Steel cave diving the Oriskany not an option????????????

[D1V3R]

I wold like to go into the large hangars that you enter into from the side of the ship (i might dive iit some time this summer)
but there is no reason why nobody else would want to penatrate beyond that point, i'm sure there are alot of other areas of the ship still intact

EDIT: yah, i doubt the will forbid you from penatrating
just keep your mouth shut about your plans until you come back up
then you can tell them ALL about it, lol

[skip]

PM me and I'll give you the name and contact info of a boat captain that will take you out fast and let you dive your own profiles all day and all night if you want. Price is higher than cattle boats and best to get 3 divers to share charter cost.

I go with him when we do penetration wreck dives with doubles, stages, and deco bottles.

He's also good for a day dive so that while others on the boat (only a 6-pack boat) are doing single tanks and sit, you can solo one long dive if you like it that way (same price as the two-tank trip).

[skip]

I just wouldn't want to pay $250 to get out there and in the dive briefing he limit half what I planned to do. And then if I did it anyway, risk getting banned from the boat or giving the tech/cave diving community a black eye. It's true, it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission. I'd just rather be up front about my intentions.

BTW, he said $250 for a tech trip out there. If rec diving is about $150 for two tanks, what is the difference when he takes a tech group out? Will he have to be out there longer? I wouldn't think so if he were only letting tech divers do one 90 minute run-time dive. I'm just curious what the value addness is for the customer or additional cost to him would be to justify the increased fee.

The $250.00 price keeps the boat tied up to same spot all day long, for as long as you call it a day (well, within reason). My understanding is that you do the dive(s) as you wish, where you wish, with the limits being only your own evaluation/planning. You bring doubles, stages, deco, scooters, whatever you want. I think you can get the whole boat for 1200.00 and up to 6 divers, but more gear means fewer divers due to space limitations.

This info is direct from my captain. PM and I'll give contact info. He's the best imho for tailored tech trips. super fast boat. i dont' work for him, just like diving with him (he'll go out in rough seas too if you want, and if too rough will come back in, not charge a dime, and even buy the first round of beers to console everyone!).

[Genesis]

Or just hook up with me - all we ever do is split gas.

Bring your scooters, deco bottles, etc... only "gotcha" is that its gotta be a nice day (I don't get paid to do this so I won't get my ass kicked) and on my 23'er the realistic limit is 4 guys.

Oh, the boat gets about 2.5nmpg at 35mph too.... fast and cheap.

[GWNDWN]

don't suppose you guys are going out tomorrow.....I can be there in 8 hours

Ryan

[Genesis]

I'm out of town at a friend's wedding right now.... sorry

Would be if I were home!

[JS1scuba]

Greetings, this is an interesting thread to be one of my first posts here. All i do is wreck dive. Though for years friends have asked me to come caving I just have not had the time to commit to it. Someday.

What's interesting is that now with a big ass wreck in your backyards wrecking becomes attractive. So here's a little bit about dive boats.

Most and i mean most dive boats cannot accomodate tech divers. Their benches are set up for single tanks, they prefer to overload boats, and rarely do they have sufficent crew. That said...... there are many boats that would like to accomodate tech divers but just dont know how. Then there are the few who can.

The Big O is a perfect wreck to go play on. But make no mistake about it even though it's an "artificial reef" you can still get lost in there and end up deader than an old stump in Suwanee. If wreck diving has eluded you until now this is your chance to put in a good hundred dives and become very adept at wreck diving.

The costs. A tech diver counts as two spots, sometimes three spots in the mind of a charter boat operation.

3 single tankers pull $225 in fees ($75 each) A tech diver should be about the same 6 tanks (2 sets doubles, 2 stage bottles) see the math?

Whenever I charter a boat rated for "20" i cut it in half or less and we tighten up on gear. The good thing about tech divers who are expereicned is they dont have their crap all over the place.

A six pack is good for maybe 4 divers plus capt (not diving) but you have to be your own crew. (depending on the size of the boat) I have been on some 50 foot boats that were classified as "six packs"

I'm sure that over the next 6 mos or so there will be some operations that will accomodate those who want to do bigger dives on the Big O.

I'm trying to get on it on June 18th after coming off the Monitor if I can get two spots or just take a whole boat.

Wreck diving unlike cave diving requires boats and those dont come cheaply.

Welcome to Wreck Diving.........

Cheers

[Genesis]

Yep.

I had (until last week) a 45 Hatteras. Slow boat (18kt cruise, 10kt economy cruise), 1.0nmpg/0.4nmpg fuel economy (cruise/slow cruise), but about 120 sqft of cockpit, a full salon, head, galley and two staterooms.

We frequently would have 6-8 "regular" divers on her, but six tech divers was damn cramped. Doable, but people had to pay attention to what they brought. Dubs go in the racks sideways (we were set up for it), deco bottles had to be secured, scooters, etc.

Much more realistic for two dives was 4 tech divers; that was MUCH more comfortable.

With the little boat 4 divers means ONE set of dubs per; there's enough room for that, 1 scooter per, and a couple of (40cf) deco bottles. If you want a second dive with that setup its a rec dive with the remainder in your backgas.

BUT - that boat goes like a bat out of hell and gets 2-2.5nmpg. BIG difference in operating costs, and I can realistically get to the Oriskany on a nice day in a bit over an hour travel time (30nm from the pass.) Gigabite would take AT LEAST two hours to make the same run, three+ at displacement speeds.

Figure dock-to-dock is right around 80nm for this wreck. At 1/2nmpg you're talking about 160 gallons of fuel at $3 each. Do the math - it ain't cheap. On the other hand the same trip at 2.5nmpg is ~30 gallons! That's 1/4 of the cost and twice the speed. Not hard to figure out...

The other thing is that being 30nm offshore if the WX sucks is not a lot of fun. As a rec guy I can, will and do call it before I ever leave the driveway if the conditions are questionable. I do not enjoy getting my ass kicked; I'm not terribly concerned about sinking my boat, but I don't enjoy rough days and since I don't get paid to do it, I don't! To put this in perspective a 3' day in my 45 wasn't horrible, but in the 23'er its no fun at all - we had that for sinking day and I went, but if I had been diving I would have bagged it at the dock. BTW on the gulf virtually ALL waves are short-period and while 3-4s on the Atlantic side is frequently fairly nice those conditions on the gulf side invariably bite. Diveable but NOT fun.

In any case someone else has to know how to drive; its ALWAYS possible that it might be necessary..... although of course we hope not!

Anyway, if you're BUYING transportation to the O expect it to be expensive. Its a long run and the boat, captain, shop and fuel have to be paid for. With that said I doubt I'll be paying for a run, given that I can get there and back for under $100 dock-to-dock.....

Others ALWAYS welcome on my boat, if I have space. Just realize that I ain't a charter and don't run like one. Since its for fun and not money a LOT of things are different!