Dive #114 - Rich Torkington's Dive Log

A portion of the deck and railing of the Eagle
Videograph by Rich Torkington in Florida Keys 2002

Dive Journal: We’ve decided to dive this wreck today, but unfortunately it is too deep for Johnny to come along. He’s come with us and will spend the hour on the dive boat with Sarah.

The Eagle, formerly known as the Arron K., is located at the drop-off around 5 miles offshore. It’s a big wreck, reportedly a 287 feet long freighter formerly used for scrap paper, and it lies in several pieces on its side in 110 feet of water. The corner of the port deck is actually located in about 70 feet of water due to the ship’s size. The Eagle is named after the Eagle Tire Company, who largely helped sponsor the ship’s sinking as a dive site.

The three of us start out at a mooring buoy and inch our way down the rope, hand over hand. Once we’re about 30 feet down, the huge dark shape of the ship comes into view – looks massive underwater! We continue working down the rope and finally find ourselves at the bow of the ship. There is a mild current here running into the boat hull, with the ship’s deck in the backwash.

Our plan is to simply (try to) circle the boat. With the ship’s size and its depth, that should take the majority of our air. We start out on the hull side, swimming towards the stern at various depths. There is some nice reef life, including a blue angelfish and a French angelfish. At the breaks in the hull we find some dense schools of fingerlings swarming about. There seems to be is a great circling patrol of big tarpon, which can be startling.

About midway down the boat, we spy 2 smallish (4-5 foot) jewfish! They are off the boat a ways out in the sand flats. Sighting these is a rarity – jewfish have been so overhunted that you rarely see one. Unfortunately the visibility doesn’t permit any kind of video shot.

We round the boat and start up its deck, which is quite a bit more interesting. There are the remains of the ship’s winch, railings, doorways and ports, unidentifiable machinery, etc. The ship’s masts stick up and out into the water, disappearing into the limited visibility. The masts are heavily encrusted with sponges, soft corals, and fishing line tangles. A crow’s nest is located at the end of one.

We slowly swim back to the bow, exploring various features. We’re all at about 1000 psi once we reach the mooring rope, and decide to head on up. A relatively short and deep dive – it would be nice to come back here to explore further someday.