Orinskany Getting Deeper.

I found this article about the Orinskany which was sunk as an artificial reef. Apparently it has sunk deeper due to Hurricane Gustav. I provided a link to the original web page.

Tom

As Oriskany sinks further, divers risk going deeper

original article here

It was part of the reason the 47-year-old master scuba diver and his new bride wanted their wedding in Pensacola last weekend.

He'd made the dive before. He'd traveled through the top of the impressive sunken wreck. He'd seen the array of marine life.

But this time he was back to touch the infamous flight deck.

"A lot of my students want to know how deep I can go," Gaiser said. "There's no reason to go down there other than to say that I did it."

At 135 feet, the sunken aircraft carrier's flight deck was already five feet outside the recreational diving limit, but instructors said it was still relatively safe for tempted divers to make the touch.

"People just had to touch it," said Eilene Beard, Scuba Shack co-owner. "And we'd say, 'OK, bounce down there and touch it and get back up here so you don't use all your nitrogen.' "

But after Hurricane Gustav pushed through the Gulf of Mexico, the sunken ship shifted about 10 feet deeper.

To the untrained diver, 10 feet may seem insignificant, but instructors fear the drop could affect the appeal and safety of the local attraction.

"That extra 10 feet made a huge difference," said Jim Phillips, owner of MBT Divers on Barrancas Avenue. "What makes the aircraft carrier different than any other ship out there is that flight deck. And everyone wants to touch that flight deck. Now that it's at 145 feet, it's luring divers a significant amount past that 130 foot limit."

Pushing the limits

Without proper equipment and training, the added pressure of reaching that depth can be dangerous to divers.

"The farther you go down, the more you push your limits," said Beard, who also is chairwoman of the Escambia County Marine Advisory Committee.

Specific combinations of oxygen and nitrogen are mixed for different depths, Beard said, and exceeding the 130-foot mark can be very dangerous without preparation and training.

At farther depths, the body consumes more nitrogen, which can lead to nitrogen narcosis, a feeling of drunkenness and skewed judgment, or decompression sickness, where nitrogen bubbles can build up under the skin, tissues, joints and against the spinal column.

Deeper dives also reduce "bottom time" — the amount of time available to dive based on the amount of oxygen and nitrogen consumed.

Unfortunately for Gaiser, bad weather kept him from making the dive. Gaiser is a trained technical diver who is certified to dive to depths of 200 feet.

And so is his friend Gerry Mosconi, 48, who also traveled from New York and made the dive early Saturday.

While certified to dive outside of the recreational limit, Mosconi said he resisted touching the flight deck because he had not brought the proper equipment and was not willing to take the risk.

"There's that sort of people who take a car out and see how fast it will go," Mosconi said. "They're not trained for it. They can't handle it. Sometimes they get lucky and sometimes they don't."

Still drawing divers

A May 2007 report by the Haas Center measuring the Oriskany's impact on the local economy estimated that in Escambia County 37 new jobs were generated and $2 million in local output were generated.

Local shop owners feared that news of the famed sunken reef's shift might deter potential divers from visiting.

Beard said after Gustav, business tapered off. But she said lately she's been overwhelmed with phone calls from people inquiring about the Oriskany's condition.

"Now we have to re-educate people on it, but it's still a perfectly viable dive," Beard said.

Keith Wilkins, deputy director of Neighborhood and Community Service Bureau, said the Oriskany's shift has made it a safer dive, because now fewer divers will be tempted to reach the flight deck and will remain in shallower areas of the vessel.

"It might be a little less attractive, a little less of a tease," Wilkins said. "But inadvertently it's also a lot safer."

Diving instructors maintain the Oriskany's highlights are well above the flight deck, with the majority of marine life circling through the upper towers of the ship.

"I'd say if you have to touch that flight deck, then hang your spear gun off your foot and just tap it with that," Wilkins laughed. "Keep your head at 130 feet and you can still say, "Yeah, I tapped it."