The Oregon May 8 2007

The wind cheated me out of a Sunday charter to the Resor, so I made up for it with a Tuesday trip to the Oregon. Captain Dan on the Independence planned to make the 58 mile run from NJ, which at the Indy's speeds isn't too bad. There was a great group of divers onboard, all folks you'd be happy to spend a trip chatting with: John Yurga, Richie and Carrie Kohler, Louis Barson, Dave Oldham, Mike Cole, Big Wayne, Tom and Ray (no not the guys from Car Talk, though I'd love to see them on a dive boat!), and of course Captain Dan. NOAA had made threats of 8' seas with 5 knot winds. As Dan pointed out though, in the absence of a major storm that just doesn't add up. After a quick consulation with Capt John Gorman of the Lockness (which I believe consisted of him looking out his back window on Long Island) we decided to go for it.

Fortune smiled on us, and we had sunshine and gentle rollers the whole way there and back. Richie gave us an excellent briefing, based on 20 years of diving the wreck. As he pointed out, if you only had one wreck to dive, this would be it: artifacts, lobsters, fish, history - it's all there, and in 130' (go here for an excellent synopsis of the wreck, along with pictures.) He and Yurga shared all sorts of stories about this wreck and others, and it was a real pleasure to be with divers that bring such a passion to the sport.

Louis and Richie splashed first, and made quick work of tying us into the bow. I elected to just make it one long dive, with an extra long hang in deference to my recent experience on the Stolt. Surface viz was a bit muddy, but as I descended it opened up to a very nice 20' or so. I took a few minutes at the tie-in to clip on my strobe, adjust my buoyancy, up the PO2 on my electronics, etc, then began working my way down the port side and into the sand. There are still several porthole backing plates, and I considered, then rejected, ascending for tools. After a brief but fruitless foray into the sand for scallops, I returned to the wreck and headed aft. I was eager to see the power plant, 4 x 4 scotch boilers next to an enormous engine, which Henrik had described to me as rose garden of red and white anemones. It was indeed beautiful, even breathtaking, both in size and sealife. Continuing aft my reel ran out just before the stern, and just as I saw something big swimming off (perhaps a shark, but more likely one of the monster pout that were everywhere.) I was just thinking about clipping my jump spool into the end of the line when I looked, and there was a reel someone had dropped, tangled but still useable. I guess somebody has to find all those reels that keep getting dropped, and I'm ok with being the one. Right at the stern I bagged up a barely legal bug (I carded her and she was 18.) I found another that looked strange, but in a way it took me a moment to place: it looked to be already cooked! I pulled it out from under a plate and then released it, as it was undersize. I really should have rubbed it though, I figured at the time it was rusty from the plate above it, but perhaps it was a red morph. They have a blue lobster in the boston aquarium, as well as an even rarer white one, so odd colors do happen.

Deco was long and thankfully uneventful, 76 minute bottom time with an equal amount of hang. Dave pulled the hook as soon as I got up; it seems everyone elected to do one dive based on temps. It was fun to see the booty that had been brought up. Yurga floated an accretion studded with round bottom bottles, which had the same markings as some I found in an Adirondack lake in 1987. Its intriguing to look at this big blob of dirt and wonder what treasures lie hidden inside. Dave had gone to the sand for scallops, and while he didn't find any either, he did take a bug from under a plate. Then, returning to the wreck he found a half dozen scallops lying on top of it. Paradoxical but he wasn't complaining. Louis and Richie both came up with bugs, as seen below. I particularly like the look of steely-eyed satisfaction with which Louis holds up his maimed crawdaddy:

Actually, it just goes to show how big Richie's was, Louis's was still legal.

There are several chances to do overnighters here this summer, which is something I'd love to do. I definitely need more dives on the Oregon. Maybe 20 year's worth.