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Offshore Jacksonville (Another day in Paradise)
Author: Richard Salkin
Dove two of Jax’s most popular sites yesterday from the MV Jacksonville, a 44-foot double-hull that operates out of Mayport, near the Navy base. Conditions were near-perfect, with seas running about 6 inches, virtually no wind, no current, and 82-degree water temp.
For our 1st dive, Capt. Frank Porter took about 15 divers to Paul Main’s tug, a mostly intact tugboat sitting upright in 70 fsw, about 10 miles offshore. This was my 4th descent on it, and I never fail to enjoy it. Buddy Rick and I did several penetrations, first in the main deck, where you can move through 3 or 4 chambers going aft to stern, then into the wheel house, which is just big enough to stand in. The tug’s hull didn’t look real inviting because there was only one tight way in and out, so we skipped it. There was a grouping of maybe a dozen spadefish the size of flattened basketballs swimming among us, wondering what we were doing in their space.
Off to the north there is a bunch of wreckage that doesn’t seem to be part of the tug. Or maybe it is, I’m not sure. A wooden double pillar-like structure held several bones that looked like small blades from a ceiling fan. Also a bone I saw last time that seems to be from a turtle. There were 2 juvenile queen angels that were as bright as you see in the carribbean. Viz was 35 or more, which by our modest standards rates a smiley face in the logbook. There was also a pair of nasty-looking fish hooks, which I removed and handed to Frank when I surfaced (which means the whole rest of that dive I did mostly one-handed).
Back on the tug’s deck there was a toadfish that stayed there from the moment we spotted it until the time I started my ascent. Rick went up early, so I buddied for the last 10 minutes or so with Co-Captain (and boat owner) Nick Andrew. Also on the side of the tug we spotted one of those royal blue thingies with bright gold lines running around it. I need to take a fish ID course. It was the size of a large slug and didn’t appear to have a lot of motion capabilities.
After a 45-minute surface interval, we moved to a nearby location that has two broken-up vessels, the Banana Boat and the Pogie. Hard to tell which is which, but there was one humungous propeller from one of them largely intact. If you turn yourself kinda sideways you can actually swim thru the space between the propeller blade and the keel. The rest is really just lots of metal beams in a vaguely nautical configuration. One diver, a friend named Dave who is a DM and an avid spear fisher, put on a show trying to catch 2 flounder. He’d been instructed to leave his spear gun at the dock because they’re not permitted on the boat, so he resorted to using Rick’s knife. He had me hold his catch bag. Each time he went toward the flounder, it scurried underneath this large piece of vertical wreckage and he had to go up and over to get to the other side. At one point I pulled my own knife out, waiting for him to chase the poor fish toward me but I reconsidered and put the knife away. Just not into it. I get my fish from the fish store. Ultimately, Dave came up fishless. Rick gave me one of those "whatever" looks. We continued peacefully, checking out spadefish, small grouper, a cuda or 2 and a fully mature but pale queen angel.
Again, Rick ascended first, this time for nitrogen reasons. Besides, he was scheduled to fly the next evening. I buddied with Dan from the dive shop for awhile (He and I took PADI Rescue together), then he had to ascend too. I still had 1300 pounds and about 25 minutes of no-deco time on my puter so I hung around another 5 minutes or so to see about 3 good-sized grouper that Dave would’ve loved. I also saw 2 strange divers who, it turns out, were on a separate boat and were just using our descent line as a convenience.
I headed for the line when I hit about 900 psi and made a nice sweet ascent. Did my safety stop with about a dozen cudas watching to make sure I behaved. Back on the boat, I broke down my gear, took a freshwater shower off the stern, headed for the sun deck up top and spent the next 45 minutes loving life. Note to self: Bring beer next time for the ride back to Mayport.
When I got home I took one of those totally satisfying nitrogen naps for about 3 hours and was ready to party with friends that night. Does it get any better? I cannot imagine. Another day in paradise. DSAO y’all.
