Activity Report for the Period
October 13 - November 10, 2011
Summary During this period there was 1 Reef Monitoring Trip and 1 Construction Trip. On October 23, a dive monitoring trip was made to the Great Wicomico Pogey Boat in FH-13. On October 26, the NASA BRT Reef 545F13 was deployed in FH-13.
The dive on October 23 was made on the Great Wicomico Pogey Boat (517F13). This 175' Pogey Boat was donated by Omega Protein and deployed in 86' of water on November 24, 2009 at the South End of FH-13 (29°59.527'N / 88°30.610'W ). The Red Snapper population was still significant on this reef (100-150/2-20lbs.). Other fish sightings included Gag Grouper (2/8-10lbs.), Mangrove Snapper (2-4/2-3lbs.), Triggerfish (4-6), and Spadefish (25-30). The observations were significantly hampered by poor visibility. Due to the poor conditions of milky water and poor visibility throughout the water column, we aborted further work.
111026 NASA BRT 545F13
Position: 30°00.442'N / 88°31.424'W 85' Depth
NASA Employee Bryon Maynard and his crew of 5 orchestrated this deployment of the BRT (Big Round Thing), the Lox (Liquid Oxygen) Tank, and Scotty's Beer Can in FH-13. The BRT was a Hydrogen Accumulator Tank (HAT) that was used in the testing of the Saturn V Engines at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. These three pieces were sunk in the Southwest End of FH-13 in 85 feet of water. The BRT has a water clearance of about 50' at this time. It looks like it will make a great reef. Bryon, Ben Powell, and Skip Roberts made Dives on the BRT as well as the Great Wicomico Pogey Boat. The other members of Bryon's crew were Jason Hopper, Danny Woods, and Steve Rathbun.
