Max's Wreck/Montgomery 8-20-10

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

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

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.