Note: Divers may arrive and sleep on the boat the night before

Join Ocean Blue Divers on our expedition to the USS San Diego. We will be diving off the great dive boat RV Garloo out of Captree, Long Island. Departure time is 6:00 AM on Saturday June 14, 2008. This wreck is alive with history and a great way to spend Flag Day 2008. Make sure to pack lots of drinking water and some snacks and sandwiches.

The San Diego was an US Armored Cruiser, as long as a 50-story building. It sank in 1918 when it hit a mine placed by a German U-Boat off of Fire Island. There is a century of history and an abundance of marine life on this ship. There are still many artifacts to be examined in place on this protected wreck.. The wreck is intact, but collapsing. It is upside down. The keel is in 65 feet of water and you hit the sand at 110 feet.

New Oceablue Divers member author David Rosenthal wrote the passage below:

Her six-inch guns still point out from the ship, an impressive sight. Both outside the ship and within her collapsing corridors live sea anemones, ling, lobsters, the occasional small shark and the spirits of courageous young sailors. A boot lies out on the sand. The boot is embossed with the letters U.S.M.C. on the bottom. The man who wore it may have been 18 years old, missing his girlfriend and family as the great ship projected US Naval might throughout the world in the early twentieth century. Maybe he was even from the New York area. How ironic that such a great warship should meet such an ignominious end so close to the shores it was to defend!

David has a new book out SCUBA Diving the Wrecks and Shores of Long Island, NY. For more information on diving the USS San Diego, and other Long Island wrecks take a look at David?s book. The book has thirteen stories just about the San Diego. Get more info at: www.thewharvesproject.org