jesseisland5

This is the third weekend in a row that I've come to Jesse Island looking for an object shown on the sidescan image that looks like a large rock and that coincides with a wreck symbol on some of the online digital marine charts. The online charts aren't very reliable since the info in them can be uploaded by random and anonymous users and the official CHS version of the chart doesn't show a wreck in this area so I was pretty sure it was a rock, but I wanted to find out for sure. Today (Nov. 6, 2022), the waves were even worse than last time. The swells were 3-4' high and sometimes breaking over the top like surfing waves. To avoid swimming through them, I swam out to the island underwater, following the powerline that runs across the bottom to the island. Visibility was about 30' and I swam about 10-20' above the 70-80' bottom. The powerline was covered with plumose anemones making it easy to see.

I reached the base of the island and started following my compass 80-90' deep towards where the sidescan image showed the object. The bottom here was featureless silty sand, with a few sea whips. The visibility down at these depths seemed worse, maybe 20'.

I eventually found the object and it was a rock after all. On the sidescan image it measures about 60' long. It was mostly covered with feather stars and plumose anemones. The base was 80-90' deep and the top was about 75' deep. I swam around it clockwise.

The tip of the rock that points towards shore almost looks like the bow of a ship. There are even grooves in the rock that look like wooden planks. I'm guessing that the wreck symbol was added to the chart in this spot as a practical joke by divers based on the wreck-like appearance of this rock.

I didn't have the air to swim back across the channel along the bottom so I braved the swells and swam back on the surface. It was fine, but I always find it strange how swimming along the bottom always seems much faster than swimming on the surface.