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.

New Years Eve (day). What a way to end the year.

On December 31st, 2008, I was supposed to be on the Tuna Seazure, a dive boat docked in Brielle. The weather did not cooperate, so I was relegated to diving by backup plan; Dutch Springs. Not that there is anything wrong with it, its just that I have had a pretty dismal dive season, and was hoping to end the year on a high note.

On December 31st, Dutch is opened for three hours, from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm. I hooked up with a group on the Wreck Valley website; Frank, Nick, Shelly, and Eric. As we suited up, the skies darkened, the wind howled, and then the snow began. Being as nutty as we are, we kept trudging along, gearing up in the biting cold.

We began with a midwater nav to the trolley. The viz. was outstanding. At least 50' or more. The cold weather was not being nice to my gear. My drysuit inflator valve was being stubborn and my regs were acting up. My primary was giving me a little too much h20 on each inhalation, so I ended up switching to my backup reg. I also had a 40 cf sling bottle if it came to that, but it didn't. It's nice to have that insurance plan on my left side though. We got to the trolley, and then swam to the hole. I chose not to go down to the bottom, since I was diving a single 119, and thought it wise to conserve my gas supply. Eric and I hovered in the mid 70' range while Frank, Nick, and Shelly went to the 100' range. After swimming out of the hole, we swam east, to a virtual forest. I've never seen so many trees in Dutch before. I had no idea they were there. Then we passed by "the bleachers"; a small structure that actually looks like an old bleacher set. Then it was off to the tanker. Shelly took a few shots of the tanker with her camera, but she couldn't fit it all in one shot, so its in three pieces. After the tanker, I had 1000 lbs left, and decided it was time to break from the crowd. Eric and I had already planned for this, and gave the rest of the group the goodbye wave. We surfaced on the platform buoy near the tanker and began what looked like a marathon distance surface swim. As we were swimming back (in the snow), we realized we were near the helicopter, and decided to drop down for a quick swim-through. As I exited the front of the helicopter, I thought it would be nice to do a midwater swim. The viz. was so good that I could clearly see the road, and decided to take it to the bus. As my luck would have it, my gas supply was now at 500 pounds, so I decided to do the prudent thing and call it. We surfaced and began a long calm swim back in.

The water temp was a balmy 43 degrees, and we had about a 40 minute dive. The viz. was the best I've seen it in a couple of years; at least 50' and even more in some parts. I took a couple of topside pictures and posted them on wreck valley. Here is the link. Shelly took a couple of underwater shots. Here is that link.

Shark River Inlet Night Dive - Bioluminescence and Baitfish

Wednesday, October 15th:

Bioluminescence and Bait fish. These words describes the main characteristic of Wednesday nights Shark River inlet dive. Stephan and Yasuko organized a group to dive the Shark River Inlet, that included Joe (x2), Me, Rob Infante, and a couple doing a “Discover Local Diving”. While standing on Ocean Avenue, I saw the waves crashing onto the beach and noticed something I’ve never seen before. The caps of the crashing waves were a glowing greenish blue color, a produce of bioluminescence. When Stephan put his hand in the inlet and moved it back and forth, the bioluminescence created was amazing. In all my years of diving, I’ve never seen this in New Jersey to this extent. This is something that I think of when doing a night dive in the Caribbean. You could also see the baitfish breaking the surface all along the south side of the inlet.

With the incoming tide slowing down from the ripping current we saw when we first arrived, Rob and I got in the water. Not wanting a cluster of divers knocking into themselves, Rob and I began our dive. The current was westbound, and it was a moving at a solid pace. It was reminiscent of the drift dives in the St. Lawrence Seaway. We stayed against the south wall and let the current do the work for us. The bioluminescence was amazing. Any movement created a wash of moving colors. Rob’s fins created a greenish/blue vortex; the baitfish (millions of them), that were so abundant that they were literally bouncing off of our faces, would create a bioluminescent trail, which was amazing to watch with our lights out. The baitfish were so abundant that you had to tightly hold your regulator in your mouth or they would bounce their way in. I could actually hear them hitting my drysuit and mask. At times they were so thick that you literally could not see beyond them. At one point, I saw a crab reach our and grab a baitfish and pull it in for its dinner. It was quite amazing seeing this little claw snap out and grab this passing silver morsel and begin chowing down. In addition to the quadrillions of baitfish, I also saw several eels; one big one and at least four smaller ones. Other sealife included a flattie, dozens of crabs, a pair of horseshoe crabs in the process of making some puppies, and lots of small fish. Unfortunately, I missed the butterfly fish that Yasuko saw.

Rob and I let the current take us for about fifteen minutes and then it just stopped dead. Ahhh….slack tide. After about three of four minutes of slack, the tide turned to the east, and it was time to ride it back to our entry point. Along the way, we passed by another dive who was looking for specimens, and had bottles, jars, and nets hooked to his drysuit. We also managed to find the rest of our group. When Rob and I were near the bridge, we could hear the siren sounding to advise that the bridge was being raised. We also heard the motor of a large boat motoring underneath the drawbridge. Lucky for us we weren’t in the middle of the channel. Uh…maybe I spoke too soon. Rob and I were now at 30’ and had a sandy bottom, surrounded by fish carcasses. We weren’t exactly in the middle of the inlet, but we sure weren’t by the wall. We ended up about 30 feet off the wall, but were able to work our way in to our entry/exit point even with the current where we were met by a bubble watcher (Mike Galvin).

The viz. was lousy; Five feet on the top end, less if you’re a pessimist. I can’t give you a temp, because I didn’t even notice any coldness in my Oceanic drysuit. We got a late start, and as a result, ended the dive late. Having to get up at 4:30 am, I cut out as soon as possible and made it home by 11:00. Just in time to catch the last few innings of the Philly’s beating the Dodgers to capture the top spot in the National League for the first time since 1993.

Arundo - July 13th, 2008

Elite and Blue Water Divers chartered the Gypsy Blood for Sunday, July 13th, and went to the Arundo, which lies about 17 miles offshore at the edge of the mudhole. Rob called my wife and got her permission for me to go. He also called Fiasco (Scubafi) and Stephan (Stfr). I had no drysuit since mine was out for repair, so Rob loaned me his (old) one. I also had the wrong gas, so Rob gave me a set of double 98's with air.

Sea's were 2-3 feet with a few larger swells, but it flattened out as the day went on. I went in and began descending. At about 75 feet, my primary HID canister light went out. At 90 feet or so, my reg. began acting up, breathing like crap and causing me concern. At 100 feet, the nitrogen narcosis kicked in. All three combined caused me (correctly) to turn the dive. I left ScubaFi and Stfr at the top of the wreck and went back up.

My canister light was filled with seawater and my reg. may need some adjusting. Rob loaned me a Dive-Rite 10w LED light to use for dive #2. I played with my regs and tried to get in for the second dive, but I didn't feel 100% confident, so I chose to sit out dive #2.

Rob was able to catch a few bugs and a bunch of scallops. He was nice enough to give me one of his bugs in exchange for the Bender tickle stick.

At home, I flushed my light with fresh water and then placed them in front of a dehumidifier. After an hour, I checked it and it worked perfectly, even the battery that was wet. Now all I need to do is find out where the leak came from. Wish me luck.

Rich Galiano's site, NJScuba.net, has a great write-up on the Arundo: http://njscuba.net/sites/site_mud_hole.html#Arundo

June 30th...I should have stayed home

I was really hoping to get out on the Tolten this season. I've been there once before, but bad weather kept it to one dive. The Independence II had a charter to the Tolten on Monday, June 30th. Richie Kohler was hosting a four day advance wreck diving class on the Independence II dive boat out of Point Pleasant, NJ, and there were a few vacancies on the boat. In addition to Richie Kohler, the dive boat also had well known underwater videographer and photographer Becky Kagan, and NJScuba.net's Rich Galiano.

Divers came from far and wide to take this course under the direction of Richie Kohler. Two divers drove up from Kentucky, and a third came from New Orleans, LA. And I thought my one-hour drive sucked.

As soon as we left the inlet, the seas made me as sick as I have ever been. I don't usually get seasick, but today was just one of those days. It was a miserable 75 minute ride to the dive site. After arriving at the site, I let everyone else get into he water before I slowly began suiting up. When you're seasick, the best place to be is in the water. As soon as I splashed, I felt the seasickness go away, but the water pour in my drysuit. I got no farther than 15 feet down the line when I realized that my neck seal blew. I was not happy, and exited in disappointment.

Maybe next year. Like I said, I should have stayed home, but who knew. But hey, the company was good!

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.

2007 Year End Summary

My diving season has come to an end. It began in January, diving the Mohawk off of the Ol'Salty, and ended in December, oddly enough, also diving the Mohawk off of the Independence II. I didn't get in nearly as many dives as I intended for 2007, since I had four day trips to dive wrecks off the coast get called either at the dock or the night before. I'm not thrilled with the low number of dives I logged this year; its my lowest number in five years, by far.

Here is a summary of my 2007 dive year:

1/7/07: 2 dives on the Mohawk from the Stingray.
4/14/07: Dutch 5/19/07: Dutch (wreck dive cancelled, needed to get wet)
5/26/07: 2 dives on the Beth Dee Bob from the Stingray
7/4/07: 1 dive on the Tolten. Got pissy, so 2nd dive called.
7/25/07: Night dive on the Brunette wreck
7/29/07: Seagirt wreck and then the Pile of Rocks dive (super) from the Outlaw.
8/2/07: 1 dive on the Rockland County from the Stingray dive boat
8/4/07: 2 dives on The Dykes on the Stingray
9/11/07: Dutch 9/29/07: U-853 off Block Island from the Explorer dive boat
10/28/07: Dutch (another offshore trip cancelled - at the dock)
11/18/07: Dutch (training dive)
11/25/07: 2 dives diving with Richie Kohler and John Yurga on the Delaware wreck from the Independence II 12/8/07: 2 dives on the Mohawk from the Independence II
12/8/2007: Mohawk Wreck with the Independence II dive boat.

For the 2008 dive season, which begins soon, I hope to get at least 10 more dives in than I did in 2007.

12/8/07: Mohawk wreck from the Independence II

The Scuba Connection chartered the Independence II for Saturday, 12/8/7. I was to be a Divemaster's choice. It was decided we would hit the Mohawk. This was probably my last wreck dive of the year, and I just realized that I hit the Mohawk in January for my first wreck dive of the year too. What comes around goes around.

Jim from the Gypsy Blood was one of the mates. I think he lost a bet or something, cuz he has to work for Dan. Or maybe Dan has something over him...I don't know.

The day started dreary and rainy, with 2-3' seas. It ended with sunny skies and a flat ocean. I got two dives in with a total run time of 78 minutes. I'd have stayed longer, but it was cold as shit. Anyway, it was 46 degrees on the bottom, and 44 degrees on the hang. Actually warmer at depth. Viz. was a very good 25+ feet. 3 lobsters came up, but no fish. There was a monster eel lurking around in the wreck as Sean was stalking a black fish.

Sunday was the last dive of the year for the Independence II. I wish I could have made it out, but obligations prevented it.

Diving with Richie Kohler and John Yurga 11/25/07

The Independence II posted a trip that most NJ wreck divers would give their left (you know what) to go on. Me being one of those, I couldn't pass this one up. Capt. Dan was going to a wreck with two diving legends, Richie Kohler from the Discovery Channel's Deepsea Detectives, and John Yurga, a very well respected diver who has been involved in more discoveries than I can list. To top it off, they would be using an "air-lift", in other words, a tube with a vacuum from an air compressor sucking sand and other stuff off a wreck in the hopes of exposing artifacts.

The trip posting didn't say which wreck we would be diving, but it would be in a shallow depth, no more than 80'. The day of this trip turned out to be a perfect day to dive. Clear, sunny, no wind, and flat seas. My dive buddy, Scott, and I made it to the dock by 6:15 and we were loaded by 6:30. The Independence II is docked at Clarks Landing Marina in Point Pleasant, NJ. The roster was filled to capacity, with an extra diver thrown in for good measure.

The wreck was to be the Delaware, which was a steamer built in Philadelphia in 1880. She was 250' long x 37' wide. On July 8th, 1898 she was carrying 66 passengers and crew, when a fire began below deck. She burned to the waterline, but all of her passengers or crew made it to shore safely. The NJ coastline was clearly visible, making for a fast and efficient rescue. She now rests in a shallow 75' of water.

We left the dock under beautiful skies and flat seas. The boat had seven rebreathers and nine sets of open circuit doubles. The wreck is close, so we were there quickly. Crew member mcjangles went in to set the hook. After a little bit (I am being kind), the pool was opened and divers began gearing up. The report was that the viz. was about 10'. The airlift was assembled and lowered into the water. It was tied to the wreck by the anchor line, waiting for Richie Kohler to move it to a place that we all hoped would be fruitful.

Suiting up, I was pleased to have been assisted by Richie Kohler. He's just "one of the crew" on the Independence II. Scott and I went in with a scheduled 60 minute runtime. We descended to find the reported 10' viz. was "generous" to say the least. The airlift was not being used yet, since Richie had not descended yet. We were tied in by the engine, with boilers to our left and the props to our right. Scott and I began to tour the wreck. We followed the shaft to the propellers and then turned back towards the anchor. I saw only one lobster, safely tucked away deep in a hole. I forgot that Scott had his tickle stick in his bag, so this one got to stay. We passed the airlift, still tied to the engine, and moved forward towards the bow. There are four boilers aft of the engine, one of which was opened on the top, so I dropped into it fins first. Nothing noteworthy, but it was still cool. We then continued towards the bow, poking at whatever was poke-worthy. With a dwindling NDL, we headed back to the engine just in time to see Richie coming down. We passed him on the line and went our separate ways. During our hang, bursts of air bubbles shot past us, letting us know that the airlift was in action. Unfortunately for us, we would have to wait until after our surface interval to get our hands dirty. We ended up with a 60 minute dive, a max. depth of 74', viz. on the bottom between 5' and 10', and a bottom temp of 52 degrees.

After an hour out, we were back in the water. We didn't descend the anchor line, choosing to follow the bright orange air line from the compressor down to the airlift. We couldn't use the air line as anything except a visual reference, since it was not meant to be yanked on. We descended to an area aft of the boilers to find Richie Kohler diligently working the business end of the airlift. He created a nice sized hole in the sand and gravel. Scott and I began poking around the same area, looking for whatever we could find. I brought a sand-scoop from my metal detecting kit down with me. It worked fantastic. I would scoop into the sand/gravel as deep as I could, shake it to let the silt and sand escape through the small holes, and then gently shake the contents out onto a level area for me to sift through. I found a really nice piece of decorative glass that looks like it came from a bowl or vase. This method kept reducing the viz. to zero for a minute, but it only took going up or down a few feet to get out of the silt.

Scott and I were head to head with Richie in the hole he was working. We would gently brush the ground by the business end of the airlift, watching it take away decades of sand, silt, stones and shells. We were in an area that was giving up alot of broken glass, so things were looking promising. This was old thick glass, so hopefully we would find some intact bottles. We exposed the wooden deck area and moved the airlift to expand the hole. When I looked up to an opening in the wreck, either a conger eel or American eel was watching over us, slipping closer and closer to me every minute. When I first saw him, he was only sticking out a few inches. Within five minutes, he was a good foot out, and within a few more minutes, he was clearly getting comfortable and had was out at least a foot and a half. I decided to put Scott in between the eel and me, so I shuffled over him and settled down between him and Rich. What do you know, Scott saw the eel too, and how close he was to us, and decided to do the same thing.

After about twenty minutes of us working the hole as a trio, Richie handed the airlift to me. I was shocked...little ol'me. I've never done anything even remotely close to this, but was more than happy to take on this task. What I wasn't so thrilled about was that Richie wanted me to bring the airlift to the surface when I was done by shooting lift bags. Who am I to complain, but I have to admit that I was a bit worried that my bag would not be sufficient to do the job. Anyway, Scott and I continued working the airlift, making the hole larger by the minute. We found a good amount of broken glass, and also three very unusual objects that we still haven't identified. Rust encrusted, about six inches long, thick on one end (about two inches) and tapering to a point on the other end. Pulling the tapered end resulted in the end coming off, revealing what looked like a shank or something. We found three of them. Richie's determination of what they were is a "P.O.S", which I am very familiar with. Time will tell, as I have it soaking.

With a dwindling NDL, and nobody else coming to take over the airlift, Scott and I began the task of rigging the lift to go to the surface. It was at this time that I realized that my bag was not sufficient. With my bag filled, the lift moved only a few feet. It was also pretty well tied into the wreck. As a result, I knew that the mate would have to finish the job. We began our ascent, using the bright orange airline as a visual reference. Luckily there was minimal current, so it was an easy hang. We ended up with a 50 minute dive.

The mate went in to pull the hook and also sent the airlift to the surface using the proper equipment. A fair amount of "stuff" was found, including painted china, a wooden winch/pulley, lots of broken glass, brass nails, a nice rectangle window about 6" x 4", brass "things", and other little odds and ends.

I need to tell you that Richie Kohler was as down-to-earth as they come. I can't wait to use the airlift next season!

Three wreck dives blown out in a row...

...equals going to Dutch Springs just to get wet.

My planned wreck dive was blown out for Saturday, making it three in a row that got cancelled due to weather. Out of despair, Stephan and I agreed that if this trip got blown out, we'd meet at Dutch just to get wet. A steady rain was coming down, but it wasn't cold or windy. It was actually a nice day except for the rain. For some odd reason, the student side was JAMMED, but the peninsula side was not. We did two dives with a total runtime of 1:40. The coolest part was when we did a midwater nav. from the helicopter to the bus, we decided to stop at the unmarked cruiser sitting on the road. We were poking around when suddenly two freedivers appeared out of nowhere. Stephan was in the cruiser and came face to face with a freediver at 45'. I had my camera out and tried getting a shot of a rebreather diver and a freediver on the same site. I didn't get the exact shot I wanted, but I did get a few. Check them out, I posted them on the Wreckvalley photo gallery. There are a few other shots included too.

Das Boot - The U-853 off Block Island 9/29/07

"May 5, 1945 : Toward the end of the war, the U-853 had taken up station patrolling the waters of the Atlantic off the east shore of New England. Just off Point Judith, Rhode Island, she spotted the S.S. Blackpoint and torpedoed the freighter, sending her to the bottom. This was a mistake, because the sub was in shallow water, with a depth of 130' and there was nowhere to hide. Ironically, Admiral Dz had ordered his U-Boats to cease their attacks on shipping a day earlier, May 4. U-853 probably did not have this information. A Yugoslav freighter witnessed the explosions of the Blackpoint and radioed the information to the U.S.C.G. The Coast Guard and Navy quickly converged on the area with four warships - the USCG Frigate Moberly, the Destroyer Ericsson, and the Destroyer Escorts Atherton and Amick. Using sonar they quickly located the submerged U-853 some six miles east of Block Island. Depth charging was commenced, and continued into the night. At one point, the white hat of a German U-Boat Captain floated to the surface. At daylight, the navy sent a hard-hat diver down and confirmed the destruction of the U-853. All 55 hands were lost, entombed in the boat. "

September 29, 2007: My best friend from college was getting married, and he asked me to be in the wedding party. Rehearsal dinner was Friday night with the wedding taking place Sunday afternoon. Did I mention that the wedding was in Rhode Island? What to do all day Saturday? Visit my alma mater? Go to Newport? Relax? No. The U-853, a piece of history I’ve been dreaming about diving for years, was just a few miles off Block Island, at a depth of 130’. It was decided that my Saturday would be spent trying for a second time to reach out and touch this sub. Last year we were cancelled as we waited for the boat Captain to arrive at the dock. This year I would try again. With what was supposed to be a joint New Jersey / Rhode Island dive contingent, we chartered the Explorer dive boat out of Snug Harbor in Narragansett, RI. This was an excellent choice. The Explorer is a 42 foot fiberglass Grand Banks expedition trawler built for comfort. Although it can hold up to ten divers, Capt. Sutton chooses to keep the number down to six to keep it manageable.

Like I said, this was supposed to be a joint NJ/RI diving adventure, mainly RI plus me. Two spots still needed to be filled and the Capt. Recommended posting for them on Scubaboard. I had a better idea. I ran the dive past a few of my NJ diving buddies and the spots were taken. As the date got closer and closer, the RI divers numbers dwindled as the NJ divers numbers increased. In the end, it was supposed to be five from NJ and one from RI. That too would change by the time the Explorer left Snug Harbor.

The weather report was calling for clear sunny skies with winds to 15 knots. It was looking like we were going to make it out to the sub. We met at the marina at 4:30 am and began loading the gear onto the Explorer. The sixth diver, Bill D from RI, didn’t make it to the dock. He mentioned to me the night before that he was still on the fence. If he showed, he showed. If not, it would be five instead of six. Capt. Sutton was as hospitable and friendly as they come. He gave us an update on the predicted weather; 15 knot winds with 2-4’ seas, expecting to lie down as the day progressed. He told us that last week there was 25’ viz. on the sub. Things were looking up, and it would appear that the angst I’ve been feeling the past few days when thinking about the dive being scrubbed was all for naught.

The ride out was beautiful. The sun was rising from the east, Block Island was on to our west, and the weather was looking good. We arrived at the site to find one of the three moorings gone. The Capt. maneuvered us over the sub and we hooked into one of the moorings and began setting up. Rob would be the first in, as he would be spending the most time on the sub. He was diving a Meg rebreather and knows this sub well. Scott and I would buddy up, as we were both diving open circuit doubles with 40 cf. bailout bottles. Stephan was diving his KISS rebreather and he would partner up with Yasuko, who was diving single steel 100 with a 40 cf. bailout bottle.

Scott and I splashed in at 8:41 and began our descent. My heart was racing as I was realizing that I was finally going down to the U-853. The conning tower starts at 90’, and I thought we were tied onto it. I was watching my depth gauge anticipating the sub coming into view. 70’… only 20’ to go. 80’…only 10’ to go. 90’… I should see it…I should see….100’. Huh? It wasn’t until my depth gauge read 112’ did I see the sub. We were tied into the bow, which is still intact and is one of the most recognizable parts of the sub since it was made with thick steel to bust through ice. The visibility was a disappointing five feet and there was a moderate current running from the bow to stern. It took just over two minutes for me to make it down to the sub. Before I touched the sub I stopped, took in a breath, and reached out as if I was patting the head of my 4-year old. I laid my hand onto the side of the sub as I felt a wave of satisfaction run through me. Finally. It took me a minute or two to get situated, since I was pretty narced and needed to shake it off. We settled at 122’ on the starboard side of the bow. Scott was motioning something about running a reel, but it didn’t register yet. After a minute or two of settling down I motioned to Scott that I wanted to go to the sand, but then I took a look at my NDL and saw it was already in the single digits. I didn’t even attempt to descend past my max. depth of 123’. I could see the round shape of the torpedo at the bow and saw all the deterioration around the sub. The pressure hull was gone and anemones covered the exposed areas. I took a few pictures using my camera, but there was too many particles floating by to make anything of them. We never ventured too far from the line, maybe 25’, but never made it to the conning tower or first blast hole. I was keeping an eye on my NDL and watched as it ticked town to one minute. Up a few feet to give me a few more minutes of NDL until it ticked down to one minute again, and up a few more feet. After the seventeen-minute mark, Scott and I began our ascent. We made a slow and steady ascent, making several stops along the way. Breaking through the thermocline where the visibility opened up twenty feet or so, we were met with a thick layer of jellyfish. I guess I was too excited to notice them on the way down, but they were everywhere. I’ve seen jellyfish before, but this was like no other I’ve seen. It was a forty foot thick layer of jelly blob.

Breaking the ten-foot mark I had a little incident that Scott helped me with. The ascent line had a small loop hanging off underneath the mooring. This loop was made of black rope, so it blended in with my hoses. It got caught under my chin and behind my tank. I tried ascending but all that happened was my regulator was pulled from my mouth. I was able to bite down and catch the edge of one piece, but my mouth was now filled with salt water and my regulator was dangling on my lip. Before I reached for my backup, Scott pulled the line off and I was back in business. It seemed that the top ten feet were a lot rougher now than they were forty minutes earlier. Sure enough, the 2’-4’ seas didn’t lie down as predicted. We were greeted by at least 8’ seas with wind gusts of 25 knots or more. The mate was waiting on the bow with a hook for me to hold onto as he pulled me to the stern of the Explorer. The waves were making the ladder a little difficult to handle, but with the help of the crew, I was safely on board just as the mooring broke. Scott came on board quickly and the crew went into action. Lucky for us, the Capt. covered this exact scenario during the briefing, and he did exactly what he said he would do. We started the engines and circled the bobbing buoys until all the divers came up and were recovered. Not an easy task with 8’-10’ seas and whipping winds. White capped waves were crashing over the bow as the mates were keeping a sharp eye on the buoy for divers breaking the surface. Credit due to the Capt. and his crew for doing a professional job.

In the end, I had a 41-minute runtime that included just over two minutes to descend, 15 minutes at depth, and the remaining time on the ascent line. I had 54 degrees on the bottom.

Due to the weather, we did not do a second dive on the sub, which was both disappointing and a relief. We hit a crane barge near the inlet just to spend a little more time in the water. Sorry, I didn’t write a report for this.

I want to extend my thanks to Capt. Sutton of the dive boat Explorer, along with his crew. I would recommend them to anyone who wants a truly professional experience and a comfortable dive platform.Stephan, Mike, Yasuko, Scott, and Rob.

Pictures from Dutch Springs

I usually don't write-up dives from Dutch Springs, but I did take some pictures from todays dive. Scott, Yasuko, and I got a 75 minute dive in the cove, after a midwater swim from the helicopter. Here are a few shots.



Trees in the fog








Scott in the steel structure








Yasuko over the trees









Rotor blades (minus the blades) from the helicotper








Mike in the steel structure







Fog in the trees

The Dykes - Aug 4, 2007

The Scuba Connection chartered the Stingray dive boat for Sunday, August 4, 2007. The initial idea was to go to the Alex Mac, a scallop boat which went down a few years ago. After a little trouble hooking the remains of the wreck, we decided to hit the Dykes, which was sunk as an artificial reef in 1983. As usual, there is an excellent write-up on this site on NJScuba.net.

While enroute, we were visited by a bunch of dolphin, who were jumping out of the water fairly close to the boat. We were also visited by a leatherback turtle, which I haven't seen in NJ. While we were finishing up our second dive, we were met by something else I've never seen before in NJ. A sharks fin broke the surface and was cruising on the surface about twenty feet off the stern for a short time. Stephan saw it and decided not to say anything, thinking nobody would believe him. Then I saw it and pointed it out. We had a few bags of mussels hanging overboard, so I wonder if that's what peaked its interest. It was most likely a dogfish shark, but we didn't see more than the fin.

I did two dives for a total runtime of 96 minutes. Viz. ranged from 10'-20'. On the first dive I shot my very first fluke and Scott got a couple of lobsters. On my second dive, I left my spear on the boat and brough down my camera for a few pics. They are posted here on wreckvalley. I love taking pictures of the starfish, anemones, shells, and fish. I just wish I had a better camera.

The tickle stick that Scott used is the soon-to-be world famous "Bender lobster tickle stick". Its simply a 2 1/2 foot piece of thick coated copper wire from Home Depot. It can be folded up, bent, straightened out, or whatever, as needed. Its not called the "Bender lobster tickle stick" because my last name just happens to be Bender, but because it bends...get it? What a play on words. As ridiculous as it sounds, this thing actually works. He caught two lobsters using it on this dive, and it was as versatile as they come. Just watch...next year everyone will be using one. Home Depot won't be able to keep this stuff on the shelves, there will be a worldwide shortage of the materials needed to make it, it will cause mass panic.....you'll see. In the mean time, while you're waiting for this to happen, check out my pics from the dive.