San Jose 6-20-10

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

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

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

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!