U-853 December 2005

Despite my poor-weather expectations, we wound up having a very nice day yesterday off Rhode Island. There were ten divers aboard, including Carl & John Bayer, and Jacek. It was great to be back aboard the Seeker. Carl John and I got there late on Saturday night, and slept onboard. It was our first time meeting Mike in person. He and his girlfriend Kim are good people, really make you feel welcome. They've done a nice job with the boat, a lot of deferred maintenance has been addressed, and he has a good crew working for him (5 crew for 10 divers, can't beat that.)

Seas were pretty flat, and the air brisk but not too bad. One mishap we had was that some smoke kept coming up from the engine room, due to some new belts being broken in, and perhaps some spilled oil. Pretty unpleasant, but if you can't roll with those kind of punches than you probably aren't the type to go northeast wreck diving in December anyways. I splashed right after the the tie-in team, but 80 feet down ran into some trouble. The DSV kept tugging at my mouth, something definitely not right. I fussed with it for about 10 seconds, until the work of breathing shot up, and I decided to get off the loop and think. Flipping the dsv to oc, I took a breath or two, went to offboard bailout, and then started back up the line. After a minute a light bulb went on, and I turned on my back to look at the hoses. The velcro strap that holds the scrubber/counterlungs/pods into the case had parted, causing the loop to come out of the case. Ultimately no big deal, I climbed onboard a bit chagrined, resorted it, replaced the damn velcro with a more secure strap, and had a nice couple of dives. Not exactly how I had intended the dive to go, but I was pleased I kept a cool head the whole time, sorted out my options and formulated a plan that got me home.

Viz unfortunately was punk, down in the 4' to 5' range, and pretty near pitch black at the bottom. Over the course of two dives I swam the length of it, and did a couple of very minor penetrations. It would have been really easy to get lost inside, and I didn't feel like running a reel, so consequently my penetrations were more of the poke-your-nose-in variety. Water temps weren't too bad, mid-40's, which was appreciated on the hangs (that and my new pee valve, how did I ever live without it?)

So, crummy viz, but any time you can get a nice day in December, much less on the U-853, its a win.