The Midnight Hour
Location: Southern California
Site: The Midnight Hour
Boat: Giant Stride
Divers: Jim Babor, Juan Torres, Norbert Lee, Nir Maimon
Documentation: Daniel Pio
Surface Support: Curtis Wolfslau
Mission Impact: 2 large sections of net removed — approximately 500 pounds (about 1,000 square feet) — and delivered to Aquafil for recycling.
Team Ghost Diving USA returned to the Midnight Hour aboard the Giant Stride, back at the site to remove the net we had found previously on a scouting mission. The plan was straightforward and ambitious: rig large sections of net, lift them, and bring them home.
The net on the midnight hour has likely unrolled from the large spool that is on the wreck during a recent storm. We focused on cleaning the portions that are most dangerous to marine life and is draping across the wreck.
Divers work a large section of net spread across the wreck.
As always, our divers checked the net carefully for entangled marine life as they cut. Section by section, they freed the net from the wreck, clipped on lift bags, and sent it on its way to the surface.
A lift bag carries a section of net up off the wreck.
Topside, the crew of the Giant Stride hauled the net aboard. When it was all tallied, the team had removed two large sections of net — roughly 500 pounds and about 1,000 square feet — one of our bigger single-day hauls at the site.
The day’s haul aboard the Giant Stride.
From the dock, the net went straight to Aquafil, where recovered nets are recycled and regenerated into new material rather than left to fish the wreck forever. That is the full circle we aim for on every clean-up: net out of the ocean and back into use.
Net delivered to Aquafil for recycling.
A big day and a big haul for the team — and there is still more waiting for us at the Midnight Hour.
A very special thank you to Captain Jim and the crew of the Giant Stride, to Daniel Pio for the underwater photography, and to our partners at Healthy Seas and our sponsors for supporting our clean-up efforts.