Russian Freighter - Viking Diving - Pensacola

[Bob]

On April 26th, I had the pleasure of going out on a charter with Capt. Tim Thorsen on board the Viking. There were only three of us (two other Biloxi divers and myself) and Tim usually requires a minimum of four to make a charter; but, since he wanted to take the boat out for a shakedown anyways, he decided to accomodate us. Because the Viking is designed to accomodate six divers and crew, we had plenty of room to assemble gear and suit up.

Along with Capt. Thorsen, the crew consisted of his son, first-mate and God of Thunder, Thor Thorsen; his other boat captain, Paolo Ghio; and divemaster Nicole Smith. They all did a great job! Capt. Tim got us where we wanted to go, Paolo demonstrated his freediving spearfishing skills, Nicole set the anchor and briefed us on the site conditions, and Thor kept the storms at bay and the seas calm.

First dive – Russian Freighter (San Pablo)
We left the docks at 8AM and arrived at the site at about 9:30. As we approached, I could tell we were about to become the least popular people in the state of Florida, because anchored over the wreck were seven fishing boats. Capt. Tim slid us up in the middle of them and Ooooh you could tell they were not happy. I informed my fellow divers that we were going to have to be on the lookout for fishing hooks and monofilament. Just before we started our dive , one of the boats called out to us saying that his anchor was fouled in the wreck and if we see it, could we free it. We started our dive on the Russian Freighter at 10AM. Nicole had tied us into the starboard side of the wreck, just forward of midship. I was leading the dive and upon reaching the wreck we headed directly across the wreck to the port side, then turned and finned along the side toward the bow. Near the bow, we found the fishing boat’s anchor hung up under one of the wreck’s ribs; so we freed it and continued on.  We rounded the bow and headed back down the starboard side towards the stern. Near the stern, one of the other divers signalled to me that he was low on air so we headed back to the anchor line and ended the dive. One of the safety techniques that Tim employs on his boat is the deployment of an emergency/deco tank with two second stages at the twenty foot safety stop. This was a comforting thought as we ascended with one of our divers at 500psi. The wreck itself is pretty broken up with the only prominent vertical structure being the ships boilers. There is a lot of marinelife and a lot of opportunities for photographers and spearo’s. Both on the way down and back up, we were passed by large schools of spadefish. The vis was about 50 feet from the surface to about 60’. Below that it was about 20’, so you didn’t get a chance to really see the wreck in it’s entirety. The temp at the bottom was 68 degrees and my max depth was 84’. I’d like to do the site again with hopefully better vis, so I could a better look at the overall wreck and not snapshots of it’s areas.
 
Second dive – Three Barges
Before we left the docks, I informed Tim that whichever site we were going to be diving after the Russian Freighter would need to be shallower because my second tank had a 38 nitrox mix which limited me to an 88’ MOD. So after Nicole freed us from the Freighter, we headed due north to the Three Barges site.  When we arrived, there was one dive boat on the site, so we didn’t have to worry about upset hook-and-liners this time. Nicole tied us in and after hitting the water noticed we had about the same conditions as the first site; 68 degrees and about 20’ vis on the bottom. We followed one of the barge hull plates for awhile and found what was apparently a hatchery for juvenile drumfish. They were black and silver striped, and had long dorsal and pectoral fins. They would dart in and out from below the hull plates. We also found some type of spindly, spider-looking crab (I really need to brush up on my marine life identification), different types of anemone, sea cucumbers, purple coral fans, queen angels, butterfly fish, etc. My max depth on this dive was 55’. Again, like the first site, I’d like to do it again with a little better vis so I could see more of the overall site.  Even though I had a bottom time of 36 minutes, the site is so large and the vis was so low that I never saw any of the divers from the other boat.

The ride back was fun! As we were running parallel to the beach, Capt. Tim spotted the dark brown back of a large cobia silhoutted against the sand bottom. He quickly reversed course as Paolo grabbed his mask, fins, and gun; but by time we got turned around, the fish had left. We cruised back and forth for awhile hoping to spot him again but didn’t. As we turned back on course for the pass, we spotted another one a little smaller than the first. Tim quickly came about and Paolo launched off the gunwale like a torpedo from a P.T. boat; but the fish was too quick and was gone before he could get in range. So we retrieved Paolo and headed in.

If your looking for a relaxed, laid-back, no-hurry charter with safety as a priority, I highly recommend Capt. Tim and the Viking. It’s not a large boat, so don’t expect a lot of frills and extras; but it is a stable, fast vessel with a knowledgable and courteous crew who put your request and safety as their prime concerns.

[mwhities]

Great report. Tim is the man. How'd you like the fumes from his boat? I think he is one of a very few that uses that gas.

[Bob]

Yeah, that's the first time I've been on a bio-diesel boat. No black, stinky cloud following you around; just a small, grey, fried-food-kinda mist. Although, if I smelled that aroma coming out of a kitchen, I don't think I'd eat there. Would make me wonder just what it is they were cooking...

[frankc420]

Nice report!  I'm glad you enjoyed your dive with Viking.

It sucks that the RF was broken up, last time I was there it was in tact.

[Bob]

There might be more vertical structure than I saw; but like I said, vis was not good and most of what I saw was broken up. The prow was still somewhat vertical and as we swam along the side I could see the boilers off to my right. From what I understand, the stern is still relatively intact, which was where I was headed until one of our divers ran low on air and we had to head back to the anchor line. I also wanted to poke around in the boiler area, but again, did not get the chance due to the dive being cut short. I wanted to make sure the diver low on air made it back to the boat safely, so I ended up back on the Viking with 1600 psi left in my tank.

[frankc420]

There might be more vertical structure than I saw; but like I said, vis was not good and most of what I saw was broken up. The prow was still somewhat vertical and as we swam along the side I could see the boilers off to my right. From what I understand, the stern is still relatively intact, which was where I was headed until one of our divers ran low on air and we had to head back to the anchor line. I also wanted to poke around in the boiler area, but again, did not get the chance due to the dive being cut short. I wanted to make sure the diver low on air made it back to the boat safely, so I ended up back on the Viking with 1600 psi left in my tank.

New rule, that buddy needs to dive a 130cf 

[frankc420]

After seeing your post about 88' on 38%, I was curious, did you even consider going above 1.4 ppo2?  At 1.6 your max would have been 108', so a deeper dive would have been acceptable up to 108', IMO.

If you didn't want to even touch the 1.6, at 1.5 you could have dove to 97'.

[Bob]

After seeing your post about 88' on 38%, I was curious, did you even consider going above 1.4 ppo2?  At 1.6 your max would have been 108', so a deeper dive would have been acceptable up to 108', IMO.

If you didn't want to even touch the 1.6, at 1.5 you could have dove to 97'.

I usually try to stay at the 1.4 just as a safety margin. If I need to go beyond, I will. I didn't intentionally want a 38 mix. When I went to the shop to get my second tank topped off ( I already had a full bottle of 33), the compessor malfunctioned; so they had to top it off with a 50 mix they had banked. Combined with the 2100 pounds of 33 that was already in the tank, it tested at 38. I figured our second dive was going to be shallower anyways, so I decided I would use my 33 on the first dive and the 38 on the second. Also one of our divers was just recently certified and we didn't need to be going any deeper anyways.
 
One nice thing I noticed is that 38 mix will definitely keep the nitrogen loading bar graph on your computer from moving very far!

[frankc420]

I usually try to stay at the 1.4 just as a safety margin. If I need to go beyond, I will. I didn't intentionally want a 38 mix. When I went to the shop to get my second tank topped off ( I already had a full bottle of 33), the compessor malfunctioned; so they had to top it off with a 50 mix they had banked. Combined with the 2100 pounds of 33 that was already in the tank, it tested at 38. I figured our second dive was going to be shallower anyways, so I decided I would use my 33 on the first dive and the 38 on the second. Also one of our divers was just recently certified and we didn't need to be going any deeper anyways.
 
One nice thing I noticed is that 38 mix will definitely keep the nitrogen loading bar graph on your computer from moving very far!

I see, I like the safety margin myself, was just curious!

I'm thinking about purchasing a 13cf bottle from a friend, getting it cleaned and filled w/ 100% O2.  The only thing that is holding me back, it's a 13cf bottle    A few good sized sips from it and it's empty!

[Bob]

I just posted pic's from this trip in the Gallery

[frankc420]

I just posted pic's from this trip in the Gallery

Nice pics!  That's not the same DM from the time we went out with him.. 

[mwhities]

I see, I like the safety margin myself, was just curious!

I'm thinking about purchasing a 13cf bottle from a friend, getting it cleaned and filled w/ 100% O2.  The only thing that is holding me back, it's a 13cf bottle    A few good sized sips from it and it's empty!

At 20fsw (Max: any deeper 100% O2 is toxic.) you should get a good amount from it.

Michael

[frankc420]

At 20fsw (Max: any deeper 100% O2 is toxic.) you should get a good amount from it.

Michael

It would be for the boat only, for emergencies.

[mwhities]

It would be for the boat only, for emergencies.

Ahh, okay. That's better than.

[jimdiverman]

Technically, the dive agencies all teach that breathing O2 below 20 feet is "toxic".  Practically speaking, that is only possible under certain conditions, and then, not always.  I breathed 100% O2 at 24 feet on my last dive Saturday because the place we were going to do our deco was below 20 feet.  So I input 92% as my breathing gas into my computer before the dive and breathed 100% O2 at 24 feet for 6 minutes at that depth and then on to the surface for a total of about 11 minutes.  Technically, the ppO2 was greater than 1.6, but that does not necessarily mean you will get a reaction or suffer a seizure.  In a chamber, 100% O2 is breathed down to simulated depths of 60 feet in that controlled environment.  It is thought that this is safe in the chamber because a seizure can be addressed immediately by a medical professional, and since a person is at rest in the chamber, it is easier to do.

I am not advocating to anyone else doing what I did without a thorough understanding of the consequences and without someone available to help in the event of a problem.  I do extreme diving, and in this case, it would have been difficult to perform a deco stop at 20 feet in this particular cave.  The truth is, everyone has a different metabolism and may react differently to breathing 100% O2 deeper than 20 feet.  The standards (i.e., don't breathe 100% O2 below 20 feet) were developed based on data from different divers under different conditions and circumstances, and they are thought by the standards agencies to be conservative and safe for 99% of all divers.  Some divers may be able to breathe O2 at 30 feet all day, and some may suffer O2 toxicity after 30 seconds at 21 feet.