Free Diving The Captain Dan - Video & Photos

[ricki]

I went scooter free diving on the Captain Dan in 110 ft. of water last weekend. I was uneasy about visibility
and water color conditions but lucked out with blue water and perhaps 100 ft. vis. by the end of the dive.
These images were shot with a GoPro HD2 camera in an EOM housing.



Looking down the 158 ft. Captain Dan from the bow. The wheelhouse is in 70 ft. with much of the deck in 90 ft. of water.





Originally commissioned at a USCG buoy tender in 1937, the Hollyhock it was later used as an ice breaker in Lake Michigan. She later served
out of Miami as a buoy tender and for refueling seaplanes in the Bahamas for the USAF. It was decommissioned in 1982, privately purchased
and renamed the Good News Missionship until being abandoned in the Miami River. She was sunk as an artificial reef in 1990, renamed in memory of
Captain Dan Gansey.




http://www.meetup.com/goldcoastscuba/events/37526302/




Breathing up for a drop passing through a curtain of regulator exhaust.





*** A video comprised of three separate free dives on the ship. ***





It was a bit fuzzy at the start of the dive barely being able to make out the wreck from the surface. Often I have to guess at which point
of a wreck to drop on from regulator exhaust in lower visibility. With current this can make things particularly tricky.




Coming down on the stern.




The bow section with anchor out.








A shot from the second dive.


***



Here is a slightly edited shot from the second dive in greener water. I like to call it the Magic Of Underwater Photography.
The image shows a GoPro HD2 on a Quikpod monopod.


NOTE: Never attempt scooter free diving without proper training, procedures and skill development.


.

[ricki]

I went back recently Scuba diving no less as I was doing some Beta testing on some GoPro camera gear. I encountered a large goliath grouper which I followed into the wreck interior catching things on video.