Cordova Dive Blog

Tuesday, 7 May 2019

Martha and I find and recover the plow anchor from yesterday


Martha and I left the apartment 10 minutes early only to get trapped on the Causeway Bridge, which allegedly blew a fuse trying to close. We got off the bridge at 7:25 and were in the water by 8:00 am.

Swam up one buoy North along the buoy line. We descended at 8:15 am and swam 120 degrees from that buoy, but did not spot the chain or the anchor. Went North and then West and got back to the buoy from which we started. Tried again on a 150 degree bearing from the buoy, but ended up on a large sand flat. We headed East onto some rubble and then South and I spotted the anchor chain. Turns out that was the easy part.

I put the 50-pound lift bag on the anchor and it was enough to float the anchor but not the chain. I inflated my BCD and held the chain in my arms and we swam more or less West at a depth of 10 feet. I had to drop the chain and catch my breath a few times on the way in, but we eventually swam in just a little North of the buoy off Tower 4. Got into 5 ft of water and gave Martha my fins and had her go put her gear away while I dragged the chain and then the anchor towards the beach.

I was just getting out of the water as she got back. Together we carried the anchor and chain up to the showers to clean off the sand. Then we put the anchor and chain into the truck. Surfaced at 9:15 but we didn't leave the parking lot until 10:30 am.

Dive time was 60 minutes, maximum depth was 17.7 feet and the bottom temperature was 77 degrees. My SAC was 25.57 psi/minute and my RMV was 0.66 cubic feet per minute. I was working hard.