Tuesday November 25, 2008

Some of you are aware that in May of 2006 the 854' decommissioned aircraft carrier Oriskany was finally sunk as an artificial reef some 26 miles south of Pensacola, Florida in the Gulf of Mexico.  It is the largest artificial reef to date.

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to join one of my former clients on a trip to make 4 dives over two days on the Oriskany. Unfortunately, the wind and sea conditions (8' to 9" seas) proved otherwise, and the charter operator opted to cancel the trips.  We were told that the best time to dive is May through October.

There will be other opportunities to make these dives and I plan on seeing this outstanding historical ship later this year.  For those of you who are interested in putting together a long weekend or longer trip to north Florida for some fine diving, here are some contacts to get your dive planning started.

We were to be diving from the 50' USCG certified charter boat Wet Dream operated by The Scuba Shack www.scubashackpensacola.com. The boat is docked right behind the Scuba Shack Dive Center, 711 S. Palafox St., Pensacola, FL 32502.

The web site: www.mbtdivers.com has significant information of all the pre planning that went into acquisition, cleaning, and preparation to sink the vessel. 

For those wanting to tag along but not dive, you can spend a full day at the NATIONAL MUSEUM of NAVAL AVIATION, located on the grounds of the Pensacola Naval Air Station www.naval-air.org.  Also consider the beaches of Pensacola on Santa Rosa Island.  They are the most beautiful, sugar sand beaches in the USA.

There are several hotels within a few miles of the Dive Center, and several great restaurants close to the downtown waterfront area.

Bruce Longman - retired dive equipment rep (and a good friend).