Chaparra wreck 7/10/2011

On Sunday, July 10, Jeremiah and I went to Barnegat to dive with our friend, Anthony, on his private boat "Tranquility". We planned on three dives, but settled for two. I actually settled for one, since I wasn't feeling 100%. We hit the Chaparra, which is in 80 feet of water. The Chaparra lays on a sandy bottom, making for decent viz. She was sunk by a mine laid by the U-117 (from WWI), with 6 casualties. She lies on her port side and is generally flattened out. There is relief from her engine and boilers, as well as other other areas, and she is a good lobster/fish wreck. Today was no different.

I was wearing my Liquid Image HD Wide Angle video mask (video to follow), and was using my JBL 38 spear gun for the first time. I've had this gun for 10 years, but it's never seen water. I lost my pole spear on a wreck the day before, so this was my backup gun. I guess the bands were a bit brittle, since one of the two bands broke at depth as I loaded it for my very first shot, which I must say was still a good shot that ended with a nice sized black sea bass ending up in my bag.

Jeremiah and I dove while Anthony stayed topside (with Jeremiah's fiance Kristen) We did a 45 minute dive, and viz. was about 25 feet. After my first sucessful shot, I was disappointed on the next two. I saw what is the biggest black sea bass I've ever seen (video to prove it), but I guess the single band didn't give my gun enough umph to go through the fish, letting him swim off and away after getting hit in the sweet spot (not sweet enough I guess). Another black sea bass had the same good luck but not after getting skewered by a well placed shot. I think I like this gun. It gives me a reach I don't usually get with the pole spear.
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The rest of the day, all I caught was a sunburn. Jeremiah and Anthony hit another "secret wreck" on the way back in that was in 55 feet. Viz. was about 10 feet since we were closer in shore.

A bad day of diving is better than a good day at work!

I originally posted a youtube video of this dive, but Youtube blocked it due to my choice of music to accompany the video....Pink Floyd "Sorrow". I guess it was a copyright violation. As a result, I loaded it onto Vimeo. Here is that working link...http://www.vimeo.com/26367903. Enjoy.

What can go wrong will go wrong

Today I did two wreck dives off NJ with the Tuna Seazure. I'll keep this brief.
Dive #1: Unknown wooden wreck, low lying, probably 100-120 years old, mostly buried in sand. Problem #1: Liquid Image HD camera mask had dead batteries. #2: Drysuit inflater valve was left inside out (by me) from when I pressure/leak tested it yesterday. This was an easy fix, but just one more thing... #3: got in water without bailout/stage bottle...realized this at 20' and came back for it. #4: got my foot tangled in the gear line (that hangs from the boat to 15') when I rolled in. #5: wreck reel got really screwed up/tangled at depth. Had to cut it and re-tie it on the bottom. #6: LOST POLE SPEAR on hang! Good news? Not much, but I did shoot two nice black sea bass, viz. was nice, and temp. was nice too.

Dive #2: Dove the Emerald wreck. Got on the wreck and it was as if the black sea bass knew I didn't have a spear. There were more mature seabass on this wreck than any I've seen in a while. The other divers cleaned up! Viz. sucked (10' max), and there was quite a surge.

Tomorrow is another day...