denise
06-10-2010, 08:31 AM
Five of us headed off to Lantana Beach to dive the SkyCliffe on Friday 4th June 2010. As usual we dove with Captain Larry of Dolphin Sun Dive Charters, and he has a really nice new boat.
https://dolphinsun.com/images/dive_boat1_4tp9.jpg
Captain Larry Pearce is one of the most experienced dive captains in Palm Beach County and has been chartering boats for more than 20 years in the area. Helping him on our trip he also had Divemaster Bill.
The SkyCliffe is a 320 foot long freighter, sitting upright in ~200 feet of water, less than one mile from the beach! The deck runs at ~180 feet, and the bow stretches up to 140ish. This wreck is covered in soft corals and sea fans, and is home to countless amount of fish, sea urchins and lobsters. Despite more than ten years under the water, the wreck is still intact and in very good condition.
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010033.jpg
The entire structure of the SkyCliffe wreck is covered in tiny little anemones
It is a short ride out to the site, and as we left the shore, there was only a slight chop on the surface, and the sea was nice and blue. At the site there was still only a very slight chop, and Larry determined there was a moderate southerly current. As we all geared up, Larry set us up for a free ascent. We each had three bottles (trimix as back gas and 50% nitrox to deco on), and we all dove wetsuits (more later....).
Once we were all ready we hopped in and followed Tjs lead (as he has a unique ability to "sniff" out wrecks). They surface water was nice and toasty, and we passed through a big school of jacks at about 80 feet. Unfortunately, also at 80-90 feet, there was a thermocline, and the water temperature started to drop very rapidly. Tj and Chris hit the wreck towards the bow, and the rest of us hit down soon after, perfect drop thanks to Larry :)
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010029.jpg
Brent on the wreck, 180 feet
Most of our computers were saying about 70 degrees, but they were still dropping. It was FREEZING down there! As we swam around on the deck, the computers finally registered 57 degrees! We all had ice cream headaches. We swam along the main deck and explored one of the large holds. We didn't have enough time to do any penetration, but there is alot of potential there. There was a bit of current on the wreck, not too strong, the main issue was the stinging cold water. Vizability was 60+ feet, and TJ got some nice video footage of us swimming around.
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010044.jpg
Chris on the superstructure
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010048.jpg
Hunter on the superstructure
There is alot of life on this wreck normally, and today was no exception. Massive schools of jacks and snappers were all around it, as well as the usual collection of sea fans, pufferfish and angelfish in amongst the coral and anemones growing on the wreck.
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010037.jpg
Chris swimming along the main deck
Finally the cold got to us, and we decided to revert back to our earlier plan....Hunter and Brent readied the liftbag as we all awaited eagerly.
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010056.jpg
Unfortunately as it inflated and sped to the surface, it somehow became unclipped from the reel, so Hunter was left with just the reel as the bag took off. Brent pulled out his bag, and they shot that without issue and we all took off to our first stop.
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010031.jpg
Leaving the wreck.....
and heading for our first stop
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010063.jpg
As we left we floated away from the wreck, it looked very green from all the tiny little anemones covering it. We saw alot of jellyfish in the water during deco, and some weird floating sponge things.
Our total run time for our dive was 68 minutes, our max depth was 201 feet, and water temperature ranged from 57 degrees on the bottom to 83 in the surface water. Visibility was great throughout also, more than 60 feet.
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/DSC06302.jpg
So despite the cold, we had a great dive, we had really nice sea conditions, and congrats to Brent and Hunter who did really well in their Trimix Class :armata_PDT_34:
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010051.jpg
Rest of the pics from the SkyCliffe Dive here (http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/)
https://dolphinsun.com/images/dive_boat1_4tp9.jpg
Captain Larry Pearce is one of the most experienced dive captains in Palm Beach County and has been chartering boats for more than 20 years in the area. Helping him on our trip he also had Divemaster Bill.
The SkyCliffe is a 320 foot long freighter, sitting upright in ~200 feet of water, less than one mile from the beach! The deck runs at ~180 feet, and the bow stretches up to 140ish. This wreck is covered in soft corals and sea fans, and is home to countless amount of fish, sea urchins and lobsters. Despite more than ten years under the water, the wreck is still intact and in very good condition.
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010033.jpg
The entire structure of the SkyCliffe wreck is covered in tiny little anemones
It is a short ride out to the site, and as we left the shore, there was only a slight chop on the surface, and the sea was nice and blue. At the site there was still only a very slight chop, and Larry determined there was a moderate southerly current. As we all geared up, Larry set us up for a free ascent. We each had three bottles (trimix as back gas and 50% nitrox to deco on), and we all dove wetsuits (more later....).
Once we were all ready we hopped in and followed Tjs lead (as he has a unique ability to "sniff" out wrecks). They surface water was nice and toasty, and we passed through a big school of jacks at about 80 feet. Unfortunately, also at 80-90 feet, there was a thermocline, and the water temperature started to drop very rapidly. Tj and Chris hit the wreck towards the bow, and the rest of us hit down soon after, perfect drop thanks to Larry :)
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010029.jpg
Brent on the wreck, 180 feet
Most of our computers were saying about 70 degrees, but they were still dropping. It was FREEZING down there! As we swam around on the deck, the computers finally registered 57 degrees! We all had ice cream headaches. We swam along the main deck and explored one of the large holds. We didn't have enough time to do any penetration, but there is alot of potential there. There was a bit of current on the wreck, not too strong, the main issue was the stinging cold water. Vizability was 60+ feet, and TJ got some nice video footage of us swimming around.
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010044.jpg
Chris on the superstructure
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010048.jpg
Hunter on the superstructure
There is alot of life on this wreck normally, and today was no exception. Massive schools of jacks and snappers were all around it, as well as the usual collection of sea fans, pufferfish and angelfish in amongst the coral and anemones growing on the wreck.
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010037.jpg
Chris swimming along the main deck
Finally the cold got to us, and we decided to revert back to our earlier plan....Hunter and Brent readied the liftbag as we all awaited eagerly.
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010056.jpg
Unfortunately as it inflated and sped to the surface, it somehow became unclipped from the reel, so Hunter was left with just the reel as the bag took off. Brent pulled out his bag, and they shot that without issue and we all took off to our first stop.
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010031.jpg
Leaving the wreck.....
and heading for our first stop
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010063.jpg
As we left we floated away from the wreck, it looked very green from all the tiny little anemones covering it. We saw alot of jellyfish in the water during deco, and some weird floating sponge things.
Our total run time for our dive was 68 minutes, our max depth was 201 feet, and water temperature ranged from 57 degrees on the bottom to 83 in the surface water. Visibility was great throughout also, more than 60 feet.
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/DSC06302.jpg
So despite the cold, we had a great dive, we had really nice sea conditions, and congrats to Brent and Hunter who did really well in their Trimix Class :armata_PDT_34:
http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/P1010051.jpg
Rest of the pics from the SkyCliffe Dive here (http://www.divetraining.net/pictures/2010_june_04_skycliff/)