16 replies to this topic

[shadragon]

Watched a Discovery Channel show last night on a South African dive teams efforts to dive on the Oceanos. An ocean liner which sank in 1991 in 330 feet of water under mysterious circumstances off the rugged coast of South Africa. A remarkable sinking as there was no loss of life. Everyone got off 35 minutes before she went down. The wreck was visited by tech divers soon after she went down, but harsh currents. low viz and lots of rope / firehoses / cables on the wreck made her dangerous. The team that dove her (And made it to the wreck) said it was "un-divable".

The shows' dive team came along 10 years later and comprised of a "renowned" Canadian cave diver, a South African tech diver (both of them were on re-breathers) and a third self described "recreational diver" who apparently bankrolled the operation. There were other divers in support, but none who descended as deep as the three. They went to 300'ish feet and successfully penetrated the ship. Mud was 330 feet.

Cannot comment on the technical gear or re-breathers used as I did not recognize the gear beyond dry suits. The rec diver dove wet, had full foot fins and had doubles that appeared to be steel 130's. He also had two slung bottles one a steel 130 and the other a stubbier version (Steel 100???). All tanks were labeled with "NITROX" stickers and no mention of gas content was made. Support divers came down with replacement cylinders and swapped them out as the three did their deco. Can you put Trimix into NITROX tanks or do they have to be labeled specially??? They did have a triangle stage platform (I assume 15') and they said they breathed 100% O2 at that point to aid deco.

During the interviews of the South African tech diver you could see PADI instruction materials in the background so I assume the rec diver was also PADI. As far as I could see he had no specific technical training. Several references were made about the technical folks having reservations about him coming along, but because he bankrolled the operation he was allowed to go and went to at least 275 feet, probably more with the re breather lads. No specific depth was mentioned for him. Nor was bottom time mentioned. However, the rec diver did say at one point he had "exceeded his emergency gas supply" and needed to find a quick way out of the inside of the ship.

It was a good show overall, with fairly stunning video. The hair on the back of my neck did stand up in a few places with the depths and dive profile mentioned.

[pir8]

You can put Trimix in a Nitrox marked tank but you better label it properly.

[Basslet]

Hmm. Sorry I missed this. Maybe it will be repeated. Sound hairy.

[DandyDon]

Can you put Trimix into NITROX tanks or do they have to be labeled specially???

Rich Recreational diver who bankrolled the entire project - he may have been on straight air? Too bad they didn't explain. Pretty wild.

[jimmy dave]

It sounds like it was a great show. I was looking around the internet to see if I could find a copy of it and stumbled across an interesting web site.

http://oceanossinking.blogspot.com/

One of the survivors apparently started a web site. They list a DVD that was produced from the "first successful dive" I don't know if this is the same show that was on discovery or not, but it looks interesting.

[Latitude Adjustment]

Some comments are added to make it more "interesting" for the networks to use in trailers. One very famous u/w videographer always had/has some element of danger in his films, the daughter eating the brissle worm, one of the crew bit by a sea snake but we're not sure if it broke the skin, the list goes on and on.

Edited by Latitude Adjustment, 06 August 2007 - 09:44 AM.

[PerroneFord]

Watched a Discovery Channel show last night on a South African dive teams efforts to dive on the Oceanos. An ocean liner which sank in 1991 in 330 feet of water under mysterious circumstances off the rugged coast of South Africa. A remarkable sinking as there was no loss of life. Everyone got off 35 minutes before she went down. The wreck was visited by tech divers soon after she went down, but harsh currents. low viz and lots of rope / firehoses / cables on the wreck made her dangerous. The team that dove her (And made it to the wreck) said it was "un-divable".

I don't know what un-divable means. Other than it's difficult under current circumstance.

The shows' dive team came along 10 years later and comprised of a "renowned" Canadian cave diver, a South African tech diver (both of them were on re-breathers) and a third self described "recreational diver" who apparently bankrolled the operation. There were other divers in support, but none who descended as deep as the three. They went to 300'ish feet and successfully penetrated the ship. Mud was 330 feet.

I need to go poking around on this. Sounds interesting.

Cannot comment on the technical gear or re-breathers used as I did not recognize the gear beyond dry suits. The rec diver dove wet, had full foot fins and had doubles that appeared to be steel 130's. He also had two slung bottles one a steel 130 and the other a stubbier version (Steel 100???). All tanks were labeled with "NITROX" stickers and no mention of gas content was made. Support divers came down with replacement cylinders and swapped them out as the three did their deco. Can you put Trimix into NITROX tanks or do they have to be labeled specially??? They did have a triangle stage platform (I assume 15') and they said they breathed 100% O2 at that point to aid deco.

If have a fairly good idea who the Canadian was. I'll look into this a bit more, or maybe ask her about it if I see her in the next few weeks. Nitrox stickers mean nothing, and tell you nothing about what is in a tank, or what can be put into a tank. The diver was on trimix (probably 10/70 or something similar). The stage platform would have had a stop at 20ft to make the most use of the oxygen.

During the interviews of the South African tech diver you could see PADI instruction materials in the background so I assume the rec diver was also PADI. As far as I could see he had no specific technical training. Several references were made about the technical folks having reservations about him coming along, but because he bankrolled the operation he was allowed to go and went to at least 275 feet, probably more with the re breather lads. No specific depth was mentioned for him. Nor was bottom time mentioned. However, the rec diver did say at one point he had "exceeded his emergency gas supply" and needed to find a quick way out of the inside of the ship.

I'm sure he had support divers very near by. I remember watching a show with Dennis Haysbert doing some rather deep dives (~200ft) and he looked like he had just gotten certified. And badly at that.

Bottom time would have likely been limited to 10-15 minutes at that depth. If he was dving wet, I hope the water was relatively warm.

It was a good show overall, with fairly stunning video. The hair on the back of my neck did stand up in a few places with the depths and dive profile mentioned.

I hope it re-airs. I'd like to record it, maybe make a copy for myself.

[PerroneFord]

From poking around a bit, it appears that Brett Hawton was the open circuit "recreational diver" talked about. Based on the dive, and what Brett was doing, it's HIGHLY unlikely that he was a recreational diver in the sense that we might think of one. In fact, he appears to be quite experienced.

You can read more about the story here:

http://www.deeperblu...article.php/446

[Scubatooth]

At three hundred feet you would be narced beyond belief on air. That guy had to be on mix if not it makes you wonder about the guy.

plus at that depth on air you would be in the danger zone for having a oxygen toxicity problems as the ppo2 of air at that depth would be 1.90 which is off the charts even for technical divers.

If someone knows when that will replay please post it as i would be interested in seeing it.

[PerroneFord]

A number of the cave guys have done 300+ on air. Not smart, nor recommended, but it's been done. The narc would have to be insane though. I do know someone who currently pushes air past 240.

Regardless, I'd bet good money that guy was on a good mix. If anyone hears about a re-air, please share it.

[annasea]

Well, for those in Canada, it seems to be re-airing next Saturday. Here's a complete schedule for *us*. I utilized their reminder feature so hopefully it works.

[DandyDon]

I saw a member of my team disappear once going down off the wall at Belize, and learned later that I was the only one not informed of his dumb butt planned adventure. He didn't remember the moments at the bottom, but he bounced off of 257 on air. He also injured himself enough that he set out dives the last two days. Never would talk about it. We still dive together some, and he knows I'm a maverick, but we stick to my more conversative plans.

[TraceMalin]

What a timely thread! I was just making a mental note yesterday to do some online searching to see if anyone dove the Oceanos yet. Guess so

(etited 4 spelin' eroar)

Edited by TraceMalin, 07 August 2007 - 11:46 PM.

[shadragon]

Well, for those in Canada, it seems to be re-airing next Saturday. Here's a complete schedule for *us*. I utilized their reminder feature so hopefully it works.

The listed show in that link shows the sinking and helicopter rescue. The captain and crew were the first off the boat and actually abandoned the passengers. It is a good show...

I will keep an eye out for that show. I did a Torrent search and came up blank, but am sure we can find it eventually.

[bretthawton]

Hi There,

I was that "recreational diver" you mention. My name is Brett Hawton.

Yes it was a pretty deep dive at almost 320 feet and we went on a 70 meter penetration of the wreck giving a bottom time of almost 25 minutes which racked up a LOT of deco time.

I am recreational in the sense that I don't dive for a living as world record holder Paul Heinerth and Barry Coleman (my 2 buddies on that dive) do. However I do have formal training in full cave, trimix, rebreather etc. I have done a lot of dives with Paul and Barry separately either in long Mexican or Florida cave dives or wrecks deeper than 180 feet.

 

Certainly the Oceanos dive was longer and deeper than any dive before and the deep wreck penetration at that depth a little risky but when you have someone with Paul right behind you driving the cameras on a scooter, you know that you are safe and can explore to you hearts content whilst staying within the dive plan.

 

I had 2 X 149cf steel bottles as back gas, 1X117cf steel travel gas and 1 X 117cf steel deco. I had to switch out bottles with backup divers (planned) halfway through the deco cycle in open water (which we had practiced).

 

We had a triangle near the surface with a huge 8ft tall monster medical cylinder attached with as much O2 as needed. I was the only one using all that gas as Paul was running his Cis Lunar rebreather and Barry his Inspiration rebreather and neither got close to needing external gas during the dive. 

 

Someone had calculated that the total gas consumed was almost a swimming pool volume (open circuit is very wasteful). Bottom gas was trimix, travel gas Nitrox and then O2 of course. 

 

The biggest hassle with the dive is 2 things:

1. There is a huge current running around there so we used Rodney Naim's super potent silent submersion scooters to defeat the current.

2. The wreck is in a place that should something happen and the deco went wrong then its in a total wilderness area and getting to the deco chamber in time would be impossible, its like more than a day's drive. So we hired a rescue helicopter with a on site chamber team to sit on a cliff in the wilderness overlooking the dive site and we had practiced airlifts a few times before the dive just in case.

 

In the end the dive was great so we actually managed to get in 2 dives on the wreck (with a one day rest in-between to fully deco). 

 

For me it was my "Mt Everest" in diving, penetrating deep never before dived wrecks in the wilderness is not what I would attempt now that I have a family. Paul has certainly done a LOT deeper and more risky dives than this. If you ever need cave certification or a dive guide then speak to Paul he is awesome.

 

This site has a few more details: https://www.deeperbl...ng-the-oceanos/

 

Regards

Brett

Edited by bretthawton, 09 July 2015 - 12:05 AM.