The Oriskany Wreck Following Gustav

Just saw this on the latest issue of DiveNewsWire, www.divenewswire.com thought it might be of interest.

Update on the Oriskany Wreck Following Gustav

Some changes have happened to the popular wreck following Hurricane Gustav last week. FIRST-HAND report from the scene....

The following is a first-hand report of a dive on the Oriskany this past weekend. Our correspondent is Captain Dave Mucci of Blue Water Dive Adventures.

I had a charter to the Oriskany on Saturday morning, September the 6th.

When my divemaster jumped in and could not find my primary sub-surface buoy, which was at 30 fsw and clearly visible prior to Gustav, the red flag went up.

I tied into a secondary buoy and set the boat up for dive ops.

My divemaster prepared the clients for their first dive and I jumped in mask, fins and snorkel to search for the "lost" buoy.

Visibility was about 40' on the surface and I found the buoy at around 50 fsw.

After their first dive the DM reported that he thought the ship seemed deeper than he had remembered.

At this point I knew I had to do a survey dive to confirm my suspicions. I did not bring my SCUBA gear, so I set it up for Sunday.

Sunday morning I donned my gear and hit the water, the visibility was maybe 40' on the surface.

I marked my primary sub-surface buoy at 45 fsw, the flags were wrapped around the buoy line and I could not see the wreck, I cleared the flags and headed down.

My first stop was the flight deck amidships, approximatly fifty feet inboard of the island, viz was around 20'.

I had dove this spot many times and had marked it at 136 fsw, it now marked at 147 fsw.

I took several marks at various locations to try to get a feel as to whether she had listed or not.

The outboard side (port) sits at 139 fsw and was the shallowest mark I got.

Amidships marks at 147 fsw aft of the island and 150 fsw, 20 feet in front of the island.

I marked the top of structure at 84 fsw with the top pipe at 78 fsw (it was the shallowest point of the wreck at 67 fsw).

The tip of the yardarm (starboard side refueling boom where the flags hang) is at 88 fsw, it was at 75 fsw, which puts the flags at around 95 fsw, they were at 85 fsw and also indicates that she has listed to starboard about five degrees.

She is still an awesome dive and somewhat a "new" dive now, but a little deeper than before.