In an epic voyage to these distant wrecks, in one day we covered as vast amount of history. With a small contingent of five crew on the private vessel, we all worked for a common goal. There was Bill, the captain and owner, Doug acting as second captain, Tony, Sherwood and myself all as deckhands. As we motored out of the slip, confidence was high as the captain actually stopped at the fuel dock to top off the tanks, and we cautiously stuck our nose out to see if the ocean would co operate, and it did. First wreck was the "Four Daughters" which Captain Card and myself helped locate the virgin wreck in September 2005, this would be our seventh voyage to her, on three different vessels. Conditions have never been better, once on site, the seas were maybe 1-2', no real current (which this wreck is known for) and fantastic vis, possibly up to 50'. It has never been better in the six previous outings. Big changes at depth, as the turtled clammer is now sunk down to it's gun whales in the sand, not that the superstructure has collapsed, but sand washout is enveloping the wheelhouse. Sherwood and Tony set the anchor line, into the port side rudder, and I followed in after it was set with GoPro on the helmet shooting video and a housed still DSLR. On a solo dive, I penetrated into the galley, but no further, as I was quite gear laden with the eCCR, AL 80 bailout and housed camera with two strobes. From the galley, I could access the wheelhouse via the stairwell, going down the stairs to the wheelhouse, not up, as it's upside down! With common sense, I backed out, and investigated the cargo hold area, which is fairly tight itself, and took some photos. I grabbed two small lobster, and kept one. Tony and Sherwood grabbed scallops and another 3 lb lobster between them. Captain Bill and then Doug followed us down to check out the wreck. During our surface interval we motored inshore (sounds weird) to the RP Resor, at full throttle, the seas were so calm. Tony and I, both on scooters, would tie in and do a short dive. Good surface current, but at depth it was nice and calm. Water temps 50 degrees, and vis was maybe 35-40', not quite as good as the 4D's, but good enough for Tony and I to navigate on scooters for a large part of the massive wreck. We tied in on the stern, right next to the gun. From there we traveled under power of our DPV's, Tony using his MRX Mini-Cuda, and I with my Submerge N-19. I mounted my GoPro to the scooter itself on this dive. Outstanding was the dive, or both dives, of the day. Tony grabbed a 4 lb lobster, I caught him on video doing this. We made it back to the dock by about 4pm, it was a long productive day, a precursor to many more trips on the hardy "Depth Charge" this spring and summer! Be safe out there! -Dan
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