Posted by Kendall Raine on November 16, 2000 at 19:25:23:
In Reply to: Re: It's posted by AADIVER on November 16, 2000 at 08:41:34:
Having read all these Matterhorn posts, it occurs to me I'm the only one posting to this thread who's actually seen the thing. So, to answer Franks's question, here 'tis.
I dove the Matterhorn with Darren Douglass in 1994 off Jerry Shapiro's boat, now Island Clipper. I did the dive on air and O2. That was in the bad old days and I'll never go that deep on air again (200+ fsw). Surprisingly I remember a fair amount about the dive. I even got pretty good video of the thing despite my condition.
Anyway, picture the lead in to Paramount pictures, the one with the stars circling the Matterhorn and you get a good idea of what the thing looks like. The top is at 130 fsw and it spreads into a large face on one side which extends to about 210 fsw. On the other sides it either drops straight down or has a series of cornices starting about 240 fsw. It's completely covered with corynactus. There was little fish life that day, though I can believe that pelagics would find it attractive-didn't see any. The viz was over 100 fsw and the current ranged from 2 kts in the morning to about .5 kts on the afternoon dive.
The dive is breathtaking and I can't wait to get back there on trimix to really get a look around.
No, Frank, despite being stoned to the bone, I didn't see any brass, mermaids or Holy Grails. But who knows...