SPECIAL NOTE: As you can see I’ve cut the trip back from five days to three. The weather forecast for Wednesday and Thursday is marginal at best and although I really don’t believe long range forecasts the Friday forecast as of right now is 2 to 3 going to 1 to 2. I need divers to sign up NOW; don’t wait to see if the weather forecast looks good before deciding. If we can’t find any divers soon that want to dive these under utilized wrecks out of AC we will be running out of Brielle to alternate destinations.
Friday 18th through Sunday 20th
Friday the 18th - OPEN - The Almirante - The Almirante was a United Fruit Company steamship bound from New York City to Colon, Panama with a full cargo hold. On Friday September 6, 1918 at 2:00 a.m. The 15,000-ton Navy tanker USS Hisko rammed the Almirante in heavy seas and fog. She sits in 70’ of water on a clean sand bottom. This was the wreck we recovered the auxiliary helm from this past spring and the literally thousands of ceramic tiles from the previous year. A lot more waits to be found on her.
Saturday the 19th – OPEN - San Jose’ – Built in 1904 in Ireland this massive 330’ ship sank in a collision with the Santa Elisa January 17th 1942 and was reported to have been torpedoed after the collision by the U-123. She now lies in 100’ of water. Her wreckage is spread over a wide area, with the main portion of the hull on its port side, pretty much intact. She can be penetrated and divers can enter long corridors with adjoining rooms.
Sunday the 20th – OPEN - The Astra - the Astra sits in 85 ft of water on a sandy bottom. Her stern is intact and lists to port. The rest of the ship sits upright, her midsection collapsed. She can be easily penetrated, and is a great photography, artifact and food wreck. The stern has the greatest relief, coming 25 ft or so off the sand. We visited her back in May and although not a “sister” ship to the Tolten she could be described as a “cousin” as both ships were built in Denmark to a similar deck plan. Artifacts can be found simply by hand fanning.
Gene Peterson’s site http://www.njwreckdivers.com/p/shipwrecks.html also has some good information on all of the Atlantic City wrecks
If you’re interested in this trip contact me ASAP at 973-887-DEEP or on my cell 201-401-4608 you can either call or text me.
NEXT WEEK
Thursday the 24th – Thanksgiving Special – One tank dive on the Delaware 80’ – The Thanksgiving morning dive on-board the Sea Lion as been a tradition for over 30 years. We’ll be leaving the dock at 0800 and returning by noon. It not only gets you out of the house in the morning there’s always the chance you could add a lobster to Thanksgiving dinner. I currently have enough to sail but as always a few more would be nice.
Saturday the 26th – OPEN – Mohawk 80’ - The Mohawk is always a good dive with something for everyone, whether you’re into lobsters and fish, artifacts, photography or just sightseeing. Sunk January 24th 1935 after colliding with the MV Talisman do to failure of the Mohawks steering gear.
Sunday the 27th – OPEN - Emerald Wreck 80’ - The "Emerald" wreck is probably the Hibiscus, a wood-hulled twin-screw steamer built in 1864 and commissioned into the U.S. Navy at that time. She saw service during the Civil War out of Tampa and Key West Florida. She was decommissioned in 1866 and sold in New York; later renamed Francis Wright, then renamed back to Hibiscus. While cruising off the New Jersey coast she broke a propeller shaft, took on water, and sank. A pretty little wreck that got its name from the abundance of copper and brass on the site when it was first found and is best known as a “digging” wreck producing numerous artifacts over the years.
Captain Al
SEA LION
We are always looking to put together weekday trips. If you’re interested in diving during the week, let me know which day/days work for you and we will try to put a boat together.
We have established a diver’s e-mail list and if you’d like to be included send the message “please add me to the SEA LION diver list” to sealion@atlantic-wreckdivers.com
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