Tuesday, April 14, 2015

HMCS Annapolis First Dive 12/04/2015

Our first dive on the HMCS Annapolis!

We didn't think we'd be diving it so soon. I had been sure that there would be too much competition for spots in the first few weeks. Fortunately, Liz Tribe secured the Topline for Sunday, and Heather and I lucked in to two spots.

It was a very full boat, with 18 divers. The Topline sure could pack them on! Captain Chris and Rachel were our excellent crew. Rachel snapped this group picture of us at the end of the day. We had divers from the Island, scooters, doubles, singles, rebreathers, you name it!


Weather was amazing that day too. I had thought it was going to be cold and rainy, but it turned out to be sunny and relatively warm. We also had on board a diver (Dave Tomblin) who had served on the Annapolis, and they were so kind as to upload this old picture of the Annapolis from its sailing days.


There was a second boat trip out that afternoon, so we were under a clock. Fortunately, we had a great group and everything went smoothly. On arriving in Halkett Bay, we tied up on the stern line, and were soon diving.

I was very impressed by the stern descent line. A large square aluminium frame had been installed at 6 meters (20 feet) allowing divers a safe platform to do their safety stops or deco. Very nice! The stern line was the deepest of the three lines at about 80 feet. The line itself was quite loose, so it was a challenge to follow it. It also went at quite a shallow angle, meaning that it was not directly over the ship itself. One dive team decided to drop straight down, and ended up missing the wreck. So if you were descending on the stern, just keep following the line, it was your best bet to get there eventually! The stern deck came out of the darkness, and we got our first look at the new wreck. It was very impressive. Visibility was not bad, maybe 20 feet. Even though the sun was out, the surface layer made this pretty much a night dive. Still, it was great. We moved towards amidships, and found several displays of stainless steel rockfish had been installed. We noticed one of the other dive teams had written their names in the silt that had already started to coat the wreck. There was no life yet, but that would come. We were surprised to find a seagull carcass, as well as a mesh bag containing a brand new ball cap and hockey jersey. 

On the second dive, we tied up on the amidships line. Nick unfortunately lost a fin off the boat, and tried to recover it on the second dive, but had no luck (If you find an XXL Jetfin, let me or Nick  Bowman know). Our second dive was a lot of fun too. We spent time looking in the windows of the bridge, checking out a few swim throughs, and just having a good dive.

It was a challenge to get good video with the dark conditions, but Heather got some good bits. Here are the highlights. Enjoy!


Update: Sea Dragon Charters put together a very good compilation video of pre-and-post sinking.



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