For as many years as I can remember, I've tried to do a dive on New
Years Eve Day. This year I went to Dutch Springs with John S. and Lenny
C. Air temp was 31 degrees, and the water temp 45 degrees. We hit the
cove and dropped to the pump house, hitting a max. depth of about 70 feet or so. We worked our way up by the stairs
and along the wall. We had a nice dive, but I cut my drygloves on a
zebra mussel and it caused a small leak by my right thumb. Its an easy
fix, but I'm just pissed at myself for grabbing something with these
gloves on. Anyway, this was John's first cold water dive, and only his
third dive with his new drysuit. It went pretty well for him. Lenny was
diving double 120's, which is too much for this old back. I was diving
a steel 100, along with John. We had about a 30 minute or so dive.
Viz. was probably 30 feet. It was a nice time, and a great way to end
the year. I'm hoping for much more diving in 2013.
Anthony C. and I hit three wreck sites today (7/3/12) since we both have some time off. His friend Rob Captained the boat for us so we could dive as he fished. Too bad Jeremiah Hupka had to work! Surface conditions couldn't have been better. The weather report was calling for 1' seas every 10 seconds. It was a clear sunny day which began pleasant enough, since we left the dock in Barnegat before 7:00 am.
Once we got out of the bay, the seas sat down to 0' waves. It was Lake Atlantic!
Anthony and me on the surface
Dive #1 was on the Yellow Flag, which is an unidentified wooden schooner, sitting in 82' of water. Anthony and I each brought our JBL pole spears with paralyzer tips. The fish-finder/depth finder showed a load of fish over the wreck...or so we thought. We entered the water with no current and 10+ feet of viz on the surface. At about 25', it dropped to 5' viz. and the temp dropped from 70 degrees at the surface to 54 degrees on the bottom. What the fish finder thought was fish was actually a dense thermocline, which lasted for about 20'. Once we dropped through it, at about 50' depth, the wreck and the sand, which was still a good 30' below us, was clearly visible. Thirty feet of viz on an in-shore wreck! Amazing. We had no current, no surge, great visibility, and full tanks. We set off hunting, but didn't find too much. Clearly this wreck was hit recently and someone cleaned it out. I didn't see a single flatty. Anthony and I bagged one bug as a team near the end of the dive, and I hit one black sea bass. Anthony hit four keeper sea bass. He also played with a few other lobster, but only one came to visit us on the surface. After a 38 minute runtime, the dive was over. Stats: 82' max. depth, 38 minutes, 54 degrees bottom temp, 70 degrees surface temp. At the surface, I realized I lost my spear tip. Luckily I had a spear gun as a backup on the boat for dive #2.
Dive #2 was on the Brick Barge. This is an old broken-up barge in 71' of water. Our intention was to go down the anchor line to the hook and turn right to the main section. We entered the water to find the same conditions as dive #1, and where we hooked was a great spot. We spend our entire dive in this one area. I brought only one sea bass to the surface, but Anthony cleaned up with six. Stats: 71' max. depth, 36 minutes runtime, 54 degrees on the bottom, and 70 on the surface.
Anthony on the bottom of the Brick Barge
Dive #3 was on a clammer that sunk many years ago. Actually, this dive was on the dragger that came off the boat as it sank. It is nearby, but not with the clamming boat. I brought my spear gun down, and once I got to the hook, I noticed that the tip on my speargun was gone! I lost two tips! I left the speargun at the hook and became Anthony's light & bag man. This was one of the best fishing spots I've ever seen, and we cleaned up! I lit up where he wanted to hunt, he shot, and I bagged. We had to keep this one short since Captain Rob had afternoon plans. Viz. on this dragger was only 20', which is still great for an in-shore wreck. Stats: 71' max. depth, 55 degrees on the bottom, 71 degrees on the top, 20-20' viz, a slight current, no surge, and lots of black sea bass!
We ended up with sixteen black sea bass and one lobster. Not bad for a few hours of fun.
Logged dives #426, 427, & 428.
Here is the YouTube link to the edited video from the dive:
The Manny-Yunk II with four divers hit the Cape May Reef today. Sean, Kevin, Jeremiah Hupka, and me. We had room for other divers, but none came through since it was a last minute thing. Weather was perfect and seas were pretty flat. We saw dolphin on the way out and back.
Dive #1 was on the Hooters Reef: 49 minutes runtime, 63 degrees, 79' max. depth, viz 10'-12'. She is not as intact as the link shows, and was in many pieces with a few areas of 10' relief. Fish and lobsters came to visit us on the surface.
Dive #2 was on the subway cars. 47 minutes runtime, 63 degrees, 61' max. depth, viz. 15'. Most were collapsed on themselves, but there were a few that still had some portions still standing. There were also a few reef balls mixed in with the subway cars. There were loads of fish, and many were brought to the surface.
Jeremiah Hupka getting psyched to shoot things.
Dive #3 was on the Salt Barge. 31 minute runtime, 64 degrees, 62' max. depth, viz. 10-15'. This was a fun dive since the current was so strong. It felt like the drift dives I've done in the St. Lawrence Seaway. I'd kick up-current to one end of the barge and enjoy the drift down-current to the other end, and then do it all over again. There were loads of fish, and again, some made it topside. There were also very cool coral type fans growing on the top of the reef. I had an ear issue trying to get down, and after four tries, I finally cleared my ear so I could descend. I decided to forgo the speargun and bag, and concentrate on taking some video. I wish I brought the spear gun down, since there was much to shoot.
Logged dives 423, 424, & 425.
Here is the YouTube video from this dive. Make sure to change the settings to watch it in HD!
On Sunday, May 27th, I was able to get a much desired spot on the private Manni-Yunk II sport fishing & Diving boat out of Cape May, NJ. I was diving with Sean, Kevin, Jeremiah, and Andy. We left the dock at about 8 am, after Kevin did a shallow no-vis dive to tighten the right prop. at the gas dock. On the way out, we decided to hit the City of Athens. The "City of Athens" was a liner that was built in 1911, and sank in 1918 with 67 casualties after a collision with the French Navy cruiser "La Gloria". It sits on the bottom at about 110' about 24 miles off the New Jersey coast. I dove this wreck last year with these same guys, and we had 50' viz. I was hoping for the same today, but was not that lucky. It was 15' at best. We left under clear sunny skies and flat seas. We hit a patch of moderate fog for a little while, but that burned off.
After the hour + ride out, and a quick tie-in, it go time. I descended with Jeremiah, but spent the majority of my time around the boilers taking video. I left my spear and bag on the boat, and hoped I didn't come upon any keepers. There wasn't too much in the way of sea life for me to bring up, but I did see a monster eel stuck down in one of boilers. You can see him on the video that I will post here soon. I kept my two dives relatively short and conservative, with a total dive time of 1 hour exactly, and a maximum depth of 97'. Bottom temperature was 54 degrees, and viz. was 10-20 feet. There was a distinct thermocline at 55' which separated the warm blue water with the colder and murkier green water.
Logged dives #419 & #420. As always, diving with the guys on the Manni-Yunk is a great time.
Sunday's planned dive to hit some shallow wrecks in-shore was blown out with 20+kt winds and 4-7' seas. I ended up hitting Dutch Springs to test out the new neck seal I installed on my drysuit. I met up with Nick, Frank, and a new dive buddy, John. We did two dives for a total of about 90 minutes under water. The bottom temp. was 46 degrees, and the viz. was 30+, unless Frank was there first. I took some video using my Liquid Image HD wide angle camera mask.
My first dive of the season was on Saturday, May 5th, with Anthony C. We signed up with Jim Wilson on his 50 foot Evans dive boat, The Gypsy Blood, from Brielle, NJ. This boat can easily hold over a dozen divers comfortably, and probably more. I don't think there were more than three paid divers, plus crew, for this dive. We pretty much had the boat to ourselves. We left under fairly flat seas with moderate fog to the artificial reef "Cranford Ferry", which was sunk as part of the Sea Girt reef in the 1980's.
We hit the water for a 45 minute tour of the reef remains. Not much to see in the way of fish, except for the largest blackfish I've ever seen, probably over 10 pounds. Too bad they were out of season, as well as black sea bass. The only things we could bring up were flatties or cod, which I saw none of on this dive. We hit a max. depth of about 67', and had viz. of only 10' or so. Water temps were in the mid 40's with no thermocline. Conditions deteriorated during this dive, and we headed in after only one dive. We were back at the dock by 10:00'ish
Almost as tradition, I try to dive on December 31st at Dutch Springs, a quarry in Bethelham, PA. I remember diving there many years ago on December 31st, and having a dozen or so divers at "the lake" in freezing temperature's and sometimes blowing snow or freezing rain. As the years progressed, more and more divers were diving at Dutch Springs on December 31st. This year, the weather was beautiful, with clear sunny skies. It was in the mid-40's, and there was no ice on the lake. Not surprising...but there were well over one-hundred people at Dutch this time (probably more like 150).
I arranged to meet a group of friends up there, including Wendy, Frank, and Nick. We met on the student side and ended up with a group of ten of us, incuding a Dutch newbee and "Bob" the oldie-but-goodie. We decided to enter the cove and swim to the staircase and structures in the corner where the koi tend to hang out. From there we would follow the road, over the unmarked boat, and to the helicoptor. The plan worked out well for some of us, but as the dive progressed, dive teams broke off from the main group and we ended up at the helicopter with only four divers. Since I was diving a single steel 98cf tank with only 2500psi, my dive had to end here, and Bob and I surfaced at the helicopter bouy, leaving one buddy team to continue on to the Helldiver plane. All througout the dive, my mask leaked from the right side, causing me to constantly clear my mask. To make matters worse, my drysuit was leaking at the exhaust valve, making for a cold left arm for the last half of the dive. I should not complain, since Wendy's new drysuit leaked like a siv due to her fleece vest collar reaching up into her neck seal, leaving a nice open route for cold water to flow into her suit. She must have dumped a gallon of water from her suit whens he was done. Kudos to her for being a trooper and even completing the dive with 45 degree water flowing into her drysuit. It was a fun day on the lake, and a nice way to end the year. After I drove the hour home, I got ready for my New Years Eve party and tipped a few! Can't wait for diving in 2012!
The "City of Athens" is one of those wrecks I've been wanting to dive for some time. The fact that it is in South Jersey, and 20 miles off-shore, makes it a bit tough, especially since there are few (if any) charters from Cape May. I got lucky recently when a group of divers "met" on a New Jersey dive website, and a diver with a boat in Cape May offered up to host us.
A little history on this wreck. The "City of Athens" was a passenger liner built in 1911, and was 330 feet long. She was a steaming along on May 1st, 1918, when she was rammed by the French warship "La Glorie". This collision resulted in 65 deaths. Today, she sits in about 100-105' of water, 20 miles east of Hereford Inlet.
The weather report called for rain, but we decided to forge ahead anyway. We got lucky and found the day begin with clouds, and not a drop of rain. The ocean was calm, with 1-2 foot waves along with rolling swells that were pretty far apart (for now). We arrived on-site and the hook was quickly set for dive one by Sean and Kevin. Jeremiah and Tony followed on their rEvo rebreathers. Anthony and I stayed on the boat until Sean and Kevin came back up. Once they surfaced, Anthony and I splashed and made our way down the line. The vizability was fairly mucky on the way down, but did open up to about 10 feet at depth (100'). There was not much to see on our first dive, since the anchor was off the wreck and there was only one piece of wreckage to see. We poked around, passing Jeremiah and Tony, and had a pretty uneventful dive. I would have to say that this dive was on the disappointing side, but not to worry, since dive two would make up for that.
We chose to move the anchor for dive two. Since it was calm with little or no surface current, Sean and Kevin went down for dive #2 and moved the anchor to the real wreck. This area is where the HUGE engine is along with four massive boilers. They came up to give us a report of 50 feet of viz, and the wreck was visible from the 70' mark on the anchor line. Anthony and I splashed and began the descent. Sure enough, at about 70', I could clearly see the engine and four boilers. Jeremiah and Tony were also seen swimming around these parts, as they were catching (many) lobster.
As I approached the top of the engine, at about 80', I saw a monster Blackfish (Tog). I loaded my JBL 38 special speargun and began hunting him. As I was, I saw an Atlantic Spade swimming at the top of the wreck. I picked him off with a well placed shot and put him in my bag. I've never had one, but it sure looked delicious. I tried finding that tog, but he didn't get that big by being dumb. There were some nice sized black seabass all around the wreck, but they were out of season by a few days, so I had to pass on them. On the bottom were some doormat sized flatties (fluke/flounder), but I left them alone while I was hunting for bugs. After about 40 minutes, my NDL was down to 4 minutes and I called it a day. I got Anthony's attention, and he also was close to his NDL limit. We both ascended, ending what would be one of the better dives of the season.
When it was all said and done, we ended up with fifteen lobster, all between two and five pounds, a black fish, and the Atlantic spade fish (which I sauteed the next day for lunch with a lemon butter caper sauce).
On the way in, while resting in the v-berth, I was awakened by a small bird landing on my leg. We had a stow-away! A green (or yellow) finch made the trip with us. It was friendly to the point that Jeremiah caught it and it fell asleep on his chest. Later, I would pick it up from the floor and it fell asleep in my hands as I was gently holding it. I held onto it until we arrived back in port, where I was able to safely place it on solid ground.
Today we hit two wrecks and a range buoy with Rob, Anthony, Jeremiah, and me. We went out of Barnegat on Rob's 24' Grady White. The marine forecast was for 3-5' waves with winds at 8-10kts. It started a bit rough, but the seas calmed down nicely to a pleasant 2' waves and a pleasant breeze.
The first spot was only known as "295" because that is the number of this wreck on his list. It is a broken up wooden wreck with about 3' (or less) of relief along two beams, with lots of ribs. I got a decent sized fluke with my JBL 38 special spear gun. As usual, Jeremiah got lobsters. The viz. was pea soup for the first 50', where I literally could not see my fins. Once we got past 50', the viz. opened up to about 15'. I had a crappy fill, and had to keep the dive short, and did a 35 minute dive in the 70'+ range.
The second wreck is nicknamed "El Buggo" due to the number of lobsters that are found there. Today it did not live up to its name. We did nail some fish, and a few incrustations did manage to find their way to the boat. Jeremiah got two nice sized lobsters in the 2+ pound range, as well as a few 1 1/2 pounders. I got one nice sized black sea bass, and Anthony was the winner with a really nice fluke. The viz. was the same as the first dive. Pea soup until you get to the 50' or so range, and then it opens up to about 20'.
The third dive was done on the range buoy. Jeremiah took my spear gun down to what we thought was the bow of a wreck, but the only thing he dove on was an underwater buoy, exactly the same as the one on the surface. He shot two nice blackfish, but did manage to lose my speargun shaft. On a positive note, he came up with a danforth anchor on a chain and rope. While Jeremiah was diving, there was some fishing going on topside. Every time the line went out; sometimes before it hit bottom, a fish was hooked. Most were small black sea bass that were released, but Anthony did bring in a nice 3 pound one that was the biggest of the day.
Props go out to Rob for being such a awesome Captain and host. We'll have to do this again very soon. This sure was a nice way to spend a Tuesday. When we came back in to the dock, an earthquake hit the area just before we tied in. The people on the dock felt it shake, but unfortunately, we missed the excitement.
I was wearing my Liquid Image HD wide angle video mask. Video below...
A few posts down, you will see a write-up regarding the passing of a close friend and dive buddy, Yasuko Okada. She had an accident while diving on the wreck of the Arundo on July 31, 2010. Exactly one year to the date, several friends, as well as her family, returned to the Arundo. Our mission was to place a granite memorial on the site, as close as possible, if not right on, the site where this happened. With the incredible help of many friends, this went off without a hitch.
At about 3 pm on Sunday, July 31, 2011, the Okada family boarded the Gypsy Blood dive boat from Brielle, NJ, along with eleven divers, with some of their family. The 173 pound memorial was loaded onto the boat, as well as a large bin of loose flowers. After the 15 mile ride out to the Arundo, we set in motion a plan that seemed to work. The memorial was rigged with a 150 pound lift bag and a 40cf bottle, and lowered to 15 feet with a heavy rope. Three divers, Joe, Sunny, and myself, entered the water and began the task of inflating the lift bag and lowering the memorial to the bottom. With the assistance of the belaying team on the boat, we placed the memorial at about 108' on the wreck. The next team had the task of moving it from his spot to the anchor line. While they were doing this, another team was searching for the final resting spot for the memorial, and marked it with a line from the anchor line. Once the memorial was moved to the anchor line, another team moved it from the anchor line and followed the reel line to its final resting spot. The divers included Stephan, Dan, Shelly, David, Sherwood, Elliot, Sunny, Joe, myself, and Rob. We also had supurb surface support from Jim, Bart, Craig, and Kera, as well as Carl. After all divers returned safely, there was a flower ceremony where not a word was spoken for what seemed like an eternity. All we could hear the spash against the hull of the boat. It was golden silence while we reflected on the loss of Yasuko and what she meant to each of us.
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. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif 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.
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.
I just spent the past six weeks working at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ, as "Scuba Santa". It was a rough six weeks, since it was done on ALL of my days off from my regular job, so it was a busy six weeks. I have to admit, I wasn't sure I'd make it through to the end, since it was eating up ALL of my free time. However, it wasn't that bad, and diving at the AA was quite fun. I was either "Scuba Santa", "Elf #2", or the stand-by safety diver on the surface. When it was all said and done, I did fifty-two (52) dives and logged 23 hours and 15 minutes of time under water. It was pretty awesome diving with M.C. (the hammerhead shark), Bob (one of the three huge turtles), tiger sharks, stingrays, bow-mouth guitar fish (shark rays), a silky shark, white tips, black tips, and dozens of other animals. During almost every dive, Bob the turtle, would dive bomb us, nibble on our communications wire, bite my butt, and just all around annoy us. She (yes, Bob is a she) is like a toddler, who just wants to see what is going on. Overall, it was an excellent experience. If anyone gets the chance to be a diver (paid or volunteer) at the Adventure Aquarium, I would recommend it. They are a class act.
The pictureabove is me with my daughter, Katharine, who came with the family on my last day.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
