For many Key West residents, scuba diving has become a distant memory, preserved on a peeling C-card and a forgotten logbook.
Terms such as neutral buoyancy, safety stop and bottom time have lost their significance, but operators of local dive shops say that is all about to change.
The impending arrival and sinking of the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg as the world's second-largest artificial reef sometime next month has launched a flurry of diving excitement among both locals and visitors.
"I think now that it's becoming a reality, people are really getting into it," said Bob Holston, co-owner of Dive Key West. "This is going to totally change the way we do business."
Dive shop operators are preparing new protocols for the wreck dive. Most are offering more refresher courses for rusty divers -- and more advanced level and Nitrox classes for the adventurous and experienced divers who want to see the most of the former military ship.
"It's time for everybody to knock the dust off their equipment and get into the shops to get it serviced because you don't want to miss this summer," said Capt. Joe Weatherby, who initiated the reef project with Capt. Sheri Lohr more than a decade ago. "You can do 1,000 dives on this ship and not see it all. It's going to look like a Jacuzzi with all the bubbles coming off it."
Jessica Opie of Subtropic Dive Center said the shop has been getting calls about refresher courses, and from people outside the Florida Keys who already want to reserve a spot on a boat to dive the Vandenberg.
"We recommend the $65 refresher courses for anyone who has not been diving in the past two years," she said.
The height of the ship will make it accessible to divers of all levels. The top of the ship will be in 40 feet of water, while the keel will be on the ocean floor at 140 feet.
The challenging deep dive has prompted many people to upgrade their diving certification and explore Nitrox, or mixed-gas diving, to allow for more bottom time, said Capt. Chris Norwood, owner of Florida Straits Diving Inc., and president of Artificial Reefs of the Keys, the group that initiated the reef project under Lohr and Weatherby.
The amount of experience that divers can prove with their logbook will be the key in determining the depth they achieve on Dive Key West boats, Holston said.
"They'll have to present a logbook to dive with us, and all dives will be guided by one instructor per six divers," he said, adding that diver safety is the ultimate priority.
Southpoint Divers also is working on its new dive programs, and finalizing what levels of wreck penetration will be possible.
"Our preliminary outline is that open water divers will be able to go with a guide with minimal penetration, and advanced divers can go with their own teams, but no penetrating the wreck," said Eric Schaaf, general manager of Southpoint. "Advanced divers with documented training and experience (i.e. logged dives) in overhead environments such as cavern, cave, ice or wrecks, and with the proper tools and equipment can explore on their own."
"This artificial reef will be perfect for everything from fish counts to photography, and snorkeling to tech diving," Weatherby said Monday, when tugboats had pulled the behemoth ship past Cape Hatteras, N.C.
For continuous weather and position updates, go to http://www.srh.noaa.gov/key/ and click on the Vandenberg icon.
mbolen@keysnews.com