Dutch Springs 9/8 & 9/9/06

I don't normally post my dives from Dutch Springs, but its been slow lately, so here it is. It was my weekend to be a Dive Master for The Scuba Connection this past weekend. I found out from George that I was going to be working with him with a Search & Recovery class for both days. I was very happy to find out that the three students consisted of one instructor and two other dive masters. This keeps the "oh shit" factor way way down. No kids to babysit, no need to be in your face...just dive and let dive.

There was nothing spectacular to report other than I had my wrist seal on my drysuit rip from end to end on the first day. Lucky for me, the shop gave me a loaner for day #2 while my Oceanic Biodry went in for repair. I chose to have both seals replaced with the heavy-duty seals.

We did a total of four dives with a bottom time of 3 hours and 44 minutes. Now lets hope my suit is done soon so I can get in some real water.

Lake Ontario - Canada - August 2006

The Scuba Connection set up a trip to Lake Ontario for the end of August. Eight divers made this trip, and we had the time of our lives. On the way to Canada, Scott, Rob, and I stopped in Alexandria Bay, NY, for a shore dive on the Islander, which sank by the dock and sits in about 40' of water. We were the only divers there, which made for super viz.

After leaving NY, we headed to Kingston, Ontario, and met the other divers for another shore dive, but this time from the Canadian side and in the lake. I called this one the "waste of time" dive in my log, because it was just that. In reality, its called "two anchors and stacked hulls". You follow a line out to two large anchors, pass a stop sign in 20' of water with a scuba warning, the remnents of an old lounge chair, and eventually to the two hulls. I ventured out for 13 minutes and turned around. Other divers made it out there, but it was the longest underwater swim to nowhere I've ever done.

August 25. Now the real diving begins. The Munson was a two story wooden dredge which sank in 1890. There are tools of the trade lined up to see, a pile of china in the center, and a large shovel/bucket for dredging hanging over one end. The condition of the wood is good due to the cold fresh water. Zebra mussels cover most of the structure. I hit a max. depth of 105' and had a bottom time of 33 minutes.

Next was the Wolf Islander II, which was the first artifical reef put down in Lake Ontario. They say it was put down for scuba diving, and it shows. It looks like a small freighter, or an ice breaker. On the deck was a bicycle, a motorcycle, and a bowling ball. My dive buddy Scott and I went down a shaft into the engine room, and did many swim-throughs and penetrations on this dive. Depth for me on this one was 72' with a 44 minute bottom time.

August 26. We hit the George A. Marsh, which was a wooden schooner that went down in 1917 with 12 fatalities. This is a fully intact wooden wreck, but oddly enough, you can't go inside. The inside of this one is completely filled with silt. There are deadeyes, blocks, pottery, and the ships wheel on the wreck, as well as an assortment of odds and ends. I hit a max. depth of 80' on this one with a bottom time of 48 minutes.

Next stop was the Comet, which was a side wheel steamer sunk in 1861 with three fatalities. The majority of the structure has collapsed, but strangely enough, the two large wheels are intact and upright. This makes for some outstanding photo oportunities. We were able to penetrate underneath the decking with only about two feet of space above and below. Max. depth for me on this one was 80' with a 47 minute bottom time.

Night dive time!!!! We opted for the Wolf Islander again, and motored out there for an 8:30 splash-in. We waited for it to be nice and dark before entering. Scott an I were the first in, and we were accompanied by Joe. This was what night diving is all about. Watching the lights of other divers, penetrating into room which were completely dark, hearing the thumping sounds made by the exhaled air hitting the ceilings in the rooms, watching rust falling like rain...it was outstanding. Rob took my camera and anchored himself on one of the railings which overlooked the main deck. He put the camera on an eight second shutter, and made the dive lights into art with the camera. Thanks Rob. Max. depth tonight was 76' with a 46 minute bottom time.

August 27. Bad weather prevented us from making the trip to the "City of Sheboigen". The Captain wanted to call the dive entirely, but our trip leader convinced him to take us to the sheltered Wolf Islander II for a third time. We weren't the only ones to think of this, because when we arrvied, we found two other boats moored to the site. Scott, Joe, and I were the first down, and we went straight for the engine room. We dropped down the shaft and did a full exploration of the engine room. I found there was a door which exited out to a side walkway. I also found a small door which went to a lounge area with a bunch of wooden benches. I squeezed through and motioned for Joe to join me. He tried a few times, and eventually made it in after I told him to twist sideways. His wings on his BC were catching on the sides. The doubles made it though with an inch on each side, but with the air in his bladder, he couldn't make it through without a little adjustment. Scott joined us as I went down a set of stairs to a smaller room. Once there, I was give three options. Left into a smaller room, straight to an exit to the walkway, or right through a narrow hallway which leads to another exit. Scott and Joe took this narrow hallway and I was about to follow. I felt something on my fins and noticed another dive team right on me. By the time I turned back to the hallway, Scott and Joe were gone. I noticed two spikes, about two inches long, protruding from the walls into the hallway. I then took the easy way out and exited this area through the door in front of me instead of taking the hallway. Upon exiting, there was Scott and Joe waiting for me. We discussed this exact scenario before entering, and they knew where to find me if I didn't follow. Perfect. I then found the smoke stack and went in fins first. All that was showing was from my chest up. Joe got a chuckle. Then I took the bicycle for a "ride" by hopping around the deck while really making a mess of the viz. Max. depth today was 69' with a 51 minute bottom time.

On the way home, we stopped in Alexandria Bay, NY, for a second dive on the Islander. This was to be a "bottle" and artifact dive. We arrived to find 21 divers on the surface (in and out of the water), and bubbles coming from the wreck. There were a few classes going on, but we decided to dive anyway. By the time we got in, most had cleared out. We went to work and really did a good job at completely destroying any viz. there was. We each found a place to dig, and went nuts looking for anything. I found a semi-old bottle which was not worth keeping. Justin went about 200 feet downstream and found a nice soft spot in the silt. He plunged his arm in as far is it would go until his head was buried. Sure enough he came up with gold. Well, not really gold, but he found a really nice very old clear bottle with designs all over it. He also found a thermometer which was about two feet long. The glass was intact and still contained the mercury. There was an advertisement on the front which was still very readable. He found two nice old pieces. My max. depth was only 40', but I logged a full hour on the bottom.

I got a total of ten dives in four days, with just over 7.5 hours of bottom time. I got a few decent pictures, but now realize that my camera lacks one basic thing.....like a competent operator. Thankfully, Rob had his real underwater camera and took a few for me.

Stolt Dagali...revisited...again. Aug. 5, 2006.

I had a boatload of work to do at my house, as we were in the middle of redoing our kitchen. I was on vacation from work and was in shock when I got the approval from the boss...aka...my beautiful wife, to go diving. She was the one who actually suggested it, and I wonder if she was just a little shocked when I said I would go, when there was more than enough work to be done at the house. I wonder if she expected me to say something like "no honey, we have too much work to do here." In reality, I was like....yea baby....and was checking with my local dive shop for a charter before she knew it. Unfortunately, my shop had no charter for the one and only day I was able to dive, so I had to resort to other means. I checked the local dive forum for an open boat, and called my old reliable dive buddy. I ended up on the Independence II out of Mantoloking, NJ, just south of Seaside Heights. They had a charter to the Stolt Dagali, which is a wreck I've done two or three times. There's something to be said about diving a wreck that I've never been to before, and I was really hoping for something new. The Stolt is a great dive, so the Stolt it was going to be.

I met my dive buddy, Scott, at the boat at the very early hour of 6:30. I've never been down Rt. 35 past Seaside Heights, and was impressed at the homes along the beach in Bayhead. I may have to look into that town when it comes time to retire. The first thing Scott and I noticed was that we were the only two on the boat that didn't know everybody else. There were a total of nine paying divers and a crew of four (not including the 9 year old son of a crew member) on this boat, which was the second nicest dive boat I've been on. The first is the Seeker, which was out of Brielle, NJ, before Dan Crowell sold the boat to an outfit out of Newport, RI. This boat was made for diving, and the people on it were the real deal. I've been diving off NJ seriously now for about six years, and really felt like an amateur around this group. Scott and I had the only set up with single tanks. Everyone else had doubles with stage bottles, or rebreathers. Many were wearing t-shirts commemorating the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Andria Doria, and the trip the Independence II made to this site. Scott and I commented to each other that we felt slightly out of place, but we agreed that by the time we got to the Stolt, we'd be chatting it up with these guys like old pals, and we were right on the money. Each guy was a class act; no slouches in the group.

The Stolt Dagali was an M-class tanker that was sunk on Thanksgiving day in 1964 as a result of a collision with the luxury liner Shalom. Nineteen people lost their lives that day. The ship was cut in half, and only the stern sunk. The bow was towed into port, and actually attached to the stern of another ship. NJScuba.com has a super write-up on this wreck with some great pictures.

Now I knew that Stolt had a max depth of 130' to the sand, and the wreck starts at 60'. The proper nitrox fill for this depth is 28% EAN. Anything higher would keep me off the bottom, and away from where the lobsters would be waiting. I filled my tanks Thursday night and did a crappy job. I gave myself 30.5% EAN. I dive with a P02 of 1.4, which is the way I like it. If I chose to change it to 1.5, than the 30.5% mix would get me to the sand, but I chose to keep my P02 in my comfort zone. I'm not into deco diving yet, and didn't want to start just on the off chance that I would pull a lobster out. My max. depth would be 116', so if I wanted to bring home dinner, it would be fish or mussels. And lets face it...I suck at catching lobsters.

Enroute to the Stolt, one diver pulled out the deck plans for this ship. I've never seen a diver actually pull out deck plans for a wreck. This guy was planning his exact entry point, and knew where he wanted to go. I don't remember his name, but he said he has 30 dives on this wreck. He talked about going in here, through there, up this hallway, through some other room.....and so on. Way too much penetration for my comfort zone.

We arrived on the site to find the Jeanne II out of NY, already there. This boat was filled with ladies! It was chartered by a women’s only diving club. The only males I saw were the Captain and crew. From what I saw, these ladies were real divers. I saw drysuits, doubles, stage bottles, and solo diving. Good for them.

We tied in behind the Jeanne II, which gave us a long, almost horizontal, trip down to the wreck. We were at least 200 feet off the wreck. Scott and I decided to splash in last, since the runtimes of everyone else on our boat was at least 20 minutes longer than our planned 35 minute dive. It was the right thing to do. Let these guys in, stay out of their way, and then do our thing. The diver who set the hook said there was not much in the way of big and/or mature fish on the relief, so we left our pole spears on deck. We decided to make this a sight seeing tour.

We splashed in and began our descent. The water on the surface was clear and warm. I got a reading of 79 degrees on the surface, and 55 degrees on the bottom. Viz. was a good 50 feet until I got the thermocline, which was at about 45 feet. The particles increased, and a slight current was felt. The viz really cleared up once we got on the wreck. I was ahead of Scott and landed on the wreck first. As a matter of habit, I set up the wreck reel on the first appendage I saw. The viz. was at least 40', and maybe as much as 60'. In hindsight, I wish I never ran my reel. Now I was forced to go back the exact way I came, but the viz. was so good that my reel was just a waste of time and energy.

I hit a max. depth of 102', and had a run time of 34 minutes, one minute less than our plan. There were lots of little cunners around the wreck, in fact they were all over the place. I even saw a cod, and a few other odd looking fish. This was a dive where I wish I had my camera. Looking up from the 90' mark, the ambient light was incredible. The viz. was outstanding, and the fish were all around. This was a picture if I ever saw one...but it doesn't do a bit of good without a camera. Oh well. I didn't do any penetrations on this dive beyond sticking the top half of my torso into a hole or door. My HID light was out of action, and I was using a plain old 8-cell Princeton Tec handheld light. This kind of light used to be good enough for me, but once you go HID, you don't go back. Plus, Scott had his Dive Rite 10 watt HID canister light with him. I could piggyback his light. What could go wrong? Uh...do I hear Murphy's law knocking? Scott's light crapped out on him almost as soon as we hit the water. It flickered on once or twice, but that’s it. Scott went to his backup, but in reality, no lights were needed unless we did a penetration dive, which we didn't.

So I'm down on the hull after coming up from depth. I'm at about 65' and I'm near the anchor chain of the Jeanne II, and what do I see but a diver from the Jeanne II in trouble. Not the kind of trouble which required any lifesaving, but just that "oh shit, I'm in over my head" kind of trouble. She was diving solo, and if she had a buddy, she was nowhere to be seen. She was holding a goodie bag which was loaded with some artifact, or maybe some weights, because it was heavy as shit. She was also holding both of her stage and/or deco bottles. None of these three items were attached to her rig, and she was struggling to hold onto them. I gave her an "ok" sign as I approached and she gave me one back, but with that "holy shit, please stay and help" look on her face. I grabbed her goodie bag, and it was heavy... really heavy. I clipped it to her rig and then clipped on each stage bottle, front and back. She was good to go. I can't imagine why she ever had these bottles unclipped at depth. Maybe she left them at the anchor with the intention of clipping them on for her ascent. I don't remember seeing them earlier. Hmmmm..... Anyway, she gave me the head bow and rolling hand motion, which I know as "you are the man...and if you were single I'd take you to lunch" sign. Off we went, like two passing ships in the night. Yea right.

Time to go up. One minute at 50 feet for the halfway point, and 4 minutes at 15 feet. Our total run time of 34 minutes, just one minute under our plan. Time to get out of the water. I swam underneath the boats to the one what had the Christmas tree ladder. I know the Jeanne II had a regular ladder, but when I came up on the ladder, I had to look at the name of the boat to make sure I was on the Independence II. Bikini's. I saw bikini's on our boat. We had only male divers...how can there be bikini's on ours? Did I mistakenly sign on to a "special" trip? Apparently a few of the divers from the Jeanne II knew the crew from the Independence II and swam over to say hello. To make matters even more interesting, the Jeanne II had a crew member (maybe the Capt?) who was dancing. Not only was he dancing, but he was wearing leopard skin underpants and leather chaps. Really. I'm not kidding. He also wore a cowboy hat and some type of tribal garb on his chest with beads or bones. The salsa music was blaring and he was dancing. The ladies were putting dollar bills in his pants. I kid you not. We were yelling "Y.M.C.A" as he was raking in the dough. Again, I wish I had my camera. It was about this time that a few of the ladies swam over a ziplock bag of margarita's, a bag of meat from the grill, and some cob salad. To the ladies of the Aquanauts...thanks! The surface interval was interesting to say the least.

With the surface interval done, it was time to go back. Before going in, one of the divers told me about a fairly safe penetration that I might be comfortable with. He described going to the anchor, up the hull to the cut, and finding what was a partially covered walkway. He said there is lots of light and many ways out. Scott and I agreed we would give this a look. We were descending the line to find another diver from our boat coming up. He waved us over and he opened his hand. He had a little seahorse. I've never seen one in New Jersey before, and I was intrigued. It had its tail curled around his version of a twig. I'd say it was three or four inches high, all brown, and cute as can be. I've heard of seahorses being seen in NJ, but this was a first for me. We played with him for a few seconds and then he was set free, bobbing around with the current.

Scott and I hit the anchor and began our planned dive. Up the hull, down to the cut, and sure enough, right to the (what used to be an inside) walkway. This was just the right kind of penetration for me. It began at about 65 or 70' and I followed it down to the mid 90's. The wall, or what was at one time the floor, was terracotta colored tile. I cleaned off a few and saw they were perfectly intact. I tried removing a few tiles, but no such luck. Next time I'll bring a hammer and chisel. After swimming through this walkway, I found a hole about twice the size of a manhole leading into a cavernous area inside the ship. I peeked in to see ambient light coming from an even larger hole about thirty feet away. I'm not usually the one to suggest such a penetration, but I did. I motioned to Scott that we should go in and swim to the other exit. Without hesitation, Scott entered the hole with me right behind him. This area was big, really big. Just like expected, we swam towards the exit that I saw from the entry point. I couldn't swim through this hole without having to turn sideways. This was an exhilarating experience. With the exception of a dive I did in the St. Lawrence Seaway, where I penetrated an upside down coal carrying wreck end to end, this was my most extensive wreck penetration (ok, so the one in the St. Lawrence was only 40' long), and it wasn't over yet. There was a large entry point into what appeared to be an engine room. Scott went in about 30' while I kept it a little closer to say....20', maybe 25' if I stretch it. I think that if either of us had a real light we would have ventured farther, but it was not to be. I think Scott knew he went far enough when he looked back and saw my fins going the other way. He's a little more adventurous than I am at this point, but give me time...lots of time. Anyway, we exited this room and continued back up the walkway, exiting near the cut. We went to the hull just underneath where we tied in and began pulling mussels. Man, these little guys sure put up a fight. I filled my bag about halfway while Scott filled his about a third. We clipped them to the anchor chain in anticipation of continuing our dive, but after only a minute, we decided it was time to call it a day. I hit a max. depth of 96 feet, and a run time of 41 minutes.

One point of interest was when the Jeanne II pulled their anchor and began heading home. I pulled up my t-shirt to show off my manly chest to the ladies on their charter. I was pleasantly surprised when one lady, who was sitting high atop the boat, gave me a "back at ya" reply. Although it was in the distance, it is nice to know that I got a little reciprocation. Thanks.

As for dinner, several lobsters came up, probably four or five. Most were in the four to six pound range, with the smallest being at least two pounds. One guy got a few dozen scallops for his girlfriend in Philly. Gotta keep the ladies happy so we can keep diving!

On the way in, we were dragging Scott’s bags and mine behind the boat to clean the mussels. About five minutes into it, something went tragically wrong, and my bag went to the bottom of the sea along with about twenty servings of mussel’s marinara. Scott got lucky. He was also kind enough to give me about half of his catch so I didn't go home empty handed.

All in all, it was a great time with the crew and divers on the Independence II. I wish I had some pictures to post from this dive, but I didn't bring the camera. Check back later for pictures from my next trip to the Stolt.

Charleston, South Carolina, July 2006.

After diving in the OBX for the first time, I went to Charleston for a few days. I spend one day on the water with Charleston Scuba for a day of diving. One thing about diving here is that you have to go out far to get to a decent dive site. We went 19 miles offshore to dive a "ledge" for out first dive.

"THE INDIGO LEDGES are 70 to 80ft deep and is a great site for Open Water divers. This natural reef line supports a variety of soft corals, sponges and crustaceans. Tropical fish such as the angel are frequent visitors and large pelagics may be seen in the area. The Ledges provide the unique opportunity to drift dive in this area when conditions allow."

Think of the ledge as a place where its 70 feet on the high side, and 80 feet on the deep side. In between there is what looks just like a coral reef you would expect to find in the carribbean. Nooks and crannies, lots of fish to see, corals, shells, etc... The Indigo ledges got their name because it was found by Charleston Scuba 's owner after salvaging a boat called "Indigo". They passed over the ledge either on the way in or out, and must have taken note of the numbers for a later look. I'm glad they did, because this is a nice dive site.

I was really hoping to see a sand tiger shark, but wasn't that lucky. I brought my camera and took a few pics of the sealife. I was diving solo and was the first diver down the line. I looked back to find four divers behind me, all wanting someone else to be the first on the site just in case there was a shark. Viz was carribbean-like, at 60'+, and it was warm....really warm. First in and last out...just the way I like it.

The second dive was supposed to be an artifical reef which had a bunch of piles of rubble, including some old military vehicles and a few larger ships. There were six sport fishing boats on them and they didn't seem too happy to see a dive boat approach. After 30 minutes of trying to find a decent place to hook in, we gave up and went to the wreck of the Frederick W. Day.

"THE FREDERICK W. DAY was a wooden schooner built in 1901 and sank off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina on September 17, 1914, loaded with bags of cement. The bags have formed a reef approximately 200ft long with the top of the reef at 40ft and the bottom at 54ft. There is an abundance of fish and other marine life around the wreck, creating one of the nicest dives off Charleston."

Since I was solo, I buddied up with a diver whose buddy was a little "green" and didn't dive. We were the first in and I immediately noticed a large remora swimming around beneath the boat. He was about 2 1/2 feet long, which I believe is on the large side. As I decended the line, this damn remora was all over me. I think he was trying to latch onto my mask and it was freaking me out. I know they are harmless, but this guy was a pain in my ass.

I got onto the wreck to find most of the actual ship gone. Remaining is a huge heap consisting of of cement, each piece the size and shape of the bag which once contained it. The cement forms the shape of the hull. There was a large anchor on the sand just in front of the bow. Someone obviously tried to raise it, as indicated by the canvas line wrapped around it. Luckily, this attempt was unsuccessful, allowing the anchor to be seen by divers for years to come instead of being in someone's shop or backyard. After 35 minutes, my dive buddy indicated he needed to ascend due to his air supply, so I escorted him to the anchor line and up he went...by himself. I stayed down and tagged along with the Captain and one of his mates. We just kept cruising around the wreck looking for turtles, sharks, or rays. Unfortunately, we saw none. There were thousands of little bait fish swimming all around me, sometimes enveloping me to where I saw almost no light. They swam in unison all around, above and below me. I know that the big fish feed on these litle guys and I was hoping to see some of the big guys dining on these little guys, but no such luck. After an hour dive time, I saw them begin their ascent, so I decided to join them. Ahhh....again the first in and last out.

Here is a link to about a dozen pictures from this trip, which includes the post directly below as well....WreckValley Photo Gallery

Outer Banks NC, July 2006.

I finally got to dive in the Outerbanks. I went down to Kill Devil Hills with my family for a week on the beach. My plan was to dive the U85 but mother nature didn't cooperate and the dive was cancelled the night before. A tropical depression 160 miles offshore made a mess of the surf and caused 8-10' seas. Luckily it only lasted a few days and I got out on an artifical reef called the "advance". We planned on the Jackson, which is a Coast Guard cutter which went down in a hurricane, but the viz. was only 3' according to the DM who went in to set the hook. We moved on to the "Advance" as a backup. I went out with outerbanks dive center in Nags Head, SC, and was truely impressed with their professionalism. They use the boat "Go-Between", which is perfect for diving.

Spade fish and a barracuda (barely visible on the right side near the top, swim above the "Advance" - Formerly USS Worland, PCE-845, WWII patrol craft, 860 tons, 184 ft long, decommissioned in June 1, 1964, subsequently used as a research vessel by Cape Fear Technical Institute. Upper bridge is at 35 to 40 ft with sand at an approximate depth of 80 ft.

I went in first with two fairly new divers, with about 40 dives between them. Since I was diving alone, they teamed me up with these two. The viz on the surface was at least 50 feet, and the water was nice and warm. At about 45' there was a clear thermocline, which reduced the temp. to the mid 60's and viz went to 15'. There was also a moderate current on the wreck. After only15 minutes, this team decided to end their dive, either due to being cold or to sucking wind. I took them to the anchor line and up they went....without me. I stayed down with the hopes of seeing a sand tiger shark or maybe a stingray. As I waited, I played in the large schools of spade fish all around the wreck. I realized that the lense of my camera was fogged over due to the extreme temperture change between the surface and down below. As a result, my camera was useless underneath the thermocline. I played around for another 20 minutes or so, and ascended when the last dive team went to the anchor line. On my safety stop, I noticed a large barracuda hanging out near the bouy about 50 feet away. This was just the way I like it....first in and last out.

During the surface interval, a few of the crew and I snorkeled around the boat watching the large schools of spade, the lingering barracuda, and even a mahi mahi dolphin. I was able to take some nice pics and really enjoyed this break between the dives.

On the second dive, I teamed up with one of the crew and we spent most of the dive inside the Advance. There were lots of swim thoughs and even a few decent penetrations. We went out into the sand looking for sand dollars and nice shells. After 45 minutes, it was time to come up. Again, first in and last out....that's the way to do it!

Coming into the marina, there were many reminders of the havoc of a hurricane. Hurricane Isabel, which stuck the outerbanks in September of 2003 left behind some eerie remiders of the power of mother nature. Many boats which sunk at the docks remain where they went down, partially submerged.

The proper stages in the life of a lobster

Stage 1:Caught








Stage 2: Cooked








Stage 3: Eaten

Wreck Dive for Friday June 23rd - Stolt Dagali

Finally, after being blown out three times this season, I got off-shore for some real diving. Rob chartered the Stingray dive boat from Belmar NJ and we went to the Stolt Dagali. Here is some of the stats for this wreck, taken from njscuba.net:
Type: M-class tanker, Norway
Name: Stolt is the name of the line that owned the ship; it translates as "mountain" or "pride". Dagali is a city in Norway.
Built: 1955, Denmark, as Dagali
Specs: ( 582 x 70 ft ) 12723 gross tons, 43 crew
Sunk:Thursday November 26, 1964( Thanksgiving day )collision with liner Shalom ( 25,338 tons ) - 19 casualties
Depth: 130 ft, starts at 60 ft.
Approximately 15 miles offshore from Belmar NJ.

"By all accounts the brand-new liner Shalom was proceeding at a recklessly fast pace through a thick fog, while simultaneously misreading her radar set. The slow-moving Stolt Dagali was sliced clean through, losing almost half her crew when the heavy stern section plummeted to the bottom of the sea. Fortunately, the Stolt carried a cargo of non-flammable vegetable oil, otherwise both vessels might have been consumed in flames. The bow section of the Stolt was salvaged, while the stern section lies crookedly on its starboard side, 142 ft long in 130 ft of water."

Here is my dive report:
Henrick, the Capt. of Stingray dive charters out of Belmar NJ went out today with four divers plus Jim, the mate. Originally it was going to be just Rob and me (which would have cancelled the dive due to not enought divers), but Henrick posted the dive and found two more, Tim and Steveeye. We had a great time on the Stolt Dagali, which I believe is about 15 miles offshore and has a max dept of about 130 feet. The lake Atlantic was really cooperating, with flat and calm seas.

Rob and Jim splashed in to set the hook and it was time to dive. I was the next in and went in to the hook, which was set in right at the high point of the wreck, which I think was at 58'. I only hit a max. depth of 88' on the first dive, with a bottom temp of 59 degrees. I didn't see too many fish willing to get hammered with my pole spear, so I left it by the hook and made this a sight seeing tour. Fourty minutes later it was time to go. I didn't go to the sand, but did plenty of swim throughs and penetrations. It was nice. Viz. was at least 30-40 feet if not more.

On the second dive, Rob and I were the first to spash in. We went to a place where Rob had stashed a lobster from his first dive (he had no space left in the bag and was already holding one lobster in his other free hand). We put it in my bag and then went into the engine room. This kind of penetration is not really my kind of tea, but it was neat to be inside this area. I didn't bring my pole spear on this dive, and replaced this with my camera. I took a few pictures, and then went to a high area to pull some mussels off the wreck. I found the perfect size mussels by a porthole near the tie-in line and I went to town cutting them off and putting them in my bag. This dive I saw a max. depth of 101 feet, and did relatively short 30 minute dive.
Upon returning to the line, there was a massive monk fish left on a stringer by Jim, which he shot with his spear gun. Tim took the monk fish up, but man does this thing have teeth! When it was all said and done, Rob pulled the hook and a nice ride up to the boat during his deco.

On top, the total was: 33 scallops (all Rob), 4 lobsters (including a nice 4-pounder brought up by none other than Rob), a shitload of mussels, and one massive monk fish. It was slightly humorous watching Steveeye pose with the days catch and almost put his foot in the wide open mouth of the still-alive Monk fish. The guy was a bit of an ass, so I was kind of hoping he would have moved his foot just a few more inches to his right. It would have been great, but no such luck. He didn't catch a damn thing, but wanted to pose like he was the hunter and this was his prey. He dove like someone I would never want to be buddied up with, plus he was obnoxious.

We got in to the marina just in time for the thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. It was nice to eat the lobster and mussels for dinner.

Back in...Finally!!

Last week I finally went diving. It was a long winter, and I couldn't wait to get back in the water. I met by "regular" dive buddy at Dutch Springs on Saturday, April 8th. The weather was crap...in the low 40's, with a constant rain and wind. That didn't hold us back, as we entered into a balmy 45 degrees almost empty quarry. Since it was the first dive of the season, and I hadn't had my gear serviced yet, Murphy's Law took effect. I was all geared up and ready to go, but when I turned on my air, I found that my primary first stage, had a "first stage creep", so I swapped all my gear onto my backup first stage. What do you know....same thing. Luckily my buddy had his daughters Sherwood regulator set, which I borrowed and swapped my second stage reg. onto the first stage. Off we went. Down to the platform at 25', and all was well. We began the descent to the Silver Comet, at 55', and a nice 41 degrees. A quick penetration from bow to stern, and we were off to the "un-named" cruiser. After coasting over this boat, we went to "the island" and over to the crane, which sits at about 55'. Still, 41 degrees on the bottom. Scott really messed up the viz. when he tried to go underneath the frame of the crane, and made us look bad when our other buddies saw how we left it. Around the island to the plane, back over the top to the Silver Comet to shoot bags. I love shooting bags for my hang, and its great practice for that open ocean ascent that none of us ever expect to have to do. Anyway, with the 40 minute dive in low 40's temp, and no warm or dry place to hang out, we nixed our second dive. Even with my Oceanic Biodry drysuit and my drygloves, it was just too damn cold to go back in for dive #2. I took my gear right in for its yearly service after this day.