Rob Infante and I decided to take advantage of the mid-week trip to the Tolten on the Gyspy Blood dive boat out of Brielle, NJ. The Tolten was a Chilean freighter sunk on March 13, 1942 after it was torpedoed by the U-404, resulting in 27 casualties. It rests in pieces at 95' after being wire dragged after the war in order to not be a hazard to shipping.
The weather report called for fairly rough seas in the afternoon, but the speed of the Gypsy Blood should have us on the wreck by 8:00 am and back at the dock by 1:00 pm. The ride out had 2'-3' seas, but at the dive site, we had to wait for a lobster boat to finish picking up and dropping his pots, which added an extra 30 minutes. After the boat left, we hooked in. Rob and I were the first in, since Rob was on his rebreather and was planning a 3-hour dive. Obviously, I wasn't going to stay that long since I was diving open circut double 98's. The weather was picking up and the Capt. said put us on notice that we were only doing one dive so we could beat the storm.
After splashing and descending, Rob found a lobster before I could even tie in my wreck reel. We found two more, but they were undersized and had to remain. Viz. was a very respectable 25', and there was no current or surge on the bottom. There were lots of keeper sized black seabass and Ling, but I was looking for lobster. My pole spear was being used for a 6' long tickle stick. After poking around for a while, it was time for me to leave Rob to his vices, and begin my ascent. I managed to have a 46 minute run-time, but that was nothing compared to Rob's 2 1/2 hour dive.
While waiting for Rob to finish, the seas picked up and made for a fairly rough wait. There were several large rollers with at least 10' from top to bottom. Seawater was splashing into the boat and my stomach was not happy. Rob finally came up and had 3 or 4 lobsters and 4 scallops. A quick trip back to the marina and I was able to make it home for my neighbors 4th of July bbq just as the rain started.
NJScuba.net has a really good write-up on the Tolten with lots of great pictures.
No comments:
Post a Comment