# Oriskany dive report 8/15/2011: The road less traveled



## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

*Date:* 8/15/2011
*Location:* Oriskany
*Air Temp:* 85 degrees
*Water Temps:*
· Surface to 45’: 85 degrees
· 45’ to 120’: 75 degrees
· 120’ to 160’: 70 degrees
· 160’ to 225’: 68 degrees​*Visibility: *
· Surface to 80’: 30’
· 80’ to 225’: 50’​*Current:* 1 knot out of the south.
*Gear:* Rebreather, trimix, scooter, lights, reel, etc.

I set out to accomplished three tasks on this dive:




Complete my circumnavigation of the bottom of the hull by touring the forward half of the ship.
Check out the auxiliary control room in the bow of the ship.
Explore the forward windlass room.
*The Bottom:*
Last week I checked out the rear half of the ship where it meets the bottom. The props make for a cool dive. The stern is in a large depression in the sand. There is a nice swim-through under the stern near the two remaining props. You will find a fair amount of debris on the starboard side of the ship from the stern to the island. Some of the debris is the result of the smoke stack that was blown out by a tropical storm in 2009. Other bits appear to have been dropped by fisherman as reefing material.

This week I explored the forward half of the ship where it meets the sand. There is not much to see until you near the bow. The bow sits in a big depression in the sand at 225’. The view looking up is spectacular. The width of the ship expands from a few fee to over a 100’ wide above. Two huge anchor chains extending out of the sides of the ship and extend at an angle to the sand. There are also two large tow ropes exiting the bow about 10’ below the flight deck and extending to the sand forward of the ship. I found several cool shells on the bottom. Sadly the biggest one was occupied by a small (4”) octopus, so I left it behind. Few fish were present on the bottom. I spotted a few small red snapper and grunts.

*Auxiliary Control:* 
The auxiliary control room is located just below the flight deck in the bow of the ship. There are a number of windows to the control room located between the two long “arresters” sticking out of the bow. I looked into each window in turn. There is not much to see. There appeared to be a pile of debris in the shadows at the back of the room. It is a large room so my light did reach to the back wall. Accounting to Jim Philips, at MBT Divers, it is likely that most of the movable items in the control room slid to the back of the room during the sinking of the ship (stern-first). I did not see any fish in this room.

*Chain and Windlass Room:*
I followed one of the anchor chains to the point where it meets the hull. At about 180’ down the anchor chain extend through is a large circular tunnel rising at a sharp angle into the windlass room. The tunnel is large enough for me to swim through, so I followed the chain up another 20’ into the room above. The windlass room appears to be immediately behind the auxiliary control room. I could see light streaming in from ports on the bow and from holes in the flight deck above. The room is quite large and both anchor chains are clearly visible extending back to the windlasses. I followed the anchor chain to the rear of the compartment. The doorway in the back of the room was obviously enlarged prior to sinking. There is also an access hole in the flight deck behind the windlass room and through the enlarged doorway. As my gear was too large to fit through these access holes, I exited the ship via the anchor chain guide. This was a very interesting dive and, and in my opinion, one of the best dives on the Oriskany.

*WARNING:* You will find several inches of silt on the floor of the windlass room, as well as dangling wires and string. This dive should only be attempted by divers trained in low visibility and overhead environments. 

*Other Notes:*
The Oriskany is a popular fishing spot. For the first couple of weekends after amberjack season opened AJs were pretty scarce on the Oriskany. However, there were noticeably more (Greater) Amberjack (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amberjack) and almaco jacks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almaco_jack) on the ship during this dive. There were fewer fish than normal, but an increase none-the-less. Most amberjack that I saw were in the 20-35 lb range. The almaco jacks were 5-15 lbs. . I also saw a few red snapper in the 5-10 lb range near “the island.” I spotted a couple of medium-sized shovel nose lobsters at 150’ and 120’. One was a female carrying a few remaining eggs. It appears that the shovel nose spawning season is winding down.

I encountered a CRAZY number (100s) of moon jellies from the surface down to about 30’. I spent 50 minutes of deco unsuccessfully trying to dodge them. Even with the jellyfish stings, the dive was well worth it!


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## sniper (Oct 3, 2007)

Very cool. Thank you for a very detailed report. Not that I ever plan to go that deep.


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## polar21 (Nov 5, 2007)

Probably the best dive report I have ever read. Did you have someone with you down there? What was your bottom time?


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## WhackUmStackUm (Jan 31, 2010)

polar21 said:


> Probably the best dive report I have ever read. Did you have someone with you down there? What was your bottom time?


Thanks. My wife usually dives with me but she was in Dubai this week. I began my ascent after about 30 minutes.


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## Diesel (Jan 9, 2008)

WhackUmStackUm said:


> Thanks. My wife usually dives with me but she was in Dubai this week. I began my ascent after about 30 minutes.



Your wife was "in Dubai this week..." like it's a totally normal thing....killer report.


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## flappininthebreeze (Jul 13, 2009)

You're killing me. Great dive and great report. Nice job all the way around.


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## TONER (Mar 25, 2008)

Great Report! I dont ever plan on going that deep so its neat to hear about :thumbup:


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## kennethmandel62 (Oct 3, 2007)

Nice report! I enjoyed the read.


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## Heartbreaker (Jun 30, 2009)

Amazing Read Really enjoyed it Thanx


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## Deep South (Oct 8, 2007)

Great report. Almost felt like I was there.


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