Norness Again and Again

For a while now I've been meaning to do a Norness update. I just got back the porthole all cleaned and mounted, so now seems a good time. Visible in the closeup is the pattern left where the anemones had attached, which remained even after soaking in acid.

I was able to get back to the Norness two more times this year. The first time was on July 31st. The Sea Turtle steamed out at 4am, with Elliot Bertoni, Adam Altman, Tim Dwyer, John Bricker, Andy Koppinger, and Captain Chuck. Andy and John dropped down to tie us in, and I followed immediately thereafter. After the last trip I was excited to see more of the ship, and to get a better mental picture of the wreck. The tie in was right at the cut, and I could see now that I had the whole orientation bass-ackwards last time - it's on its starboard side, not port, and what I had thought was the trashed remains of the gun tub were just run-of-the-mill trashed remains. I didn't waste any time in dropping to the bottom and heading aft through the debris field, but between the low light, plus watching for entanglements, I came up empty-handed. At the prop I turned, and was back at the line showing an hour of deco. I wanted more though, and since I don't mind a long hang I continued to explore. The forward superstructure is open and inviting, so in I went for a quick dig in the debris. The floor is finished in red and white square tiles, nicely marked on the back with a date. A set of those went into my goody bag, as well as a brass fan blade. After 45 minutes I began my ascent. I knew I was in for a cold deep spell when my 150' stop was already 2 minutes, and in fact it took an hour to reach the welcome warmth of 70'. Total run time was 3.5 hours, including some extra time I put on for safety's sake.

September 5th I went again with the Sea Turtle. Onboard was Jonathan Iseson, Elliot Bertoni, Ted McCoy and Captain Chuck. The mooring we had left last time was nowhere to be seen, so Ted and I splashed together to go set the hook. Like a teaser, halfway down we could see it, with the line fouled over a lifeboat davit. As luck would have it the grapnel had dropped to the sand. Ted climbed up the wreck using it as an ice axe while I belayed with the chain, and at ten minutes we were tied in. I immediately dropped to the bottom to snoop about the debris field. I soon came across a lovely porthole, glass intact, in a bit of steel plate. I was able to easily move it, so I hooked up a lift bag and started filling. And filling. Aannddd filling. I jostled it a bit, in case the mud was holding it down. Still it wouldn't move. Bailout is for survival not brass, so after putting 500 psi I tried another tack: the buddy bag, with its own small inflation bottle. It was with high expectations that I tied it in and cracked the valve. FSSsss. Talk about disappointment! It was good for one mouse-size asthmatic wheeze, barely enough to hold the bag up. I was about out of tricks, but the thought occurred to me that perhaps, if I moved it out from the overhanging superstructure, I could then pull it up enough for the bag to inflate. No sooner had I started hauling it over when I felt a tug, and looked down to see my bailout reg entangled in the line. Ever wonder what its like to get dragged to the surface from 285'? Me neither, or rather I have, and its the stuff of nightmares. I was disappointed to leave my bags, much less the porthole, but I had NO hesitation walking away from this situation. None whatsoever. I got back to the tie in showing an hour and twenty minutes deco, which was still reasonable to me so I spent another 15 minutes cruising the wreck. I visited the gun tub, the real one this time, to check out the 5" gun. I had gotten some good beta to look for the letters, so I took a pass at the stern. Next to the bell I think those would be just the most amazing artifact, but sadly it appears the Norness didn't have any. Finally I took a few minutes to work on a porthole with a crow bar I had brought. Fat Max might have been up for it but I wasn't: they still seem pretty tight into the superstructure, and besides after hauling the chain, swimming the the length of the wreck twice, and working on that porthole, did I really need to exert myself more? I left the tool next to the portholes on the forward superstructure, so anyone who goes down there is welcome to use it, just leave it where you found it. At 50 minutes I began my ascent, for a 3 hour hang. On the way up I saw cave line paralleling the anchor line, with a lift bag on top. I was hoping to see something juicy dangling below it, but it too was all about survival not booty. It seems Jonathan had also dropped down to search the bottom. It's like a spider's web of fishing line down there, and before he knew it he was a fly caught in it. After 5 minutes which must have seemed like an eternity he finally cut himself free, but at that point there wasn't enough gas left in his tanks to go looking for the anchor line. Again showing the value of training, experience and skills he bagged off, jumped over to the anchor line when he saw it nearby, and finished his dive safely.

We didn't take anything from the Norness that day, but more importantly it didn't take anything from us, at least nothing that matters. It's a bit of black humor that after every dive I text message my wife "Cheated Death Again." This day in particular it rang true.