Scuba Santa Links

Here are a few links from the Scuba Santa diving I'm doing at the Adventure Aquarium.

This one is from the Philadelphia 10's show. I'm the elf in the water for this one:

Philadelphia NBC 10's Show

This is me as Santa. I make my appearance at the 5:53 mark. Make sure you change the settings to watch it in 720p HD:

Scuba Santa on Youtube

Scuba Santa

For the past several years, I've wanted to dive at the Adventure Aquarium, but never got the chance for whatever reason. Recently, I began training as a "biologist assistant", which is a fancy term coined up for a seasonal part-time diver in the Scuba Santa show. That's right, I'm in their holiday show that runs from Black Friday through January 2nd. When I'm not at my regular full-time job, I'm at the aquarium, diving in the Ocean Realm exhibit or the Shark Realm exhibit as Scuba Santa or (more likely), #2, also known as Santa's Helper Elf!

To top it off, they are actually PAYING me to do this. Granted it does include other stuff, like feeding the animals, cleaning, and other real job stuff, but they are still paying me to dive!

If anyone wants to attend the "Breakfast with Santa" event, here is the link: http://www.adventureaquarium.com/breakfastwithsanta.cfm

If anyone wants to work for the aquarium, they have job listings posted here: http://www.adventureaquarium.com/currentopenings.cfm

Well, I'm off to help Santa!

Wreck Diving off of Barnegat's secret spots 10/20/10

Jeremiah, Anthony, and I went a few miles offshore today on Anthony's boat, which is a 22' dual console, from his house in Waretown. His friend & neighbor, Rob, came along to bubble watch and keep an eye on the boat as we went under. We motored out of the lagoon and into the bay, which was flat as a pancake. We then his the open ocean and were happily surprised by the conditions. I'd call this "Lake Atlantic". Not a wave or ripple to be seen.

We went to a spot so secret that Rob actually deleted the numbers from Anthony's GPS once we were on the wreck. He calls it "El Buggo" since it usually delivers high numbers of lobsters. It is an unknown & unnamed wooden wreck with a few feet of relief from the sides and not much else. The ribbing makes for ideal conditions for lobsters to hide, sort of a lobster condo. The three of us hit the water and found zero current, zero surge, and about 25' visibility. The bottom temp was comfortable 63 degrees. We spent a good amount of time hunting and found a bunch of lobsters, but most were eggers and didn't make it back with us. The "Bender" tickle stick proved successful and once again, Jeremiah was the bravest of us when it came to reaching into the unknown to see what he could see. I was lucky enough to spear a Trigger fish, which I've never seen here before but heard they taste great. It turns out that Anthony hit this fish a few minutes earlier, but he wasn't able to get him to his bag. He was hunkered down under some wooden ribbing and I hit him with a front shot with the paralyzer tip. Our total runtime on this dive was 50 minutes and then it was time to move on to another wreck.

We moved to a railroad barge in 60' of water that was intact and upright. After a totally flat surface interval, we heard what we thought was thunder, but it was most likely the Air Force doing bombing training missions about 15 miles away. Before we hit the water, Rob said that this wreck is known for lost anchors, and if we come across one, it would be nice to bring one up. We hit the water and found about 10' visibility. A huge tog was swimming in one of the holes but he was too smart and too fast for me. I did manage to spear one decent sized black fish, and so did Anthony. No bugs were brought up. Jeremiah found a large danforth 43 pound anchor and about 25' of chain. Using my lift bag and reel, we managed to bring it to the surface as a gift to Rob. We had a 43 minute dive, 63 degrees bottom temp and about 10' visibility.

Tolten 8/29/10

NOAA was way off. What they said should be 2-3 Feet were actually 2-3 INCHES. I was expecting the worst with Hurricane Danielle out in the ocean. It was Lake Atlantic today as we hit the Tolten on the Ol'Salty II. Flat as can be. Although the boat was a bit crowded for my taste, the diving was good. The viz was EXCELLENT all the way to the top of the boilers, but then it went down to 5'. We could see divers 60' from the surface, and from the boat we could see divers 25' down! The descent was like the Carolina's. You could see all the bubbles and divers well below you.

Jeremiah and I had two dives on the Tolten. He was diving his Revo rebreather and I was on doubles. We brought up one lobster on dive #1 that was about 3 1/2 pounds and quite tasty. Jeremiah also got some mussels. I didn't see too many fish worth shooting, but others said they were there. I guess they knew I had a new paralyzer trident tip on the pole spear and stayed away from me.

There appeared to be lots of newer divers who need to learn etiquette for how to deal with divers on their way up or on their stops. Stop above them> Move off the line> swim below them> get back on the line to continue descent. Do not barrel through and kick them please. I know you are new, but please have some common courtesy (sorry for that, it was bothering me).

Great job by the crew, who were awesome.

I will post some video in the future from this dive, as I was wearing my Liquid Image HD Video mask. Give me a few days.

NJScuba has a very good write up about this wreck here

Here is a VERY poor quality (cell phone) video I took from the boat while heading in. Nice and smooth!

A few YouTube video's

I just figured out how to make my YouTube video's true "HD", so I made a few from last months dives. Both of the video's here are on an unknown wooden wreck while diving from the Sea Lion. The first is just the dive, edited down from 45 minutes to about 10. The second is the same dive, but is just a 6 minute video that has me getting tangled in a rope from a derelict lobster pot. Thanks to Jeremiah for untangling me.

YouTube links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_raN__SlXvo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh6a7nNlZ70

Make sure you change the settings on the YouTube page to watch them in 720DP for true High Def.

Farewell Fi

I have to admit it....I love diving. Not much would make me stop diving. I've been diving in New Jersey for a good ten years now. I hear of divers not making it back safely once in a while; any number is too many, but I don't usually know them personally, so it doesn't really hit home. I read about them on the scuba forums, and occassionally I actually know them by name. When I first met my wife, I had the pleasure of meeting her step-father, Jim Ryan. This is back 8 years ago or so. He was a diver, so of course I liked him right away. I met him only twice when he asked me if I wanted to join him on the "Seeker" to a dive to the Algol. I didn't have the right gas in my tanks for that deep dive and had to pass. He went and had a medical emergency as he entered the water. Unfortunately he didn't make it back. Since then, I've read of several divers who didn't make it back, but I keep on diving. Why not...it won't happen to me. Right? I got some of the best training out there. I've got well maintained equipment. I train regularly at Dutch. I carry a bailout bottle. I carry two computers, two knives, a wreck reel and three regulators. In my mind, I'm ready for any emergency that comes my way. I dive with some of the best divers out there; divers who I wish I had even half of their knowledge.

My dive buddies have the same love of diving. They have the best equipment, they train regularly, they carry more gear than some shops sell, they dive all year, diving hundreds of times a year. They are very accomplished divers. Wreck divers, cave divers, ice divers, and all of the above combined. One of these divers was my good friend Yasuko Fiasco Okada, aka Fiasco, aka Fi. She had all the right gear, the right training, and the right attitude. She may have been only 5' tall (on a good day), but she filled a room with her cheer. It was more than her bright white smile, her glowing face, cheerful and playful attitude. She just had "it". Everything was right with her...until July 31st, 2010, when I got a call from the owner of my local dive shop. Fi was diving on the Arundo; a wreck I've been to. The Arundo is a WWII Freighter sunk off the Jersey shore due to enemy action April 28, 1942, with max. depths up to about 140' or so. Unfortunately, this was to be Fi's last dive. What happened? I can speculate, but I won't. Let the Coast Guard do their investigation, let the people post on the dive forums, let rumors fly. The fact is that nobody will ever really know for sure what went wrong.

We'll never really know what happened at the bottom, but what we do know is that I lost a friend. This one hits home. She's been to my home...many times. She's celebrated birthdays and promotions at my home. She's delivered beer to my home (a case of beer for each time my PBA card got her a break...she filled my fridge many times). We've been on trips to Canada to dive the St. Lawrence Seaway and Lake Ontario, and to Block Island to dive the U-853. We've chartered boats together to dive rock piles and wrecks in New Jersey. We've had dinner, drinks, laughs, and good times together. Really good times. She was always smiling, laughing, telling funny stories, making faces.

This one hit close to home.

Fi, I'm really going to miss you.

Sea Lion Diving - July 22nd

It's been a very long time since I've done any updating to this site, and its about time I posted a dive report and video or two. 2010 has been an off year for diving for me, but so far I've managed a few ocean dives. My most recent was a dive from the Sea Lion out of Brielle, NJ on 7/22/10. Here is the dive report:

Thursday July 22nd, 2010 with video!

The Sea Lion went out on Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 for some shallow diving on some inshore sites. Capt. Al had an unknown named wooded wreck in mind for dive number one. Clearing the inlet, we were met by flat seas and a sunny sky. A bunch of dolphin greeted us on the way out. I estimated at least twenty. We arrived on site and were tied in. What was pea soup on the way down opened up to about 15' viz. on the bottom and water temps were nice, probably near 60 degrees. I'd know if I actually checked my computer. This was a good wreck for natural navigation, but Jeremiah and I ran a reel almost out of habit. Old wooded ribs were laying in the sand, boxed in by a few feet of relief on both sides from what was the hull. Not a bad hunting wreck. I saw a few lobsters, but only one came up with us. Not too many good sized black sea bass or black fish to speak of, but I brought my pole spear just in case. After about 45 minutes at 75', it was time to come up.

We moved to a site that the Capt. "ran over" before and he wanted to check it out. Mates Sal and Dan went in and spent about 20 minutes diving what turned out to be loads and loads of cement pipes that just went on and on. Not much in the way of food, so we moved on.

We planned on hitting the Delaware, but the Tuna Seazure was already on site with divers in the water. Capt. Bill was kind enough to offer a spot next to his boat, but we chose to motor over to the Brunette, not far away.

We arrived on the Brunette to find a private fishing boat just leaving. Jeremiah and I hit the water and descended right to the shaft where we were tied in. I ran the reel and also brought the pole spear. The shaft led us to the nice sized prop at one end and the big engine at the other end. Isn't it funny that shafts do that? Makes it too easy to navigate. Past the engine were other odds and ends, and we had relief at least 15' in this area. I shot a sea bass in the engine which I later gave to Jeremiah, since he deserved it anyway. I hit it with the spear and Jeremiah had the catch bag. The bass managed to squirm off my tip (gotta change to a paralyzer tip) and Jeremiah was able to snatch it up with the bag before it swam off. Props to him for the catch. I also need to give him props for helping me get untangled in some heavy rope that I got caught in that was attached to a derelict lobster pot.

We spent about 45 minutes at depth and then called it a day. I wore my Liquid Image video mask and recorded both dives from end to end. I also took some topside shots that I will link to my photobucket account.



Here is the photobucket link

Here is the link to Youtube with the video from the dive on the Brunette: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnak8hqHCdk

Cranford Ferry 5/22/10

May 22nd, 2010

The Scuba Connection chartered the Independence II on Saturday, May 22nd. The original destination was going to be the Gulf Trade, but it was decided to stay inshore. We chose to hit the Cranford Ferry. A short ride out and we arrived....to find the Gypsy Blood already hooked in and diving. Capt. Jim let Capt. Dan join them and we hit the water shortly after. Sea's were flat and the sun was shining. Surface viz was about 15', but viz on the bottom was about four feet. Bottom temp. was 46 degrees or so depending on which computer I checked. I had a 41 minute runtime with a shallow max. depth of 54 feet. My partner was Alex, who lost me due to the terrible viz. He almost shot a bag to surface, but found (the other) Mike still down on the wreck with a reel, and he was able to find the anchor line. During my tour of this wreck, I was surprised to see a free swimming eel that I was able to get on video using my Liquid Image HD mask (video to be posted later after I edit it). There was very little in the way of sealife, with the exception of a few black sea bass hunkered down along the wreckage.

The second dive was on the JoAnn, which is part of the Axel Carlson Reef. Viz was much better, with at least 20'. The sealife on this dive was amazing. HUGE Tog (Blackfish) and lots and lots of Black Sea Bass. Alex and I did a few swim through's and spent about half an hour just poking around the intact Tug. I cut the dive short since the 50 degree water was pouring in my right arm and it was not very comfortable. I guess I need to check out my drysuit again.