Diving the Wreck of the Spigel Grove

Once again lets start this post with a little history from Wikipedia:

Sinking for reef

Red tape and financial problems delayed the sinking of USS Spiegel Grove for several years, but the ship was finally moved from Virginia to Florida in May 2002. The ship sank prematurely, on 17 May 2002. During the sinking the ex-Spiegel Grove suddenly started rolling on her starboard side, ending up upside down on the sea bottom and leaving her bow protruding slightly out of the ocean. On 10-11 June, at a cost of $250,000 dollars, the ship was rolled onto her starboard side by Resolve Marine Group, and on 26 June the site was opened to recreational divers. In the next week, over a thousand divers visited the site. The depth of wreck requires that divers have an advanced diving certification.

The ex-Spiegel Grove is located on Dixie Shoal, 6 miles (10 km) off the Florida Keys in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Her exact location is 25°04′00N 80°18′00.7″WCoordinates: 25°04′00.2″N 80°18′00.7″W.

In July 2005, Hurricane Dennis shifted the former USS Spiegel Grove onto her keel, right-side-up, which was the position originally intended when she was sunk.

Deaths

In April 2003, 48-year-old Eunice Lasala, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, died while diving the Spiegel Grove.

On April 20th, 2005, Tarik Khair-el-din, 44 of Indiatlantic, Florida, died while diving the "Spiegel Grove".

In February, 2006, David Hargis, 48, of Kansas City, died while diving the "Spiegel Grove".

On 16 March 2007 three divers (Kevin Coughlin, 51; Jonathan Walsweer, 38; and Scott Stanley, 55 - all from New Jersey) died while attempting a penetration dive inside the remains of the USS Spiegel Grove. This brings the total number of diver fatalities at the wreck to six.

Getting to the site was a six miles ride on the ocean, the waves were a low 2 to 3 feet so I didn't get seasick, so for my 3 boat trips in Key Largo I managed to keep my lunch inside. Of course by now I have my routine, first thing when on the boat is to setup my gear on the tank, that day it was cloudy, 66f and windy so I dressed up in my full wetsuit with hood, gloves and even socks so I was comfortable for the ride and I didn't have to suit up in a shaky boat at he dive site.

On the surface at the dive site there are ten mooring lines attached to the wreck with big balls floating at the surface. You immediately get the feeling of the size of that 550 feet long ship that is bellow.

For that dive I hired a personal guide to dive with me, we were both diving nitrox so we could max out out diving time and I was diving with a big 120cf tank so we had plenty of air. For safety reasons the dive plan required us to be back on the boat with 750 to 1000 psi instead of the usual 500. It didn't matter much to have air left in our tanks because our nitrogen absorption at these depths even though we didn't go bellow 100 feet was our primary concern. The bottom time I had calculated at 90 feet on 28% nitrox was about 15 to 20 minutes per dives with a 30 to 45 minutes surface interval. Add to this the going down, the coming back up the half stop and safety stop and it make 30 to 35 minutes dive so plenty of air in those big 120.

First dive we dove the line attached at mid ship, we pull ourselves hand over hand on a rope running along the port side of the dive boat, the current is very strong, I found out the hard way when I missed grabbing the line jumping off the boat and had to swim against current to grab it again. So we get to the floating ball and then we change rope to the one that goes down to the wreck. We slowly descend the line, I have to pull myself down he first 30 feet or so, I appear to be a little light on weights, I'll have to add another 2 pounds for the next dive. At 40 feet we see the wreck it goes for as far as I can see on either sides. We land on deck at 85 feet and I can stand up unfold the arms of my camera, turn on the flashes and start taking pictures.

The first impression is amazing, the wreck is so huge you could spend a week on it and not see all of it. One of the first thing I saw upon starting to swim was a pack of barracudas just floating on the side of the super structure by the wheel house, I took some pictures, then I wanted to take the shot from the opposite point of view but it meant swimming against current along the gangway under the barracudas to set position on the other side. So instead we swam the other gangway on the starboard side to protect ourselves from the current. We had discussed the possibility of penetration in the wreck trough strait passages, so we did so by entering the wheelhouse on starboard and exiting on port at witch point I was able to hide from the current in a doorway while taking the other picture from the different angle. We then proceeded to swim the gangway on the port side passing under the barracudas and entering the wreck to cross back to the starboard side trough a passage. By that time it was time to start the voyage back to the surface, so I folded my camera an we went back up the line slowly, I just love diving on a line you have complete control on your ascent, the 3 minute safety stop a 15 feet is easy holding the line and looking at your computer counting down the time as you wait for it to give you the go.
So we pull on the line hand over hand until we get to the back of the ship where I can hand my camera to the deckhand the darn clip took me 2 minutes to set free, then removing my fins, never easy but this time I got the help of my guide that was behind me. Then all you have left to do is to grab that ladder before it hits you and climb up with that big 120 steel tank that weighs 60 pounds, after getting to your seat you get to enjoy the surface while your'e bubbling off during your surface interval. Not being seasick I get to enjoy a juice while we plan for the next dive.

The second dive start exactly like the first one including missing the rope and having to swim my ass off in the current. The descent is easier with the 2 extra pounds I took along. We landed at the same spot but this time we swam toward the stern to see if we could locate some Goliath Groupers but we didn't so we did some swim trough and I made a few videos and took some pictures of the structure. On that dive I had to monitor my computer a lot at one point at 95 feet I had only 2 minutes of no decompression time, I went back up to 85 feet and I got another 2 for a total of 4 after another minute or so I started packing my camera and we began our ascent.