Stolt Dagali - May 5, 2007
For the second week in a row, Neptune was on his best behavior and we were diving the wrecks. It was an All-Star cast on board today: Colin, Kulpie, Dave Katz, Mayo, Joe Dormer, Tibs, Tom Andro, and Dana Vadde. Jim Brown was running Ian Swisher though his paces for his Advanced Open Water cert. Jim deserves a standing ovation for making this great opportunity available to Ian. Gerhard, Roger, Vern, Capt. Tex, and Captain Zero were crew.

The wreck du jour was the Stolt Dagali, a tanker that sank in 1964 following a collision with the cruise ship Shalom. There is no truth to the story that the passengers on the Shalom were yelling "piece, peice!!" in Hebrew prior to the collision. Following the crash, the bow and front 2/3 of the Stolt remained afloat, while the stern section sank in 130 fsw. The bow was returned to Norway and stitched to the stern of another half-sunken ship, the Gogstad. The Stolt Dagali was renamed the Lady Stolt and later was renamed Lido as she began plying the waters of the Great Lakes.

Because the top of the Stolt begins at 65 ft, it is a wreck for divers of all abilities. With 65 ft of relief, you have to remember that your deep stop must be made below the tie in. Colin and I went bugging at the stern and in the washout below the starboard side, but came up empty. I grabbed the claw of a reluctant bug near the tear in the hull and later lost my grip on another that I collared inside the ship.

On the second dive Colin knifed two fluke and bagged them. Tibz speared a nice tog. Kudos to Vern who didn't lose his cookies when the fish were cleaned. WaytogoVern! With 20 ft viz on the bottom, it was easy to ignore the 43 degree temps. Even at 20 ft, the temp was only 50 degrees, way too cold for a 35 minute deco hang that I would pay for later. All in all, it was a great day to be on the ocean!

Tom Pritchard