So much to write about The Patriot but sometimes the words are not enough to describe the experience.
After my first dive at the Patriot all I wanted was to go back again. We did actually book another dive, which ended up getting canceled because of the big storm washed away the whole weekend, early October last year. So we waited. And finally the day came.
Our plan was to explore the outer circumference of the wreck, maybe tie a reel to the mooring line and get farther away, without getting lost. Last year I came across many sand lances and my first ever torpedo ray, which actually raised and showed off its swimming skills without moving a hair.
However the conditions were not as great as last time, there was a serious current and the viz was around 30-40 feet, making it much easier to lose the sight of the wreck. The habitat was a little different around the wreck, there were no more the carpet of fish, even though there were abundance of fish. I haven’t seen any scallops around on the sand, but this time the sand was covered with tubular hydroid farm. I even saw a few nudi egg ribbons, was not lucky to find any nudi, though.
Second dive, somehow, is always better. The current had slightly slowed but still it was quite strong. I found myself slowly crawling on the sand away from the wreck and next I was surrounded by a huge school of pollock. I was so immerse in it that I didn’t care about my buddy or taking photos. It was a magical moment that I lost contact with reality for a while. That experience is worth everything!
I am not going to describe the little fright I had when I was kicking hard to get to the wreck and by my buddy. Let’s say some some serious volume of breathing was going on. 🙂
Note for future: we had 100cf tanks with 32% nitrox. Bert and I both came up with more than 1000 psi air. So if you are going to get 100s with nitrox freaking enjoy the dive longer. If you are not going to dive as long than don’t spend extra money on 100s and nitrox!
My first dive bottom time was 38 mins, second was 26 mins. Temperature was 43F, depth 103 ft.
