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

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

  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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!!