Tom and I finally had a free weekend, the weather was right and everything worked out that we got to dive the Vandenberg. Of course Tom has dove it before since he worked on it and gets to take people out diving on it but it was my first time. On the way out to the dive site (about 20 minutes from the island) we saw a large turtle and dolphins so I knew it was going to be a good day to dive.
It was a GREAT dive!!! There wasn't much current, visibility was good and we went early afternoon after the dive charters had left. It was just the two of us and another boat that had tech divers on it. They were diving the interior of the ship so we could see their bubbles coming out of the various holes in the ship.
As we went down the down line we landed midship (depth was 60 feet) and started the tour moving toward the bow from the large satellite radar dish that was dislodged when the boat was sank. It was so cool to move across the deck, down the walk ways, and look through the doors and windows. There are a number of swim through which allow you to wander through the ship without being inside and having to know wreck penetration diving skills. Even me, who doesn't usually go into ANY wreck, did a few of them. The picture of me is on the weather deck in a doorway that is at a depth of 90 feet. Then we went by the wheel house, past a large access shaft that Tom has dove (but not me) and around the other side until we got back to the down line. The wreck has been down since the end of May and is starting to be covered with marine growth and fish have moved into a new home (barracuda, grouper, king angel and parrot fish to name a few).
It easy to see how this has been rated one of the top artificial reef dives in the world. There is so much to see that its not possible to do it in just a few dives. I didn't get to do the inside of the satellite dish, the kings post or the balloon hanger so we are planning another dive as soon as possible!
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