Of course, there were some clients who would have preferred a little less attention to their needs.  Ashton Arsement, Brittan Clark and Stephanie Watawich were under the watchful eye of their Principals of Technical Diving Instructor – none other than our own Dave Snyder.  Dave has a reputation of being a little devilish at times, so his students came up with a hand-sign for him during the dives.  Dave was fortunate to have discovered this sign after Stephanie’s son Mathew visited at dinner and asked are you the Dave (with his hands on his head making horns) or are you “Dave” with a faraway dreamy or nice look (this would be Dave Sweeten).

Yes Stephanie saw the hand-sign starting but was too far away to have stopped the revelation.  The cat was out of the bag and Dave Snyder had a new hand-sign for himself underwater.  In fact, his wife Martha even started using in when she signaled to me asking “where is Dave.”

The diving was really nice despite some unusual currents.  Harvey Sisco commented that looking up a wall in Cozumel from 300’ was really spectacular and he could see why we liked doing those dives on a wall.  The wall itself at this depth was sparse but looking up at the coral heads, the fish and the surface way in the distance creates a lasting impression that carries you through the 90 minutes of decompression.  Of course you do have the advantage of decompressing on the reef you were looking at from below, so it is a wonderful way to dive.

Stephanie celebrated a birthday with us and Brittan Clark, Morgan Hann, and Liz Kreiger all completed there 100^th dive on this trip.  Ashton, Brittan and Stephanie finished their Principals of Technical Diving Course and Harvey Sisco completed his CCR Trimix Course on during this trip.  Congratulations everyone!

Our Florida wreck diving trip once again finds us over the final resting place of the MS Rhein a causality of the Second World War.  The German freighter was sacrificed by her crew in December of 1940 when they set her afire rather than allow her to be captured by the US Navy.  This stunning wreck lays in 240 feet of water with her kingposts reaching upwards to 140 feet.  Now the home of large schools of fish and goliath groupers, the MS Rhein is seen by few divers. 

Today, ten divers (two on open circuit scuba and eight on Closed Circuit Scuba) diving from the M/V Spree had the privilege of visiting this long forgotten piece of history.  This is to be the fist of many historical wrecks this group will be visiting.   According to Michael Barnette in his book, The Shipwrecks of the Sunshine State:

During 1940 much of the world was focused on the growing hostilities in Europe.  However, numerous countries had yet to enter the war, preferring neutrality to a repeat of the bloodshed they encountered in World War I.  While the American population opted to ignore and isolate itself from the “European problem,” the Roosevelt Administration recognized that Hitler was a clear and present danger to national security.  While neutral at the time, the United States government fully supported Great Britain and her allies.  The Declaration of Panama, adopted on October 3, 1939, ordered belligerent nations to stay out of a 300-mile neutrality zone off the coasts of the United States and Latin America.  However, this declaration was unilaterally enforced and never applied to those countries fighting the Axis powers.  Neutrality Patrols were established in order to assist with the war effort against Germany, while the United States remained “officially” neutral.

The MS Rhein was a 439-foot long freighter, built in Hamburg, Germany, by the Hamburg-America Line in 1926.  The latter half of 1940 found the freighter in the neutral port of Tampico, Mexico, separated from the safety of German waters by the expanse of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, both filled with prowling Allied warships.  November 29, 1940, also found a U.S. Neutrality Patrol consisting of the destroyers USS Simpson (DD-221), USS Broome (DD-210), and USS McCormick (DD-223) on station off Tampico.  At 8:35 a.m., the Rhein and Idarwald, another German merchant ship, were observed leaving port and steaming south, staying within Mexican territorial waters.  The USS Broome pulled anchor and slowly shadowed the German freighters.  On December 7, 1940, the USS McCormick was ordered to relieve the Broome and keep the Rhein under surveillance as she steamed east towards the Florida Straits and the open Atlantic.  As the Rhein steadily approached Florida, the USS MacLeish (DD-220) was given emergency orders and hastily sailed from Key West at 2:05 p.m. to rendezvous with the McCormick in the Gulf of Mexico.  At 3:50 p.m., the Dutch man-of-war Van Kinsbergen, sailing under the British flag, was sighted by the MacLeish and informed of the approaching German freighter.  The two warships sped westward to rendezvous with the McCormick and intercept the Rhein.  Nearing the Dry Tortugas, the 6,050 ton Rhein was finally intercepted by the Van Kinsbergen on the morning of December 11.  As the U.S. warships moved off, the Van Kinsbergen turned on her spotlights and fired a warning shot across the bow of the Rhein.  With no escape possible, the crew of the Rhein attempted to scuttle their vessel and set fire to the ship.  A boarding party from the Van Kinsbergen attempted to salvage the freighter but abandoned efforts due to the fire that raged out of control, as well as armed resistance from the German crew.  After the skirmish, the MacLeish reported observing an empty lifeboat riddled with bullet holes and stained with blood.  That afternoon, the HMS Caradoc arrived to receive the German prisoners from the Van Kinsbergen.  The Caradoc then proceeded to fire 22 six-inch projectiles at the still-burning freighter, eventually sending her to the bottom at 3:56 p.m.

The waters were calm but there were currents all the way down to the wreck.  The group made two dives on the wreck, with Richie and Dan finding a number of artifacts inside the vessel; most of which they left for future divers to find.  Carrie told Richie that she already felt like she lived in a Bennigan’s Restaurant so he could only bring home china and glass – no brass!

Our next stop the highlight of the trip for our avid group of soon to be transformed treasure divers ( treasure fever seems to hit all of the divers when they watch, as Captain Frank puts it “Pigpen I and Pigpen II digging in the wreck and coming up with portholes, deck prisms, a door lintel, a saucer, and other goodies. True to form treasure fever did hit and the divers elected to remain on the Araby Maid for two days.  Not everyone was successful with their treasure collecting, Bernie Chowerdy and his student were forced to abandon the porthole they had been working on and Ian only came back with some incredible video of the wreck (of course that is the only treasure he was looking for).

After leaving the Araby Maid, our cure for treasure fever, we moved on to the wreck of submarine U2513.  According to Michael Barnette:

The U-2513 was a Type XXI German U-boat built in 1944. Boasting a length of 252′, she was the most technologically advanced U-boat built during World War II. Advanced sonar capability, greater torpedo delivery (6 bow tubes), greater depth range, and a hydraulic torpedo loader allowed for total reloading in 12 minutes. Known as an “elektroboat,” she could stay submerged for a greater period than her predecessors due to her robust battery supply. Unfortunately for the German war effort, the Type XXI U-boats were introduced too late in the war to make a difference; only 12 Type XXI boats were cruise-ready by the end of the war.

The U-2513 was eventually towed 23 miles northeast of the Dry Tortugas to be sunk as a target by the destroyer U.S.S. Robert A. Owens on 7 October 1951. Supposedly Navy divers visited the wreck in the 1950s, but recreational divers did not visit her remains until almost 1990. She now sits in 214′ of water with damage fore and aft of the conning tower. Part of her sail lays in the sand off to the starboard, with hedgehogs (anti-submarine weapons) residing on the port side.

Captain Frank on Deco

It was a beautiful day for a dive with calm seas,  100’ visability and very manageable surface currents.  This is a beautiful wreck with fish all around including some very large Goliath Groupers.  After one dive it was time to move closer to Key West and a night dive on the newly sunk Vandenburg.

According to Captain Frank’s trip report:

… after an 8 hour steam, we arrived at the Vandenberg. Mel got in to set the sideline in zero current. By the time it was set, current was ripping. The Vandenberg has been populated by some pretty cool fish, but the highlight, at least for those on deck, was the ocean sunfish, or Mola Mola that came to visit. It was a small one, about 3 feet fin tip to fin tip. It hung out at the boat for a little while, then wandered off to do fish things.

The next morning Captain Frank put it best, “Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, with a screaming current. No one could swim against it. Melanie used all of her wiles and tricks to put in a sideline, and off we went…. Er… Off we looked and said “Ummm… Maybe another cup of coffee.   This was not a “sporty” current but rather a ripping current. 

The divers relaxed, lounged, and watched divers on the local day boats try and battle the ever increasing current.  At around 11:00 the current had slacked and divers began hitting the water.  Like Captain Frank, Dave and I went exploring the wreck to determine its usefulness for future training trips.  Captain Frank’s conclusion “…I went to the sand at 157 feet, and sure enough, you can do an advanced nitrox and deco procedures class here.”  Dave and I swam the entire wreck, ducking inside from time to time to escape the currents and to improve our view since the visibility was poor due to the currents.  I think we decided this will be a good location for future training trips.  There are a lot of spots to duck out of the current that do not violate standards for no penetrations as well as a number of good penetration routs for a penetration course.

As with all of my trips with Captain Frank, it was a fun and exciting trip with a lot of good diving.  I can’t wait for next year’s wreck trip…I am already signed up.

We had an ambitions schedule planned.  We contacted Tom Mount to help us accomplish a few goals for the year.  Dave needed to finish his Meg Instructor course so I volunteered to be his student and I needed to complete my OC/CCR Trimix Instructor Trainer Certification so Dave volunteered to be my candidate for the session.

Tom set up two weeks worth of training and diving for us.  We planned to do a lot of wreck diving while we were in the area as part of our course.  Our plans called for dives on a variety of wrecks at various depths.

During the next few days the winds built and came from the wrong direction.  What this meant for us was more time at Tom’s house in lectures and in pools.  In fact it meant a lot of extra lecture time and discussions about new training materials.

During our dive on the Speigel Grove, my training dive on the Meg, I had two instructors, Dave and another instructor candidate along wit Tom.  Since I was the student, I was anticipating a lot of drills with my instructors.  What happened was not at all what I expected.  During the descent it became apparent that the other instructor candidate was having problems with buoyancy and we found that his jacket was having trouble holding air.  Of course while Dave was helping him sort it out, Tom, who had grown impatient with the lack of attention to me, the student quickly appeased himself by giving me a “boom scenario” to deal with.  Having successfully accomplished the procedure for dealing with the “problem” our other instructor candidate signaled he was ok and ready to continue.  Tom started on the dive. 

Dave soon realized  that this other person was not in the proper space for the dive and was having trouble maintaining buoyancy.  So rather than focus on me “the student” he decided that he needed to watch the other candidate.  As Tom approached a wide opening that traverses the wreck, everyone apparently signaled ok and in he went.  I have to admit I was really laughing at myself in the passageway.  I kept getting stuck.  This was not my normal configuration!  Imagine a Wreck Instructor getting stuck on a simple dive.  I soon realigned myself and pulled my way out into the opening, under Tom’s watchful eyes.  As I turned around there was no one behind me.  Tom and I waited and still there were no divers behind us.  I looked back down the passage and there was no one there.  I communicated this to Tom and then after a little more of a delay the other candidate entered the passage creating a cloud of silt for Dave to swim through.  Dave later told us that he had a difficult time getting the other person to follow.

It was at this point, we all noticed how poor his buoyancy was and that he appeared to be struggling to stay afloat in the water column.  Further, Dave was signaling Tom that the diver was low on dil.  Tom, immediately terminated the dive leading us to the mooring line.  After our safety stop, we exited the water to a surprised crew.  We were supposed to be go for 2 hours and we were surfacing before the other recreational divers.

Tom started to talk to Dave about the lack of drills for his “student” during the dive but quickly changed his focus when the entire situation became known.  Then his attention switched to the other diver/candidate. 

In the end, Dave and I did accomplish our goals.  Dave received his Meg Instructor and his CCR Normoxic Trimix Instructor credentials and I received my OC/CCR Trimix Instructor credentials.  We also decided that January was not the best time to travel to Florida for diving.  The winds are unpredictable and the diving is likely to get blown out.  Something Tom knew and tried to tell us but who said we ever listen.

Oh well, live and learn…

Recently I was introduced to Don Labruzzo, owner of Dive Extreme who like any good salesman pursued our business and invited us to dive with him.  He came with good references, Wayne Cooper, a recent Optima rebreather student spoke highly of him.  Wade Sparks, one of our Assistant Instructors, agreed to try him out while he was on a vacation with his wife in Playa del Carmen.  Wade too brought back good reports of Don’s operation.

 In talking with my current Trimix students, Madison and Jerry, I proposed the idea of completing our open water session in Cozumel.  Looking at the costs of going to Florida and the quality of the deep diving in comparison to the walls in Cozumel, it made good sense to go to Cozumel (cost wise it was about $200.00 more).  Two other of our technical diving clients, Kelly and Geoff, also agreed that a weekend of diving in Cozumel sounded like fun, They joined us.

The plan was to do one dive on Thursday, two on Friday, two on Saturday and return on Sunday.  Maximum depth, 240 feet.  We arrived in Cozumel with a strong north wind which made the diving a little rough.  The first dive was on Villa Blanca Wall, not too far out by boat so we could get a long dive in and be done before dark.  Don’s boat is a 40’ modified sport fisher with lots of room and a good crew.

The next day the winds were still up but had shifted so the waves abated a little.  Dives onto Yucaab wall and Paradise.  Not the most picturesque walls in the area but a reasonable run with the weather the way it was and the drills I needed to do with the students.  In-between dives, Don and his crew treated us to a lunch of fresh baked bread (from that morning), cheese, cold cuts, fresh made salsa, tortillas and guacamole.

Our plan for Saturday included a run down to Palancar for some truly spectacular wall diving.  Unfortunately, the winds shifted again and the port was closed to all baot traffic.  That meant no diving offshore.  Don offered to take us all to a local Cenote but I was not comfortable taking everyone into one of the small openings found in Cozumel with their current skills. 

However, Kelly and Geoff jumped at the offer.  According to them, they had an adventure that involved a local army/police unit, a stalled truck, no change of clothes and a fantastic dive.  I think they are truly hooked on Yucatan diving.

Unfortunately the storm did not abate so we returned to Houston, still in need of some extra dives. 

I did find diving with Don’s operation a pleasant surprise when compared to my previous experiences.  He is runs a good operation, with a great group of men and woman who understand customer service and want to build a relationship with their clients.  We will be back.