Re: Spiegel Grove now upright

Lee Bell wrote: 
"captkeywest" wrote


Report heard on FM104.1 vis at Looe yesterday was excellent.  Marker 24
(the lighted 20' tall steel I-beam marking Looes east end) joined the
marker Georges bent over in 1998.



Thanks.

That's good news.

I'm scheduled for a three diy dive trip to the Dry Tortugas area on August 8 and I was planning a week long vacation in Islamorada on the 12th. Unfortunately, the motel we booked with lost all their docks as Dennis passed by. I've rescheduled the same week at Crystal Bay Resort in Marathon. We'll be trailering our 15 footer down. At the end of the week, we'll be joined by a bunch of boat club members and their "dinghys." In this context, dinghy means whatever they want it to mean, from 8 foot inflatables with motors barely able to plane them out, to , well, to me and my 85 hp 15 foot V hull. If I were only coming down for the weekend, I'd bring my inflatable dinghy too. Mine, however, is 10 feet and powered by a 25 Mercury. It's downright scary.


Big Pine Shoal Marker (36'?) destroyed. 


Not good.  Sea Tow, on the other hand, will be pleased.


KEY LARGO - The mooring buoys from the Spiegel Grove artificial reef
were removed Tuesday and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
officials called for a voluntary closure of the wreck, while Upper Keys
dive operators celebrated the uprighting of the massive sunken ship by
Hurricane Dennis.


I sincerely hope they ignore the request. The operators in that area could use a break and this is probaby just the kind of break they need. I'm sure I'm not the only one that saw the Grove on its side that would love to see it as it was supposed to be, upright.


"Once we see it's safe and try to get a new assessment done, we'll
re-install the mooring buoys," she said.


What, do they think the ship's going to fall on somebody? This is more than a little silly. I guess if I want to see it soon, I'll have to take my own boat down. That's a hassel and an expense I would just as soon avoid for a day trip.


Divers couldn't find the port bow anchor and the ship has settled an
additional 8 to 10 feet into the seafloor, making it a deeper dive,
Heck said.


Ummm, there's something wrong with this statement, or the guy that said it. I guess he means that the shallowest depth that will allow you to reach the wreck is deeper. That's a pretty deceptive concept and, considering that the top of the wreck is not all that deep, not a big deal. The movement of the ship, on the other hand, is a bit of a concern.


"When Dennis was southeast of Cuba, it would have produced very high
waves that computer models project could have reached Key Largo," said
Strahan, according to a press release from the Tourist Development
Council. "Waves that high in close proximity to the reef can produce
unusually strong currents with tremendous force."


When Andrew hit South Miami, the Noula Express, a ship sunk at about 120 feet, well north of where hurricane force winds were, was broken in half, the stern section was lifted and put down on a smuggler's sub placed nearby and then picked up and put down near it's original location again. It sould be no surprise to anybody that hurricanes do a lot more underwater than expected.


"This will mean a whole new dive for those that have dove it before,"
Bleser said. "Its orientation is now less confusing for new divers, and
it's a bit deeper dive now."



Deeper?  I guess that means that the ship is wider than it is tall.


"She's more stable than ever," he said. "And she's sitting as level as
a pool table."



So what's the danger preventing operators from visiting the site?

Lee




This is known as the HeeBee GeeBee Syndrome, typically seen in control freaks that think that actually know something when everyone else knows they don't.

--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'
.

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