Kim Dixon's Wreck Diving Blog

Planning for 2012 Dive Season has begun!!!

2012-01-15T16:00:00.001-05:00

Well, 2011 was a year of diving I will certainly never forget and now its onward to 2012! Last week I went to a crew meeting for the Independence II and they have some unique and exciting trips planned for this year that has me smiling from ear to ear:):) Wrecks such as the Bacardi, Virginia, Resor, and Oil Wreck are on my schedule amongst many other wrecks to be disclosed in the upcoming months. My spring, summer and fall is quickly filing with lots of diving expeditions including another week in North Carolina.

This past weekend I attended a presentation by Mike Boring on the Wilhelm Gustloff at the NJ Maritime Museum and I have to say it was one of the best shipwreck presentations I have been to. It was filled with lots of history from World War II, coupled with an amazing expedition where it seemed like everything was against them but, in the end, was pulled off in incredible diving conditions and then to see the images and video of the wreck to wrap it up was just incredible. This was the largest maritime disaster with the greatest loss of life (between 7,500-9,000 perished) and after seeing this presentation you can feel chills at how so many suffered in the icy Baltic waters to their death. It is one of those presentations that you need to see to get the full effect but, in the end I have the utmost respect for Mike Boring and his quest to follow his passion to dive the Wilhelm Gustloff. I am very grateful for opportunity to see a glimpse of this expedition that I'm sure was life changing for all involved. Here is a link for more information on this wreck:

Wilhelm-Gustloff Wreck

Once the presentation was over Mike, told more stories about the numerous dives he has made in the UK and off of Ireland. Perhaps I should plan on taking a trip to wreck dive in that area? I have heard from several divers that the wreck diving in the UK is outstanding.

I just finished editing a video of the USGC Spar which is actually 3 separate dives that I combined into one video. I have two more videos to finish editing from North Carolina and it is in my opinion, they are the best ones. I should have them up shortly.

Press here for a link to the USCG Video on You Tube

Have a Safe 2012 Year Wreck Diving!

End of my 25th year as a North Atlantic Wreck Diver

2011-12-04T18:02:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago when I was diving the Resor I kind of knew that it would be my last dive of the season. Just like skiing when you try to get that last run of the day in and you end up hurting yourself, I figured the Resor was a great dive to have as my last one for the season and why push my good luck that I had this year.

One of the oldest photos of me diving, still in a wetsuit & some rental gear (1989 ish)

Well, I safely completed my 25th year as a scuba diver! I do believe that the number of divers that have dove consecutively every year for 25 years or more is limited in the North Altantic. I am not in the geriatric club yet but, I am in the 25 year and over scuba diver club, if there is such a thing..In addition, just as I predicted, it was a banner year...I ended up making about 44 dives on wrecks such as the Arundo, Oil Wreck, San Jose, Tolten, Resor, Maurice Tracey, Pinta, $25 Wreck, Sea Hag, Sea Girt Wreck, Gulftrade, Flour, Gloria, Immaculata, U-352, Aeolus, Pappose, USCG Spar and Shurz. As in every year there were other trips that did not happen due to weather conditions and other obstacles like the St. Lawrence River trip but, there is always next year!

I think the highlight of my year was finally being able to tackle the Oil Wreck. I was recently reading a technical diving book and it was talking about knowing your "comfort zone". I have always known my personal "comfort zone" but, when it came to this particular wreck, I always felt that I wasn't quite ready for it. I had been on boats destined for this wreck numerous times over the years but, never made it there and in the back of my mind I knew that there was a reason why I never made it there. I remember one time in particular when my instructor said he'd be my buddy for the Oil Wreck which gave me a lot of confidence but, then that day never came...I was again left thinking perhaps this is one wreck that I will never dive. In the end, I got there sort of by accident when we were supposed to be diving the Somerstad and ended up at the Oil Wreck due to weather offshore. I know Captain Dan and others on board the Indy that day knew how hard I've tried to tackle this wreck and realize that defeating this was a huge accomplishment for me. I now hope to dive it again someday..

As you all know this blog is meant to inspire current divers and perhaps others that may aspire to learn to dive. Its my small contribution to the diving community and my way of leaving my mark in this great underwater world we all share. I want to be remembered as someone who lived life to the fullest, I didn't spend my weekends watching TV or cleaning the house I went out and experienced life. If nothing else, my children will have this blog to look back on someday and be able to feel what I felt diving each dive.

I don't have any real plans yet for the 2012 dive season other than I know I will be going to North Carolina again, I went with a great bunch of divers and look forward to exploring new wrecks in that area. I have 4 more videos to edit and post from this years trip to North Carolina so check back over the winter and I'll post them. I also really missed diving the Varanger and Offshore Paddlewheeler this year so I will make it a priority to get out there in 2012. One of the things about wreck diving in NJ is that you can plan out what wrecks you'd like to dive each year but given the weather and other events out of your control you never know where you actually end up diving. Its always that excitement of the unknown destination that keeps me coming back time and time again. Especially when you board a dive boat and hear the Captain say, lets go check out some new numbers...you never know what you will find. This year alone there were several new wrecks discovered and while I was not on the boat those particular days, I was so excited and happy for those that stepped out of the box into the unknown and made a grand historic discovery for all. Perhaps next year I will be able to dive these newly discovered wrecks myself...the opportunities are endless!

I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I am going is what inspires me to travel it. --Rosalia de Castro

I want to thank all of the divers in my 25 year journey whom was there to share diving with me. My life is richer for having all of you in my life!! Looking forward to many more safe years of wreck diving...

Still at it after 25 years! (2011)

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. --Hellen Keller

Pappose Video- August 2011

2011-11-21T09:23:00.004-05:00

Press Here for the Link to Pappose Video on You Tube

I have always been timid of diving with sharks. One of the reasons I went to North Carolina to wreck dive was because the wrecks are known to have an abundance of sharks. It was so thrilling to see so many sharks and to be so close to them. One even bumped me..which is scary but, nothing happened other than it scaring me to death. I cannot wait to go back next year and dive with them again. I did not get too many photos of the sharks because I was too busy watching them in awe. This wreck looks like a good wreck for artifacts, you can easily get inside the wreck since there is a tremendous break in the wreck. However, there is a ton of sharks in the break and I would not want to go inside and be in close quarters with them...I'm not quite ready for that yet!

This video is two separate dives, dive #2 has more sharks in it but they are tough to see through all the schools of bait fish. Since these are my first videos I have a lot to learn...Next year I should be able to shoot with a more steady hand and angle.

I have not given up on trying to go diving one more time for the season although my window of opportunity is narrowing quickly. Perhaps I'll get out this weekend, I hear the water is still warm and the visibility has been good.

The Resor 10-23-11

2011-10-25T10:44:00.000-04:00

Capt. Bill of the Independence II called us to see if we wanted to go to the Resor and given the poor visibility everywhere, I knew if there was going to be good visibility anywhere it would be at the Resor. I was originally thinking of diving the City of Athens but, given the conditions I thought the Resor would be a better choice and I believe I made the right decision. Once its late October..early November days of diving start to thin out due to the increasing winds which goes hand in hand with rougher seas. Yesterday, however, it was a beautiful day to be out diving, a little chill in the air, warm water (53 degrees on the bottom and 62 on the hang) and calm seas.

The Resor is one of those wrecks that has a large amount of relief and provides something for everyone from lobsters, scallops, fish to artifacts and photography. I have many fond memories of diving this wreck and the abundance of cod everyone used to spear on it.

We had a full boat of some of the best divers in the Northeast aboard along with some of the next generation of divers that you can just sense what they will achieve in terms of going "out of the box" and finding new wrecks, achieving greater depths to areas never discovered before. There was also 4 female divers on board which simply does not happen often. In addition, of the 14 divers on board, I could not help to notice that almost the entire boat was rebreather divers, there was only 3 of us on open circuit...times are changing.

I ended up attempting to be buddies with Anne Dashevsky...We tried to be buddies a year or two ago on the Gypsy Blood and ended up passing each other on the anchor line, I was going up as she was finally heading down..that day she had problems with her rebreather. This time, she splashed ahead of me and waited at 20' for me to do a bubble check for her and I saw bubbles so she went back up to the surface and I went down alone again.. As I descended there was a little current that was carrying that algae in the water column...I hoped that the water would clear up on the bottom. Once on the bottom the current was pretty strong on top of the stern where we were anchored and the vis was only about 15' which in my opinion is not that great for the Resor. It was darker but, it was also early in the morning and the sun was not fully up to give us that ambient light. I brought my camera and tried to stay on top of the wreck where there was the best natural light and shot some photos. I could not help to notice the enormous taugue that were on top of the wreck and they were not afraid to swim right up to me. After being down for about 10 minutes, my buddy Anne showed up and she was going to head down to the sand to look for scallops, I headed down into the wreck a bit but continued to shoot photos. I swam along the wreck and found the gun and I also noticed lots of spots where portholes once were. I also noticed a backing plate still there hidden amongst the marine growth, Bill later told me that there are quite a few backing plates left on the Resor because they are really hard to get off. It did not appear that any of the divers today were artifact hunting, everyone was looking for scallops and lobsters. I ended my dive after about 30 minutes because I was cold. The water is warm but, the surface air was cooler today so I was cold before I even splashed thus, I didn't last long before I was shivering...

Yellow Boring Sponge

The sea anemone is wrapped around the mussel.

Since the boat was full of rebreathers that also means that they spend a lot more time on the bottom so when they came up there was bag after bag after bag filled with scallops and lobsters. Some of the lobsters were really NICE in terms of size. Then the shucking began..It was definitely a productive day in terms of scallops.

I splashed ahead of Anne for dive #2 and she found me half way into my dive. The visibility improved quite a bit and I'd say it was now about 30', it seems the current helped to move out some of the algae, plus now the sun was out. We went down to the sand and I was going to take more pictures and she was going to gather scallops...I shot two photos and my low battery sign came on and my camera was done, I was not happy to say the least...oh well... I helped Anne look for scallops but, just for a few minutes because I didn't want to end up with a long deco...I was too cold to handle a long hang. I headed up ahead of Anne and still had a 20 minute hang which would have been shorter but my O2 regulator was free-flowing badly so I didn't get to hang on O2 deco gas. I tried to turn the knob on my Diverite regulator to get the free flowing to slow down to no avail... At times like this I am glad that I am a conservative diver because you never know what piece of equipment may not work properly and luckily for me I had plenty of Nitrox to decompress on and the only compromise is I had to hang longer...I could have used my O2 regulator but I don't like breathing on a regulator that forces air down your throat.. During my hang I was thinking about the fact that this algae bloom is still in full swing and the fact that there were tons of cunners on this wreck and some large taugue but, they were mostly located on top of the wreck. I wonder if this is a sign that the dissolved oxygen level is dropping on the bottom and as a result it drives the fish up higher??? I'll have to pay more attention to this on my next dive.

Back up on the boat, another load of scallops was bought up by those divers that did two dives. Anne said we did two partial dives together this time and perhaps next time we will do at least one complete dive together.. On the way home Terry shared some great stories of equipment lost and found and his great find of a bunch of $20 bills while diving. He had us all laughing and having a good time. Capt. Jim of the Gypsy Blood was at the dock when we arrived and we all hung out for a while having a few beers and sharing stories of dive adventures. I hope to get out a few more times this season...thinking of that Arundo trip in 2 weeks!

Almirante (Flour Wreck) & Gloria 10-10-11

2011-10-12T06:23:00.001-04:00

Tina & I between dives

We decided to take advantage of the lake Atlantic conditions and head out diving today. We had an old dive friend, Tina Held, join us today. After much debate over which wreck to go to we decided on the Almirante (Flour Wreck). Since it was so calm, it was a quick ride out and I was told to get suited up for the tie-in. There has been chatter that the vis down south has not been too good so the plan was to tie us in if it was good otherwise we would move to another wreck.

Doesn't get much flatter than this

As soon as I splashed I yelled up to Tina, it looks really dark. I went down to see if it would open up on the bottom. The water column was filled with brown phytoplankton and it just got darker and darker till I hit the wreck. I sat for a few minutes to let my eyes adjust and decided, no way lets go to another wreck. I tried to unsnarl the anchor but needed some slack. So I went up and told them the vis was horrible and I needed some slack to get the anchor out of the wreck. Back down into the darkness I went...it actually is spooky down there when its that dark. They gave me slack for about a minute but not long enough for me to get the anchor and chain out of the hole and off the wreck. The biggest problem was the vis was so bad that I could not see how to get the anchor out and where to actually drag it to. Well like I said the slack was for a only a minute and they started pulling the anchor up.. I pulled back on the line trying to signal to them that I need more slack but they were oblivious. I went up again and this time I was not happy and started yelling at Bill only to find it was Tina that was pulling the anchor up, not Bill...oops! Back down for a third time...this really is not fun...This time they gave me lots of slack and I was able to get the anchor out drag it across the wreck and into the sand and anti-fowl it. By now I blew 30 minutes underwater just fighting with the anchor. Boy was I tired but I got the job done.

2011 was a great year for diving!!!

We decided to head north to the Gloria wreck. Upon arrival, the viz looked much better on the surface. We sent Bill in this time to tie in and told him to send a bottle up if the vis is good. Tina and I waited and waited and finally up came the bottle. Tina suited up and went in. Once Bill was back on the boat I splashed. Turns out the surface vis was good but, it was only about 5' on the bottom. We all did our dives anyway and good thing because Tina found a great artifact. It was piece of a door with a brass keyhole lock on it. She said she spotted the green in the wreck and grabbed it and it came loose.

Bill opted out of the second dive, so I went in for my dive #3 with Tina. We were going to head back to where she found her artifact and look for the key to it. Lots of times people left the keys in those types of locks and maybe we could find it. We looked and looked but did not find it. I however, found some sort of large wheel with spokes and could not budge it. I will need to go back with a scooter and tools to try and break it free. It was rather large and it is partially buried. Hmmm what could it be? I was again given the duty of pulling the anchor. I unsnarled the anchor and tried to fill the lift bag to lift up the anchor. As fast as I filled the lift bag it was emptying and sinking. AGGHHH!! Bill gave me a lift bag with a hole in it. Tina attached her sausage to it and it was enough to get the anchor off the wreck.

We had a beautiful day out there topped off with a few beers back at the house. As I am typing this I cannot begin to tell you how sore my shoulders and back are from dragging that anchor around. What a workout!!

Tina and her door with keyhole lock.

I have been privileged to be dive buddies or underwater diving with lots of divers whom have recovered great artifacts from portholes, bells, china, binacles, binacle balls, running and cage lights, and now a piece of a door. I do not have a good knack for finding artifacts. I have found a few in my time but, they are not in abundance. I do however, always seem to be with others when they find their prized artifact and often I do have my camera either underwater or on the surface to memorialize their finds. For this, I am grateful. I was not the one who found these great artifacts but, I was there to share in the whole experience. Pictures mean a lot to me and they bring great memories of special dives and divers. This is why I love to dive so much!!!

Looking forward to diving again next weekend...

Immaculata 10-8-11

2011-10-11T16:15:00.001-04:00

This weekend was like an Indian summer weekend with warms temps and calm seas predicted so I decided to dive as much as I can just in case the weather turns and I don't get out again this year (of course I hope to get out a few more times but you never know what mother nature will bring). I signed on to go out on the Independence II to the Immaculata. I have never been on this wreck but, I heard about the abundance of bottles on this wreck from other divers so, I was going to go and get some bottles. As we headed out the seas were not quite as calm as predicted but it was by no means rough and as the day went on it laid down nicely. It was a chilly morning and I had to actually put on the winter coat to stay warm on the ride out.

The Immaculata sits in 95' of water. They say that it consists of 3 old garbage barges that sunk in the 1920's. This wreck sits in an area known as the Acid Grounds because it used to be a dumping ground for Industrial Waste. The wreck is also known for having a large amount of silt on it that can easily be stirred up. I can attest to the fact that it is indeed very silty and since it was an old waste site, I wonder what is in that silt and if I should be diving in it..

Upon arrival at the wreck site, the surface visibility looked great..I decided to leave my camera behind for dive #1 so that I could look for bottles. Capt. Bill told me that there are rows of ribbing but they all look the same and since this site silts up quickly I should run a wreck reel so I don't get lost. Once I splashed I noticed the water was that nice n pretty fall blue color...which means the gulfstream is in!! There was however a lot of particulate matter in the water and lots of jellyfish. There was no thermocline and the visibility held all the way down to the wreck. The vis on the wreck was a good 30' but, as soon as anyone dug for bottles it silted up fast. Luckily there was the slightest current that took the stirred up silt away pretty quickly. I initially headed down the edge of the wreck towards the silted area assuming that they must be finding bottles in that area but, quickly I ended up with 0 vis so I turned around and actually swam across the wreck to the opposite side where the vis was back to 30'. I saw quite a few lobsters, flounder, and tons of crabs but, given the fact that this was the acid dump site, I was not going to eat anything from this wreck. Even though its has been a long time since they dumped on this site, I know since I am a chemist by trade, that these things still linger around for a long, long time. So, I left the lobsters and crabs alone. There also was not a lot of marine growth on this wreck which is another sign that the marine environment is not too healthy. I picked a spot almost to the area they call the machinery pile and started digging. All I found was broken bottles and sinkers. I was down for about 30 minutes and finally realized that it was very warm down here, almost hot..a quick check to my gauge and it was 65 degrees on the bottom. It felt great!!!

Up on the surface, one diver after the other brought up bags full of bottles. All different shapes, sizes, colors and from all over the country. It was really cool checking them out and trying to figure out what they were. I will hopefully find some on my next dive.

Here we go, dive #2, I was going to head back over towards the second row of ribbing near the machinery and start digging. Well I dug and dug and came up with nothing. All this digging did bring a ton of fish to my side to share in my digging. I was running low on air so I headed back to dig more near the anchor line and I certainly found lots of broken bottles but nothing intact. I sometimes don't have the patience or the "eye" to find artifacts or bottles so I naturally was upset that I couldn't find at least one bottle. But then again, I found two awesome bottles earlier in the season on the Arundo!

Again, lots of bottles (too many to count) and lobsters too were boated. We had a nice crowd out today. There were a few divers on board getting ready for Capt. Dan's expedition to find the third Black Sunday wreck he's been searching for offshore. I yearned so much to go with them but, 250'-300' is a little deep without a rebreather. I wish them lots of luck and with the great conditions for this weekend, I am confident that they will find it this time.

When I got home and told Bill how great the conditions were and we decided to dive the next two days on our boat. However, after my dive we were invited to a retirement party for a fellow diver, Joe Dobarro and had a few too many drinks so Sunday's dive was scratched. The party had lots of old dive boat Captain's there such as John Slotnick (Robin II) and Johnny Pratt (Ursula) and we enjoyed talking about the old diving adventures we shared. The Ursula was the boat that brought us several times a week to the Varanger in the 1990's when we were working on a clam research project for Rutgers. I was one lucky diver to get paid to dive the Varanger so often for that project.. It helped me gain valuable experience and confidence for deeper diving. The Ursula was just sold this past April...another dive boat legacy gone...

Gulftrade 9-25-11

2011-09-26T16:35:00.005-04:00

I bought a brand new Bare XCD2 Drysuit about a month ago and have been blown out of all my dives since I purchased it. I was starting to think that it was cursed or something. Well, I finally got out today on the Independence II and we went to the Gulftrade Stern. Now that all the storms have passed, we were hoping for decent visibility and the chance to explore the wreck after so many storms have rolled through. Our wishes were granted because we got two great dives in plus I was able to christen my new drysuit!

The Gulftrade was a tanker owned by the Gulf Oil Company. It was torpedoed on March 10, 1942 by the U-588. There were 18 casualties. I have dove this wreck countless times and I even have some old film photos of the wreck from the 1990's, some may be of the bow section, my memory has escaped me..

Cool Artifact from the Gulftrade.


Bill with a cod he speared on the Gulftrade

Another calm day of diving out on the Gulftrade, 1990's.

If you listened to the weather forecast for today, and stayed ashore because of the predicted rain and small craft advisory, you would have missed out on a breathless day of diving. The sun was out and the seas were flat calm like glass. There was absolutely no wind, just the slightest swell.

Surface shot of Lake Atlantic before I splashed.

The boat was packed full today so I let most of the divers go in ahead of me as I got my camera ready and took my time donning my new drysuit...will it keep me dry and warm?? As I splashed the water column was filled with bioiluminesence and was green and murky but, not as bad as before the Hurricane. However, once I got closer to the bottom the visibility opened up to about 25'. I stopped momentarily on my descent at about 50'-60' to gaze at the layout of the wreck. This always helps me to quickly make a mental note as to where the anchor line is in relation the wreck and eventually helps me a lot with navigation. We tied into the intact portion of the wreck and due to the good vis, no wreck reel was needed. I saw Alek Petersen's flash going off in the distance so I headed towards him to join him in taking photos. One problem, my camera would not turn on. I could seem the button press down but it was not making contact with the camera in the housing. I wasted about 5 minutes trying to get it to turn on and gave up. I set off to check out the wreck. Alek took a few pics of me and hopefully they come out. There were a lot of clam shells and other shells piled up on the bottom of the wreck that I suspect was pushed into the wreck from the storms. There were lots of large sea bass that did not appear to be skittish. I was able to get really close to them and observe them eating and pecking at the wreck. I saw a lobster in a pipe but you know me, I was too chicken to grab it so its' life was sparred for someone else's dinner in the future. Too bad may camera was acting up it would have been a great photo. The bottom temp was a balmy 63 degrees and I spent 40 minutes on the bottom. Surprisingly there was no surge from the swells and absolutely no current. You could however see layers of algae and very clear water. When you looked across the wreck you would see what you thought was a larger portion of the wreck in the distance only to find out it was algae floating like a mirage. It definitely messed with your mind.

Up on the surface there was quite a few lobsters and fish speared. Everyone seemed to really enjoy their dives.. On my hang I tried to power up my camera and it came on...go figure..I guess I was meant to just swim around and enjoy my new drysuit and the balmy water conditions. It did by the way succeed at keeping me warm and dry...

During the surface interval I was busy talking to Capt. Dan when I realized that everyone was in the water..I said oops I better move it or I'll miss out on dive #2. Turned out to be good that I was the last one in...I enjoy being down when everyone else is hanging or back on the boat.

On the second dive the visibility improved because a little current picked up. My camera did work on dive #2 so I just spent another 40 minutes swimming around and taking photos. On the hang there were so many jellyfish I had to keep pushing them away from my face, needless to say, I got stung on my lip. It looks real attractive but, it was worth the sacrifice because I was so content and happy today during my dives. This time of year the weather makes it harder to get out as often and therefore, days like today are cherished. I am ready to do it all over again next weekend...I hope the conditions hold!!!

Today we had Capt. Brandon at the helm and he did a great job of safely driving the Independence II to and from the wreck site plus perfectly docking the boat which is not and easy feat. Job well done and with ease!!!

Once I got home and uploaded my photos I was pleasantly surprised that so many of them came out really good. I have shared a few of them but decided I will put together a slide show and post them over the winter so that I can more readily share them all.

That jellyfish sting that I mentioned earlier is still prominent on my lip and I have to give a presentation tomorrow night at Stockton College for one of my graduate courses, I guess I can liven up the audience with the ole story of sacrifices you make to be a North Atlantic Wreck Diver...I really hope it fades away by then...

Alek Petersen took the following photos of me on the Gulftrade when my camera was malfunctioning. I figured I should include them in this post after the fact... Thanks Alek!!!

U-352, First of several videos from North Carolina

2011-09-23T21:31:00.001-04:00

This is a real primitive video...After going on this trip I realized how difficult it is to take video and photos on a wreck that you never dove before. I wanted to enjoy the dive and fully explore the wreck but, at the same time document it. This is no easy task... it comes down to being very familiar with your camera and video equipment so that you can operate it with ease and at the same time focus on the wreck and the whole experience. Since this was my first North Carolina dive, time went by very quickly and I clearly did not video or photograph enough. I have learned a tremendous amount in terms of knowing what to spend time videoing and what to let go....

Please refer to my prior post "Diving North Carolina Wrecks" dated August 12, 2011 for the history and first hand experience of diving the U-352. I will slowly get around to posting the other wrecks including all the shark videos. Enjoy!!

Oil Wreck (Ayuruoca) 8/21/11

2011-08-22T13:00:00.006-04:00

I knew that since this was my 25th year as a diver it would be a special one but, it has been better than my greatest expectations!!! Today I was going to dive the Somerstad (Virginia) but the weather forecast was not suitable for such a long trip offshore so the destination was changed to the Ayuruoca (Oil Wreck). If you follow my blog you already know that I have been trying to dive this wreck for a long time and for various reasons, I really thought of this wreck as my personal "Andrea Doria" of dives. So when I heard the night before that our destination was changed to the Oil Wreck, instead of worrying all night about it, I just resolved to the fact that something will happen and we won't actually get there like so many other attempts over the years. I was resolved to either being completely blown out or going to some other wreck closer to shore.

Well, I had good luck on my side this time. As I drove up to Point Pleasant I noticed there was little or no wind..when I got to the dock, everything was on for the Oil Wreck.

This wreck is a 468' Brazilian freighter that collided with a Norwegian vessel General SS Fleicher in the fog on June 6, 1945. The freighter was carrying trucks, jeeps and other wartime vehicles. This wreck got its name as the "Oil Wreck" because it has always leaked oil and you can see the sheen of oil on the surface. The wreck sits today at a depth of 160'-170' and is known for dark and poor visibility. It is also heavily fished so it is covered in monofilament. It is known as a 2- 3 knife dive.

We were all aware that the weather was supposed to get worse as the day went on so we were all advised by Capt. Dan that we were only staying for one dive and to be ready to roll as soon as we anchored up. So far, the entire ride out and up until I splashed the sea conditions remained calm but, you could feel the wind picking up. I typically dive alone but due to my anxiety about this wreck I was diving with my husband Bill today. Actually, for some reason a calming came over me and I felt like this was just another wreck. I think the comeraderie and antics that were going on between Brandon, Bedford, and Mark helped to lighten the anxiety...they were quite comical to watch. I was ready to go in before Bill so I splashed and said "see ya on the bottom". Prior to my splashing Brandon had come up and said that the surface visibility was awful but it cleared up at about 40'. I was glad he shared this information because when I splashed the visibility was so bad that I practically hit Joe Rogers hanging on the line. It was very clear that this algae bloom that is in the news was in full force here. As soon as I hit about 40' the water cleared but it also became darker and darker. The algae bloom was preventing the sun from penetrating. Finally at about 133' I could see the strobe and eventually the wreck. We were anchored into the lifeboat davit on top of the wheelhouse. I could see about 25' but it was really, really dark and took quite a while for my eyes to adjust. Once Bill got on the bottom we headed out in a direction away from the other divers. We swam along the wheel house and Bill pointed out the porthole backing plates that are still in place and eventually we hit the deck behind the wheel house. Bill found a lobster here and I managed to get tangled in the ever present monofilament. I tried to swim out of it but that did not work. Bill saw my predicament and tried to break the line with his hands and pulling at my legs.. he was not gentle, and I felt like he was trying to rip my leg off...I realized I needed a knife but, as I was reaching for mine, Bill took his out and freed me. This wasted some time and I felt like I just got down there and it was time to go. We were on the bottom for about 30 minutes. As I ascended I realized that the dive wasn't all that bad and I had not reason to be so scared of it. It is not an easy dive at all but, I did it and I did it safely. The long hang was torturous with the lack of visibility, it really through off my bearings but, there was no swell or current which made it far better than it could have been.

Back up on the boat, Sean found the coolest bottle that looks like a wine decanter or cordial bottle.

Sean and his bottle, Photo by Deep Expeditions

We were going to do a second dive on the Cranford but as we motored in, the seas really picked up so we headed for the inlet instead.

Back at the dock we rescheduled the Somerstad (Virginia) so perhaps I will still be able to dive that wreck too. I want to thank my husband Bill, Capt. Dan, Sean and Sue for supporting me today. They all knew that I was anxious about this wreck but, they also believed in me and knew I could do it. I owe them big time for their support!!

I have to also add that I did this dive with two minor complications, as you know I have had drysuit issues this year, well as I suited up my next seal split again...it felt tight enough so I dove with it. I actually bought a brand new Bare XCD2 drysuit but have not had a chance to use it in shallow water and didn't fell like I should use it for the first time on this dive. So, I made it through most of my dive and it wasn't until I was ascending that my seal gave out and I started to flood. That was issue #1, the other issue was, I was sick, I had been in bed the day before with swollen glands and I felt a cold was coming on. As I type this I have gotten worse and have a bad cough and lost my voice. I was determined to dive the Oil Wreck and I was not going to let a cold or a leaky drysuit ruin my opportunity. I guess today I am paying for it but, I am so happy I accomplished my goal yesterday!!!!

Joe Rogers, ready to tie-in

Brandon, always cutting edge!

Brandon & Joe heading down to ti-in

I will never forget my dive to the Oil Wreck and who knows maybe I'll dive it again someday:):)

Sea Girt Wreck Night Dive 8/17/11

2011-08-18T13:58:00.000-04:00

Tina & I after our 1st dive together in over 20 years!

Just a day ago, my friend, Tina Held invited me to go out on a night dive with some of her friends. Therefore, this was completely a last minute decision for me and it ended up being a great night so I am glad I went along. This dive is sort of part of a 20 year twist of fate story that I had mentioned in a prior post about artifacts that we all obtained about 20 years ago on the Sea Girt Clammer off of Atlantic City (See the Old Dive Logs post 2/6/11). All those years ago I met Tina Held, out on a dive boat. At the time she was still in college and I was a college graduate at my first "real" job. One particular day we ended up out on Bob Meimbrese's boat together as we dove the Sea Girt Clammer which had recently sunk. We all came up with artifacts including portholes, brass horns, cage lights, running lights and Tina got the best artifact of all of us...the binacle. At the time, I never told her, but I was so jealous...to this day I have never found an artifact as beautiful as her binacle. It was a day that neither Tina nor I ever forgot. She went on with her life as did I. Many years went by and I always wondered what happened to her because I never saw her out diving. Well this is where the twist of fate comes in...I was at back to school night last fall for my daughter whom goes to a marine and environmental technical high school when I saw Tina. We were staring at each other trying to figure out if we knew each other. Finally, when the crowd cleared I approached her and said you look so familiar, do we know each other. She said she was thinking the same thing..now mind you its been 20 years since we saw each other and we both look very different. Finally she asked if I dive and then we figured out that yes we know each other through diving and she immediately brought up that day we dove together on the Sea Girt Clammer. Talk about a small world. It turns out that Tina, is a teacher at the school my daughter goes to. She has continued to dive in NJ all these years but our paths never crossed. So here we are today, our first time diving together after all these years. We actually both want to dive the Sea Girt Clammer together again but, thus far, our schedules have not permitted that to take place but it will someday soon, I hope.

Both Tina & I were so excited to finally dive together again, we had been talking about diving together ever since we reconnected. Our destination tonight was the SS Mohawk since, her friends did a night dive there about a week ago and did well with fish and lobsters. We were underway by 6pm on a private boat and it was turning out to be a beautiful evening to be out in the ocean. Once we arrived at the Mohawk, there was another dive boat already anchored on it. Given the wind direction and the fact that the dive boat was anchored in the center of the wreck prohibiting us from sharing the wreck, we had to move on to Plan B. Capt. Gerard evaluated our options and we headed over to the Sea Girt Wreck. Both Tina and I said this is too weird that after all these years we end up diving together on another wreck also called the Sea Girt. Kind of eerie we thought but, it goes along with our crazy twist of fate so, we'll go along with it. The Sea Girt Wreck is and unknown schooner barge in about 81' of water and was named due to its location off of the town "Sea Girt". It has low lying wooden walls that is awesome for lobsters and jona crabs. There a two small boilers and a large chain pile.

Our first dive took place just as the sun was setting at about 7:45pm. Tina and I splashed to pea soup visibility that opened up once we were on the bottom to about 15'. I ran the wreck reel and we swam along one of the wooden walls collecting lobsters and crabs. There were tons of skates with their big eyes glowing at you plus lots of flounder. We swam for a long time and finally hit the chain pile and winch. There were large lobsters under the chain pile and Tina was trying to figure out how to get to them. I focused on the conger eels that were out of their holes swimming all around. Their coloring seemed so different at night. I actually saw a skate try to attack and eat one conger eel that dared to enter his path. The conger naturally got away unscathed. This wreck was teaming with life and made for an exciting dive. We spent about 30 minutes on the bottom and headed up into the glowing illuminesence. It was an awesome dive!!! I actually was planning on doing only one dive but, I loved it so much I decided to do a second dive. During the surface interval we had the music blasting and just enjoyed being out on this beautiful night. These guys are lots of fun to dive with. At one point I looked at the horizon and this huge Red moon was rising...it was a spectacular site.

Our second dive was at 9:45 pm and it was dark. The visibility wasn't as great as on the first dive but we ran a reel again and still managed to find out way. There were small lobsters everywhere walking about and for some reason just tons of skates and flounder. One flounder we came upon at the end of our dive was enormous...we should have actually scooped him into our bug bag but, we let him live. During this dive there were eel puts out feeding and their heads would poke at the wreck for food and their body and tail would rise up perpendicular to the bottom. They had a neon blue color to them and it was wild to see. The other divers spoke of the squid stacked along the wreck but, I did not notice any. There was large sea bass all over, I guess the big guys come out of hiding at night. Since it was even later at night for this dive it seems that there was even more life on the wreck, it was like every little think was moving.

One thing that both Tina and I have in common is a strong intellect and also incredible passions for diving North Atlantic Wrecks. Tina still dives "old school" and I have modified my diving techniques a little with the times. In the end..we both have been diving a real long time and it felt great to be out diving together again. We are planning on diving with some other old friends from the 1990's and are both looking forward to that. I am also still hopeful that we will dive together again on the Sea Girt Clammer out of Atlantic City this season..

A special thanks to Capt. Gerard, Frank, Scott and Al for such and enjoyable night even though I didn't get home till 2am. It was fun...See Gerard I didn't mention any of the crazy things that went on during our Rage Night Diving Adventure!!!

Diving North Carolina Wrecks

2011-08-12T07:42:00.004-04:00

Yesterday (July 31st) I left my family behind for a week of wreck diving in North Carolina via Olympus Diving Center. I always wanted to dive in North Carolina and after my trip to the Cook Islands was cancelled, I booked this trip as a cheer- me- up trip..It was a long and kind of lonely journey down here. My adventure began on the Cape May Ferry, it was such a cool and beautiful morning, and the Delaware Bay was flat calm.. I enjoyed the morning sun with my coffee and realized, I am all alone and have no one to take care of but me..This is an odd feeling for me but, a welcome one. Then I was off for my 7 hour drive to Morehead City, NC. I finally arrived in time to load the boat at and head out for a few drinks and dinner with everyone. I was very, very excited for this week of discovery and adventure!

Day 1: U-352
The U-352 is a German submarine that sits in 100' of water and was sunk by the Coast Guard Cutter "Icaraus" on May 9, 1942. The sub was discovered by George Purifoy whose son, Bobby was the Captain of our boat, the Olympus this week. Other than the S-5 in NJ, I have not dove on any other subs (U-boats). As I splashed into the deep blue water, I could immediately make out the sub below. It is impressive to see as you descend. I was also so mesmerized by all the schools of fish on the wreck itself. Once on the bottom I quickly swam to the conning tower to photograph and take video of it before all the other divers arrived.

I then swam towards the stern and circled around rudder where there was torpedo tube and then swam along the top of the the entire sub. I found some angel fish and sea cucumbers and took photos and video of them. Other divers saw a manta ray and a sand tiger shark but, I did not see them. I found an octopus camouflaged into the wreck too.

Mr. Octopus

Sea Urchin

The bottom temp was 77 degrees, so much more comfortable than my more familiar NJ waters. I think I was one of the first divers down and also the last one to come up. At the end of the dive I felt privileged to dive this historic sub that effected so many lives during WWII. My grandfather was a Merchant Marine during the war and the ship he served on was torpedoed by a German sub. His ship was carrying war supplies and as it sunk it turtled taking the lives of almost all those on board. He was one of few survivors. He recalled slipping and falling backwards and as a result ended up on the opposite side of the ship and eventually fell to the waters below. He hung onto a piece of wreckage for a day and a half in shark infested waters before being rescued. Once he was rescued he was brought to French Guyana to recover. He told stories of the sharks nipping at him and how he had to keep kicking them away. He had nightmares of the sharks trying to attack him for the rest of his life, he also always wondered why he was one of the few that survived that day, this troubled him emensely. I guess that is one of the reasons I am not fond of diving German sub's. During my hang I was in awe of the massive barracuda hanging effortlessly right next to me throughout my entire hang. I like to think he was my friend and didn't want to eat me. This was one of those dives that it is nice to do once but in the end, it's just a pipe in the sand that probably caused a lot of destruction during the war....

USCG-Spar

This wreck is an artificial reef that was sunk right next to the Aeolus in June 2004 and it sits in 110' of water. The wreck was a Coast Guard buoy tender and it sits upright and is easily penetrated.

There were tons of Spade fish on this wreck.

This wreck is also known for its sand tiger sharks. One of the reasons I wanted to dive in NC was to dive with sharks, I've always been wary of them and wanted to overcome my fear. Just because they are fast and have huge sharp teeth does not mean they are any different than all the other fish in the ocean. We were anchored in the stern and once I was on the bottom I headed towards the wheelhouse which is where the sharks like to hang. I did not see any sharks initially but, was in awe of the large amount of Spade fish packed into the wheelhouse. As I swam through them they were so thick you actually pushed them out of your way. This was so cool. I then head over the bulkhead of the wreck towards the sand when I spotted a large sand tiger shark not too far from me. I shot video of it and then it disappeared. I checked out the holds on the deck and didn't actually swim the entire wreck, I kind of hung in one area checking out the marine life. I enjoy watching the bait fish swirl around in packs and at times getting so thick that you can't see through them. My hang included a token barracuda and more bait fish. It was the end of an awesome first day of diving wrecks in NC. I can't wait for tomorrow...we are diving the Papoose (W.E. Hutton).

I loved looking up at all the bait fish, it was so very cool!

Day 2
Papoose for two dives:

This wreck was known as the Papoose until recently when it was officially identified as the W.E. Hutton, sits upside down in 125' of water. It is a 412' freighter that was torpedoed by the U-124 on March 18, 1942. This is one of the wrecks that I desperately wanted to dive this week. As soon as I splashed and began my descent, I notices 3 very large fish that had a blunt head and were quite large and impressive, I wanted to take their picture but, I assumed there would be more on the wreck. I was wrong. I found out later that these were Mahi Mahi and only 3 of us saw them because they took off as soon as all the divers began descending onto the wreck. At least I was blessed with seeing them! We were anchored in the middle of the wreck near the break and I was going to dive the deeper bow section first. As soon as I turned the corner towards the massive opening into the wreck, I saw a whole bunch of sand tiger and black tip reef sharks swimming in and out of the dark inside of the wreck. The problem was there was so much bait fish that it made it difficult to see through them and to get any photos of the sharks. I didn't hang around long here long, I proceeded towards the bow. I saw some lion fish and spent some time checking them out and then more sharks appeared. They were all around me and I was just in awe. I stayed calm and faced my fears. I was right, they are just like any other fish swimming in the ocean.

The upside down Papoose

Sand Tiger Shark

During the second dive, we were heading to the stern but the current picked up and made that too tough of a swim for me so, I dropped down to the sand and waited for the sharks to come out from under the turtled wreck. I had so much fun taking photos and video of the sharks...it was the highlight of my week. As soon as I got out of the water a huge hammerhead came up chasing 3 turtles and put on quite a show...wish I was still on my hang to see that...there is always tomorrow!! This is one wreck I would like to come back to...

Purple Sea Urchin Arbacia punctulata

Yellow Cheek Wrasse Halichoeres cyanocephalus

Hairy Cucumber Sclerodactyla briareus

Day 3
USS Shurz-

This wreck is a US/German Freighter that sunk on June 21, 1918 when it collided with the SS Florida. It actually has an interesting history. The Shurz was originally a 255' German gunship named the SMS Geier that was built in 1894. In 1914, the U.S. seized the ship and renamed it the USS Shurz. During World War II it was a German target because they did not want their own ship to be a factor in their defeat. The USS Shurz did not meet its demise however until its collision with the SS Florida. It now sits in 110' of water and most of the wooden decking has rotted away and what is left is lots of machinery including the boilers, anchor, rudder and cannons. I loved this wreck, it is not often that you dive on a wreck with cannons.

One of 3 cannons that I saw on this wreck

There was plenty or marine life like all the wrecks I've been to this week. Captain Bobby warned us to be careful because the bait fish can become so thick that it disorients you and you end up lost unable to find the anchor line. Since we've had 100' of viz on most of our dives, I found it difficult to believe what he was saying until it happened. I was swimming right next to the boilers when the bait fish came through, I couldn't even see the bottom and distinguish between wreckage or the sandy bottom..all you saw was tons of fish in every direction. Luckily I kept swimming towards where I thought the edge of the wreck was and eventually I swam out of the bait fish swarm and did not get lost. There were quite a few lion fish on this wreck and I spotted a cleverly disguised octopus.

We all were planning on staying on this wreck for two dives however, one of the fellow divers today was commissioned on the USCG Spar and he wanted to dive it. So we all conceded to dive the Spar again for the second dive. It is not often that you get to dive a wreck with someone that was actually commissioned to it. We are going to come back to the USS Shurz tomorrow. There were lots of artifact recoveries going on that needed one more dive.

USCG Spars- The current was ripping across this wreck from port to starboard and made it very difficult to make and headway but, I managed to swim around the bow. I saw a few sharks including one that quickly snatched up a fish right next to me and I got it on video. The speed that he turned and grabbed the fish scared me and I decided I better move along. I spent time following a school of large jacks and then I saw a ray in the sand and followed him for a while. Evidently other divers saw a school of rays and I missed it. This wreck is quite large and it was nice to come back to it and hit another portion that I did not get to see the other day. Another beautiful day of diving topped off with a few beers on the sundeck as we drove back to the dock with flat calm seas.

Spade Fish

Immature Grouper

Sea Bass

Barracuda

Day 4- Blow out...4'-6' seas..praying we get out tomorrow. I spent the day checking out the seaside city of Beaufort and really enjoyed a day alone just wandering around. I spent a few hours at the beach since it was so hot and I really needed to cool off in the ocean. However, the water is so warm it really is not refreshing at all... The humidity makes it really unbearable down hear in southern NC. A large group of us gathered for dinner at Clawson's in Beaufort and we all had a nice time. The wind is dying as I type this and I know tomorrow we will manage to get out for one more day of diving!!

Day 5
Although the wind died and the seas somewhat laid down and we were actually going to head out to dive...which I was happy about.. However, it does not take much to kind of upset me and hinder my cheerful spirit. I don't know what it is with men and diving but, this sport is load with egotistical....well need I say anything else. I arrived on the boat to find a certain male putting his tanks in my "spot". This boat is set up with a spot for your tanks and a cubby below for your equipment. I had my gear stowed in the cubby overnight and my tanks were on land being filled. Today there was about 6 or so walk-ons..Well like I said this "certain male" put his tanks in my spot. I politely told him that I had been in this spot all week can he please move over to one of the empty cubbies so I can fit in my tanks. He said where are your tanks? I said I was just about to go get them, they were getting filled. He said, well this is my spot now and would not move. This guy clearly was never taught common boating etiquette. On this particular bench there were other divers that I was diving with and this effected all of us. My friend Rick, agreed to relocate to make room for my big doubles. I swear that no matter where I go with diving, I am taken advantage of by these type of characters... My spirit was not broken and later on in the day, shall I say this man got his karma. They always do get their karma...do onto others is always in my mind!!

We were planning on heading back to the USS Shurz to recover artifacts that we were working on. However, due to storms in the area, we were not able to make it to that wreck so we stopped at the Aeolus which is a little closer to shore and was also not located within the storm area, thus no lightning and calmer seas.

Aeolus-

This wreck is a 409' tanker that was sunk in 1988 as part of North Carolina's reef program. When they sunk it, it was actually turtled or upside down. During hurricanes in 1996 the wreck was up-righted and twisted so much that it now sits in 3 separate pieces. Captain Bobby informed us that this wreck has had a huge amount of sharks on it this summer so I was excited. This wreck sits in 125' of water and my plan was to stay relatively shallow so to increase my bottom time. I swam along the edge of the wreck when I finally went onto the top deck and notices some yellow and blue blennies. I did research on blennies when I was in college so of course I had to stop and shoot some video of them coming in and out of their "blennie condos and also to take photos. I love watching these little critters and before I knew it I spent 15 minutes just checking them out. I finally said I better move along otherwise I will miss the rest of the wreck.

I dropped down to a lower deck and notices a type of soft coral that I had not seen all week.

Just as I took this shot, a ton of silt stirred up from a shark that bumped me.

I prepared to take a photo of it when this shark came from behind me and bumped into me. Well it scared the living daylights out of me. I then realized that the shark that bumped me was only about 4' long and there were many more larger sand tiger sharks right in front of me. I was in awe. They were unfortunately on a lower deck that was dark so it was basically not possible to get photos or video of them in the darkness without getting closer to them which I was not about to do. I continued on and completely swam around this piece of the wreck. This piece was quite large and it is fascinating to know that a hurricane literally picked this 409' tanker up and split it into 3 pieces. Today the visibility was only 50' and you could feel a thermocline which resulted in bottom temps in the 70's. It was noticeably different from the previous days of 100' plus viz and 83 degree bottom temps. It still however, was much warmer than up in NJ. I enjoyed this dive like everyone I've been on this week.

USCG Spar- We ended up back at the USCG Spar again today for reasons to do with the "certain male" that gave me problems earlier in the day and the other divers with him. Without going into detail, they were not qualified to dive the Shurz or other wrecks in the area. I was a little disappointed but, this wreck is fun and I was planning on going out in the sand in search of the rays so, I was happy. I never found the rays but I did find myself on the stern alone with a 3' reef shark that kept swimming around me and looked right in my eyes. I shot some nice video of him and enjoyed just sitting there watching him. Since I was so pre-occupied, I forgot that the deck of this wreck is literally covered with shark teeth and I had wanted to grab a handful to bring back for my kids. Thankfully John Paoli and his nephew Christopher picked up a bunch and gave me some to bring home. Also on this last dive of the week I finally figured out to shoot my camera in a cloudy setting instead of <25' blue water and as a result, my pictures came out nice with the forefront lit and the back round deep blue. I guess I'll know for next time.

After out last dive we went out for a great seafood dinner and quite a few cocktails. We booked a boat for next year and I can't wait to come back. We had the nicest group of divers all week that made my vacation away from my family very enjoyable. Plus I did 8 dives over 5 days, not bad for NC. I took more video than photos this trip so, I will post the videos of this great trip soon...

Now its back to NJ Wreck Diving...I have lots of exciting new wrecks to dive coming up in the next few months including the Somerstadt (Virginia), Varanger, Southern Lilian, and Cayru...stay tuned!!!

$25 Wreck- July 29, 2011

2011-07-29T19:51:00.000-04:00

Today I was destined for Max's Wreck (Montgomery) via the Atlantus. As we were loading the boat, we ran into our old dive friend Paxton Holden whom we ran into last year a few times too. He likes to fish off of a fishing charter boat that is in the slip next to the Atlantus. I told him that he brings me good luck because last year when I saw him we had an awesome dive and got a ton of lobsters. It was nice to see him again before he headed out fishing for the day and we headed out diving..

There were some nice swells as soon as we broke the inlet and as we continued to proceed offshore the swells began getting larger. Capt. Brian decided that it was too rough to dive in these conditions offshore. So we turned around, assessed what wrecks were near by and decided to try and dive the $25 wreck.

The $25 wreck is an unknown wreck from the 1800's. It basically consists of the engine block and wooden side paddle wheels. My hubby, Bill, got a nice glass inkwell off of this wreck many years ago and I know there are plenty of more artifacts to be found on this wreck. It was not long and we were anchored up on the wreck. It was pretty bouncy and it was taking its toll on me. I have been extremely busy with work and school that has left me up to 1-2am a few times this week, as a result, I was tired before I even got on the boat. I splashed to unlimited visibility and also a pretty stiff current. I quickly dropped down to get out of the current. At about 70' the visibility dissipated and the water column became filled with salps and lots of particulate matter..I'd say the visibility on the bottom was only about 10'. Brian had been down ahead of us and was using his scooter to dig and that definitely affected the vis. No worries for me because, I had my least favorite piece of dive gear with me...the wreck reel. I tied off near the anchor and headed in an unknown direction that lead me to the engine and one of the side paddle wheels. I saw a few lobsters and noticed that there was not a huge abundance of fish on the wreck. It turns out the viz was getting worse as I proceeded so I realized I must be heading right into the digging area. I turned around and headed for the opposite direction. I found the other side paddle wheel and you could see all the spokes on it and also the giant anchor, which means...the bow. I had a nice 30 minute dive and decided to head up to the surface. The current was ripping during the hang and it actually pushed me along the Carolina line as if I was strung out on a conveyor belt.

The other divers brought up some lobsters and a nice flounder. No artifacts were recovered. I decided I was just too tired to do a second dive so I went and took a nap. The other divers did a second dive and they came up with more lobster and a monkfish. All in all it was a nice day to be out diving instead of at work and we all were glad we took the day off!! I even caught up on some sleep... I leave on Sunday for a week of wreck diving in North Carolina and I can't wait! I'll post photos, video and trip reports while I am in NC so stay tuned..

Tolten July 10, 2011

2011-07-12T10:08:00.002-04:00

Today I went diving on the wreck of the Tolten via the Independence II dive boat. On board was the Diversion Group so I knew I would at the very least, I would eat well today. As we arrived, there was absolutely no wind, this is a good sign, I have not been to this wreck in a very long time and used to dive it quite often. In fact I tried to get to this wreck earlier this year but the conditions were not favorable so we went to the Pinta instead. It had been at least 10 years since I dove it so I was looking forward to it!


Me hanging on a Tolten dive long ago. I had a lobster in my bag and still had a rental pony bottle!

Me on the Tolten probably in the late 80's, prior to owning a drysuit.

The Tolten was a Chilean steamer. On March 13, 1942 the Tolten was struck by German torpedoes fired from the U-404. At the time of her sinking, Chile was neutral country and had been assured by Germany that none of he ships would be attacked as long as they traveled with their running lights on. The Tolten had been stooped prior to her attack by a US Navy patrol boat and had been warned to be on the lookout for submarines and to travel "Blacked Out". Much to her demise, the Tolten took the patrol boat's advice. Today the wreck sits in about 95' of water and a lot of the superstructure still remains.

My goal today was to take photos and figure out some new settings that produce better photo quality than I've been achieving. I also was going to shoot some video in different modes. On the way to the wreck I was advised that the visibility was only about 10' the previous day and there had been some upwelling bringing in some very cold water. Therefore, I was re-evaluating my dive plan and thinking of leaving the camera on board. I took my time getting in the water as Capt. Dan said "I am procrastinating". I just felt really tired today and could absolutely use more sleep. I've been working way too many hours and it is taking a toll on me.... Eventually I got my act together and splashed along with my camera. Well conditions definitely improved from the previous day because the vis was a solid 30'-40'. We were anchored in the bow and for my first dive I swam around the bow, which still has quite a bit of relief, and I took some photos. One of my strobes was not firing properly so I switched to video and shot some video while I explored this portion of the wreck. even thought the bottom temp was 51 degrees I got cold so I only did a 30 minute dive. There was tons of fish on this wreck. I saw sea bass, bergols, ling cod, and taug. There were a lot of divers looking to spear fish on this trip but most of the fish were not large in size.

On the surface, there were an abundance of lobster caught and even some cod speared. I actually forgot what a cod looked like since they are not as abundant as they used to be. On my next dive I was going to try and find some cod to photograph. Diane Weibel found a porthole dog just laying on the wreck. Of course she didn't think to dig where she found it but, was going to dig a little in that area on the second dive and try to find the porthole that it came from.

As I was taking off my dry suit I tore my next seal (of course I still did not find time to order my new drysuit). I was a little upset since conditions were so outstanding. I used some wetsuit cement and tried to repair it the best I could. While the cement dried, Capt. Bill was gracious enough to cook cheeseburgers and hot dogs for everyone for lunch.

There was an abundance of sold water coral on this wreck

On the second dive I was going to attempt to swim to the stern to photograph the props. I swam all the way to the boilers and just beyond them I spotted some cod. I tried to get a photo and/or video of them but they kept swimming in and out of some plates and I could not get a photo of them. I continued on and found the prop shaft and as I was following that towards the prop, my next seal repair gave in. I was taking on lots of water. I wanted to continue on but I figured I had better be safe and turn around and head back towards the anchor line. I filled up quite a bit with water and got quite cold quickly. I did manage to shoot more video around the anchor line and ended up with another 30 minute dive. This wreck is just so cool with so much area to check out. I remember it being much more intact years ago and now it has definitely broken down like so many other wrecks. I will be trying to get back to this wreck again someday, its one of the good ones.


This guy didn't even flinch when my flash went off in his face

We had a nice calm ride in that included another nap for me. Once we were back at the dock and the boat was all cleaned, I enjoyed hanging out with the crew for a few beers and talking about all the future dive adventures they are planning. The day was finally finished off with a nice fish n chips dinner at Motts Creek Inn overlooking the bay and marsh and listening to some great live music. The sunset was just beautiful, perfect ending to a day of diving!

Once I uploaded my photos, I noticed that there is some sort of sea creature inside this anemone. I will have to do a little research to figure out what it is. I also will be editing the video I shot and will post that as soon as it is complete.

Well time to order that drysuit before my next dive, Max's Wreck!!

Some tasty Mussels

Helen Bilinski, leader of Diversion Group

Arundo 7-2-11 for the Second Time this summer!

2011-07-03T11:00:00.009-04:00

Arundo

Yesterday I dove the Arundo on the Independence II as a last minute decision and it turned out to be well worthwhile. I was originally planning on diving the Oil Wreck today (7/3/11) but, the Independence II had to cancel the trip which in the end was a good thing for me. I have wanted to dive the Oil Wreck for a long time but, it is one of those wreck that for some reason I was always nervous about trying to dive. I finally made the decision to dive it a few years ago when my diving mentor agreed to be my buddy and basically hold my hand and help me overcome my fear and achieve my goal of diving the Oil Wreck. That day never came so here I am several years later but, this time I was feeling much more confident in my own capabilities and was going to accomplish the dive on my own. Since the dive was cancelled, I realized some wrecks are just not meant to be and I am ok with that. So as an alternative, Capt. Dan invited me to go dive Arundo.

The flat calm Atlantic Ocean

The ocean couldn't get any calmer, flat like a lake. On the way out I was contemplating whether I should take photos during my dive or just dig for artifacts. I was leaning towards digging for artifacts and/or swimming out in the sand looking for scallops. As I was suiting up, Capt. Dan said I should take my camera in because the surface vis looks fantastic and I may regret leaving it on the boat. I took his advise and took in my camera. Since it was so calm, not even a ripple, we had a stern tie-in, simple straight line to the bottom. As soon as I splashed and looked underwater, the vis was so beautiful, I was so pumped for this dive. The Arundo has always been one of my favorite dives out of Manasquan Inlet. The vis held most of the way to the bottom, I only wish the water temperature did. There was a slight thermocline and the bottom temp was warmer than my last dive to the Arundo at 49 degrees. We had a full boat today with some students whom typically dive Lake Erie. Since they all splashed before me, the area around the anchor was a little silted up. I therefore, swam away from the anchor in search of clearer waters in which I succeeded. The vis was about 30' on the bottom. I proceeded to take a few photos but they were not coming out well, they seemed real dark. (I later figured out that my lens was fogging, time for new moisture munchers). So, I stopped and just swam around looking at the wreck. At the end on my dive I ran into Alek Petersen whom wanted me to model for his pictures but he too was having issues with lighting. It is hard to adjust the lighting on these deeper wrecks and I never seem to want to spend the time wasting a dive trying different techniques. Time is too short on the bottom and I'd rather check out the wreck than waste time fussing with the camera. I did a 25 minute dive and did not want to go up, these are the times that I again wish I had that rebreather because I would have stayed down longer. I am still saving my pennies for the rebreather, maybe next year!!! The hang was filled with lots of salps, illuminesence and jellyfish. There was litterally 0 current which made for a comfortable hang.

Bubbles on the hang

On the surface, everyone started to bring up the bags of lobster, scallops and flounder. We had a fish jumping off the boat that appeared to be a tuna and that brought some excitement to the surface interval.

On my second dive, I left the camera on board and was going to look for scallops. I ran my wreck reel out into the sand and did not have any luck finding scallops. The current started to pick up on this dive but that also helped to improve the vis to about 35'-40'. Toward the end on my dive I spotted something that looked like a soda can, I picked it up and it was one of those large Canadian Beer bottles, fully intact with no cracks in it. I then started to dig around there to search for more but did not find any. The current picked up quite a bit while I was on the bottom so I had one of those long flag pole hanging type of hangs. Boy my arms tire when there is current. I was excited about my find. Perfect end to a perfect day out diving. It is so rare to have such good conditions on this wreck and this year I have had two great days of diving on this wreck. I knew my 25th year of diving would be the best but, so far it has far exceeded my wildest expectations. Looking forward to diving again next weekend out on the Indy II.

Sea Hag on the Dina Dee

2011-07-01T19:57:00.025-04:00

After returning from an awesome week of canoeing, camping, and enjoying he abundant wildlife in Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada with the family, I was looking forward to today's dive. Today was a girl's day of diving. My friend Jenn Washco and I planned to go and dive a boat and wreck that we do not dive on a lot. Something new and different. We ended up choosing to go out on the Dina Dee out of Barnegat Light which was an open boat. When we arrived, it was decided that we would be diving the Sea Hag since it was Chis the Mate's favorite wreck. It had been a real long time since I dove the Sea Hag and frankly did not remember the wreck itself other than it was a pretty dive. Chris and Capt. Roger told me it was impossible to get lost on this wreck since it is "basically a circle in the shape of a boat".

The Sea Hag sits in 87' of water and was a wooden sailing ship. It remains mostly intact although it is deeply imbedded into the sand. The bow sits up pretty high with about 15'-20' of relief and is very picturesque. The stern is broken up a bit but has lots of holds for fish and lobster.

Small Winter Flounder

Spikes on the wreck

The ride out was a little bouncy and therefore, once we anchored up Jenn and I were anxious to get in the water. The visibility on the surface was endless and the water column was filled with salps and small jellyfish. At about 60' we passed through a brownish cloud of silt that cleared once you were on the bottom. The vis was about 25' with decent ambient light. The bottom temp was real warm...51 degrees. We were anchored in the extreme stern and decided to follow the edge of the hull as far as we could. I took photos and Jenn proceeded to locate some lobsters but was scared to grab them for fear of being bitten. There was schools of sea bass everywhere, lots of winter flounder and some larger fluke too. I even saw an oyster cracker. My memory served me well this was a pretty wreck and has a little something for everyone. My dive lasted about 30 minutes and it was time to head up. Both Jenn and I had only one set of doubles for the day so we needed to conserve air for our second dive. I wish I could have stayed down longer, it was too nice to leave and head up so soon!

Jenn Hanging!

The Sea Bass were so vibrant in color

Most of the divers came up with fluke or sea bass and there were a few lobsters boated. Since the conditions were good we decided to stay for a second dive instead of relocating. Now let me tell you how classy this boat is... Jenn and I were busy catching up with each other when Capt. Roger walked over with cheesecake for us on fancy plates and silverware. Where else can you go diving and have cheesecake delivered to you?? It turns out that most of the guys on board were members of the Wreck Raiders and they always bring good sweets. It sure was a nice treat!! We also had a whale breach off the side of the boat which makes the day that much more special.

For my second dive, Capt. Roger told me to take a swim and head up to the bow because it would be nice for photos. I took his advise and swam all the way to the bow, I kinda left Jenn in the dust and I knew she wouldn't mind. The bow was perfect for photos however, by the time I got there it was time for me to turn around and head back so I didn't run out of air. So, I only took a few pictures of this area. The swim back was against the current and boy did I huff and puff and wear myself out. I felt like I almost wasn't going to make it back to the anchor but, I did.

Today was the perfect girl's day out diving. It was topped off with a beer at the dock, fresh fileted fish and Capt. George gave Jenn a lobster to take home. We decided that us girls will have to do this again sometime this summer. Thanks to the Dina Dee for a beautiful day!!!

Jenn took this picture of me on our hang!


Me, Capt. Roger & Jenn

Such a fun day!!

Maurice Tracey 6-12-11

2011-06-13T11:37:00.003-04:00

Today I went out on the Independence II with Helen Bilinski and the Diversion Group (10 divers) to dive the wreck called the Maurice Tracey. The Maurice Tracey was a steam powered collier. She sank on June 17, 1944 almost 67 years ago to the day when she was rammed by the liberty ship, Jesse Billingsley. Today the wreck sits in 70' of water.

Superstructure of the wreck

We were all hoping for good conditions today since the crew of the Indy indicated that the seas were snotty the day before and it appeared that the winds had calmed. It did calm a bit but, there were still some large swells that made the boat rock n roll. Once we anchored over the Maurice Tracey it wasn't bad at all but, a few of the divers opted not to dive due to the sea conditions. Like I have said before, this boat has a set up that makes it easier to dive in rougher conditions because once you do a giant stride off the back you are at the carolina rig leading right down to about 25'. Even today, with a pretty good current and large swells, it isn't difficult to get under and out of the angry sea on the surface. Once I was under it was apparent that the great visibility that has been prevalent this summer is still here. It was a quick descent to the bottom and Dan Martinez had tied us into a high piece of superstructure. The vis was about 20' or more, a little cloudy, a small surge, and the most apparent thing was that the water was much warmer, I had 53 degrees on the bottom and 58 degrees on the surface. It is amazing how an increase in a few degrees makes a world of difference.

This wreck has two large boilers with lots of low lying wreckage around them. I was taking photos again but notices that this wreck was kind of mute when it comes to color. There is a type of hydroid that has blanketed this wreck completely and gives it that grayish color. I believe the vegetation is known as garland hydroid, but I am not positive, in any event it is not the best for photos.

Garland Hydroids (Sertularia) blanketing this wreck

I swam out past the boilers and went out in the sand looking for smaller pieces of the wreckage. I thoroughly enjoyed my dive especially since I was warm, I poked around, looked at the large sea bass and smaller bergals and also tried to locate some lobster. I guess toward the end of my dive I was enjoying taking my photos so much that Capt. Dan was poking me in the head with his spear and I didn't even notice. He couldn't believe that I didn't feel him poking me...I ended up with about 30 minutes on the bottom before I went up. I only brought 1 set of tanks with me today so I made sure I left enough air for a second dive. I used about 1000 psi during my 30 minute dive and hang...not bad. Once I was up on the surface, the lobsters and speared sea bass started coming on board. The lobsters were all a decent size and it was nice to see quite a few caught. Everyone enjoyed their dive. Today there was a barbeque of hot dogs and Helen's famous peorgies. One of the reasons I enjoy diving with this group is the food, there is always lots of food.

Northern Stoney Coral

There was a smaller crowd that did a second dive, I think there was only 4 of us that went in. I tried to convince those that sat out on dive #1 that it is worth going in but I didn't get any takers. My second dive I headed further out into the sand and ended up out in the extreme stern of the wreck. I tried to take some photos of the large sea bass but since everyone was spearing fish they were real skidish and made it almost impossible to get close enough for a good photo. Their coloration is really rich in blues this year and would make for a cool picture. Maybe next time. I ended up with a little shorter dive, 25 minutes because I was cold but it was great. More lobsters and fish were boated and everyone had something for dinner.

Pink Hearted Hydroid

As Helen said, I was the female representative today, since I was the only female that made it into the water. I was happy to take on that role!!!. While out diving today, I was missing my daughter's horse jumping competition and I wanted very much to be there with her. She placed first in one event and second in the other two. I am so proud of her. Sometimes I feel guilty being out diving while missing important events with the kids but, I think it teaches them to be independent and that life goes on without mom around. I know they admire my diving and they know how happy it makes me so, they too see and learn from my example. In the end its a win-win for all.

Me coming up from another awesome dive!!

Always Smiling!!

Well, not sure when my next dive is as of yet, I'm taking off for a week of wilderness canoeing in Ontario, Canada. Til my next wreck diving adventure...Be Safe!

San Jose on the Atlantus 6-6-11

2011-06-07T10:28:00.001-04:00

Captain Brian Larsen of the Atlantus Charters called me just a few days ago and asked if I wanted to join him to check out some numbers and go diving for fun. I told him I was diving on Sunday, June 5th and didn't think I would be able to get air to be able to dive with him. We actually have 8 sets of doubles but most of them were empty.... Well, the nice guy that Capt. Brian is, he said he'd hook me up with some tanks. So I decided what the heck, I'll leave my responsibilities of the real world behind and go diving for a second day in a row. It turned out that since the dive on the Pinta yesterday was so shallow, I was able to do two dives on one set of doubles so, I had another set to bring with me today. We headed out later than usual so we could all sleep in a little, and when we broke the inlet there was hardly a ripple in the ocean. It was an eerie flat calm. We went to check out numbers for two wrecks and found something small but, in the end decided to head over to the San Jose since it was the closest wreck to where we were.

The San Jose was a passenger freighter that no sits in 110' of water. It sunk in January 1942 when it collided with the Santa Elisa. It is a great dive for artifacts, lobster and fish.

When we arrived at the wreck the Miss AC was on it with a fishing charter but, they were on the extreme southern end of the wreck so there was plenty of room for us to anchor up and Capt. Collette had no problem sharing the wreck. Since there was only a few of us today, Tim, Henry, Mike, Capt. Brian and I, I was in the second team to dive. The reports from the first group in were of awesome vis and what a great dive. Capt. Brian and I splashed together and I was taking my camera and he was going to spear fish. The vis on the bottom was again about 30', seems to be the norm everywhere this week. It was cold though, another day of 43 degrees. Yesterday I lost one of my flash diffusers so as I settled in take some pictures of this wreck, I was getting bright spots in the photos, that coupled with the fact that this wreck is a little deeper than yesterday's dive and thus a little less natural light, I was finding it hard to get a decent photo. I didn't spend too much time fussing with the camera, I just took off looking for artifacts. I have been on this wreck so many times and I never seem to orient myself but today with this vis, I was able to cover some ground and get a feel for the layout. I call it a messy wreck because there is just pipes and things everywhere. When I surfaced it was so hard to believe that the day before, I was in such a 4'-6' sloppy sea and today, it was so calm, no current, and the diving was almost effortless. In fact, during the surface interval they were all fishing and it felt like you were not even on a boat.

Hmmm...some diver must of taken a valve from here on a past dive...

Henry came up from his second dive telling us that he found some brass which we quickly named "Irish Gold". He left it at the anchor and asked Capt. Brian to send it up and they could share the artifact, 1/2 the year at one house and 1/2 at the other, they even negotiated weekends and holidays. So, as Capt. Brian and I splashed for our second dive, I left my camera on board, I was going to check out the wreck some more and then, we were sending the artifact up the anchor line before we went up. Henry found a large pipe valve that said "Luxenheim" on it. It was a nice find! I of course found nothing :(

I wish I was able to take better pictures of this wreck but, I inherently have bad luck with photos on this wreck. It is a silty wreck and even with good vis, the silt always compromises the photos. Maybe someday it'll work out and I'll get some decent photos of it.

Both dives today were so relaxing and carefree, but that wasn't only from the great conditions in the ocean it is the auroa of the Atlantus Dive Boat. It is always a laid back good time on that boat. I was just one of those perfect days to play hookey from all your responsibilities.

Mike

Tim

Capt. Brian Larsen, Henry & Mike with the "Irish Gold"

I am supposed to head out again this week to the Maurice Tracey and I hope the conditions prevail. This is going to be one outstanding dive season if these conditions hold up. Once I got home, I got another invite to play hookey next week..hmmm do I do it again???

Flat Calm!!

Pinta 6-5-11 on The Independence II

2011-06-07T10:27:00.006-04:00

Photo of me on the Pinta taken by Alek Peterson

So many baby mussels!

Today the forecast was for 2'-3' seas and I was scheduled to go on the Independence II to the wreck of the Tolten. I have fond memories of past dives to this wreck and was really excited to go back to it especially with my newer camera. When we headed out of the inlet we were not greeted by 2'-3' seas but rather 4' seas with close periods and as we headed towards the Tolten the seas grew larger. After a lengthy discussion and vote by those who were warranted as having voting rights, we changed the destination first to the Gulftrade Stern then, we completely switched directions and went to the Pinta. I tried to dive this wreck at the end of last year and ended up going for a boat ride to the wreck because when I jumped in my regulator would not stop free flowing therefore, I never made it to the bottom. I have heard from a lot of people that this is a great wreck to dive.

The Pinta was a Dutch freighter carrying teak lumber on May 8, 1963 when it was struck broadside by a British freighter, SS City of Perth. Today the Pinta remains partially intact and it is very easy to navigate. Once we arrived at the Pinta I lagged behind the other divers so I that I could get a visibility report and it was reported that there was great vis. I was planning on only doing one longer dive since it was pretty rough and I felt pretty beat up from the ride out there. This wreck is in about 80 feet of water so I figured I could stay until I got cold. As soon as I splashed I could see that the vis was just incredible. I cruised around the wreck for a few minutes to orient myself and then settled in to take some photos. This wreck is so full of marine life and it is just beautiful to look at. Alek Petersen and I were both taking photos so I took a few of him and he took a few of me and then we parted to focus on shooting the wreck. Since the vis was about 25'-30' my pictures appeared to be coming out well. The bottom temp was 43 degrees so my plan of doing a longer dive was not going to work out because after 20 minutes I could no longer feel my fingers. I do wish the North Atlantic would warm up just a few degrees. Once I was back on the boat most of us came back with issues of frozen fingers. As you can see by my photos, this is a pretty wreck!

Since the conditions on the bottom were so awesome and the surface conditions were awful, I decided to go ahead and do a second dive. The vis improved even more...I was at a depth of 46' and I could see Alek on the wreck. I spent the second dive taking more photos and exploring this interesting wreck. This is definitely a wreck that I'd like to visit again..There are both low lying areas and areas of high relief. It is just a neat wreck and I like it a lot. The ride home was smoother sailing and I am now pumped for my dive out of Atlantic City tomorrow!!!! There will also be a lot more photos posted on my facebook..

Alek Petersenhh

Alek & Igor

1st Dive of my 25th Year as a Diver- "The Arundo"

2011-05-23T10:27:00.006-04:00

After diving so many wrecks over the past 25 years, I still get quite nervous in the days leading up to my 1st dive of the season. I guess in a way it is a good thing, because it makes me think through my dive and all the what- ifs and also to take a good look at my equipment and modify things that did not work well the year before. This year is no different as I sat at my sons' baseball game on Saturday, I was thinking through my dive plan. I had planned to splash earlier in the season on some shallower dives to work out the kinks but, the weather did not cooperate with my plans. So here we are, my 1st dive of the year to the Arundo. Last year I had a fantastic dive on this wreck and I was confident that today would be another great dive to this historic wreck. I planned to buddy up with Susan Martini and Aaron Snow and also planned to do a nice and easy short dive, no camera, just go down breath, look at some fish and come back safe.

Well, as we broke the inlet it was not the 2'-3' seas as predicted in the weather forecast, it was rough and we were taking large waves over the bow. Captain Dan was determined to make it to the Arundo so we continued on and it actually got calmer as we were further offshore. Captain Dan made a good call because once we were anchored up it was not bad at all. Reports of the first few divers in said the vis was decent so I was excited for my dive. I splashed ahead of Sue and Aaron and took it nice an slow going down. It got pretty cold once I was below 50' and my darn drysuit was leaking in my back zipper and also in my boots...this is not good. I quickly remembered the end of last season that I determined it is time for a new drysuit, well I am shopping for one now, for sure. Once I was on the bottom I couldn't believe how good the vis was (20' or better) and what great ambient light there was for this early in the year. This put me at ease and I actually did not travel too far from the anchor line, sticking to my plan to just check out my equipment, breathe and look at the fish. However, there were little or no fish, I saw one large taugue and that was it. I did not recognize where we were on the wreck, it appears we were at the extreme end of the wreck and there was large links of chain so I assume it was the bow but, I am not sure. There were lots of pieces that rose quite high off the bottom and also some piping that looked like a prop-shaft so, maybe we were in the stern, I don't know it remains is a mystery to me. My dive buddies went out into the sand to gather scallops and I chose to hang out in my peaceful environment. I didn't last long, after about 15 minutes in 43 degree water, I was freezing and wet so up I went. My hang was uneventful but it was warm, 54 degrees. Others reported large dogfish swimming all around them but, I did not see any.

As I surfaced Brandon, crew member extraordinaire, was there too take my bag and swing bottle as I climbed the ladder with ease. I became really cold on the surface and was soaked, I opted to skip the second dive. This is a habit on mine in the early season, do just one dive. However, I really do regret not going back in today because it is not often that you have good conditions on this wreck since it is in the mudhole.

The boat was packed full today and most of the divers came back with bags full of scallops and some of Anthony's students came back with some bottles. This wreck was carrying 5,000 cases of beer bottles so there are lots of bottles to be found and it is a great momento from your dive. This was a truly great day to be out diving. Here is a great video that Brandon McWilliams shot which shows the beautiful conditions we had out there:
Video of the Arundo 5/22/11 by Brandon McWilliams

I must, at this point talk about the Independence II, their Captain's, and crew. I have been diving on this boat over the years and there have been numerous improvements made each year and I think now, they nearly have it perfect! The carolina line system is the best I've ever used and all boats should incorporate a set up like theirs. It sure beats swimming on the surface to the anchor line in rough seas, to be able to jump in and have the line right next to your entry bringing you down 25' is wonderful. It also makes for a very pleasant decompression hang. There is always someone on this boat to help you suit up or get out of the water plus they keep very consistent and accurate track of everyone's run-time, time in and out and they check to make sure no one has exceeded their due back time. Its one thing to keep track of everyone's run-times which lots of boats do but, it is even more important that you follow each divers schedule so that if someone is over due even by a minute or two you are ready to jump in and check on the delayed diver. This can help to save lives!! I also like the safety sausage requirement where as everyone must have one and send it up only if you need help, they will then send a diver in for assistance. This boat is very roomy and clean, even the bathroom is clean which is hard to find out there on dive boats. Thanks to everyone that worked this trip today with such professionalism, Sean and Sue Martini, Brandon McWilliams (aka Purple, Pink and Lime Green dude), Aaron Snow (professional Rain-ex window cleaner), Capt. Bill Trent and of course Capt. Dan Bartone. Looking forward to many trips out this year on the Independence II.

I still cannot believe all the diving that I have done over the past 25 years and quite often wonder why I continue to dive year after year. I think the excitement that leads up to the dive and the curiosity of what I will find or see on each dive drives me to continue. Its also the people that I have met along the way that inevitably end up enriching my life which continues each year. I need intellectual stimulation in my life and I find that divers are typically on the same intellectual wavelength as I. I usually learn a lot of interesting things from simple conversing amoung divers. I hope that all of my instructors over the years realize that what they have taught me is carried through each and every dive and I will always be grateful for the things they have taught me and also their inspiration. I have lost touch with most of my instructors over the years but, perhaps they will find this blog and be proud of my accomplishments that began with them.

I have so much planned for this special year, a week of North Carolina wreck diving, diving wrecks in the St. Lawrence seaway, and also being able to spend time photographing my favorite local wrecks off of NJ such as the Northern Pacific, Varanger, Cayru, Max's Wreck, Tolten, Maurice Tracey, S-5 and many more to be added. Sooo, Let's go Wreck Diving 2011!!

Be Safe and Happy!

Happy Dive Birthday to Me!!!

2011-04-17T15:49:00.000-04:00

Today is my birthday and I was excited to get a pair of Diving Concepts dive mitts as a gift from the kids. They are the old fashioned 3 finger lobster claw type that I swear is the only thing that keeps my hands marginally warm. I have been looking for a new pair of these for a few years and they found them!!! This gift is motivating me to get ready to do some diving in the near future. This is going to be a great year in terms of diving for me and I can't wait for that first dive!

Cool Change

2011-03-08T23:45:00.026-05:00

This is a little off topic but, definitely related to my wreck diving adventures. I work a second job in the winter as a corporate tax accountant which involves long tedious hours and is mentally exhaustive. I do it because it provides funds for my diving adventures throughout the year. Well today, when I was so worn out and questioning why I keep this tiring job, the song Cool Change came on the radio. It immediately reminded me why I am working so hard...to be able to spend more time diving under the sea. This song gave me the strength to get through another tough day at work and dream of dive adventures to come. The words to this song are very meaningful to me and it also happens to be one of those songs that is often in my mind during a dive. I don't think it was a coincidence that this song came on the radio when I needed to hear it.

While we all share diving together, when you are underwater you are truly alone with nothing but your thoughts and breathing..it brings me such peace. I know when I go diving for the first time this year I'll be humming this song and thinking, I'm glad I worked all those hours so I can be here right now, enjoying another amazing NJ Wreck Dive!

Diving Social Events and More Old Dive Logs

2011-02-24T13:21:00.002-05:00

It was a busy weekend in terms of socializing with other divers. I attended Women of Northeast Wreck Diving presented by Steve and Maureen Langevan at the NJ Maritime Museum on Friday night. They presented their documentary about the women wreck divers such as Evelyn Dudas, Sally Wharman, Janet Kieser and Deb Whitcraft whom paved the way so to speak for other women divers. I think the fact that sticks in my mind the most is that Evelyn Dudas dove the Andrea Doria with no pressure gauge. I cannot even fathom that.. There was a common thread among theses women divers in which they were all inspired to get involved with diving because of a special man in in their lives. Yet it is the "men" that created so many obstacles for these women. I could totally relate to that because there are special people whom inspired me to continue to dive all these years and yet they also have compromised my diving at times. The presentation was well done and had a great sense of humor about it. It was a nice night out and I finally got Bill to the museum to see our artifacts on display. We have a light and porthole from the Sea Girt Wreck, swing plate from the Brian C and china from the SS Mohawk on display. I am working on getting some more artifacts and photos to the museum, I'd rather have them there for many to enjoy than sitting in my garage or attic.

I also attended Ocean Wreck Divers Flea Market on Sunday in an attempt to sell some of our older gear. We sold a UK light but then ended up spending more money than we made. We got two small up-line spools and another pair of mitts. It was more of an excuse to get out and see some dive friends in the middle of the winter. Helen Bilinski and I were noticing that the crowd did not consist of divers from the younger generation which is bothersome. Who will the next wreck diving adventurists be, if we don't get younger divers involved in diving? I think its is mostly a result of the economy coupled with the inflated prices of dive gear. It seems to be much more expensive to start out diving than it did when I was a teenager. Which is exactly why I expected to see younger divers at the flea market trying to get a bargain. I hope this industry re-cooperates and the days of boats full of divers returns!

I decided to add a few more dive logs for fun:

First Lady (Horizon Dive Boat) 7/1/90
Depth 100', 23 minutes of Bottom time
"In-tack clamer, artificial reef, tons of mussels and large black fish, real nice wreck"

San Jose (Horizon Dive Boat) 7/1/90
Depth 112', 32 minutes of Bottom time
"wreck was in a circular shape, good visibility and lots of bugs"
I don't know what I was looking at back then to think it is was circular???

A.C.Wescott Barge-Artificial Reef (Horizon Dive Boat) 7/22/90
Depth 71', 29 minutes of Bottom time
"Square barge, sea squirts an anemones. I got my first bug in a tire (6lbs). Good photography wreck."
My dive buddy was Dave Keller (Killer) and he helped me to get this large lobster. I know there is a picture out there somewhere of "Dave and I" holding the lobster together. I sure would love to have a copy, if anyone comes across it. I remember this day fondly because Dave was and still is such a nice guy and he wasted his dive helping me tackle this lobster. I was proud of myself for getting that bug...I am not talented at harvesting lobsters and that was my largest one.

SS Mohawk (Sea Lion) 9/18/90
Depth 79', 39 minutes of Bottom time
"I circled around the entire wreck and then dug for china. I got pieces of china, a leather shoe sole, pieces of a toilet. I couldn't find the anchor so I did my Deep Diver objective: ascent using my spool tied off to the bottom. It wasn't difficult but the seas were calm and there was no current." On my second dive to this wreck I found a piece of a serving dish, piece of china with a flag on it (there was a "C" inside the flag), and pieces of crystal. During this dive I ended up going into decompression and ended up hanging extra long because I was cold.

Arundo (Sea Lion) 7/10/91
Depth 130', Bottom time-20 minutes, 22 minute safety stop
"Lots of flounder and poison fish on the wreck and portholes. I got my first case of nitrogen narcosis and felt like I was going to pass out and go to sleep. It occurred half way through the dive".
2nd dive on Arundo:
Bottom time 20 minutes
"I went inside a large piece of wreckage and found 2 portholes near the anchor line. Bill didn't have enough time to get all the bolts off, it'll wait till we return another day".

Sea Hag (Robin dive boat) 7/14/91
Depth 90', Bottom time-27 minutes, 15 minute safety stop
30-40' visibility
"Great visibility, we were in the bow where a room caved in. Lots of beautiful sea anemones, fish and mussels. easy wreck to navigate and I liked it a lot".

Resor (Robin dive boat) 8/11/91
Depth 130', Bottom time-22 minutes, 30' visibility
Dive buddy: Barb Mortenson
"Hooked into stern where there was plenty of places to penetrate the wreck. There were 3 backing plates near the big entrance"
2nd Dive: "My buddy Barb got stuck in a lobster hole and thank God I was swimming by. I saved her life, it took a lot to get her out of the hole and it put me over my time limit and into a long decompression. We also had to pull the anchor...The hang was hard and I was very low on air".

I still think of this dive a lot and I am so thankful that I swam by and noticed that Barb needed help. If I was not there and alert, Barb would not be here today. I was forever shaken up by this dive and I hope that someone would do the same for me if I needed help. We never really expressed fully to other divers exactly what happened because both of us were so scared, instead we joked about it but, in reality, it was very serious. Barb has not been diving in recent years but, we keep in touch and we both know I was her guardian angel that day. This event also changed the way I dove, I realized that I must be self sufficient because I may not be so lucky to have someone swim by and help me out if I was in trouble. I became very aware of staying away from areas that I could get hung up on and made sure I was proficient in using my equipment to save myself if need be. It gives me chills to think about this day especially knowing it could have turned out very differently. We were very, very fortunate..

Since my last post I made the decision to go to the Cook Islands with Pangaea Explorations.
Link: Pangaea Explorations
It was a huge decision for me but, you only live once, and I really wanted to go dive, photograph and experience the pristine reefs of the South Pacific. Yesterday, they contacted me and advised that they were changing up the itinary and were only going to the island of Rarotonga and will not be visiting the other 7 islands as they originally planned. I was crushed to say the least and decided to pass on the trip. They did extend the invitation for me to participate in the portion of the expedition which covers the northern Cook Islands to Christmas Island near Hawaii. I am still contemplating this but, the timing is an issue with my schedule. A diver that inspires my diving advised me a few months ago to go and dive the world. I thought this was my chance...I guess the universe has different plans for me.

The Long Winter

2011-02-07T11:20:00.004-05:00

Well its been a while since I wrote about diving and this has been and continues to be a long snowy winter. I actually like the snow and all the fun that it brings like snow shoeing, hiking, skiing, snowmobiling but, this year I've only had the opportunity to snowshoe and hike. I am trying to getaway at least once to ski but so far time has been an issue. A long weekend in Vermont is calling my name..I'll make it happen somehow!

I have been busy planing for the upcoming dive season. Like I said at the end of 2010, so many opportunities are knocking at my door and they just keep on coming. I was wondering why all of sudden these dive opportunities have arrived? Is it because I love to dive so much that I spread this aurora out to the universe and these opportunities find me, is it because I'm at that stage in my life that I have more time to devote to diving and realize what a gift it is to be able to dive, or is it because I've inspired others to learn to dive and this is my gift in return? I don't know but, it certainly makes it hard to pick and choose.

I am very interested in going on the Cook Island expedition with Liquid Productions LLC, given my marine science back round, my love of diving, and photography, this trip would be a dream come true. I of course feel guilty at the thought of going on such an extravagant trip without the kids so, I have been paralyzed on whether or not I should bite the bullet and just go. All of my friends are telling me to go and I really, really want to go but...I have that guilt especially when college tuition is right around the corner for the kids and it would also damper my chance to upgrade to a rebreather. I need to decide soon so stay tuned..

http://www.liquidproductionsllc.com/index.php/home/1-latest/49-the-ultimate-south-pacific-adventure

I have already booked some dives on the Independence II out of Cape May to the N. Pacific and the S-5 and hopefully this year the weather will be more cooperative. I am also on a few of their dives out of Manasquan Inlet to the Tolten, Maurice Tracey, and Resor. I have two separate invites for diving wrecks out of Hatteras, NC and I was personally looking into chartering a boat myself in June. I need to figure out what to do with NC and finalize it. Last year the weather did not allow me to dive when I was in NC so I am determined to go on at least one trip. Lastly, I am taking Trimix and I am trying to plan a trip to the St. Lawrence River to do the dives. Of course in between all of these trips I will continue to dive NJ wrecks such as the Varanger, Arundo, Cayru, Montgomery, Champion, Offshore Paddlewheeler, India Arrow, and many more wrecks or snags that are seldom visited. I know all to well that there will be those secret epic dives that come about so I am envious to see where they will lead me.

This winter I have been volunteering at the NJ Maritime Museum with my son, Matthew and have really enjoyed my time there. It gives me the chance to learn more about so many wrecks and to find new ones to dive. Plus Matt and I have met so many interesting people there that inspire both of us. This museum is a true reflection of Deb Whitcraft's time and dedication to maritime history and is also a reflection of what a remarkable person she is. I only wish I had more time to volunteer!

http://www.museumofnjmh.com/

I have to admit that it is kind of hard to think of diving when there is snow on the ground but, if I don't plan in advance what I intend to dive it won't happen. What can I say, I lead a very busy and exciting life! In fact, as I write this blog, I should be doing my Financial Management homework for Grad school but, I needed a break from number crunching and my thoughts always lead to diving. I have scanned in some old photos and I'll continue to post old photos over the next few months!

American Conger Eel (Conger oceania)

Planehead Filefish (Stephanlepis hispidus)

Me in my old Parkway Drysuit and Dacor Gauge (this gauge worked up until last year, about 21 years, I got my money's worth!)

Brian C

Pink Hearted Hydroid (Tubulaia spp.)

Northern Stony Coral (Astrangia danae)
This coral can survive in low light conditions and temperatures of the N. Atlantic unlike most other corals. It is a filter feeder similar to sea anemones. This photos is with the polyps extended.

Frilled Anemone (Metridium senile)

The Dive Boat in Guanja Honduras, 1993

Trumpetfish (Aulostomus maculatas)
These cute guys often swim vertically to blend in with the coral.

A really healthy reef in Guanja, Honduras 1993

Sea Urchins (Echinoidea) amongst the Staghorn Coral (Acropora cervicornis)

I thought I'd post some old dive trip reports, check it out in the previous post. Be Safe!

Old Dive Logs

2011-02-06T10:40:00.007-05:00

I thought it would be fun to look at how I described some of my earlier dives in terms of what I saw, diving techniques, what boats etc. Some of the wrecks are now called different names and I'll try to determine what their recent names if I can. It is apparent in looking back that I dove a lot (2-3 times a week) and slowly progressed to more difficult dives, nothing was rushed. Good lesson to learn. I also dove very conservatively. I am thankful now that I have these dive logs even though I felt it was mundane to fill them out back then, hence why some logs do not have much detail. My memory is not what it was and without these logs, the memories of these dives would be gone.

San Saba (Good Times dive boat via Triton Divers) 7/6/87
This was my first NJ wreck dive!!!
Conditions: VERY cold, calm, good dive, Depth 75 feet
23 minutes bottom time, dive 1 and 20 minutes bottom time,
dive 2
"retrieved artifacts!! Buttons and Jelly Jars"
"extremely cold"

Stern of Gulftrade (Goodtimes dive boat via Triton Divers) 5/30/88
Objective: To get lobsters
First dive in my new Fathom Wetsuit
Conditions: Poor Visibility, Depth 88 feet
25 Minutes bottom time
"lots of mussels, good sightseeing & photography wreck"
"new wetsuit was incredibly warm, good investment"

San Diego (Wahoo with Capt. Steve Bielenda out of Long Island) 7/22/89
Depth 110 feet
"Intact turtled wreck, penetrated wreck, good visibility, Great Dive!"
2nd dive: "1st Decompression dive, long 25 minute hang"

Aqua-artificial reef 8/15/89
Depth 80 feet
Bottom time 25 minutes, 10' visibility
"Wreck was intact, 2 ladders opening to the engine room blown out, Good Dive"

Duane, Islamorada, Florida (Lady Cyana Divers) 4/2/90
Depth 95'
Bottom time 22 minutes, Bottom temp. 75 degrees
"New wreck, not much marine life, intact, water temp was wonderful, lots of barracuda"
I went to the Keys to dive wrecks by myself, pretty courageous for a young 24 year old I might say.

Tolten (Robin II) 8/15/90
Depth 95', Bottom time 34 minutes, 30' visibility
"Great visibility, huge wreck, BEST DIVE EVER, definitely go back, lots of small lobsters, tried for 2 but missed them"

Farrel (Sea Lion dive boat with George Hoffman) 9/15/90
Objective: To complete one of my wreck diving objectives for my Wreck Diver class
Conditions: 10' visibility, Depth 50'
"Intact tug, penetrated tug using buddy at the entrance with a light technique. This wreck is the sister tug of the Patrice McAllister"
I believe they now call this the William Farrel.

Cry Baby Clammer (either Horizon or Bob Meimbrese's dive boat) 9/90
Deep Dive Objective
27 Minutes bottom time. Depth 68 feet
"Did a 25 minute free hang at 15'. I saw a brass window but a beam was behind it preventing it from being freed. Lots of Mussels, I dove this wreck the previous year as a second dive to the Jacob Jones."

Sea Girt (Bob Meimbrese's boat out of Brigantine) 9/20/90
70' deep; 45 minute bottom time dive 1 and 30 minute bottom time dive 2
20' visibility
"Intact clammer that sank, Bill tried to get a porthole on dive 1 but failed, he got brass horns and a box. Lots of cables to get hung up on, lots of fish and portholes!" "Got swing plate, light and small bell. Sent up my own lift bag with light and bell" "All together everyone got 7 portholes, 2 swing plates, red lantern, compass and box, cage light, bell; some portholes were small and cute."

This was a day I will never forget, it was shared with Bob Meimbrese, Bill Dixon, Tina Held, and Dave Keller. In another post, I will someday tell the 20 year twist of fate story about this dive, all I can say is diving really connects people together for life.

Varanger (28 mile wreck) 7/7/91 (Down Deep dive boat)
145' deep, Bottom time 21 minutes, bottom temp. 60 degrees, 40-50' visibility
"My first real deep dive and I found no effects of nitrogen narcosis. This wreck is huge with lots of sea anemones and marine life. Wreck stood up so high it looks like a building"
This is a dive I have never forgotten and every time I dive it I think the same thing, what a massive wreck. This is a wreck that has grown to be one of my favorites. I should try and figure out exactly how many times I have dove this wreck over the years, I know it is a lot and its always an adventure.

End of 2010 Dive Season

2010-11-30T14:10:00.003-05:00

Me on the Moonstone this year!

On Sunday, Nov. 28th I planned to do one more peaceful NJ dive before the long winter sets in. I awoke to a 26 degree clear morning and realized it was going to be a cold one! So, I figured it would be better to wait until the sun is up and let it warm up a little before heading out. We went out under breathless seas, so calm... but, it was still very cold (low 40's). The surface water temp was 44 degrees with almost no surface vis. Lots of particulate matter was floating in the water column. At this point I was freezing, I really feel the cold these days. Therefore, there was no way I could get in the water. So when there is no diving what else do you do? Go Striper fishing! I did not catch any fish but, got to watch an amazing show put on by two very large gray seals. They swam around the boat checking us out and played together as if they were wrestling each other. I tried so hard to get a good photo of them but every time I clicked the camera, under they went. So in the end, I did get a last peaceful day out in the ocean, it wasn't diving but, it was still invaluable time spent out on the Atlantic Ocean with marine life.

Two seals in the distance

As another NJ Wreck diving season comes to a close, I am feeling sad that there will be no diving for the long winter. This season was a tough one between constant blown-out dives and when the dives did go, that ever persistent green water with 0 visibility greatly hampered my joy of taking photographs. All in all, I still managed to complete 28 dives to wrecks such as the Varanger, Arundo, Southern Lilian, Max's Wreck (Montgomery), Yellow Flag, Moonstone, Offshore Paddlewheeler, 9 Minute Barge, Dry Dock, Conway, Pinta, Wellington, John Marvin, Patrice McAllister, San Jose, Double East and the Gloria. Some of the epic dives to the Cayru, Northern Pacific, Durley Chine and Oil Wreck were blown out repeated times and the Varanger, well I was blown out 6 times to it but did manage to dive it once this year. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to safely complete so many dives this year!

Just as this year's season was winding down, I was invited to dive on some new dive boats and also some new opportunities in the diving community are opening up for me. I was recently asked to model for a photographer on some NJ wrecks which I am really excited about. I do not have a lot of photos of me diving and always relish at the opportunity to be in some photos or video. It seems I am always the one taking the photos and not the model. I hope things work out and I get some awesome pictures of me on a wreck!

Over the winter I will post some more old photos similar to last year, it brings me a lot of pride looking over the older photos and remembering all that I have accomplished. I think I may also post some old trip reports from the pre-computer era. I am also going to spend time trying out some rebreathers. I've narrowed my choices down to the Meg and Kiss. I am still saving my pennies for a rebreather and since I have such a hard time getting air fills, it seems it will be worth the investment for my kind of diving. There were definitely some missed opportunities resulting in not being able to get fills in time this season. I also will be purchasing a new drysuit. Its time for my Bare drysuit to go to neopreme heaven.

In looking ahead, the 2011 dive season will be my 25th year as a diver! I cannot believe that I have been diving for 25 years!!! I can still remember becoming a certified PADI diver at Diver's Way in Long Island. I did my checkout dives in the Long Island Sound along the north fork in a town called Greenport. I had to lug all my gear down this huge hill, the current was ripping, the water was cold, and you couldn't see a thing. I completed 6 dives in these conditions over a few days and perform drills like buddy breathing, ditch n dong your equipment, remove your mask and put it back on etc. I still don't know why I actually stuck it out but, I did. I guess after this season not much has changed in all these years, the water is still cold, the vis is low, and sometimes the current is ripping. After I became certified I spent 6 months in St. Croix, USVI at college and dove almost every day...I was living the easy leisurely diver lifestyle and enjoyed a lot of 151 Cruzan rum too! It wasn't until July of 1987 that I actually dove on my first NJ wreck, the San Saba, I got jelly jars and buttons on my first dive. It was such a thrill to find artifacts on my first NJ wreck dive. I was hooked and the rest is history!

I have met so many inspiring divers over the years and also lost a few too. I have to tell you that it is not always so easy to keep up with the macho men that find their way onto the many dive boats. Sometimes I have been knocked down pretty hard by the most unsuspected divers and dive leaders. I am a sensitive person but, I somehow gather up the strength to continue on and keep on diving. Many people tell me that I am sooo strong, well, that's just on the outside. Those trips that I was not permitted on because I was a girl, only prepared me for greater dive adventures that eventually came my way. Who knows, maybe being excluded from a dive boat or dive trip was to keep me away from certain people or activities that could have resulted in compromising my safety as a diver. Things in life happen for a reason. In fact, I started this blog as a way to help myself get through some painful events that happened in my diving circle. I thought maybe I could inspire others to dive like so many divers have inspired me over the years and it would help me to heal and move on. I do truly believe that this blog has opened up my diving world and has enabled opportunities that may have never existed for me. I am grateful to all those divers and dive boats that have helped me to achieve my dreams and goals through diving. I am also grateful to those whom knocked me down and forced me to change my course because I would not be where I am today if it was not for them. I hope someday I will be remembered for my small contributions to wreck diving in NJ.

To celebrate 25 years of safe wreck diving I will be looking into diving wrecks in North Carolina for a week in June, so if anyone else wants to go let me know and we can get a small group together. I also hope to dive all of my favorite wrecks in NJ and to spend time out on the Atlantus, Independence and Gypsy Blood dive boats and some private boats too. This will also be a special year because my daughter will be learning to dive...I can't wait to take her on her first wreck dive! Hmmm what wreck will make an impact on her so great that she too wants to dive for a long time to come?

The sun sets on the 2010 season

Keep warm this winter and if your diving throughout the winter, you are more courageous than I. If your bored during the winter, come visit my blog once in a while, I'll try to post some things to keep you entertained.. I am anticipating that my 25th year of diving will be my best year yet!!

Pinta 11/7/10

2010-11-09T06:30:00.002-05:00

I was out to dinner celebrating a friend's birthday when I received the call from Mark Hennessey that the dive was a go today. The forecast was for 4'-7' swell and a 25-30 knot NW wind, I said are you sure?? Captain Nick of the Ol' Salty confirmed that we were heading out so, I headed home to load up my dive gear. I have been invited several times over the summer to go out on the Ol' Salty with my friends Mark Hennessey and Jenn Washko so, I was determined to at least go out once this year with them.

I arrived at the dock at 6:15 am and there was no wind (yeah!!), I loaded the spacious boat and off we went. The cabin was so toasty warm and we had only a few divers today so there was tons of room to spread out. Besides Mark and Jenn, there was Alan, Tim Callahan, and Dave Matthews diving today. The seas were not calm but, it was mostly swell so we stuck it out and went to the Pinta. I have never dove the Pinta and knew it was a good wreck to take photos so I was excited. I always like going to a wreck I've never been on.

The Pinta was a Dutch freighter carrying teak lumber. It was sunk in a collision with a British Freighter on May 8, 1963. Today the wreck sits in 90' of water, is mostly intact although, Dave Matthews was saying that parts are collapsing and its tall masts extend out into the sand. It is known for abundant marine life and lots of fish.

Once Dave tied us in, the pool open bell rang and it was time to go in. I will not kid you, it was rough and Jenn and I were contemplating waiting for Dave to come up to get a report on bottom conditions. Dave took his time on the bottom so we took that as a signal that the conditions were ok, so we suited up. Mark and Jenn went in ahead of me and I lagged a little behind. I was having the usually nervousness of how I was going to get back on the boat in rough seas plus for some reason I was definitely feeling a little seasick. The ladder was a small one so I felt I could conquer it. The last two times I went diving my Diverite regulator was free-flowing so I had Bill switch it out for his new Apex to solve the problem. WRONG!!! I jumped in and that regulator started free-flowing. I struggled to get down below the surface to about 20' so that I could try and stop the free-flow but nothing worked. I hit the purge button, swished it around in the water, turned the knob and switch, but still full force flowing. I went back up and climbed on the boat. It continued to free-flow until we shut the air off. Just those few minutes exhausted me. I thought of switching regulators again and going back in but, I was just too tired and also feeling even more seasick. I was done :( On rough days, I get so beat up and the energy it takes me to climb on the boat is overwhelming (those double steel 100's weigh a ton!). I really wanted to go back in and dive but, I was way too tired. I also have not felt seasick in years, I hope this isn't something new...

Jenn, Mark, and Tim completed their dives and had about 10' of vis and said they were amazed at the tons of black fish on the wreck. There was a stiff current on the bottom and there was also a little surge. All in all they said the dive was good but, no one saw any lobsters. I was now feeling let down and should have pushed through my issues and dove. Oh well, maybe next time. The seas were building and since everyone did a longer first dive, we decided to head in. I have to say that with such a nice heated cabin, and the water so warm (55 degrees on the bottom), it actually was not that bad out there. It was just that swell, if it had been a little bit calmer, it would have been a perfect day to be out diving.

Today I kept my promise to go out on a dive boat with Mark and Jenn, they dove and I went for a roller coaster ride. We had some good conversation on the way home about cave diving and women diving with old school NJ wreck divers. Back at the dock Mark was trying to get me to come out again with them this year, I said, only if it is calm.. Once I was as home I looked at the regulator and the purge button was jammed. I should have fixed it and gone back in...Some days, you are meant to be a bubble watcher! However, as I write this I am feeling a little sick, perhaps that is why I felt so weak and seasick. The last few dives have been awful for me, I am going to try and get out and have at least one more decent dive before hanging it up for the winter so stay tuned!!!

Varanger 10-23-10

2010-10-24T09:00:00.004-04:00

As I awoke to the alarm at 5:00am, I contemplated staying home because I had a mentally exhausting week and did not know if I should go out diving. BUT....it was the Varanger, one of the greatest wrecks to dive, and fall/winter is knocking at our door. So, I dragged myself out of bed and headed for the Atlantus Dive boat. The drive to the boat was so cool because it was a full moon and the light glistened off the Mullica River in the most mysterious way that it made you thankful for getting up and being able to see it. When I arrived at the boat the moon was just above the Borgota and I took some pictures of it.

The date is incorrect on this photo it should be 10/23/10

The forecast was for 3-6' seas and it was supposed to lay down as the day went on so we all decided to run for the Varanger and if the conditions worsened we'd hit the San Jose. We had 7 divers today including Steph McAllister, John Thomas, Jim, Jason, Ken, Bill and I. Most of the divers on board have never dove the Varanger so, they were very excited. On the way out Steph gave me some camera pointers since he tests Sea Life cameras and it was most helpful to me. I couldn't wait to get in and take some photos. The seas started to grow and about midway to the wreck Captain Andrew came down to insure that we all felt ok with diving in these conditions. It was rough but nothing we all couldn't handle so we pressed on.

After we arrived at the wreck we threw in the shot line and John Thomas and Ken were going to go down and tie us into the wreck. As soon as they splashed we noticed there was a current. They managed to get down, tie us in, and pool was open. I was splashing next and got held up because Bill's dry suit inflator valve got stuck and wouldn't stop inflating. Capt. Andrew worked on the inflate valve and got it to work better and we decided to head in. The seas were picking up as well as the wind so I decided I was only doing 1 long dive. Capt. Andrew also suggested that I take my tanks off in the water so that I don't get hurt on the ladder. I told him that is what I will plan on doing. After the week I had, I wanted to air on the side of caution. I splashed and immediately noticed the intense current because I had to really struggle to right myself and at the same time my regulator was massively free flowing. I quickly grabbed the granny line and went to pull my self to the anchor line and couldn't make any headway and I took 2 very large waves and I realize this was not safe for me. I am not strong enough mentally or physically to do this. So I aborted. It took all my strength to hold onto the line with one hand, this current was the most intense I've ever been in, and with the other hand take off my tanks and attach it to a line. During this the waves were a good 4-5' and were crashing into me, I'm sure you get the picture. All I knew is if I let go of the line to the boat I'd be out to sea. I managed to get everything off and then I had my tanks in one hand the the line to the boat in the other and was paralyzed, how do I tie off the tanks without letting go of the boat. In comes help, Bill whom never got in the water jumped in and grabbed my tanks and swam them to a line and I got safely on the boat. Even with no tanks I had a tough time getting up that ladder.

The next divers, Jim and Jason were getting ready to splash but after seeing my struggle they were having second thoughts. They nonetheless decided to go for it. Jason jumped in and the same thing happened to him, the current beat him and in no time he was back on the boat. He however noticed that the granny line was now wrapped around the shaft and prop. Jim never made it in the water. Now up comes John Thomas who was very exhausted and said he had to fight the current the whole way down and it was still present on the bottom. He said the vis was good but the current prevented him from making much headway. He also said the hang was unbearable, a two handed hang. I knew after hearing this that I did the wise thing by aborting, I would not have been able to deal with those conditions today. Maybe on another day I could handle it when I am stronger but, not today. Ken came up a while later and he really enjoyed the wreck.

Ken was gracious enough to go under the boat in these rough conditions and cut the granny line from the prop shaft and prop. Now who was going to go in and pop the anchor. Well Steph wanted to but, he got a stomach bug and was spending much of the trip in the head. I advised him that it was not a good idea because he was probably dehydrated and he also was weak. No one else felt it was safe to send another diver in to get the grapnel so we decided to cut the anchor and come back in a week or two and retrieve it. At this point there were some solid 6 footers and it was the wise thing to do plus there were little signs along the way saying not to put anyone else in the water. We all should have known that the current would be ripping with the full moon. If it was just the seas we had to deal with everything would be fine but the combination of the seas and the current is what made it for a miserable day for diving. On this day I got to swim for a short while on top of the Varanger but, no diving :(

Once we were all safe back at the dock, I realized one of the reasons I like diving so much is the adventure. When you leave in the morning you never know what unpredictable adventure lies ahead. However, this day...I should have stayed in bed! We will be heading back out to retrieve the grapnel in the next week or so, and I'll hopefully get to dive then. Always be safe!!

Arundo 10-17-10

2010-10-18T07:40:00.002-04:00

As I left my house this morning I looked up into the sky to see so many stars and then, I saw a shooting star! This would be good luck!!! I have not been in the water for 3 weeks because I kept on getting blown out. I knew the wind was going to blow again today but I had faith that we'd get out somewhere. As I was loading the boat Capt. Jim of the Gypsy Blood said "oh know, I saw you were on the list of divers and I hope you don't bring us bad luck since you's been blown out so much!!" Well, we got out and went to the Arundo. This was my best two dives of the year!! Thanks Capt. Jim for not canceling!!!

We were diving with Diversion group today and we had 13 divers aboard. Our leader, Helen Bilinski was not well today and was forced to stay home but she did send her peorogies and salsa dip and chips for us all to enjoy. She was with us in spirit and I hope she gets well soon!

The Arundo is a freighter that was sunk via torpedo in April 1942. She was carrying supplies for the troops in N. Africa. The supplies included Canadian beer bottles, jeeps and 10 wheeled army trucks.

Bart tied us into the wreck after a choppy ride out and the pool was open. Once I splashed, the vis was not very good, lots of particulate matter in the water, but once you got down about 50' it cleared right up and we had an easy 30'-40' of vis. I left my camera on board by mistake, I forgot to grab it when I jumped in and boy was I sorry that I forgot it. We were hooked in the stern right next to the propeller's and rudder gear mechanism. I swam quite a distance away from the anchor to an area with a tall stack and lots of ribbing. It was so cool to see this with such great visibility. I followed along part of the hull with lots of windows and came to an opening and underneath the sheeting was big truck tires. If I had my camera this would have been a great shot. The wreck was loaded with large sea bass and black fish. This dive was so great that I didn't want to leave but all great dives come to an end and up I went. The bottom temp. was 58 degrees and the surface temp was 61, I was nice and warm!.

During the surface there was lots of scallop shucking, there were a ton of scallops brought up. The seagulls were dive bombing the boat to get the scallop guts, it was quite the show. Also, Shawn the mate said he saw a black tipped shark during his dive, he said it was about 5' long. I was definitely bringing my camera in for the second dive in case I see the shark.

During my second dive, the vis seemed to open up even more. I could see the bottom from pretty far up the anchor line. This was my first dive with my new camera so I spent a long time trying to figure out all the menu's and which option was best for the conditions that I had. As a result, I didn't take too many pictures and also didn't travel too far. Bill took off with the scooter and I went in the opposite direction of my first dive. I came to some large pipe like openings that you could swim into and tried to photograph it. They didn't come out too well. I then came upon a toad fish and he was my model for quite a while. 30 minutes went by in a blink and it was time to head for the surface. Bill and Shelly saw two sunfish on the bottom of the wreck. They were not large ones but they were all the way down on the bottom at 120'. Pretty cool, I wish I saw them. I never saw the shark and neither did anyone else.

My Friend the Toad Fish

I think that shooting star this morning definitely brought me good luck and thank god my blow out streak has been broken! Its not often that you have such great conditions on the Arundo since it is in the mud hole. I'll be back out diving next weekend!! Look for me then...

John Marvin, Gloria, & Patrice McAlister

2010-09-23T15:20:00.006-04:00

Today we went to the John Marvin, Gloria & Patrice McAllister and had 0 visibility at all 3 wrecks. The water is back to that pea soup color and you can not see a thing. I have been diving long enough to know that when the vis is that bad its not worth the risk and you are better off just going back to the boat. Very frustrating day..not much to say other than I thought diving is supposed to be fun. Today it was hard work with no reward. I didn't even get to use my new camera. I'm slowly losing faith...I am diving the Varanger on Saturday and then an epic secret wreck on Tuesday (this was blown out last week and has been rescheduled). This is usually the best time of the year to dive, I'm just not having much good luck these days :)

Varanger Finally!! wait, no Southern Lilian 9-12-10

2010-09-13T09:50:00.001-04:00

After being blown out of 2 Varanger trips and an Arundo trip in the past few weeks, I finally got out today and we were planning on diving the Varanger. However, due to a weather system coming towards us and vis reports from the prior day, we took a vote and opted for the Southern Lilian which is also an awesome wreck. First off, I had a real busy Saturday and didn't get much sleep so as soon as I loaded the boat, I plugged into my ipod and went to sleep for 2 hour trip to the Southern Lilian. When I awoke I felt much better and was happy to see the sea conditions were calm and it wasn't raining yet.

We had a great bunch of divers today, Geoff Graham, John Priestly, Dave Oldman, Rich Venuti, Bill & I, Capt. Brian and Shaner the mate. Once we hooked the wreck, Geoff went in to tie in the anchor. I was being optimistic and I was planning on taking my camera because this wreck always has great vis due to the solid sandy bottom. Once I jumped in my Diverite regulator would not stop free flowing..this reg has given me more trouble...anyways I was doing everything I could think of to get it to stop and Geoff was hanging on the anchor line and and was probably laughing at me fight with my reg... Finally my reg slowed to a trickle of bubbles and I headed down. When I got closer to Geoff he signaled me that the vis sucked down below. I was so bummed on the rest of my decent. At about 70' the vis shut down and I did the usual for this summer, I hit the wreck. Dark and 0-5' vis. This season has been the worst for visibility conditions offshore. I know this wreck pretty well but, I could not figure out where I was. I saw large sheets of metal laying flat on the wreck and I remembered seeing this on other dives but I simply could not see enough to figure out where I was. Therefore, my dive was real short. As I ascended I saw Rich Venuti doing his hang and looking up at him in the great surface vis with the boat shadow behind him, I went to take a picture of him. Before I even turned my camera on I noticed it was flooded. I was looking at the camera and saw no cracks in it but it was definitely filled with water. Now I am thinking what a dive...70' vis on the surface to 5' vis in a matter of feet and now a flooded camera. This is definitely not a good day. One thing that was cool on my ascent was when you crossed from the brown muddy water into the blue water if was like a literal line and it looked so strange and awesome at the same time.

Once up on the surface, I could see no reason that my camera flooded. However, the buttons have been hard to press lately so Dave O. said maybe it flooded through one of the buttons. I guess I'll be on the phone to Sea Life this morning. During the surface interval there was lots of rebreather talk and we are getting closer and closer to taking class and making a major purchase. Capt. Brian is hoping to make the switch soon too. We debated whether or not we were going to move to the Boiler Wreck or stay put and we decided to stay where we were since the Atlantus was on the Flour Wreck and Pauline Marie yesterday and they too had 5' of vis.

On my second dive we were deploying the wreck reel and taking a tour for lobsters. It wasn't long before I saw Bill passing me a lobster or so I thought that was what he was doing. He was basically handing it to me but, he didn't want to give it to me he wanted me to bag it. Anyways in our mis-communication the lobster got away. I took a lot of abuse for this on the surface and as Geoff and Dave said.."It was my fault, its always my fault" "Husbands are never do any wrong". They were of course kidding around. Bill did eventually get another lobster and found another one with eggs. This dive didn't last long for me because my trustworthy drysuit flooded and I had to head for the surface. All in all my dives were terrible but I'd rather be out diving a terrible dive than sitting at home. On the drive home we listened to great stories of diving the St. Lawrence River and Lake Erie. Looks like Geoff is going to set up a trip for all of us to go on to the St. Lawrence next fall. I'm definitely up for it!

This was my 5th attempt to dive the Varanger this season and maybe the vis would have been better there but maybe not, I guess I'll never know. I had a fun day with some nice people! I am actually going to dive the Varanger again in two weeks with Steph McAllister and his friends if weather permits. I also have one more trip to the Arundo in October and I hope that one goes. I have a few more exciting dives coming up on the Independence and also will be trying to get out once a week on my own boat now that the kids are in school. Sooo...if the weather cooperates, there is still plenty of diving for me this Fall. All we need now is for this mucky vis to go away. I almost forgot, the bottom water temp was 54 degrees and the surface was 70 degrees, at least we were warm!! Safe diving!

Max's Wreck/Montgomery 8-20-10

2010-08-22T07:00:00.008-04:00

Leaving Atlantic City

I knew today was going to be bittersweet when I ran into our old dive friend, Paxton Holden as we were loading the boat.

Paxton Holden getting ready for a day of fishing

Last summer we ran into Paxton prior to diving the Southern Lilian and he brought us good luck as we captured 9 lobsters that day (see August 2009, Southern Lilian post). Today Paxton was wearing an Atlantic Divers Nova Scotia Expedition T-shirt and it immediately brought back good memories of that trip we shared with Paxton and many other great divers. In fact, this is the time of year that they usually head up to Nova Scotia and it left me yearning to go. Paxton told us a story of spearing 13 huge flounder on the San Diego many years ago and he told us he misses the heck out of diving. He was heading out fishing and I said if he's here when we return I'll give him a lobster. Just like last year, my heart was so sad to leave him behind and my whole ride out I thought of all the trips we shared and wishing I could go back and dive Nova Scotia one more time. Someday I hope!!!

Today it was just Capt. Brain Larsen, myself, and Bill aboard the Atlantus and we were destined for Galimore's Cayru, lets just say $#@$ happens and we ended up at Max's Wreck and/or the Montgomery. This wreck sank in 1877 and it is a wooden steamer. When we arrived, there was a fishing boat on it but he didn't mind us anchoring up as long has he could still fish, we all agreed and the anchor was dropped. Bill and I went in first to tie in the anchor. I was praying that the vis would finally open up offshore and we were blessed. At about 116' I could see the wreck, I could see a good 30'. This wreck is extremely silty so you more or less needed to stay off of the bottom or you'd created massive silt clouds. We were anchored in the extreme bow near the chains. There were scallops and large lobsters everywhere. So, naturally, I got to work taking some photos while Bill speared fish, captured lobsters and scallops. After a while, I stopped taking photos so that I could collect scallops too. The past few dives with Bill as my buddy have not been as fun as they could be, there have been communication issues under water. This is common among husband and wife divers and has been an issue in the past. Anyways, today we decided that we would each do our "own thing" and see each other on the hang. Boy did that make a huge difference, I had no worries except for myself and as a result, I really enjoyed my dive and he did too. During this dive, I didn't explore too far, I was trying to get acclimated to the layout of the wreck. The maximum depth during this dive was 147', a bit shallower than I remember this wreck being. It was very cold, 45 degrees on the bottom and it was a struggle to make 20 minutes on the bottom. The hang was a comfy 77 degrees and seemed to last forever. Once we were back on the boat it was Capt. Brian's turn to dive. It was hot out there today so I spent sometime swimming, Capt. Brian had seen a turtle while we were diving and I was hoping he'd show back up for a photo shoot. Capt. Brian got a bunch of scallops, lobsters and thoroughly enjoyed his dive so we were staying for another dive.

Capt. Brian and his scallops

On my second dive I swam towards the stern and saw a large stack sticking up about 20' from the main wreckage and eventually saw the engines, prop shaft, and propeller. You could even see the remnants of coal from the engines. I tried to take some photos of the wreckage and Bill collected some more lobsters and scallops. I saw two eel pouts sitting in a hole of the wood wreck and I took their picture and they didn't even move when the flashes went off. I also saw some cloth or burlap that was wrapped and tied around part of the wreck and I was wondering why it was tied in that way, I took a picture of it...it was almost as if the burlap was tying two pieces of wood together on the ship...kind of strange I thought. At the end of this dive we had a total of 4 nice lobsters and a bunch of scallops, sea bass, and ling. I guess our old friend Paxton brought us good luck again! Oh yeah...one of the fisherman caught Bill, their lore and weight was being jigged right into Bill's mask on the bottom and finally hooked his glove. It was hysterical to watch Bill trying to figure out what was hitting him in the face. I had seen the lore earlier in my dive so I knew exactly what it was. He was actually lucky the weight didn't break his mask.. They were fishing the whole wreck and they manage to catch a diver..what are the odds!

Burlap or cloth tied on wreck

Eel Pouts

We arrived back in Atlantic City quite late and our friend Paxton was gone, I would really have enjoyed sharing our lobsters with him. Maybe next time. I don't like to think about my diving days being cut short for illness or old age but it is inevitable and Paxton reminds me of this fact. I recently read somewhere that a woman dove the Andrea Doria at 65 years old...it just amazed me. It made me think, maybe I too still have time to dive the Andrea Doria, go back to Nova Scotia, and dive other wrecks that I aspire to dive.

The things that made today so nice was that the seas were calm, we all took our time diving and fishing during the day and the wreck was awesome. I wish every day diving was like this one!

Next Saturday Bill is mating on the Independence and I was invited to dive the Varanger. I am having trouble getting a babysitter, I hope it works out and I am able to go because I love that wreck too.. So many dives, so little time!

Yellow Flag 8-7-10

2010-08-07T19:25:00.004-04:00

Cool Jellyfish!

This week started out great with two nice dives on the Moonstone on Monday, and then it went downhill from there. I was blown out of the India Arrow on Wednesday which is a dive I was looking forward to doing all year. With 5'-8' seas it wasn't mean to be. I was really disappointed so, I contemplated diving the S-5 on Friday as a substitute but, for various reasons and my own indecisiveness I did not go. Those that did dive the S-5 said conditions were excellent and they all had a great dive. I was so upset that I gave up a perfectly good opportunity that I contacted Capt. Roger of the Dina Dee and got on their dive today along with South Jersey Dive Club. We were destined for the Magnolia or Chappara but, there were boats already on those wrecks so, we went to the Yellow Flag. I never dove this wreck and it is some sort of schooner that sits in 76' of water.

It has been a long time since I've been on the Dina Dee and it was nice to see Capt. George and First Mate Chris. I ended up meeting a lot of very nice people from South Jersey Dive Club and enjoyed their company.

After Chris tied in the hook, I splashed into horrible murky water that quickly opened up to an easy 30'-40' of vis on the bottom. It was however, cold, 47 degrees on the bottom and 58 degrees on my hang. I managed to stick it out for about 30 minutes before I was cold enough to head back up to the boat. I took a lot of photos since the vis was so good and spent a lot of time chasing the red jellies and taking their pictures. This wreck is pretty scattered and has lots of cross beams for fish and lobster to hide. Chris the mate was spearing fish and at one point he spooked a winter flounder that nearly hit me. Once he settled to the bottom, stunned, I tried to take a picture of it but it got up and took off for the sand. There were 10 divers today and this wreck is not so big so, I swam out to several pieces out in the sand to get away from the "crowd'. There were lots of fish on the out pieces that perhaps were scared off the main wreckage by other divers. I really enjoyed my dive and was glad I came.

Once back on the boat there were several lobsters and a few sea bass speared, including Tricia's barnacled lobster that looked prehistoric. There were some divers in which this was their first ocean dive, it was great to see how much they enjoyed it and they were so enthusiastic, its been a while since I've seen that. It made me feel great to be there and be a part of it.

On my second dive, I swam out to one of the distant pieces of the wreck and took a lot of photos. I took so many photos that my scan disk was full and I couldn't take anymore. I then just spent my time exploring this wreck. Its amazing how you can easily map a wreck in your mind when the vis is so good. I ended up with about 25 minutes for this dive and it was time to head up. At the end of the trip Capt. George was having Tricia and a some others draw out the wreck so that they would remember the layout of it for future dives. Not a bad idea...

Mr. Crabbie

We were back at the dock by noon. Fate brought me to the Yellow Flag and it ended up being an amazing day and I'm glad I decided to go. Thanks to the Dina Dee for a great day of diving!

USS Moonstone 8-2-10

2010-08-03T15:00:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, August 2, 2010 we went out on the Independence II to the Moonstone. The USS Moonstone was a luxury Yacht that was built in 1929. It was purchased and commissioned into the US Navy during WWII. The wreck sits in 130 feet of water off of Cape May.

We left Utch's Marina by about 6am and were greeted to to a beautiful sunrise. On board today were 9 divers, Capt. Dan Bartone, Capt. Bill Trent, Dave Oldman, Joe Rogers, Tony Hilbert, Steve Kirkland, Steph McAllister, Bill & I. I have not been to this wreck since 1991 so I was pretty excited. We had calm seas and the water was finally that deep aquamarine blue.

First off, the new benches on the Independence are awesome, there is so much room on this boat that it makes gearing up really comfortable! Then I forgot how much I liked their Carolina line system..a simple giant stride or rather a leisurely step in and there is the line heading down below the seas. After I walked off the boat, I was blown away by the unlimited visibility..is this NJ or what? As I descended there were a few illuminesence and just deep blue water. Once I hit the thermocline and boy did you notice it (very cold) it became darker. Once on the bottom we had only about 20' of vis which is not so hot given how far offshore we were. The bottom temp was 47 degrees which isn't bad but, I felt like it was a lot colder and the other divers also felt cold. I did notice that the wreck looked very different from what I remember. It sits a lot lower to the bottom and there was a lot less marine growth on it than what I recall. You can see all the pieces of decking that already collapsed and they lay in neat rows. The gun is still in the bow but does not sit as high up as it used to. The deck below it has collapsed and you can not longer swim into it. I saw some tiles and remnants of a sink. I took a few photos and before I knew it my time was up. During my hang Bill & I fooled around taking pictures of each other to kill the time. There was little or no current so the hang was comfortable.

On the surface interval we talked a lot about rebreather's and the differences between different models and their reliability. Bill and I are going to try a few of them out over the upcoming weeks and hopefully will finally make the conversion. In fact, the Independence was diving the N. Pacific tomorrow and we could not go because we had no where to get air after our dive and if we had a rebreather this would not be an issue.

On my second dive we were going to work on a project that the others were working on. I did not bring my camera in for this dive and once we were on the bottom we swam to the bow (we were anchored in the stern). Bill located the work area and I swam around looking for an area to dig. The vis was better on this dive, brighter and clearer. I was not feeling that great on this dive so I went up earlier than I originally planned on. Several of the divers got valves and they tried to convince me it was something more than a hunk of brass. To each his own... Bill got some tiles to add to our collection of tiles in the garden.

It was nice to be back out on the Independence, they run a clean and safe boat. I am really looking forward to being back on the Independence tomorrow to dive the India Arrow.

I cannot write this trip report without saying, this was a tough day out diving for all those that knew Yasuko. I know I am extremely sad about losing another diver and at this point I am at a loss for words. However, I thought I'd still try and go out and dive and if it was too much for me emotionally, I just wouldn't get in the water. Once I was out there, I figured, I should go and dive in her honor. I was glad that we all kept our thought to ourselves and no one brought up the latest dive accident until we were back at the dock. I know it helped me get through a tough day. We are all involved in this love of scuba diving and it effects all of us, we need to support each other and dive as safely as we can.

Offshore Paddlewheeler 7-25-10

2010-07-26T06:43:00.006-04:00

With a 4'-7' offshore forecast, we headed out of Atlantic City Inlet on the dive boat Atlantus to the wreck known as the Offshore Paddlewheeler. There was a ever persistent ground swell of 3'-4' that laid down as the day progressed. On board today was myself, Bill, John Priestly, Brian Roemer, Walt and Capt. Brian Larsen. After a 2 hour nap on the way out, Bill and I splashed first to tie into the wreck. The surface vis was unbelievable, nice blue/green water down to about 90'. Then we went into the darkness and I awaited for it to open up on the bottom. I hit the anchor line chain and realized I was on the bottom and could not see a thing...maybe 1' of vis. I have never had such bad vis conditions offshore. The water temp was 43 degrees at 147' and I sat and waited to see if my eyes would adjust to the darkness and I'd be able to see a little better. That never happened. I did not venture too far and collected a few scallops, took a few macro photos of a scallop and starfish. It was only about 7-8 minutes and I signaled to Bill that I was going up, he tried to convince me to stay down but I said no, its not worth it and up I went. There is nothing worse than doing your hang in water that is so pretty and clear when the vis was nil on your dive.

During the surface interval we debated about moving inshore, but no one wanted to go pop the anchor and sacrifice time for their second dive, so we were staying for 2. Capt. Brian took his spear to some of the surrounding buoy's in search of fish to spear and several of us went for a nice swim. It was HOT out there today!!! I think the heat got to a few of us including me. I do not like the heat and felt tired and weak. I snorkeled for a while shooting pictures of illuminesence and tried to get a picture of Brian Roemer jumping in for this 2nd dive. It didn't turn out...too many bubbles, all I got was his fins. I decided not go on my 2nd dive but, Bill did. He got a bagful of scallops and a lobster. He said I should have gone that the vis opened up and I didn't believe him. I asked Brian Roemer and he said well it was a little better vis but not much. Hence, I was glad I sat this one out. We were not sure where on the wreck we were, and Bill figured out on the 2nd dive that we were about 40' towards the stern from the engines.

On the way back to Atlantic City we went through a monsoon and electrical storm that was pretty wild. I shot a little video of the storm.. All our gear got a nice rinse and it finally cooled off. I have to admit that I was really disappointed about today's dive but, it still was an adventure and better than not diving at all!!

My tanks getting a bath!!

9 Minute Barge & Dry Dock 7-23-10

2010-07-23T22:00:00.002-04:00

After a few blow-outs, I finally got out today and was happy I made the decision to go. I have not been underwater since June 20th, which is a long dry spell. I am supposed to dive the Offshore Paddlewheeler on Sunday and in looking at the weekend weather, it does not look good so, I convinced Bill to take a quick run out and dive today. We started out heading for the Glory wreck, Bill dove this years ago with John Slotnick (Captain/Mate of the Sea Robin) and just found some GPS numbers for it. He remembered it being a good dive. Well, the numbers didn't pan out and we couldn't locate the wreck. So, we continued on our journey and went to the 9 Minute Barge. We found it in no time and hooked it on our first try. I was not feeling well in the tummy (thanks to the rollers) soooo, I splashed first and had the job of setting the hook.

The surface vis was this terrible pea soup everyone is talking about and then it went completely black. So I was nervous that the vis would not be so good, boy was I wrong..we had an easy 30' of vis and as I descended I could see the entire layout of the barge. The hook was in a small piece of wreckage and needed to be relocated so with a few throws and some heaving, I got it over to a piece of wreckage that I could tie it into. However, before I could get my sisal around it, someone up above was pulling the hook.. This was not funny and I almost watched the anchor go bye bye. You are not supposed to pull up the slack until it is all set, oh well.. It's not so easy to tie into a low lying barge and I was thinking, this is hard work, isn't it supposed to be relaxing and fun?

Now I was off on my dive, the first thing I noticed was the overabundance of fish, you had to push them out of your way. The second thing was, this wreck had been hit by other divers because there was fresh sisal on it in two different locations. I took some photos and tried to take some video on a different setting. The video came out in better color this time but, it was not focused. Now I have to figure out why. I think it was because there was not as much ambient light on this dive. Some of the pictures I took came out ok. This wreck is wooden and low lying so it is good for both fish and lobsters. It sits in about 70' of water and is a decent size, although I did not get to see the whole thing because I was busy taking video and pictues. In the end I had about 30 minutes on the bottom. The temp on the bottom was 51 degrees and 65 on the hang.

Bill did a long dive and ended up with 2 lobsters and two sea bass. He liked this wreck too. Unfortunately he used up most of his air so he could not make a second dive. We both only had one set of double 80's each, we left our other tanks home since we hope to use them on Sunday. Thanks to my low air consumption, I got to do two dives.

The next wreck is called the Dry Dock. Since I was the only one diving I had to set and pull the hook plus Bill wanted me to figure out what kind of wreck it is. This wreck was in 60' of water and the vis on the surface was worse than the first dive. However, the vis did open up on the bottom to about 20', a little more cloudy on this dive. As I descended all I could see was a ladder. Here I am thinking, what is Bill doing to me, sending me in to dive on a ladder in the middle of the ocean?? How in the world did he find this and hook it. I was starting to say lots of curse words under water but then I figured all right, why is this ladder here? Lets run a wreck reel and take a look around, maybe just maybe there is a wreck down here. The anchor was hooked pretty good in the ladder and I headed in the direction of a large shadow and swam pretty far and hit nothing but me, the sand and the ocean. I went back to the anchor and went in the opposite direction and I did find ribbings of a wreck and some larger pieces but still could not desifer what it was. This wreck is wooden but it is mostly buried. There were some fish on it but not as much as on the 9 Minute Barge. About 20 minutes had passed and I was running low on air and decided to head back, undo the anchor and head up. I am still puzzled as to why the ladder was in the middle of no where and what I actually dove on. Maybe Bill was trying to mess with me...trying to get me back for begging him to take me diving today!! I did take some photos but they did not come out too good.

We were back at the dock by 1pm and I was floating on my raft in the pool by 3pm. I'm glad we went today especially if we don't get out on Sunday. I am keeping my fingers crossed, the weather man is wrong often and maybe he will be this weekend. If we don't make it to the Wheeler on Sunday, we are heading out again on Tuesday and hopefully I'll dive a wreck not a ladder.

After looking through my photos, Bill is trying to tell me that the picture below is an old washing machine dumped on the 9 Minute Barge wreck. He said it's the inside drum that is left. I do not believe him. This was after he told me someone must of dropped the ladder on the Dry Dock wreck...He says people are always dumping junk on wrecks. Hmmmm??? Its been a long day!

Washing Machine

Video of Conway/Wellington

2010-07-16T08:00:00.016-04:00

I finally found some time to get my first video together. It is not very good and since I shot it in natural light it is very GREEN. I do not have a video editing program to help with correcting the color as of yet. This was shot with my SeaLife DC500 camera with no color corrective filters and as a result it isn't very clear. I am saving to buy a "real" video camera, housing and lighting and hoped to have it this season but, funds are a little tight so it will be on the back burner for now. I added some actual photos of the wreck at the end of each video so you can see the contrast in color. Please feel free to comment on it and let me know of any programs that are good for editing. Also, if anyone has any information on the Wellington (what type of wreck it was, when it sunk etc.) I would be interested in hearing about it. There is not much left of it, most of it is buried. I am planning on shooting some more video on my next few dives...

There is music so turn up your speakers!

Varanger-Blow Out 7-11-10

2010-07-11T19:00:00.006-04:00

Bill and the kids went away camping for 3 days and I stayed home so that I could dive the Varanger today. I have dove this wreck a lot over the years and was looking forward to getting more photos of it. In my opinion, you can never dive the Varanger too much..it is a very large wreck and has a lot to offer from hoards of fish and lobster to great artifacts and history. My dive buddy for the day was going to be Geoff Graham. The forecast was not looking good Saturday night (4'-7') for offshore. When I arrived at the dock, we decided to head out into the Atlantic and see what the sea conditions were. We had a full boat, Geoff Graham, Jeff Heim, John Priestly, Andrew Nagle, Kathy Ondrasik and 4 other divers that I did not get a chance to meet as of yet. Once we broke the inlet there were some rollers but not too bad and no chop. After we drove for a while the rollers grew in size, were closer together and there was some chop. Therefore, it was decided that the sea conditions were not conducive to dive the Varanger. I then thought we'd hit something inshore but, there were several divers that were diving Trimix whom did not want to concede to a shallower dive thus, we did a u-turn and headed back into Atlantic City. We all had a nice breakfast at the cafe next to the dock and called it a day. A bunch of us will meet again as we are heading to the Offshore Paddlewheeler on July 25th. There are so few days to dive, I did not want to give up hope that we'd get out and dive something today. As the saying goes...better safe than sorry!

San Jose 6-20-10

2010-06-21T07:30:00.007-04:00

Sunday, June 20th, we were destined to dive the Southern Lilian on the Atlantus with Geoff Graham's private charter. We had a last minute change in plans and decided to dive the San Jose instead. This ended up being the Atlantus' maiden voyage for the 2010 dive season. As we broke Atlantic City inlet we were greeted with fog and a solid 2-4' swell with the occasional 5' footer thrown in. Since we had a light load, Bill, myself, Kris Centrone (owner of The Dive Shop in Cherry Hill), and Brian Larsen (Captain), we decided to still go for the San Jose since it wasn't too far and the seas were supposed to lay down.

The San Jose is a freighter that sunk on Jan 17, 1942 via collision with the Santa Elisa. It is a large wreck that is broken up with some areas still intact. It is a good wreck for lobstering. It is also a silty wreck since it sits on a muddy bottom.

We arrived at the wreck in no time, the new engines in the Atlantus has the boat running a little faster this year. Brian hooked the wreck with ease and Kris was first to splash followed by myself and Bill. The surface vis was phenominal but as soon as we hit the thermocline around 80' it became darker, colder and the vis went to about 10'-15'. We were hooked in the bow along one of the bulkheads. I swam along a bulkhead and took a few pictures. I forgot my wide angle lens on the boat so, I didn't take too many pictures. I did notice that there were not many fish on this wreck. It was strange, there were areas with hardly any vis and then areas where you could see quite far??? We all agreed that these conditions persisted for all of us. My neck seal was leaking again, so I got wet and cold rather quickly. It was 45 degrees at 103'. I ended up with 25 minutes on the bottom before I headed up for my warmer hang. During my hang I shot some photos of Bill and Kris. Upon surfacing the seas were still a little rough so I was dreading climbing up the ladder. I actually got on the ladder fine but once I got towards the top, I made the mistake of taking my regulator out of my mouth to talk to Brian and BAMM a wave took me off sideways and I was back in the ocean. I was fine and just climbed that ladder again. I decided that climbing the ladder is the worst part of diving. Bill ended up with 1 lobster and Kris speared a real nice fluke.

Kris Centrone

Bill

The surface interval passed quickly as we chatted about "diving". I was going to leave my camera behind for dive #2 but Bill convinced me to bring it along because he thought the vis would be better. He was right, the vis improved to about 15'-20' and it was brighter now that the sun was higher in the sky. I swam to an area of the wreck that had more relief and shot a few pictures. I only lasted 17 minutes and I was freezing so I went up. This time I tackled the ladder without a gliche. I felt great in the water today, slowly building my confidence... Bill got a piece of porcellin from a bowl or cup and Kris got a lobster.

Based on my recent dives and the reports of other divers, I have concluded that the vis has been better on the shallower wrecks. It seems that if you can stay above the thermocline the vis is good. I hope this rectifies itself before my next dive. The water wasn't as green as it had been and seems to be a little more bluer.

It was nice to meet Kris and to hear that his dive business is thriving. He told me all about the shops recent trips to the Bahamas and Utila. I am sure that we will see Kris again out diving someday. I'll also have to take a drive to Cherry Hill and check out his shop. We made it back to the dock quickly and then we were off to Father's Day dinner. We had Filet Mignon, Lobster and Crabs!

I am off to North Carolina next week and hope to get out diving, we'll see what happens. Then I will be diving the Varanger or N.Pacific on July 11th on Geoff Graham's charter...can't wait.

Conway & Wellington 6-18-10

2010-06-18T19:01:00.006-04:00

Yesterday I spent the day with eight 12 & 13 year old boys at Great Adventure for my son's field trip. I am not an amusement park person and I was reminded why I do not like large crowds or rides. I just kept thinking, get through this day, and tomorrow I will be diving. After surviving the field trip, it made diving today more much appreciable!

We decided to head out and dive the Conway first today. It has been at least 15 years since I have been on this wreck. It is an old wooden clammer. We hooked into the dredge on our first try. Bill splashed first today to secure the anchor. When he surfaced he had speared 8 large sea bass and got 1 lobster. Not bad!!! I splashed second and was going to check out the wreck, take some pictures and maybe shoot some video. There was a little bit of a current on the surface, which made that swim to the anchor line a little tough but, there was 0 current on the bottom. This wreck sits at a depth of 59' and the vis was a cloudy 20' or so. That prevalent green water is still here. It was definitely loaded with sea bass and I could see how Bill did so well spearing them. I swam along the dredge tubing over to the actual dredge and then along the pipes to the larger part of the wreck. Most of the wooden decking is no longer visible, all that is left is the steel parts of the dredge. There was not a lot of growth on this wreck, just some white hard coral and the occasional sea anenome. I shot some video of this wreck and as soon as I can figure out how to edit it I will post it. The bottom temp was a toasty 52 degrees and the surface was even warmer at 66 degrees. I had fun on this dive watching all the fish chase each other around and ended up with 34 minutes on the bottom. At the very end of my dive I spotted a small sea bass with a large lobster attenae sticking out of its mouth??? Did the fish try and eat the lobster....it was pretty funny to see. I then decided, to try another wreck for dive #2 so, I had to lug the anchor over two of the dredge pipes to get it out in the sand to avoid it getting hung up when we pulled it up. This was a little hard but I managed it...Up, up and away I went.

Clam Dredge

Dive #2 was a little closer inshore on the Wellington which is a low lying wood wreck. We hooked this wreck on out second try and ended up tying in right by the boilers. Just like the previous dive, Bill went in first and he ended up with a very large sea bass and 2 lobsters. He said that the vis on this wreck was cloudier than the first. I decided to bring the camera even though the vis wasn't so hot and I'm glad I did because the pictures came out ok. This vis was still decent 15'-20' but just cloudier. This wreck sits at a depth of 54' and I had a bottom temp of 56 degrees. There were not as many fish on this wreck and most of them were smaller. I swam around the boilers and to the stern and then turned around and headed towards the bow which was more or less buried in the sand. There were some brass spikes sticking up out of the sand and it would be worthwhile to hit this area with a scooter. I kept following the pieces of the bow out into the sand and all of a sudden I realized I was lost...it got me a little nervous but I found my way back. I again had the task of moving the anchor away from the wreck and as I did I found another piece laying out in the sand. I was low on air so I will have to go back and check out that piece another day.

Boilers

It was a real nice day to be out diving while the kids were in school and made it home just in time to pick them up. Bill totalled 9 sea bass and 3 lobsters...that is a good day!

I'm sure with this NW wind, the water should clear up nice in the next day or two. Well, it better because I am heading back out on Sunday to the Southern Lilian on the Atlantus. Can't Wait!!

Anonymous Comments

2010-06-06T22:00:00.002-04:00

I have been so touched and inspired by comments from anonymous divers in response to my "First Dive of 2010 Gloria Wreck" post. I have said before in my Safe Diving post (July 2009), that my training by Gene Peterson has greatly contributed to me being safe all these years. It was also things that he said, like, its normal to feel nervous before a dive, that I have carried with me all these years to help me to achieve what I have. Some of the anonymous comments that I listed below attribute to the fact that Gene was accurate in the things he has advised. By verbalizing this fact, it helped to comfort and calm me as a diver and I'm sure other divers too. It makes you feel like you are not alone. I am happy to know that my feelings expressed through my blog are helping other divers too. Lets all have a Great 2010 dive season full of excitement and adventure!

Anonymous said...
Sounds like a good dive and thank you for your honesty. I too have contemplated the recent losses of experienced female and male NJ divers. Your post convinced me I am not alone. I will rely on my training and my buddy (not to mention my gear) to keep me safe. Happy diving! May 26, 2010

Kim Dixon said...
I firmly believe that diving is safer than driving your car around the block. after all, I have safely completed a ton of dives over 24 years. However, these diving accidents and other personal issues intertwined with diving sometimes get into my psyche and expressing my feelings and/or opinion helps to ease the grief. Thanks for you comment, I will be Happy underwater! May 26, 2010

Anonymous said....
You have to wonder how many experienced divers get the feelings expressed by you, Kim, but, are embarrassed to let anyone know? I have 400 dives under my belt, but, still feel anxious quite a bit and don't understand it. Once I actually splash in, I am fine. Like you I could not picture life without diving! Thanks for sharing... June 3, 2010

Perfect Dive on the Double East 5/31/10

2010-06-01T08:47:00.018-04:00

Yesterday was the most perfect day! We had a busy weekend filled with kayaking, barbeques, and fishing but, it was not complete without throwing in some diving. The problem was we were meeting friends at a barbeque in the afternoon at our favorite sand bar. Therefore, we needed to get in relatively early. Our original plan was to dive some snags that we found last fall but given the time constraint and the large number of boats out in the ocean we opted for a quick and easy trip to the Double East. As we went out of Little Egg Inlet there wasn't even a wave, which is rarely seen in this inlet and we made the 11 mile trip with ease.

We hooked the wreck on our first try and I was splashing first to tie in the anchor. The surface vis looked great and I decided to bring my camera along. Once I splashed although the vis was good, there was a lot of particulate matter in the water which makes picture taking difficult. As I descended, the wreck came into view at about 30'. Once on the bottom, the anchor was snugly tucked under a plate and was not going to move, so I didn't need to tie it in. The first thing I noticed was the abundance of fish, big difference from my first dive of the season. The fish were everywhere and you had to actually push them away from your face. I did not travel far on this dive, I hung in one small area and played around with taking photos with the external flash and also with natural light. I saw some huge taug, bigger than I've seen in years and they were not skittish. I tried to photograph them but they wouldn't come quite that close. There was no thermocline and the temp at 61' was 52 degrees and the vis was about 25-30'. This time I was not wet at all and I can't remember ever being this warm on a dive including my hands. I really really enjoyed this dive and stayed down for 35 minutes. I did not want to go up but I only had one set of tanks so I needed to save some air for dive #2.

Bill splashed next and he came up with a nice lobster, sea bass and mussels which ended up being out dinner at the barbeque.

We were going to change to another wreck for dive #2 but there was boats everywhere so we stayed put. On my second dive I ventured towards the stern of the wreck where the slabs rose like mountains from the bottom. Bill had seen some taug that he swears were about 15lbs, and I went in search of them. I found them, and I was in awe at their size, we will be back here when the season is open to spear them. I took another round of photos and managed another 30 minutes of bottom time. The perfect ending to this day was when I was all alone on the boat and I saw a fin heading our way and there was Bill hanging on the anchor. I thought, this is a shark and it is heading full speed for Bill. However, the fin kind of flopped back and forth in a strange manner, I then realized it was a sunfish. It swam right up to the boat and stayed next to me and looked at me with his enormous eye for about 10 minutes. There are days out there diving when you have the best dives and are also rewarded with the gift of seeing a sunfish. It couldn't get any better.

We made it back to the dock by 1:45pm with plenty if time to switch to our smaller boat and head out to the sandbar. We stayed out there until the sun set. What an absolutely perfect day!!!

My friend the sunfish!

First Dive of 2010- Gloria Wreck (5/16/10)

2010-05-17T10:17:00.014-04:00

We took advantage of the great weather and went out on our own boat to dive the Gloria Wreck. I have a lot of new gear that I wanted to insure was working properly (two new regulators, new dive underwear, new tanks and a new computer) and I am also having a lot of anxiety about diving at all this year. So, I decided I'd pack everything and go along for the ride and see what happens. As we broke through Little Egg Inlet we were greeted with Lake Atlantic seas and the water was the prettiest aquamarine color with awesome surface vis. We passed two majestic sailboats on their way north, and they looked so tranquil. I grew up in a family whom sailed and I personally never took a liking to it but, this morning it looked so peaceful and relaxing. These were all signs that it was going to be a good day.

It is a quick 30 minute ride from our dock to the wreck and there were literally no boats out there other than the two sailboats we passed. We had wind against the tide so it took a few tries to hook the wreck. I was not ready to dive so Bill spalshed first while I stayed on the boat to contemplate whether or not I was capable of diving. Bill came up with two nice lobsters and he raved about the great visibility and told me it will be worth my while to go in and dive.

I then decided to go for it and I suited up...I don't know what came over me but I started to panic and felt like I couldn't breathe...I slowed myself and started to doubt that I should get in the water. Bill talked me through it and I don't know how he did it but, he got me to splash. The cold water and the great vis snapped the anxiety right out of me and down the anchor line I went. The Gloria is in 70' of water so in no time I could see the propeller rising high off of the bottom, we were anchored in the stern for sure. Once on the bottom I sat there going over all of my equipment and noticed right away that my older TUSA computer was not working. It was scrolling through Dive, Dive Log, Dive Plan, Time all by itself and was not registering that I was in the water diving. I played with it and could not get it to stop. This is why you always need a back-up and thankfully my new NiTek back-up computer was working fine. My new Aqualung Legend regulator breathed effortlessly and it has a cold water mouth piece that covers your lips, I did not like this option on the surface but boy what a difference it made in the 48 degree water on the bottom. My lips were actually warm! As I sat on the bottom going over all all my gear I said a prayer to keep me safe during this dive and the 2010 season.

I was ready to now go about my dive, I followed the propeller shaft to the larger debris field and took advantage of the 35-40' vis to get my bearings and memorize parts of the wreck. I came across a sort of building structure that I never saw before...maybe the wheelhouse?? It was taller than me, had pillars and a roof. Well, it had the largest sea bass and black fish swimming inside of it. The wreck was also covered with the smallest lobsters I've ever seen, there claws were not even as long as my thumb and they appeared to have no fear since they were walking around out of their holes. Once I got to the main wreckage area I noticed that there were no mussels at all on the wreck when normally they are there. I wonder why that is? This wreck has some serious digging potential and we will be back a lot this year to uncover some areas. The winter storms did uncover some areas that I don't recall being there last year. I know there are artifacts to be found here.

I ended up with about 22 minutes on the bottom before I was getting cold and decided I should go up. I did a nice longer hang and the water temp at 15' was 49 degrees, not really any different from the bottom but the vis was better, had to be at least 50'. My new fourth element underwear did keep me as warm as can be especially since my neck seal leaked and I was drenched. Once on the surface I played around with the weights to make sure I was closer to neutral buoyancy, I used only 800 lbs of air on my dive so my tanks were still really full therefore, I know I'll have to make more adjustments on another day. I opted out of the second dive but Bill dove and got a another lobster. We were back at our dock by 1pm with lobsters for dinner!

As the 2010 dive season begins, I am reminded that life is unpredictable, as I again hear of the loss of another female diver in NJ. This really hit me in the gut and I became very anxious about diving in general and the goals I set for this summer. In my struggle to deal with my emotions involved with diving, I reached out to some fellow divers for some reassurance that I would be safe diving this summer. The kind words from Mark Hennessy and Jeff Heim insured me that I am a good, safe diver and I will be fine. I am glad that they were not shy and spoke up because it was what I needed to hear to give me the push to get in the water. It meant a lot to me, especially because they are long time veteran divers and instructors. My husband of course always supports me but, he has to, he's my husband. It was he however, whom convinced me to get on the boat and get out there today. I owe him so much for doing this and putting up with my anxieties. I can't imagine life without diving. I have met so many wonderful people through my diving and I have had numerous divers reach out to me to say that they love my blog and can feel my passion for diving through it. I am so happy that when I needed some support there were divers there to help me in return. I will persevere!! Safe Diving...

Beneath the Sea 2010

2010-03-29T14:01:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I went to Beneath the Sea and really enjoyed it. I don't go every year, I go every few years and for some reason this year I got a lot out of it.

I have been looking at getting into underwater videograpy and really enjoyed the large number of vendors of video housings that I could evaluate and compare. I really was impressed with Equinox and feel that I am going to bite the bullet and invest in this housing. I am going to first obtain a new video camcorder that works well in low light and take it from there. Hopefully I'll get setup for this dive season. I am new into this and still want to get more advise from other divers that have already invested in this. My Sealife camera has let me down so I don't want to invest in a video system without being sure it will suit my purposes.

I also really liked the Liquivision trimix computer. I was first drawn to it because of the bright neon yellow display. I need reading glasses and even with lenses in my mask, I have trouble reading my gauges in the dark NJ waters. I saw this computer and thought this is the answer. I later learned in talking to the rep. that you can adjust the font size too. This computer utilized a tap interface which was really nice too. The only problem was the price tag....a little pricey.

I have been wanting to buy Arctic weight Fourth Element dive underwear ever since my friend Helen, raved about how warm she it in this product. I ended up buying a full set yesterday. I will be warm this year!!! I got my drysuit back from Bare last week with new wrist seals and valves. It was leak tested and currently has no leaks. Between being dry and my new underwear...I am confident that those early season cold water dives will be warm.

Here are the links for the products I am referencing if you want to check them out:

Equinox; Liquivision; Fourth Element

It wasn't very crowded yesterday, I guess its a sign of the economic times. I only saw one old dive friend out of the corner of my eye. I never ran into him the rest of the show so, I didn't even get to exchange a hello. Maybe I'll see him again someday.

The dive season is approaching quickly and I am ready to roll. I have signed up for some awesome deeper dives this year and just pray the weather cooperates. We are working on getting our boat in the water by the end of April so we can get in a few shallow dives before my first deeper dive to the Northern Pacific in early June.

Nova Scotia 1991

2010-03-03T13:01:00.013-05:00

In September of 1991 I went on an adventure to dive wrecks out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Little did I know at the time, but it would be some of the most challenging wreck diving I would ever do. I dove in Ketch Harbor for bottles and also the wrecks called the Deliverance, Lititia, Sonja Marsh and Zoe. I remember it was very cold both in and out of the water. We camped via motorhomes and tents and you never quite got warm the entire trip, after all it was September. Once unique characteristic about diving in Nova Scotia is the pink algae growing on the rocks which made it very beautiful.

There were a lot of laughs on this trip. There was a bunch of guys that bickered the whole time as if they were kids on a family road trip. They made the trip a lot of fun. In fact, there is one story of the "boys" that remains in my memory. It is the story of the disappearance of Franz's drysuit. He had his drysuit in the cargo hold on the bottom of the motorhome. Someone, I won't name any names, forgot to latch the hold. Well, when was time to get ready to dive, the drysuit was gone. Somehow the drysuit fell out of the cargo hold and was out there on one of the hilly Nova Scotia roads. We all backtracked and tried to find it to no avail. The drysuit was gone, and no where to be found. The "boys" fought the rest of the trip over whom did not lock the cargo hold. Meanwhile, Franz had the task of finding a drysuit or wetsuit to dive in the rest of the week. If my memory is correct, he found a drysuit but it was a tad small. I heard a year or two later that Franz's drysuit was spotted at a yard sale. I suppose someone came along and found the drysuit in the road, picked it up, and probably didn't even know what it was, held onto it and tried to sell it at the yard sale years later. This would explain why we could not find it when we backtracked our route. This is just one story of the many during this adventure to Nova Scotia.

Unfortunately I did not have an underwater camera for this trip so the pictures are topside only. In fact, I didn't even remember that I had these pictures, I thought I only had one or two pictures of the whole trip. In digging through all of my slides I found quite a few more. I did get an artifact on this trip, it was a drain grate from the Zoe. Although it was insignificant next to some other magnificent artifacts that were obtained by other divers.

During this trip we also visited the Halifax Citadel, a restored fort, and the Bay of Fundy National Park. I have yearned for a long time to go back to Nova Scotia to dive again. Maybe someday...

Press Play to watch the slide show

I want to thank Gene Peterson of Atlantic Divers for organizing this trip, I will never forget all the things that I accomplished as a diver on this adventure or the fact that Gene had faith in my diving capabilities. This is where my true passion for wreck diving began. It will always be a special memory for me.

Dive Schedules for 2010

2010-02-18T12:25:00.004-05:00

Moonstone

I don't know if it is plain old good luck, karma, or what but, I have been letting you all know through this blog what dives I aspire to dive in the upcoming year. Now it seems, as the dive schedules are being posted that most of the dives I want to dive are on dive shop, dive boat or dive club schedules. To see that fellow divers have read my blog, and then actually put those wreck destinations on their dive shop or dive boat schedules means the world to me. This shows me that my blog is doing its job....to inspire others to dive. Thanks!! I guess there is some truth to the old saying "If there is a will, there is a way"!

I am looking forward to being on those trips with all of you whom share the same passion for diving the wrecks I want to dive. See you out there this year on the Cayru, N.Pacific, Freighter, Varanger, Moonstone, Arundo, and Terror Wreck. So far, I am signed up to dive the Moonstone, Arundo (twice), Cayru and Varanger. Lets see if I can manage to get too all the wrecks that set out to dive this year...

Me on the
Moonstone- 1990

Seagirt 9/20/90

2010-01-19T11:24:00.005-05:00

The Seagirt is an intact clammer that sank in 1990 and we were some of the first divers on it. We went out on the Down Deep (Capt. Bob Meimbrese) and had a real productive day. I wrote in my log that the wreck had lots of cables to get hung up on and the wreck creeked since it wasn't quite settled into the bottom yet. It sits in 70' of water. All the divers together got a total of 7 portholes, 2 swing plates, 2 brass horns, a lantern, a compass and the box it goes in, cage lights and a bell (not the boats bell but another type of alarm bell). I actually got a cage light and the bell on my own and sent it up in my own lift bag. At the time that was real big for me. I'm not one that works with tools well. These are the few pictures of I have of that memorable day. I went back to this wreck years later and it was encased in mussels and sits on its side. Nothing like seeing a wreck upright and then going back and seeing it listed to one side.

Gulftrade, City of Athens & Brian C

2010-01-14T14:24:00.027-05:00

Gulftrade Stern 1990

City of Athens 9/15/90

Brian C on the Down Deep

Various Dives 1988-1991

2010-01-05T15:51:00.018-05:00

I am slowly scanning these old slides from 1988-1991 into digital. See if you can recognize some of these old time divers. It is definitely hard to remember everyone's name. One of the biggest rewards of looking through all of these old photos is to realize the large amount of diving I actually did back then as well as today. I forgot a large amount of the dives I had done. At least I can say...I lived my life and I know I touched a lot of people. Since this process is painstakingly slow, I'll add more photos each week over the long winter. I am working on a Nova Scotia and Honduras/Antigua slide show that will be up soon.

Red Bricks- Deadeyes

Bow of Gulftrade 8/4/90 on the Robin

Northern Pacific 1988- Robin

Mowhawk 9/18/90

What do you see here?

My First Parkway Drysuit (1990)

Modeling on the way home!

Tolton 8/15/90

Macro

Resor 1990

Nothing Like Dive Gear Under the Tree

2009-12-26T14:24:00.002-05:00

Santa doesn't always bring me dive toys, but this year I must have been good because I feel like I hit the goldmine! I got a new Aqualung Legend Supreme regulator, a Dive Rite Nitek Duo computer and a second regulator is in the works (either an Apex or Scubapro). I feel like I was fully outfitted with all new dive gear. I am really excited about the regulator and I hope it breathes as nice as it looks. Now I can't wait to go diving and try it out. Too bad Santa didn't bring me a dive vacation to somewhere warm too.

Perhaps this is a sign that my health will remain well and I will be able to do a lot of diving in 2010!

Merry Christmas & Peace in the New Year

2009-12-19T22:25:00.000-05:00

I wanted to wish all of those whom share this love of wreck diving with me a Merry Christmas! I know I am wishing for a few dive toys under my Christmas Tree this year. We'll see what Santa brings! I also wanted to wish everyone Peace and Happiness in the New Year.

I have been working diligently on converting my old dive slides to digital and will be posting them throughout the winter. The hardest part is trying to remember when they were taken and what wreck they were on. In reviewing these slides, it makes me sad to see those old divers that used to be a regular part of my diving adventures whom are no longer in my life. I miss them and wish I could dive with them again. They made me happy. If I could only figure out how to freeze time....Here are a few sample pictures:

Me hugging a morey eel!

NJ lobster

Something Warm to get you through the Winter-Ultimate Getaway 2006

2009-12-08T13:00:00.001-05:00

Now that we have the long winter ahead of us, I'd thought I'd post a slide show from a trip I took in the Florida on the Ultimate Getaway liveaboard. We dove the Oil Wreck (140') and the Baja California (120') in the Gulf of Mexico. The diving was awesome, full of marine life and we all enjoyed some great artifacts. I am not fond of liveaboards so it took some convincing to get me to go and luckily we were blessed with calm seas the entire trip.

So if your looking for something to do over the winter that is within the United States then, check out the Ultimate Getaway. It was fun!

Press play below and turn up your speakers and listen to the music!!

End of Season Premature, 1 more dive coming up!

2009-11-15T19:06:00.006-05:00

Looks like I wrote my end of the season report (see previous post) a little prematurely, one of my new dive friends, Mark Hennessey asked if I wanted to join them on a trip to the Northern Pacific next Sunday aboard the Atlantus. I am still trying to clear my schedule to make it happen but this is one dive I've been wanting to do for a long time. Time will tell whether or not the weather will cooperate and if I am able to go. So stayed tuned there may be one more trip report for the year.

On a side note, last night I was at my favorite Pub, Doyles Poor House and they had this awesome 2 man band called The Skeggs. They are very simple, one acoustic guitar and a set of bongos and boy is the bongo player great. They play lots of Sublime, Bob Marley and also play more recent music like Coldplay with a reggae-bongo twist. I love listening to live music and I really enjoyed their show. Check them out sometime! When I am not diving, hiking or kayaking I like to just hang at the pub for a few and believe it or not, you would be surprised at how many other divers I've run into there. They have good food too!

May the weather Gods do their magic and make the seas in the North Atlantic calm this weekend....

11/20/09....Update...that NE wind is coming again, it isn't looking good for the N. Pacific... Just spoke with Andrew Larsen of the Atlantus and we are going to decide tomorrow...Keeping my fingers crossed.

11/21/09...Dive Blown out! I am disappointed that my last attempt for the year to go to the N. Pacific was blown out but, I don't want to be out there in NE winds either. Now, the season is over for sure.

End of the Season 2009

2009-11-12T23:05:00.003-05:00

I've come to admit that the 2009 dive season is over for me. It was a fantastic dive season full of adventure! I accomplished almost everything I set out to do: I am now a certified NAUI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Techniques diver, although I have dove in this manner for years, I did in fact learn a few things that I did not know before, therefore it was worthwhile; I dove, the Offshore Paddlewheeler which is a wreck I always wanted to dive and that dive was the highlight of my year; I ended up making a total of 14 dives to other wrecks such as the Pauline Marie, Varanger, Catamount, Southern Lilian, Inshore Paddlewheeler, Gloria and Double East.

Although I did not get to the Cayru, Freighter or N. Pacific as planned due to blow-outs, I did get to the Varanger and to the Southern Lilian twice. Brian & Andrew Larsen and Jeff Graham have included me in all of their offshore trips and I am so grateful to have found them and other divers that are interested in diving the same wrecks as I am. It has been very hard for me to start over with a new dive shop and new boats etc. but in the end, I think I have been rewarded with meeting such great people whom believe in me and my diving capabilities.

I just purchased new used tanks from another very accomplished diver whom can no longer dive due to cancer. It is hard to buy gear from someone whom can no longer dive. I will definitely think of him out there diving so he can be there in spirit. I will finally be rid of my double aluminum 80's, now I have two sets of double steel 100's. This winter I will also upgrade my regulators and get another computer and I'll be set of the the next season. Oh yeah...that dry suit, what to do??? Buy new or fix this one? I was wet all season and it has to be fixed!

I want to thank my friends in Diversion Group for a fun time on the Gypsy Blood this year and like I told Helen Bilinski, I wish I was able to dive with all of you more often. Helen said she is trying to plan the North Carolina trip for August next year and maybe we can make it fit into our schedule. Believe it or not I have never been diving in North Carolina.

As I have said many times before, I fully believe things in life always happen for a reason. Although I still do not know why events surrounding my diving happened, I can only assume that they happened to set me free to explore and expand my diving capabilities and experiences. I am still grieving the huge loss resulting from this, and somedays the pain is unbearable, but this season I continued to heal and grow. I accomplished a lot this year and it was not easy. Life is never easy, the harder you work to accomplish something, the greater the reward once you've accomplished it. I am proud of myself and I hope others are too.

I am really excited for what next year will bring in terms of diving. I will try again to get to the Cayru, Freighter, N. Pacific, Arundo and Moonstone. I already put a bid in with Diversion Group for an Arundo dive next season. The others...I'll just have to be patient and hope they show up on someone's schedule.

Check back throughout the winter, I am putting together some slide shows of old dives and old slide pictures Bill & I took years ago. I have one just about done and will be posting it soon. Till next year....

Double East

2009-10-21T18:55:00.001-04:00

Wow, its been a long time. I've been blown out of 6 dives include 3 trips that were to be once in a life time events that were to wrecks I have yet to dive. Maybe someday I'll get there. Anyways, since there was a lull between fronts, I took the day off which is a huge feat in itself, to go diving! For those whom don't know, I own my own business, Kim Dixon Environmental Consultant LLC, I also work a second job during the winter preparing corporate taxes for a CPA and I take graduate courses at Stockton College. My business is very busy now and my second job just started up so between those two things and the kids schedule, it is like orchestrating a perfect concert in order to escape for a few hours on the open sea.

Well, it was another beautiful day to be out. I was worried that the visibility would not be so wonderful due to the recent double noreasters, but I didn't care, I needed to get out and dive. As we broke out of the inlet we stopped at the bell buoy to decide what wreck to go to. We decided on the Double East aka the Rock Pile, because we also had some numbers for other wrecks nearby that we wanted to check out. When we arrived at the wreck, there was a fishing boat right on the wreck, they were gracious enough to allow us to anchor up and dive. They had already caught their tautog limit and didn't mind giving up their spot.

I was the first one in and had the duty to tie in the anchor. As soon as I splashed the water felt bone chilling cold. I thought, this will be a short dive if I don't warm up. The surface visibility was good but once I approached the bottom the water column was full of particulate matter. The vis wasn't so hot, it was about 10'. Bill again hooked us into a small piece adjacent to the wreck, memories of my previous dive on the Gloria began to flow through my mind. What to do... there was nothing substantial to tie into yet the anchor seemed to not be going anywhere. So I let it be and hoped it wouldn't pull out. I tied off my wreck reel and off I went in search of the wreck, it wasn't too far away only about 30'.

I swam around on the top of the wreck because the visibility was better and that is also where all the fish were. I saw quite a few tautog and lots of porgies around the edges of the wreck. This wreck is covered in mussels and I thought of grabbing some but, I figured I'd leave that duty to Bill. I then found an artifact...it was a bar bell weight that someone used for a drop line. I grabbed it because we are always losing our drop line weights and thought we could use it. I thought, here I am garbage picking on the bottom of the ocean. Speaking of weights, the recent storms uncovered lots of areas on this wreck and there were sinkers uncovered everywhere, more garbage to pick.

"Mussels everywhere"

Then that god awful noise came. It got louder and louder until I felt like the wreck was shaking under me and it was going to explode. So much for my peaceful swim with the fish. I knew it was a ship of some sort passing by but it was much louder than I had ever experienced and it kind of spooked me. I decided to head lower and to go down to the sand. I spent the rest of my dive taking photos of some sponges and coral. I found a lonely juvenile sea bass just as I was about to head up at the anchor. He sat there so still, I was able to take about 10 photos of him before he got annoyed with my flash.

My friend the sea bass!!

I ended up with a 40 minute dive and the bottom temperature was 65 degrees. I froze the whole dive but with the warm water temp., it must just be me, I am always cold these days. When I surfaced Bill told me a tug went by about 50 yards away...real real close, that explains the noise. Bill also informed me that I just missed a whale swimming by. I said no I didn't, I was swimming right next to it?? Didn't you see me? (haha)

Bill got a rather large lobster and a bag full of mussels. His spear band is shot so it didn't have enough power to kill any fish. During my surface interval I couldn't believe how many jellyfish carpeted the ocean, there were tons of them everywhere. When it came time for dive #2, I was achy and freezing, I am definitely not feeling right, so I opted to skip it. At this point I was dreaming of soaking in my Hot tub at home. We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out some numbers and were able to locate 3 of the 4 wrecks so next time out we will have some more variety.

Our dinner!!

On another note, does anyone have any idea how to figure out what the name of the wreck is when all you have is a few Silver Spanish coins dated 1776-1779? If you do contact me, I've been researching this all year and am getting no where.

Lake Atlantic

I hope to get out a few more times this season but, I am going away camping in the Great Smokey Mountains for a week and that cuts into dive time. Who knows, maybe there will be a few more nice days left this fall.

Gloria

2009-09-16T10:00:00.005-04:00

I got out to the Gloria yesterday after a traumatic few days. My dog, Kenai died on Friday and for any of you whom have dogs, it was devastating to me. He was a Golden Retriever and he came everywhere with me, driving around town, hiking, crabbing and fishing. I miss him so much. Anyway, I decided I needed to get away for at least part of a day to relax and reflect. Bill and I played hookey from work so that we could get out on this pristine day. After mixed reports on visibility, I figured since Capt. Dave Pfeifer dove the Flour on Monday and the vis was good that we should be ok with going to the Gloria. We only had enough time to do one dive today so we wanted to go somewhere close and the Gloria is just about an hour ride from our dock.

The Gloria is a steel wreck in about 70' of water and it is thought to be the remains of the Kennebec or Lake Frampton. No one has positively identified it as of yet. Once the anchor was dropped, I took the plunge to tie in the anchor. The visibility on the surface was good but not as good as I expected, lots of particulate matter was in the water column and lots of jellyfish. Once I got on the bottom the visibility cleared up to about 35'-40' and there were schools of tropical fish. However, the anchor was not in the wreck, it was hooked on a small piece about 40' from the wreck. I sat for a moment debating what to do and observed these schools of fish, they were swimming all around me. I decided to tie in the anchor on this small piece and to swim to the wreck instead of going up and trying again to anchor into the wreck. I ran a line from the anchor to the boilers of the Gloria.

I swam around the boilers and took some photos and was in awe with all of the fish. There seemed to be sooo many on them. I saw quite a few triggerfish and a lone butterfly fish. I swam towards the stern and found the prop shaft and eventually made it to the end where the giant rudder and prop was. I saw a picture of the Lake Frampton somewhere and it shows a rudder just like the one I saw on the Gloria today.

I was planning on doing one long dive, so I really swam slowly and took in the sights and took lots of photos. I saw a few lobsters and noted their location so Bill could get them on his dive and I saw a monk fish, I left him alone and took his picture. Monk fish are creepy looking and they always manage to spook me.

Once I got home and looked at my pictures, I concluded that the camera I have is ideal for shallower dives. There is a lot more available light and the pictures come out better. I need to invest in a better camera for deeper dives. Also, that monkfish, well when I showed Bill the picture he said it wasn't a monkfish it was part of the wreck out in the sand (silly me, what was I thinking?), the photo is below.

Monkfish???

This was a really nice day to be out diving and I feel better emotionally after going. I hope to get back out over the weekend if the weather permits otherwise, I know I'll be out the following week. Make sure you click on the pictures to enlarge them!! Safe Diving!

Southern Lilian

2009-09-06T19:30:00.005-04:00

I left early this morning under a beautiful moonlit sky for the Southern Lilian on Atlantus Charters. We had such an awesome dive on this wreck a few weeks ago that Geoff Graham, whom chartered the boat decided to head back for a second time. The forecast was for rough seas but when we broke into the Atlantic it was suprisingly calm and there was little or no wind. We were off for our 2 hour ride to the Southern Lilian. Once we arrived on the wreck the wind and the seas started to pick up but not enough to deter us. My dive buddy for today was John Priestly. I told him I was going to take photos and he wanted to look for artifacts. He offered to be my model for my pictures but at the last minute I opted to leave the camera on board (turned out to be a wise decision).

Once I hit the water I was awestruck by the great vis and deep blue water. I saw the first jellies of the season and they were so graceful and pretty to look at. Once we hit the bottom the vis wasn't as grand until you got away from the anchor a bit. I'd say the vis was about 20-25'. We were hooked into the debris field and I spent the dive lobster hunting and poking around. There was noticeably less ling cod on this dive. I saw a sea bass and the ever present conger eels. There was some large gear mechanism that was cool to check out. I was trying to locate the boilers but was unsuccessful. I ended my dive a little short (25 min.) in order to keep down my decompression time. I knew it would be rough hanging on the anchor line and I didn't have my John Line with me. Boy was I right, the hang was brutal and I couldn't even hang longer than a few minutes shallower than 20'. The anchor line would just rip out of your hands and you'd be swimming trying to reconnect with it. All during my hang I was thinking how am I going to get on the boat, the ladder was doing a big dance on the back of the boat.

When I surfaced I tried and tried and couldn't get onto the ladder. I was getting very discouraged and banged up (I was already banged up from a recent fall rock climbing on Mount Washington but that is another entertaining story). Finally I got on with my knees and the guys held on to me while I went for a ride until a lul came and I was able to climb up a step or two. I was so exhausted when I got to the top I didn't have the strength to swing my leg over the transom. Somehow I did it and it was not pretty. Geoff said I did a great job and I didn't panic. I was really embarrassed but not for long. Now it was time for the rest of the men to try and get on the ladder. They had a much harder time than I did so I no longer felt bad. The seas at this point was a full 6-8' and no wonder why I had a hard time climbing on board. We all made a decision to abort the 2nd dive and to head in.

On the way home we all had a few cold ones and told lots of dive stories of which kept us all entertained. Today was an adventure that I will not forget. It kind of reminded me of another trip like this years ago aboard the Down Deep and when we returned to the dock Lynn Delcorio got on his knees and kissed the dock, "we made it home alive", he said. Thanks to Geoff Graham, Jeff Heim, Jenn Washco, Dann, John Thomas, John Priestly, Steve, Brian Laresen and Shaner for sharing the adventure with me. In the end, I was proud of myself today and like I said in my earlier Diving Safely post, my training and experience helped me to stay calm during adversity and be safe today. I know I will feel the pain tomorrow, my arms and legs are already sore, but I'm ready to do it all over again!

I hope to be out diving on my own boat over the next few weeks, there have been reports that there is lots of fish on the Gloria, so I'll have to try and get out there. I also hope to be diving with Atlantus Charters in a few weeks to an awesome wreck, you'll have to wait to find out where we go!

Blown OUT!!!

2009-08-20T18:04:00.000-04:00

I was supposed to dive on August 22, 2009 on the Dina Dee and I just found out that it was blown out due to the swells from Hurricane Bill. This was supposed to be a dive for one of my courses with my Instructor Geoff Grahamn, I'm sure it will be rescheduled. I have had good luck this year with only 1 other blow out early in the season. I tend to be really disappointed when a dive gets blown out, there is so little time to dive and I feel a loss of what could have been. I have not been on the Dina Dee in years and was looking forward to seeing George and Roger and catching up.

Well I guess I'll be spending the day on my favorite island (sand bar) in Great Bay having a few cocktails and barbqueing. At least the wind will keep the green heads away. Maybe I'll do some snorkelling if the water is clear. There will be no more dives for me for a while, I am going on vacation! I'll be backpacking and enjoying the cool mountain air. Hiking is my other love and there is nothing better than spending time in the woods. Til my next dive....