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.
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