Dive Trip Report to: , Port Canaveral, 30-June-2002
Purpose: To monitor some special items for a friend!

We met at a Wrecking / Recovery company next to the Coast Guard Station at 5:00 am. The boat left around 6:00 am. This dive trip was on a @45 ft Crew Ferry Boat. The boat had a nice cabin and large rear deck for our use. On boat sat high on the water making for a 6 ft climb for a diver from the water to the boat. We left Port Canaveral around 5:30 am on Monday, 24-June-2002. The conditions were fairly calm, minor winds and no rain. As the day progressed, we had mostly sunshine in the morning and low cloud cover in the afternoon. On the way out to the dive site we all helped prepare for the dive operation.

As a general comment, this boat's ladder was very difficult to use. It was poorly secured to the boat, moved around a lot, the slant was incorrect – the bottom of the ladder was into the boat instead of away from it, it really needed another step at the top, you needed to remove your fins and hand them up (a 5 – 6 ft drop) – this was difficult in heavy seas. All of the above made it very strenuous to climb the ladder with all of the dive gear and weights. It did allow us back on the boat, but I would rate it as on the bottom of my list of climb-back-on-board facilities.

Dive #1: . My Dive #393
A. Dive Boat / Location: Easy-Going with Paradise Charters / NE of Port Canaveral B. Conditions:
Visibility: 30 – 40 ft vis top to about 75 ft down with blue water, 20 ft vis with whale snot and brown water below 75 ft.
Seas: Almost Flat - maybe 3 - 6 inches!!
Water Temp: 76 Deg on the bottom
Skies: Sunny, Clear Blue Sky's - Typial of Florida!!
Air Temp: high 80's
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer -Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer – 98 ft for 16 min
Air consumption: Me: (120 cu ft) 3500 lbs - 1800 lbs, 33% NITROX, PO2 1.30
Current: Medium to the North - maybe 1 knot
Description: The crew prepared our work for us, this was a special dive. We both jumped in and gave each other the OK. I started down – no dive partner. Back up at the surface, my dive partner had problems with his BC inflator hose. It was not connected to the front of his BC, but was hanging behind his tank. I handed him the hose and we started down. Several other times during the dive, I had to stop what I was doing and hand him his inflator hose.
When we finally arrived on the bottom (@98 ft depth), it was sand. We had some work to do. My dive partner was, well, er, you mght say - not very helpful. Oh, yes, he's a dive instructor at a local dive shop (not one that I'd go to)!!

Dive #2: . My Dive #394
A. Dive Boat / Location: Easy-Going with Paradise Charters / NE of Port Canaveral
B. Conditions:
Visibility: 30 – 40 ft vis top to about 75 ft down with blue water, 20 ft vis with whale snot and brown water below 75 ft.
Seas: 1 ft.
Water Temp: 73 - 76 (Fricken Cold for June)!!!
Skies: Sunny, Clear Blue Sky's - Typial of Florida!!
Air Temp: high 80's
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer – 95 ft for 10 minutes
Air consumption: Me: (120 cu ft) 3500 lbs - ? lbs, 34% NITROX, PO2 1.31!
Current: : Nil
Description: The goal of second dive was to go in and fix some equipment. We did our thing, then we ended the dive and went back on board the boat.

Dive #3: . My Dive #395
A. Dive Boat / Location: Easy-Going with Paradise Charters / NE of Port Canaveral
B. Conditions:
Visibility: NA
Seas: 3 to 5 / 6 feet
Water Temp: NA
Skies: Sunny, Clear Blue Sky's - Typial of Florida!!
Air Temp: high 80's
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - NA
Air consumption: Me: (120 cu ft) ? cu ft - ? lbs, 34% NITROX, PO2. I didn't take pressure readings, but did breath tank air for the entire dive.
Current: Medium to the north, but part of this could be due to the wind taking the boat.
Description: This was a recovery operation for the second equipment that was put out. The wire to the hoist clip was not very long and when the boat moved in the heavy seas, it went several feet out of the water. That pulled the hook out of my hands. The heavy seas, strong current (more likely it was the wind moving the boat) made it difficult to pull the items to within a few feet of the ship's stern and hook it on to be pulled up. We were successful in getting the items out of the water. This was very hard work. And, again, getting back onto the boat via the stern ladder was difficult in both the heavy seas and the ladder configuration.

Dive #4: . My Dive #396
A. Dive Boat / Location: Easy-Going with Paradise Charters / NE of Port Canaveral
B. Conditions:
Visibility: NA
Seas: 3 to 5 / 6 feet
Water Temp: NA
Skies: Sunny, Clear Blue Sky's - Typial of Florida!!
Air Temp: high 80's
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - NA
Air consumption: Me: (120 cu ft) ? cu ft - ? lbs, 34% NITROX, PO2. I didn't take pressure readings, but did breath tank air for the entire dive.
Current: Medium to the north, but part of this could be due to the wind taking the boat.
Description: This was a recovery operation for the 1st itmes that were put out. All comments made above hold for this dive. Again, it was very hard work. We were successful in getting the items out of the water. And, again, getting back onto the boat via the stern ladder was difficult in both the heavy seas and the ladder configuration.

Last Updated: 06-July-2002