Black Dragon 7/27/08
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:23 pm
A group of us went out to dive the wreck of the Black Dragon on Lu Jack's Quest, Sunday 7/27/08. The charter was put together by Ron Akeson and Barb Roy,of Adventures Down Under in Bellingham, WA. In addition to Barb and Ron, Rob Wilson, Paul Hangarter, Dan Warter, Ken Gustafson, Mari Jachetta, Mark Tooney,James, and Kirby were present- sorry,if I didn't get your last names, or spelled them wrong, my apologies. After a looooong motor into Canadian waters, and clearing customs in Oak Bay, we headed over to the wreck site to try and grapple the wreck. (I understand there used to be a buoy of some kind on it, but it's no longer there.)
Grappling the wreck turned out to be somewhat more of a challenge than we thought it would be, but after several attempts, we finally felt some positive resistance on the down line, so we tied the line off to a buoy and attached the deco station to the line. The Deco station is sort of like a floating series of trapeze bars, set at 10 foot intervals starting at 50 fsw, up to 10 fsw. It's very nice to be able to hang on the bars while completing one's staged decompression stops, especially in a current, and especially when the last diver up the line unhooks it from the down line, and the whole contraption just floats freely while the boat follows the attached surface buoys! Each team of divers attaches a strobe to the line, and retrieves it when they return. The team that retrieves their strobe last is tasked with unhooking the deco station. It's a great system; very well thought out, and it works flawlessly.
Ken and I splashed first- Ken was diving his doubles, with a single stage of deco gas, I was on my COPIS Megalodon CCR, with a stage of bailout gas. On the surface, we noted that slack current might not actually happen on this dive- the water was moving pretty fast, but we judged it to be worth a try. As we descended, it quickly became apparent that pulling ourselves down the line hand over hand was the only way we could get to the bottom! The current was right on the edge of what I would consider dive-able, at least without a scooter. As we finally came to depth, at approximately 150 fsw,
we stopped to attach our strobe, check on each other and catch our breath. We started looking around, the powerful lights from our HID lights stabbing through the dark green water.....the wreck was nowhere to be seen, however! We chased the down line a short distance horizontally to the grapple, and found that instead of hooking the wreck, it had fouled up in a rope that was pulled tight by the current and wind tugging on our buoys attached to the down line.....and it was starting to work itself free! As I watched, I could see the unidentified line slip through the grapple- we had more divers above us starting to descend, so I grabbed the mystery line and tied a couple fast knots with loops into it, and hooked them to the grapple. Ken and I looked at each other, and then down at the line stretching out into the gloom. We pulled hard on the line, and determined that it was firmly attached to something...we shrugged, and started following it to see if we could find the wreck. Visibility was perhaps 20 feet at depth, possibly a bit more. After travelling 20 or 30 feet, the starboard side of the hull suddenly loomed in front of us- the Black Dragon isn't a terribly big boat, compared to some other local wrecks like the Cape Breton, for example, but it seemed huge to me at that moment! I will never lose my sense of wonder and awe at seeing a shipwreck suddenly appear like that, seemingly like magic.
My first priority was to make sure our new line was firmly attached to the wreck- it disappeared behind the rudder at the stern, and I tried to follow it, but we had come up on the wreck on the lee side of the current, and the port side was getting hammered. As soon as I left the protection of the wreck, I was hit by the full force of it, and it was too strong to swim against. I pulled on the line one more time, and decided it was attached firmly enough for me! Ken and I headed slowly towards the bow. The boat had hit the bottom very hard when it sank, I'm told, and it is sitting in a sort of "crater." Which
means that you can see a fair ways underneath it- there is a kind of "cavern zone" under it- too small for a diver, but big enough for some MONSTER sized Ling cod and rock fish- they were very impressive; there is a lot of life on the wreck, and most of it is covered in plumose anemones as well. We rose up to the level of the deck rail a few times, but when we tried to swim across the deck, we were blown off and had to deflate and make ourselves negatively buoyant in order to get back into the protected zone, or else risk being blown off the wreck entirely! When we got to the bow, we could see the current ripping past, and decided that we were pretty happy sticking to the port side! But we needed to see just a bit more. We leisurely worked our way back towards the stern, and came back up to the deck level.
One thing I noticed that I really didn't like is that the wreck is covered in cave line- the kind we all use on our reels and spools. Divers are apparently tying off to the wreck, swimming around it, and simply cutting their lines off when they're done. We've noticed this more and more, especially on the lake Washington wrecks. It's unnecessary, irritating, it detracts from the wreck, and it creates entanglement hazards- besides which, it's littering, plain and simple. Clean your line up, people- these are not virgin caves that need guidelines. Forward of the pilot house, we worked our way onto the deck by staying low and using handholds. A large hatch in the deck appeared in front of us, and we dropped down into it- we went in single file, but it was actually big enough for two divers to move through side by side.
The interior was dark and foreboding- I thought about the 130 illegal immigrants who had endured a Pacific crossing, crammed into these dark confines, and shuddered. We didn't move very far from the hatch we had entered- there were hazards everywhere- pipes, wires, lumber and beams criss-crossed everywhere I looked! We did, in fact, exit the hatch side by side as we left.
Dropping back down to the protected port side, we saw other divers arriving, their lights sweeping slowly over the hull as they approached. Dan Warter was filming, and Rob and Paul were headed over to try and access a door they had found closed on a previous trip. Even though we still had a few minutes of bottom time left on the plan we had made, and Ken had plenty of gas, I thumbed the dive at approximately 20 minutes of run time. I had gotten a healthy shot of water through my neck seal when I jerked my head around at one point on the descent, and was feeling a little bit cold and soggy. I knew we had to pay for our bottom time by doing decompression, and I was in the mood to keep that payment on the lower end of the scale! We followed the line back over to the grapple, retrieved our strobe, and started our ascent. At 120 feet, we encountered the line leading over to the deco station, and followed it up. After completing some short deeper stops, we hit the first deco bar at 50'. It's very relaxing to be able to hang there and meditate without worrying about depth, buoyancy, and trim- I'm a big fan of the deco station! Other divers joined us as we hung above them- I thought they seemed early, but we found out when we got back on board that 4 people had bagged the dive before they ever hit bottom, due to the current, which had given them minimal deco obligations, and explained their presence ahead of schedule.
After 40 or so minutes of decompression, Ken and I were clear, and ascended to the surface.....right at the same moment that Rob cut the deco station loose from the down line, allowing it, and the divers hanging on it, to drift freely and comfortably with the tides, instead of flapping around like flags on a pole, which is what Ken and I had done for our entire deco!
Back on board, we were grinning from ear to ear over our successful dive. The crew had laid food out for us, and we helped ourselves to chili, sandwiches, and hot dogs. After we finally gathered the last of our divers on board, we retrieved our grapple and the deco station, and started back towards home, while exchanging stories of each other's dives. Dan, Rob, and Paul had stayed on the wreck for all of their planned 40 minutes of bottom time- Dan had gotten a lot of the shots he wanted to film, while Rob and Paul had managed to open the door they were curious about, although the area beyond it was not very accessible. These 3 guys are pretty much the epitome of hard-core wreck divers: NOTHING stops them from getting a job done!
On our return trip, we ran across a pod of orcas and followed them for a while from a respectful distance, unlike the fleet of whale watching boats that almost seemed to be herding them around. That was a real treat for me- I'd never seen an Orca before. Tired and weary, but still smiling, we offloaded the boat and said our goodbyes. A long day, but well worth it! I want to thank everyone who was on the trip- especially Captain Phil for being a great skipper, and Barb and
Ron, for putting the trip together. Lets do it again soon!
For more info, pictures, and film of the Black Dragon, and a bunch of other cool wrecks:
http://www.dcsfilms.com/Site_4/DCS_Website_24.html
Grappling the wreck turned out to be somewhat more of a challenge than we thought it would be, but after several attempts, we finally felt some positive resistance on the down line, so we tied the line off to a buoy and attached the deco station to the line. The Deco station is sort of like a floating series of trapeze bars, set at 10 foot intervals starting at 50 fsw, up to 10 fsw. It's very nice to be able to hang on the bars while completing one's staged decompression stops, especially in a current, and especially when the last diver up the line unhooks it from the down line, and the whole contraption just floats freely while the boat follows the attached surface buoys! Each team of divers attaches a strobe to the line, and retrieves it when they return. The team that retrieves their strobe last is tasked with unhooking the deco station. It's a great system; very well thought out, and it works flawlessly.
Ken and I splashed first- Ken was diving his doubles, with a single stage of deco gas, I was on my COPIS Megalodon CCR, with a stage of bailout gas. On the surface, we noted that slack current might not actually happen on this dive- the water was moving pretty fast, but we judged it to be worth a try. As we descended, it quickly became apparent that pulling ourselves down the line hand over hand was the only way we could get to the bottom! The current was right on the edge of what I would consider dive-able, at least without a scooter. As we finally came to depth, at approximately 150 fsw,
we stopped to attach our strobe, check on each other and catch our breath. We started looking around, the powerful lights from our HID lights stabbing through the dark green water.....the wreck was nowhere to be seen, however! We chased the down line a short distance horizontally to the grapple, and found that instead of hooking the wreck, it had fouled up in a rope that was pulled tight by the current and wind tugging on our buoys attached to the down line.....and it was starting to work itself free! As I watched, I could see the unidentified line slip through the grapple- we had more divers above us starting to descend, so I grabbed the mystery line and tied a couple fast knots with loops into it, and hooked them to the grapple. Ken and I looked at each other, and then down at the line stretching out into the gloom. We pulled hard on the line, and determined that it was firmly attached to something...we shrugged, and started following it to see if we could find the wreck. Visibility was perhaps 20 feet at depth, possibly a bit more. After travelling 20 or 30 feet, the starboard side of the hull suddenly loomed in front of us- the Black Dragon isn't a terribly big boat, compared to some other local wrecks like the Cape Breton, for example, but it seemed huge to me at that moment! I will never lose my sense of wonder and awe at seeing a shipwreck suddenly appear like that, seemingly like magic.
My first priority was to make sure our new line was firmly attached to the wreck- it disappeared behind the rudder at the stern, and I tried to follow it, but we had come up on the wreck on the lee side of the current, and the port side was getting hammered. As soon as I left the protection of the wreck, I was hit by the full force of it, and it was too strong to swim against. I pulled on the line one more time, and decided it was attached firmly enough for me! Ken and I headed slowly towards the bow. The boat had hit the bottom very hard when it sank, I'm told, and it is sitting in a sort of "crater." Which
means that you can see a fair ways underneath it- there is a kind of "cavern zone" under it- too small for a diver, but big enough for some MONSTER sized Ling cod and rock fish- they were very impressive; there is a lot of life on the wreck, and most of it is covered in plumose anemones as well. We rose up to the level of the deck rail a few times, but when we tried to swim across the deck, we were blown off and had to deflate and make ourselves negatively buoyant in order to get back into the protected zone, or else risk being blown off the wreck entirely! When we got to the bow, we could see the current ripping past, and decided that we were pretty happy sticking to the port side! But we needed to see just a bit more. We leisurely worked our way back towards the stern, and came back up to the deck level.
One thing I noticed that I really didn't like is that the wreck is covered in cave line- the kind we all use on our reels and spools. Divers are apparently tying off to the wreck, swimming around it, and simply cutting their lines off when they're done. We've noticed this more and more, especially on the lake Washington wrecks. It's unnecessary, irritating, it detracts from the wreck, and it creates entanglement hazards- besides which, it's littering, plain and simple. Clean your line up, people- these are not virgin caves that need guidelines. Forward of the pilot house, we worked our way onto the deck by staying low and using handholds. A large hatch in the deck appeared in front of us, and we dropped down into it- we went in single file, but it was actually big enough for two divers to move through side by side.
The interior was dark and foreboding- I thought about the 130 illegal immigrants who had endured a Pacific crossing, crammed into these dark confines, and shuddered. We didn't move very far from the hatch we had entered- there were hazards everywhere- pipes, wires, lumber and beams criss-crossed everywhere I looked! We did, in fact, exit the hatch side by side as we left.
Dropping back down to the protected port side, we saw other divers arriving, their lights sweeping slowly over the hull as they approached. Dan Warter was filming, and Rob and Paul were headed over to try and access a door they had found closed on a previous trip. Even though we still had a few minutes of bottom time left on the plan we had made, and Ken had plenty of gas, I thumbed the dive at approximately 20 minutes of run time. I had gotten a healthy shot of water through my neck seal when I jerked my head around at one point on the descent, and was feeling a little bit cold and soggy. I knew we had to pay for our bottom time by doing decompression, and I was in the mood to keep that payment on the lower end of the scale! We followed the line back over to the grapple, retrieved our strobe, and started our ascent. At 120 feet, we encountered the line leading over to the deco station, and followed it up. After completing some short deeper stops, we hit the first deco bar at 50'. It's very relaxing to be able to hang there and meditate without worrying about depth, buoyancy, and trim- I'm a big fan of the deco station! Other divers joined us as we hung above them- I thought they seemed early, but we found out when we got back on board that 4 people had bagged the dive before they ever hit bottom, due to the current, which had given them minimal deco obligations, and explained their presence ahead of schedule.
After 40 or so minutes of decompression, Ken and I were clear, and ascended to the surface.....right at the same moment that Rob cut the deco station loose from the down line, allowing it, and the divers hanging on it, to drift freely and comfortably with the tides, instead of flapping around like flags on a pole, which is what Ken and I had done for our entire deco!
Back on board, we were grinning from ear to ear over our successful dive. The crew had laid food out for us, and we helped ourselves to chili, sandwiches, and hot dogs. After we finally gathered the last of our divers on board, we retrieved our grapple and the deco station, and started back towards home, while exchanging stories of each other's dives. Dan, Rob, and Paul had stayed on the wreck for all of their planned 40 minutes of bottom time- Dan had gotten a lot of the shots he wanted to film, while Rob and Paul had managed to open the door they were curious about, although the area beyond it was not very accessible. These 3 guys are pretty much the epitome of hard-core wreck divers: NOTHING stops them from getting a job done!
On our return trip, we ran across a pod of orcas and followed them for a while from a respectful distance, unlike the fleet of whale watching boats that almost seemed to be herding them around. That was a real treat for me- I'd never seen an Orca before. Tired and weary, but still smiling, we offloaded the boat and said our goodbyes. A long day, but well worth it! I want to thank everyone who was on the trip- especially Captain Phil for being a great skipper, and Barb and
Ron, for putting the trip together. Lets do it again soon!
For more info, pictures, and film of the Black Dragon, and a bunch of other cool wrecks:
http://www.dcsfilms.com/Site_4/DCS_Website_24.html