Dive Report: RBJ
Date: Sunday Afternoon November 12, 2000
Boat: ReefCat
Captain: Jim Mims

By: Mike Rodriguez

Four of the AUE "usual suspects" showed up to dive the RBJ Sunday
afternoon along with three other divers.  The boat had some electrical
problems on the Sucre dive the previous day but they were ironed out
and everything seemed to be working well for the RBJ dive that
afternoon.  The only exception was the smell of sulfur wafting up
from one of the batteries which was getting too much charge.  The
rotten-egg smell was fodder for numerous jokes.  Unfortunately, my
seat on the boat was directly over the offending battery so things
weren't nearly as humorous for me as they were for everyone else.

The boat was loaded and underway by mid-afternoon under a sunny
sky.  The air temperature was around 84F and the water was around
79F.  The sea was running one to two feet and at the wreck we found
a light current to the north.  On the bottom at 260 feet deep the
visibility was good... around 80 feet.  I dove trimix 15/49/36 with
50% and 100% oxygen for decompression.  My planned bottom time was
about 25 minutes, but a slight change in plans ended up cutting my
time to 20 minutes instead.

Since there was only a light current, the captain dropped a grapple
hook onto the wreck and the four AUE divers got ready at the back
of the boat.  The three other divers aboard would wait 10 minutes
and follow us in once we secured the hook.  The captain brought the
boat into position and we jumped.  The down-line wasn't visible
from the drop-point so we just headed down immediately in a free
descent.  We reached the wreck in less than two minutes and began
a search for the grapple hook to secure it, but it was nowhere in
sight.  We gave up the search and started exploring.

I swam into the engine room, careful to avoid stirring up silt, and
looked around for a few minutes.  I was very relaxed and perfectly
neutral and balanced over the engine cylinders; it was very zen and
very relaxing.  My breathing rate dropped to less than two breaths
per minute.  I floated as if in space in the perfectly still,
crystal-clear water for several minutes while thinking of the 250
or so feet of water above me.  My HID light lit up the engine room
like a miniature sun.  I noticed a group of about fifty small,
colorful shrimp-like critters in a corner by an electrical panel,
and I very slowly drifted toward them.  My approach was so slow
that they hardly took notice of me, and I watched them for several
minutes.  I was happy.

Eventually, I left the engine room and swam around the entire site
looking for the three divers who were to follow us down; there
was no sign of them.  The four AUE divers met up and a few quick
hand-signals indicated that no one else had seen the other three
divers either.  Rather than split up into two teams of two, one
team leaving at 20 minutes and the other leaving at 25 minutes,
all four of us decided to leave the wreck at 20 minutes; we
didn't want to force the captain to track three separate groups
of divers.  We swam around outside the wreck for the remaining
few minutes, then the four of us drifted off the wreck searching
for signs of the other three divers.

At about 200 feet I shot a lift-bag and we began deco which
proceeded normally.  Once on the boat we discovered that the
other three divers followed the line down but the grapple was in
the sand out of sight of the wreck.  After some searching they
did find the wreck and completed their dive.  We never saw them
because they were delayed jumping in the water and followed us
in more than 20 minutes after our descent.

I'm always glad when all the divers make it onto the wreck as they
did today despite difficulty.  All-in-all, everyone had a great
time, and we were all looking forward to our next dive on the RBJ.