Finally, after being blown out three times this season, I got off-shore for some real diving. Rob chartered the Stingray dive boat from Belmar NJ and we went to the Stolt Dagali. Here is some of the stats for this wreck, taken from njscuba.net:
Type: M-class tanker, Norway
Name: Stolt is the name of the line that owned the ship; it translates as "mountain" or "pride". Dagali is a city in Norway.
Built: 1955, Denmark, as Dagali
Specs: ( 582 x 70 ft ) 12723 gross tons, 43 crew
Sunk:Thursday November 26, 1964( Thanksgiving day )collision with liner Shalom ( 25,338 tons ) - 19 casualties
Depth: 130 ft, starts at 60 ft.
Approximately 15 miles offshore from Belmar NJ.
"By all accounts the brand-new liner Shalom was proceeding at a recklessly fast pace through a thick fog, while simultaneously misreading her radar set. The slow-moving Stolt Dagali was sliced clean through, losing almost half her crew when the heavy stern section plummeted to the bottom of the sea. Fortunately, the Stolt carried a cargo of non-flammable vegetable oil, otherwise both vessels might have been consumed in flames. The bow section of the Stolt was salvaged, while the stern section lies crookedly on its starboard side, 142 ft long in 130 ft of water."
Here is my dive report:
Henrick, the Capt. of Stingray dive charters out of Belmar NJ went out today with four divers plus Jim, the mate. Originally it was going to be just Rob and me (which would have cancelled the dive due to not enought divers), but Henrick posted the dive and found two more, Tim and Steveeye. We had a great time on the Stolt Dagali, which I believe is about 15 miles offshore and has a max dept of about 130 feet. The lake Atlantic was really cooperating, with flat and calm seas.
Rob and Jim splashed in to set the hook and it was time to dive. I was the next in and went in to the hook, which was set in right at the high point of the wreck, which I think was at 58'. I only hit a max. depth of 88' on the first dive, with a bottom temp of 59 degrees. I didn't see too many fish willing to get hammered with my pole spear, so I left it by the hook and made this a sight seeing tour. Fourty minutes later it was time to go. I didn't go to the sand, but did plenty of swim throughs and penetrations. It was nice. Viz. was at least 30-40 feet if not more.
On the second dive, Rob and I were the first to spash in. We went to a place where Rob had stashed a lobster from his first dive (he had no space left in the bag and was already holding one lobster in his other free hand). We put it in my bag and then went into the engine room. This kind of penetration is not really my kind of tea, but it was neat to be inside this area. I didn't bring my pole spear on this dive, and replaced this with my camera. I took a few pictures, and then went to a high area to pull some mussels off the wreck. I found the perfect size mussels by a porthole near the tie-in line and I went to town cutting them off and putting them in my bag. This dive I saw a max. depth of 101 feet, and did relatively short 30 minute dive.
Upon returning to the line, there was a massive monk fish left on a stringer by Jim, which he shot with his spear gun. Tim took the monk fish up, but man does this thing have teeth! When it was all said and done, Rob pulled the hook and a nice ride up to the boat during his deco.
On top, the total was: 33 scallops (all Rob), 4 lobsters (including a nice 4-pounder brought up by none other than Rob), a shitload of mussels, and one massive monk fish. It was slightly humorous watching Steveeye pose with the days catch and almost put his foot in the wide open mouth of the still-alive Monk fish. The guy was a bit of an ass, so I was kind of hoping he would have moved his foot just a few more inches to his right. It would have been great, but no such luck. He didn't catch a damn thing, but wanted to pose like he was the hunter and this was his prey. He dove like someone I would never want to be buddied up with, plus he was obnoxious.
We got in to the marina just in time for the thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. It was nice to eat the lobster and mussels for dinner.
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