Dive Trip Report to:
Florida's Beaches! - Vero Beach - Breconshire (Boiler) Wreck
Purpose:
To
Beach Dive Florida
for old wrecks, cannon, ships, bugs etc!
Date / Dive #:
Sunday, 21-July-2002, Morning Dive.
A. Dive Beach Location:
Beach Dive - Pepper Park - 4th Reef!
B. Conditions:
Visibility:
20 to 30 feet
Seas:
Flat to less than 6 inches.
Water Temp:
82 deg
Skies:
Some high cloud cover when we first arrived, but it clear to the typical Sunny,
Clear Blue Skies!
Air Temp:
80 / low 90's
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time:
Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 1?? for ??
Air consumption:
Me: 80 cu ft - 3100 lbs - ??
Current:
There was a slight current to the north. There was a slight occasional surge,
maybe 6 inches.
Description:
We arrived at the intersection of RT 60 and the Atlantic Ocean in Vero at 8:00
am. There were several divers, previous members of the group, one family with
two new dive kayaks, and a new-bee to the group. We entered the water around
8:45 am. The new-bee diver was having problems with his tank falling out of
the strap. I went over to look and found the strap was incorrectly wrapped.
Yea, it's a very complex wrapping pattern of the belt around the buckle. And,
it will only work when wrapped ONE WAY!! At first I was going to call it an
end to his dive, but then called over another diver and worked out the strap
wrap pattern from the other diver belt. Its Worked. I'll put a picture of
the wrapping sequence on the net:
BC Strap Wrap
.
With this fixed, we flopped on our backs and kicked out. Our two kayaker's
were out in the area of the wreck, but had not found it yet. The tide was
still going out and the wreck was still below the surface. As we neared the
wreck location, a mask appeared. The kayaker's tied off at it and we descended
to look around. About this time, I noticed a snorkeler swimming out to us with
just fins, mask and snorkel - no other floatation!! This was also a new-bee
that arrived late. I loaned her my dive equipment so she could see the wreck.
It was new to her.
I had seen most of the wreck in past dives. This dive had the wreck in about 10 - 12 feet of water. In the past I had 20 foot depth readings. I think a lot of the inside of the wreck has filled in with sand. This wreck consists of various large pieces of metal most of which do not represent any part of a ship. Yea, there are some side plates, but most of the pieces are grass incrusted and hard to differentiate from a rock pile. There are some large pipe structures. About 50 feet to the north of the first mask piece that came out of the water is the remains of the boiler. These are large masses of metal containers that years ago resembled a boiler. On one swim to the reef line out from the wreck and to the south, several divers spotted some very large BUGS! Unfortunately, the season doesn't open for another week.
On the swim back one diver picked up an empty Lobster Shell. That bug probably was a 5 pounder. After we got back to our cars, a local Vero Boy's-In-Blue came by and was about to give the diver free room-and-board for taking a bug out of season. We all celebrated with the traditional toast and discussed our pending next dive. Some of the divers retired to the Irishman's Love Palace for a Lobster Dinner. Had to clean out the freezer of bugs from last year to make room for new ones.
Last Updated: 24-July-2002