Dive Report: Pappa's Wreck Date: Saturday afternoon May 20, 2000 Boat: Miss Conduct Captain: Conrad Nix By: Mike Rodriguez Four of the core AUE divers showed up to dive the Pappa's Wreck which is a 170 foot long freighter sitting upright in 280 feet of water on a white sand bottom about three miles off Ft. Lauderdale Beach. The ship was sunk as an artificial reef in 1989 and is a great dive. It was the last day of the annual Rodeo Fishing Tournament so there were numerous fishing boats all around the area. The day was a sunny with the air temperature at 84F. At the site, the water was clear, blue, and warm at 81F. The seas were running about a foot. I was diving trimix 14/52/34 with 50% and 100% oxygen for decompression. The divers geared up as the captain positioned us for the drop. He called out and a moment later, everyone was in the water. Visibility near the surface was wonderful - around 120 feet. As we dropped past 200 feet, though, the visibility began to drop and by the time we reached the bottom, it was only about 40 feet. The temperature on the bottom was also much colder than near the surface. My bottom timer was dropping past 67F by the end of the dive. The drop was good and we landed near the stern. I was carrying the floatline, so once we reached the bottom, I tied-in and began exploring. I dropped to the sand and swam toward the stern along the bottom of the hull. At the stern, I looked into the engine room through the hole blown into the wreck when it was sunk. On a prior dive on this wreck I found a large lobster in that hole, but on this dive there was nothing but a few small hermit crabs. I picked one up; apparently annoyed, it tried to bite me. I carefully avoided its claws and played with it for a few minutes, then I set it down where I found it and swam up to the deck. I swam forward along the deck and noticed one of the portholes still had glass, though it was cracked. I swam further forward, then into the engine room. The engine room is cramped, but very interesting. I was the first of the group to enter it, so the water was still very clear. I spent several minutes studying the engine and the assortment of gauges and electrical boxes on the walls. From below the engine, a snowflake eel (I think) peered up at me. I tried to get closer, but it was shy and pulled back under the engine and out of sight. I waited to see if it would come back out; it didn't, so I left the engine room and swam toward the bow where my buddy and I met up with the other two divers. One pointed out a large grouper in the cargo hold. None of us was spear fishing, so the lucky grouper swam away ignoring us. Our bottom time was about over, so the four of us swam at a leisurely pace back toward the stern where, after a final head-count, I unhooked the line. Everyone drifted off the wreck and up the line in the light current. Deco was pleasant in the 120 foot visibility near the surface. About half-way through deco, a large barracuda swam up behind my buddy. He didn't notice it and wasn't looking my way so I was unable to point it out to him. The barracuda wasn't being aggressive; it seemed to just be curious. My buddy eventually turned around and came face-to-face with the large fish which by this time was about two feet from him. My buddy and the barracuda both startled each other and as the fish swam quickly away, my buddy nervously followed it with his eyes. The encounter made me laugh. Deco was otherwise uneventful. We got back on the boat and made our way into the Hillsboro Inlet through the crowd of fishing boats returning from their tournament. Although everyone had a great time, as we unloaded the boat, we talked anxiously about our next dive the following day on the Bill Boyde.