Safe Diving

I just heard about another diving fatality in the area. Although I don't personally know this diver, my heart goes out to her family and friends.

It is always in the back of my mind when I head out for another dive that something could happen that would result in an injury or even a fatality. However, I have been diving for a very long time and I contribute my diving safety to various things but one of them is they way I was taught to dive.

A majority of my training was taught by Gene Peterson whom is one of most experienced divers I know. He taught me to dive "clean" and not to carry too much unnecessary equipment that could get in the way in the event an emergency happened. He also taught me to stop, slow down and think before I act. I often stop on descent or as soon as I get to the bottom to regroup, calm myself and to rethink of my objectives for the dive. I am the first person that if I don't feel comfortable before a dive or on descent I will turn around and get back on the boat and try it again another day. You don't always feel 100% every day and there are always other days to revisit a wreck. Gene also taught me to take my time at reaching my goals, you should work up to a really deep dive and get lots of practice in on shallow dives. For these things that he taught me among many other things, I believe have kept me diving safely all of these years.

I therefore, dedicate my recent accomplishments to Gene for teaching me to dive safely. I will carry these lessons with me as my diving progresses into the future! I will also continue to look for new ways to dive safer so that I will have many many more dives. Please be safe!!

Offshore Paddlewheeler

I don't know where to begin but "Dreams Do Come True"! I have been trying to get to the Offshore Paddlewheeler for quite some time but was having a hard time trying to find a boat to take me there. In steps the Atlantus! They were more than willing to bring us to this amazing wreck.

As we headed out into the ocean at 6:30 am from Atlantic City we watched a beautiful sunrise and chatted about the upcoming dive. Once we were anchored on the wreck, I splashed to find the surface visibility to be only about 20' which was less than I expected, but once we got to about 95' down I could see the wreck come into view. The visibility cleared up to a good 30'-40' and it was bright. The water temp on the bottom was 48 degrees and the maximum depth I got was 146'. The Atlantus anchored us right between the two paddles which couldn't be more perfect. I quickly got busy taking photos as I toured the wreck and Bill spent his time gathering scallops and lobster. Just like a few weeks ago on the Varanger, this wreck was loaded with Ling cod and I took a picture to show how many there were. There were also lots of bergols and one large tautog circling the paddle (He knew he had 2 more days till open season). There are lots of artifacts on this wreck lying around and I'm sure great things could be found if you spent some time digging on this wreck. The hang was a little rough since the seas were churning, a john line was definitely called for.



Eel Pout and an artifact.









Lots of Ling Cod out in the sand








One of the spectacular Paddles





As I said earlier, I dreamed of diving this wreck for a long time and not only did my dream come true, but I was fortunate enough to be on the wreck with Stephan McAllister whom was videoing the wreck. Well he took some video of the entire wreck and also videoed me! Once we were on the surface he downloaded the video onto a CD for me to have. Now I have a video of myself living my dream. This was the nicest thing anyone has done for me and I don't even think he realized what a gift this was for me.

During the surface interval we were treated to some ballad's of Sam Magee, which are some old folklore stories from Alaska. Stephan kept us entertained with his stories.

During my second dive, I took some more photos of eel pouts and I also looked around under the decks. This is probably one of the most unique and pretty wrecks I have ever been on. The way the paddles so profoundly rise up off of the decks, and to think they have been there since the civil war era. There is also a scallop dredge sitting in the wreck that got hung up and abandoned.














On my way up the anchor line after my second dive I passed Stephan. Once we were back on the surface Stephan told me that I had the biggest smile on my face as I passed him. He said there are not many girls whom dive and it was nice to meet me whom loves it so much. If he only had any idea of what I have been through to get to the Offshore Paddlewheeler and to even still be diving he'd be amazed even more. He is right, there are not many girls that dive deep and love it to the extent that I do.




Brian Larsen








Stephan McAllister










On the ride out ...





All of the divers onboard went home with lobster, scallops and fish. There was some brass brought up too! It was the general consensus that this wreck is awesome and everyone wants to dive it again someday.

During the ride home we planned our next dive adventures with Brian Larsen. We are hoping to try and get to the Max's Wreck or the Cayru next. It appears that this summer will turn out to be one of my most accomplished summers in terms of diving in a long time. Take a peak at a portion of the video from the wreck below. Dive Safe!!! Kim

Video of Offshore Paddelwheeler 7/14/09

This video was taken by Stephan McAllister. That is me with the camera!!