Dives Never To Be Forgotten:
By Capt. David Caldwell
Something for thought about diving the Doria or any other wreck of this caliber. Deep diving or technical diving has been around a lot longer than the public has ever been aware of. Divers had been venturing to this particular wreck ever since it has made its way to the ocean floor. The public just recently within the past few years has dubbed it technical diving and it has created a want-to-be fad. The equipment manufacturers have developed so called technical diving equipment and the certification agencies have capitalized on handing out certification cards that can be purchased instead of earned. In all of my diving experience that does not constitute a technical diver or even come to the arena of a technical diving. This advanced level of diving comes with years of diving experience and professional training that can be grown with over time. I see it almost every time that I walk onto a dive boat with a diver or two that have a checkbook and that has skipped the first steps “EXPERIENCE”. Divers at this level should not be fumbling, rearranging, and being a disorganized cluster fuck on a dive boat or sight. They should on the other hand be a well disciplined individual that is tied to his way of doing things with the ability to change if necessary, precise about the way their equipment is configured, and is organized and calculated about their dive plans. No one is going to tell you that you don’t belong someplace until after you are dead and this is wrong because only you have the ability to make a decision to where you personally should venture. Diving one weekend a month does not train you for deep technical diving nor does sitting on your couch or reading it off the internet prepare you for what you can end up experiencing in the water. As said time and time again the water is the only place to stay sharp and in shape for this kind of diving. Being in the water and preparing yourself for all that can go wrong first hand is the only way you can gain knowledge for that one slight chance that you need to draw off that experience that has been cultivated for years of diving. I ask you to read on and see what safe enjoyable diving can and does have to offer with years of experience and training.
An expedition planned to the Doria can be one thing actually having the opportunity is another, it can take up to a year to work out the logistics and planning to make a trip happen. Once you get down to the weeks before the expedition you start to watch the patterns of weather very closely to see how it’s going to look. Then it gets down to days before and you start watching other dive boat schedules that run to the Doria to see if their trips are running before your expedition comes up. You start to get nervous when you see expeditions canceling due to weather and your praying that it improves. The day finally comes and you have crossed all the “T’s” and dotted all the “I’s”, the gas is filled, the gear is packed, and the tables are cut. Well Heather and I had accomplished all of that, it’s 5:00a.m.and the boat is pulling away for the dock. The boat cruises at 20- 22 kts, which should put us on the Doria around noon, roughly 100 miles offshore. The weather was specially ordered for our trip; after last years blow out we were due nothing but perfect conditions for this years expedition.
With flat calm seas and clear skies we made it to the Doria right on schedule. We showed up over the wreck sight and we could still see the oil coming up from the bottom. If it wasn’t for the flat calm seas you would have never noticed the oil on the surface, it really is something to see forty-four years later. Captain Zero located the wreck within minutes and before we knew it Bill one of the mates readied himself for the tie in. The drop weight and line went in and Bill jumped in right behind it, you could see the current pulling against the orange tuna ball. Generally it takes about 10- 15 minutes for an average tie in and it was creeping up on 20 minutes and we had no lift bag on the surface. That means as time is ticking by that if the first tie in doesn’t go well then we have to wait until the first diver comes up and send in another diver to try again. After waiting around 90 minutes and waiting until Bill surfaced and hearing the combat story of how the weight landed on a keel rail out in the middle of the hull. With the current screaming the way it was, no one could pull the line and weight across the wreck and then expect to have enough tie to secure the line. On top of which Bill did such a great job on the U869 tie in that he was reprieved on this tie in. Next up was TEX from Brooklyn, go figure, he was all set when Bill came up and we pulled the line and weight up and got back into position to drop it again and this time hopefully in a better tie in spot. Tex readied himself and away he went for his first dive on the Doria and better yet he was tying in. Within 10 minutes the lift bag was on the surface and we went over, pulled up the slack, and dropped the granny line. Now the swimming pool was open and we all started getting ready for our dives.
It didn’t take much time at all and everyone was getting ready to take the plunge, some of the divers had been to the wreck before and some were doing their first dive on the Doria. Either way everyone was an experienced diver some a lot more than others, some of the divers were diving on air, some on mix and some on rebreathers. Heather and I had planned to do only one dive per day and with the late tie in we weren’t in any rush to get in. The other reason if we waited we would end up being on the wreck and then on our deco alone or somewhat alone. We started suiting up and within a few minutes we hit the water. The surface conditions where perfect but the current was moving along with a rip, and we didn’t want to stray to far away from the granny line. Swimming down the line we passed everyone on their deco hanging out on a comfortable hang. The visibility was good down to about 30’ and it started getting hazy from the thermocline. You passed through a thick layer and the visibility cut down to about 10’ but as you continued down the visibility picked up to 15’- 20’ at the most. After waiting two years to get back to Doria the moment was here and it is an awesome experience, as we dropped down Heather and I both knew that we were more than ready for this dive. Our training has been continual diving year round without any breaks or slow times, from diving air in the winter due to cold and depth restrictions to diving mix to deeper depths. The best way a diver can prepare themselves is by diving, diving, and when done with that a little more diving.
Heather and I ended up passing the last diver around 70’- 80’ or so and the wreck was vacant except for the two of us. We made a nice slow descent hanging on to the line all the way down as the current didn’t let up any and as we got closer to the wreck. At 150’ the Doria came into sight and we came down over what would have been super structure, which is now all collapsed and twisted metal, which is almost unrecognizable. Now we where at 165’- 170’ and the hull was clear as day and you can’t mistake that because it’s huge and rows of port holes run off in either direction for as long as you can see. It is truly and awesome sight. Once we got down to the hull we kneeled down and took are bearings for a minute which was at 180’- 185’and the tie in was about 10’ from the rail which was perfect. Heather and I then decided to drop over the rail and we ended up dropping down into a split in the wreck. To give you an idea it looks like from the deck it has collapsed downward and the upper structure has caved downward as well and it has created a huge split through the middle of the ship. You can peer down and into openings of the super structure. There is no distinct opening or passageways into the wreck it is all twisted metal and debris. Talk about mother nature creating destruction it’s all most like looking at a pile and twisted metal that was dropped from the sky and it sank in the ocean. As we dropped down to about 210’- 215’ we saw a lot of debris on the bottom. At this depth we started swimming away from the tie in point and towards what would have been the top of the super structure, which is a huge debris field spilling it’s guts all over the ocean floor. In this area it would be real easy to get disorientated and confused of which way to go. We kept a close eye on the point where we dropped over the hull as not to get confused. After spending a few minutes out in the debris area we work our way back closer to the rail still at 210’- 220’. Time ticked by slowly and it felt as if we were there for a lot long than we where. Deep diving is cool but you have to be sharp and on your toes at all times keeping everything in check. After having a twenty minute bottom time Heather and I gave the thumbs up for a long and healthy deco. When we left the hull Hank showed up near the tie in we gave him a scuba dance with a smile and he responded with a big smiling grin from ear to ear along with a wave as we headed up for our first deco stop. It was such a cool dive and one that we have waited over two years to come back to. Once we completed our first dive it was time to sit back and enjoy the rest of the day telling dive stories with good company along with a great meal to end the day.
A beautiful sunset over the Doria was the mark to the end of a great day of diving and it would be the start of a new day before we knew it. Waking to the sun rising from the east, which was off the stern port side of the boat, it was an awesome sight to see it rise over the water. The sea had picked up a little as forecasted and it was projected to blow 10- 15kts which brought a choppy sea. Heather and I were one of the first people on deck and Bill was preparing for his dive and we were going to follow right behind him. We switched are tanks over from the day before, starting setting up our stage bottles, copied over our tables on to our slates and started getting suited up. It didn’t take us long before Tex was helping us out, the rest of the boat was just starting to come alive with activity. It was about 6:15- 6:30am and Heather and I were making our entries into the deep blue. The last thing I checked out was the sun rising as I made a giant stride off the side of the boat. While taking this step I had many thoughts thinking what are all the normal people in the world doing this morning. I knew not to many people are diving the Doria this early because we where the only boat over the wreck. When we started swimming down I followed Heather close behind and the water was getting dark since the sun was still rising. The visibility improved but the current was about the same as the day before. Within minutes we hit the top of the hull and set up a strobe, and started swimming along the hull into the current. After kicking 25’-30’ away from the line Heather motioned to me to turn back around and signaled to drop over the rail. I totally agreed with her because the last thing I wanted to do is bust hump just to swim along the rail in a strong current. There was a lot more to see by dropping over and swimming around the debris area, this was the same area that we swam around the day before. You could spend hours in a small area and you could never see it all. We moved ourselves along around 220’ and worked our way in the direction of the stern. We passed Bill’s line running off into the debris field and I could see his light way off in the distance bouncing around moving closer and closer to us.
Soon enough Bill came swimming by us heading back to the line, we each gave him the wave and we continued our dive. We had only been down for minutes at this point and we had time to spare. Keeping our selves in check staying in good communication and keeping tight. Heather and I checked out all kinds of stuff, she noticed some windows that were available for the taking and they would have been an awesome artifact but the time was limited and if we saw them on the first dive one of them would have been coming home with us. It is a bummer when you see something nice and the time permits you from working on it. I know it wouldn’t have taken long to work it out but with less than 10 minutes left there was no way it would have happened safely. I believe that with the wreck deteriorating the way it is, although the wreck is becoming more dangerous that more artifacts will be surfacing in the future. The Doria is crumbling on itself and more openings are created and with these openings it is a lure for divers to get them selves into more problems then can be handled. To be honest there is no price to pay for a good artifact at least one that I could ever see or recover. Heather and I have recovered our far share and everyone could be thrown away if push came to shove. Our dive continued as if we never saw the window and we enjoyed it to the maximum. Within a few minutes we gave the up sign and the two of us made our turn and started heading back to the tie in line. I recovered our strobe and we started making our ascent while looking back down to the wreck and giving thanks for two absolutely world class dives that will be remembered for years to come. On the deco the surface conditions were kicking up and the current was still moving along but we had a good healthy deco without any interruptions and surfaced with stories from our dive.
While preparing this dive report Bill Schmoldt died on the next expedition out to Doria. He died doing what he loved the most and that was wreck diving. I will remember him on the bottom swimming by venturing his way back to the line. At that moment I felt Bill was at peace with himself and loving every second of this awesome experience on the Doria. His loss is a great one for Heather and myself as he died doing something that our personal lives revolve around, wreck diving. Although I was not on that trip, I only care to remember Bill of that brief moment as he passed Heather and myself swimming to the line to go up. He was a great man and I will never forget him. Rest in peace my friend and fellow diver.