May 24th on the Atlantus

Its mid June, and by this time I had expected at least five offshore trips, equaling ten ocean dives. That would be just enough to count one on each finger and max out the fingers on each hand. Unfortunately, when I count my ocean dives so far this year, I still have eight uncounted fingers. Thats right; I've only been out on the ocean once this year. Both were off the Atlantus dive boat out of Atlantic City on the John Marvin and the Glory wreck, back on May 24th. I have a few Dutch dives tossed in for good measure, but they don't really count. I have a day of diving planned for June 30th to the Tolten on the Independence II dive boat, that was chartered by Deepsea Detective Richie Kohler. I can't wait for that one.

Here is the report I posted on NJdive.com:

I was on a mini-vacation with the family this past weekend in Wildwood Crest. I got permission from the wife to spend a day on the water, or in this case, under the water. I teamed up with East Coast Diving Supply out of Northfield, which is near Atlantic City. They were going out on the Atlantus Dive Boat out of Atlantic City for a shallow dive to the John Marvin, which is a clamming boat that sank in 1993.

I made the boat with plenty of time to spare. This boat is roomy and comfortable. They have brand new benches, which were just installed prior to this dive. Before this, they had a center table, but according to the regulars, this is a more roomy and more comfortable way to get ready. I agree.

There were eight divers, not including the crew. This included two father-son teams (Mike & Joe, and John & John Jr.). John Jr. was diving a drysuit at the tender young age of 12. I saw him two weeks earlier at Dutch, and recognized him only when he put his drysuit on. There was only one other person I recognized, Stephen M, who I dove with once before on the Independence II dive boat. This was to be my first ocean dive of the season, so I was happy to have it be a shallow one. The weather cooperated, with clear sunny skies, and flat seas.

The John Marvin has a max. depth of about 70'. I hit the water at 9:02 am to temps in the high 40's. One of my computers gave me a temp. of 49 on the bottom, while the other said it was a balmy 50 degrees! I got down to find a nice intact wreck. Viz. was at least 30', and there was little or no current. I was able to easily penetrate the wheelhouse from the port side, and I spent a few minutes taking some pictures. I got a shot of my air escaping from a hole in the top of the wheelhouse. I swam around for a bit, and then realized (incorrectly, I might add) that I was the only diver left down on the wreck. I went back up to find that Stephan was still down there taking pictures. I had a short dive of only 32 minutes, but it was a good dive.

Dive number two was on the Gloria wreck, which sits about 2 miles from the John Marvin, and also sits at 70'. I hit the water at about 11:30 and found a broken up wreck with good viz, about 25-35'. I tied my wreck reel to the debris and went for a tour. I found a piece about 20' high with some nice easy penetrations, so in I went. I took my crappy point and shoot camera and took some 30 second mpeg video clips (that I'll try and load somewhere), and also took a few crappy fuzzy pictures. I stayed down for another short dive, ending at only 36 minutes.

I have to say that I was very happy with the Atlantus Dive boat, and would dive them again if I were to venture down their way. They were a knowledgeable, helpful, and pleasant crew. Nice job!

I had posted some short mpeg video's on youtube and linked them here, but for some reason, when I went to play them, they were each only one second long. Thats odd, since they are each 30 seconds long. When I figure it out, I'll reload them here. In the mean time, enjoy the three pictures posted above.