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.
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