The Lady Luck (formerly known as the Newtown Creek), is a 324 foot (98 m) decommissioned City of New York sludge tanker. It was sunk on July 23rd, 2016 about 1.5 miles east of the Pompano Beach pier, and became an artificial reef, a haven for fish, and the new favorite diving destination.
What’s different about this wreck is the interactive art work on the main deck (now at 105 feet deep) sponsored by the Isle Casino and created by Pompano Beach artist Dennis MacDonald. There is a mock underwater casino, with an octopus dealing chips at a table, 3 sharks playing poker with a devious laugh, 5 large dice blocks, and a life size mermaid barmaid, waiting to take your order.
We embarked on the Sea Dog dive boat with the Pompano Dive Center and reached the location at around 1:30PM. There were over a hundred boats already there, fishing boats, dive boats, yachts, a double decker water taxi, jet skis, and a kayaker from Quebec, all waiting for the sinking to take place. Our captain and divemaster tied us off at the DeWit Clinton dredge barge (sunk at 175 feet, 26.2346,-80.0612), in order not to burn fuel while waiting. We monitored comm traffic on channel 11, which was reserved for the event.
Instead of using explosions to sink the ship, engineers pumped in water gradually. This seemed to take longer than expected, and onlookers slowly became agitated while awaiting the sinking. We waited on the Sea Dog for about 2 1/2 hours, while listening to humorous conversations on channel 11. At 3:59 PM, the Lady Luck finally started to lean to its starboard side, and the bow came up a couple of feet. The ship then gently rolled to about 45 degrees on its starboard side, as violent jets of air started blowing out through sections of the ship, from the immense pressure accumulating during its final moments above the water line. Within 30 seconds, the ship was completely submerged and disappeared below the surface, leaving behind a large pool of fizzy bubbles, and a red boat of engineers who were encircling the location. On-board cameras show that it took only about 20 seconds for the Lady Luck to hit the bottom of the ocean, and it rested in its upright position, with the sand at 120 feet. Upon impact, a massive plume of silt engulfed the ship and reduced visibility to zero.
What followed was an immediate exodus of boats leaving the location. You could almost hear Richard Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries playing in your head, as an armada of fishing boats raced toward the Hillsboro Inlet. It was truly a sight to behold! Next, four Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) divers dove down to inspect the ship. They had been waiting at the location since 6 AM that morning. As nearby boats waited for the inspection divers to re-surface, about 4 or 5 sheriff’s boats kept encircling the location, keeping other boats within the safety perimeter. The FWC folks completed their inspection and re-surfaced at 4:33 PM. The reports among boaters was that the ship was absolutely not diveable, as viz was nearly zero. Our team on the Sea Dog considered diving a reef instead, but we decided to wait it out just a tiny bit longer. Within an hour, we decided to go for it and dive the Lady Luck.
We tied off at the bridge starboard side (26.230833, -80.063503) and at 5:41 PM we we were on the wreck. The tie-off rope was stretched sideways at a crazy 45 degree engle, and there was a ripping current that would almost blow the dive mask right off your face. We pulled ourselves down the line, and there she was, in all her glory! The bridge is at 83 feet, with a convenient swim-through. There is art on the roof of the bridge, soon to be covered by coral. To dive the main deck with the casino art (which is at 105 feet) consider making this a Nitrox dive. On 21% (air) you only have 16 minutes at 110 feet until you hit the no decompression limit. Be careful with the gas mix, as some local dive shops bank 36%, which gives you a maximum operating depth of only 95 feet at a PPO2 of 1.4, and you don’t want to ox tox past that depth. For a max 111 foot dive at PPO2 of 1.4, you’ll need a 32% mix (33 fsw * (1.4 PPO2 / 0.32 mix – 1 ) = 111 feet. With the logistics out of the way, and some care and great gas management, you’ll have an amazing dive! We spent about 40 minutes on the Lady Luck the day of the sinking, and at 6:20PM we were back on the boat, with a story to tell!
Pictures
Other web images:
Sharks at the poker table: https://www.facebook.com/southfloridadiving/photos/pcb.1419940061366511/1419940034699847/?type=3&theater