Posted by Randy Medaris on June 18, 2001 at 09:08:34:
Last Saturday I enjoyed two night dives on the RubyE wreck in San Diego. It began with a long drive from Orange County. I left at 2:00 so that I would have plenty of time to make the 5:30 departure. I arrived at the Blue Escape Dive shop with plenty of time to spare. After a while, more divers arrived. The Blue Escape was running late from its afternoon trip to the Yukon and we all waited, some impatiently, in front of the shop. After about 6, with the boat still not back at the dock, and two small classes from Sport Chalet decided to bail, as they needed the first dive to be an hour before sunset. The original plan was to make one dive in the evening, while there was still some light, and one at night. By now it was obvious that we will have two night Dives. The boat finally pulled up to the dock just after 7pm. As the divers unloaded from the previous trip, I heard them talking to the crew and each other about the trip to the Ruby E. Apparently, several had planned to go to the Ruby E that night, but cancelled when they found out they won't be back until after 11pm. When it was our turn to board, there was only seven divers left. We were given a short dive briefing at the dock, and then we got underway.
The captain anchored the boat on the bow buoy. I was buddied up with 2 divers that I didn't know, John and Jerry. John was from Northridge and had been diving for about 5 years, this dive was a Father's day gift from his family. I'm not sure where Jerry was from, but he had never dived in California. Before we boarded, Jerry had planned to dive in a 2mm wetsuit. He had assumed that since California was warm, the water was warm too. He ended up renting a 7mm wetsuit from the shop. We put our gear on. John managed ok, but Jerry seemed to need too much help from the crew. He wasn't sure how to use his computer. I detected hesitation and lack of confidence. The additional restriction, and bulk of the thick wetsuit, along with a much heavier weight belt, was probably more than what he was used to. John was already in the water, and I decided I would let Jerry go next, to see how he fares. As he moved to the gate, I asked if his air was on and I felt his BC to make sure it had air in it. I'm sure the divemaster had just done the same thing. He jumped in, turned, and gave the OK signal, then swam to the buoy with John.
I moved up to the gate, put my regulator in my mouth, and looked down into the black water. I had never done a night dive before, and I hesitated for a fraction of a second as I wondered what await me below. I took my giant stride off the deck and into the black abyss. Only my marker light was on, a small but very bright 2AAA pencil beam that looked like a light-saber from star wars as it danced around small star-like specs of luminescent plankton in the water. In less than a second, my eyes were above the water again and I turned to the Divemaster and gave the OK signal, then swam to the buoy to meet John and Jerry.
We began the descent down the buoy line together, but we quickly became parted. John descended rather quickly, I was going slowly, and Jerry was still on the surface. I waited for him a bout half way down the line, while John waited on the bow of the Ruby. The visibility was about 20 or so feet, so I could barley see Jerry on the surface. He seemed to be fooling around up there, while John, below me shined his light around and then shined it up toward me. I waited about a minute, John seemed OK below me, so I decided to go up and see what was happening. Jerry's mask was flooding, and we could not figure out how to fix it. Eventually, John came up to check up on us, and Jerry went back onto the boat. He decided to sit out this dive, so John and I descended a second time without further delay or problem.
We arrived at the bow in about 6o or so feet of water. We went below the bow and began to swing along side the Ruby about halfway between the sand below and the upper rail. The side was covered in little pink Anemones. We peered into a few holes that were cut into the side, barley large enough for I diver to squeeze through. We did not penetrate the wreck, as we were advised not to do so by the crew. We could not see much inside as the vis was closer to 10 feet or less down on the wreck. Next we swam up to the deck. On the deck, we could see fish "sleeping" all over. They stayed motionless until we got within about a couple of feet before they moved. Most were sand bass, many were quite large. There were a few Gorgonians growing up on the deck and some sea cucumbers scattered across the deck also. I had a rental camera, a Reef-Master, without an external strobe, which I had clipped onto my BC. I tried to take a few pictures, but it was obviously not working right. It is buoyant and tended to float above me as I swam. It usually floated up and between my regulator hoses and my face. After recovering it, a few times, it ended up wrapping around my primary and octo hoses. It was annoying and took some effort to shine my light with one hand and untie a small knot composed of hoses and camera strap. We followed the deck all the way to the stern and then turned back, returning over the top of the wreck's superstructure. About then our SPGs read 1000psi and we both agreed to ascend. We headed back to the Buoy line on the bow, made a slow ascent to 15 feet, where we did a safety stop for 3 minutes. I turned off my primary light and waved my hand in the dark in front of my mask. I could see luminescent plankton sparkle like glitter in the blackness. Our safety stop over, we came to the surface and boarded the Blue Escape. The first dive was 20 minutes with a max depth of 82 feet.
The other divers were already aboard, enjoying an hour-long surface interval. We were served some hot bean soup and bread, which was pretty good, and it was nice to eat something hot right after the dive. The night was clear and warm, and we could see all of the San Diego coastline. We were treated to a great view of the Sea World fire works show, and the crew cut off the generator and shutdown the deck lights for the show. When the show was over, our surface interval was also over, and we got ready to go back in. Jerry, now seasick on top of all the other problems, decided not to go. He was not having fun and I think it was a good choice to sit it out. John and I got in again and swam to the buoy.
The second dive went well. This time we stayed above the deck checking out all the sleeping sand bass. During the surface interval, I had found the problem with the camera to be improperly loaded film, and fixed it. Now I clicked away, taking pictures of sand bass. I saw a scorpion fish sitting on the rail above the deck. This seemed like a strange place to find one, I thought they hunted at night. This was either sleeping or waiting for a meal to come by. It did not move as I swam around and over it. I wanted to take a picture, but the camera's strap was already tied up in my reg hoses again. By the time I got it untangled, it was gone, so we went over to the bridge to check out that area. On the previous dive, we saw a lot of fish sleeping on the roof of the superstructure. I wanted to get a photo of dozens of sand bass sleeping there, but the vis was not really good enough. Then some other divers joined us. For a moment, I lost track of my buddy, then it took a minute or so to sort out who was with who. Time passes quickly when your having fun and it also does underwater. Me and John were both down to 1000 psi, so we headed back to the buoy line, made a slow ascent and had a crowded safety stop with the other divers. Total time was 30 minutes at a max depth of 70 feet.
After the dive as we tore down our gear, John mentioned that he needed to read up on how his computer works. He said it was "flashing red' and was not sure whether it was decompression status or an ascent rate alarm. I was rather alarmed after hearing that. I was not too worried because my computer was still a couple of "blips" short of the Yellow zone. I didn't ask what kind of computer he had, it appeared to be a high-end model. I can now relate to some of the comments being made out there about the training and attitude of divers. John seemed to be concerned, and I think he just got what I call a "learning experience." Hopefully, he will take the time to learn to use this important piece of equipment.
Overall, it was a great dive and the Ruby E is a beautiful wreck.