually having a support diver with us,
I headed up the line.  At about 100 feet I lost sight of the other
divers still on the wreck, though I could still see their bubbles.

At about 90 feet, I grabbed onto the line since the current was
getting too strong to swim against as I approached the surface.  I began
my deco and was later joined by the rest of the divers on the line.
At about 30 feet, the current was fairly strong.  The support diver
had tried to release the grapple hook so we could drift, but with the
boat and several divers hanging on the line it was impossible.
Rather than hang on to the line for the rest of my deco, I set up
a jon-line and clipped myself to it.  I could now relax flying in
the current.

Eventually, my deco was complete and I surfaced.  The boat was tied
off at the stern, so when I surfaced I was already at the ladder.
The current was pushing me toward the bow so it was a bit tricky
getting my fins off while pinned to the ladder by the current, but I
managed it.  I handed them up and climbed aboard.  A while later, everyone
was on-board and talking about the great dive.  By this time the seas
and wind were picking up so it was fortunate the trip was scheduled for
the morning.

During the dive I saw a port-hole with the glass still intact, but
I'm not saying where; I want to go back and get it myself.  :)

This wrapped up two days of diving in northern Key Largo for our
group.  Everyone had a wonderful time, and we plan to return here
to see the Northern Light again soon.  The people at Divers City
and the crew of the Diversity boat were great and played a big part
in making this trip a lot of fun.  They run a first-class operation.
The boat is big, clean, roomy, quiet, and fast, and the crew is
attentive and professional.  They even squeegeed the benches in the
morning so we wouldn't get a case of wet-butt when we sat down!
What more could you ask for!