Diving Social Events and More Old Dive Logs

It was a busy weekend in terms of socializing with other divers. I attended Women of Northeast Wreck Diving presented by Steve and Maureen Langevan at the NJ Maritime Museum on Friday night. They presented their documentary about the women wreck divers such as Evelyn Dudas, Sally Wharman, Janet Kieser and Deb Whitcraft whom paved the way so to speak for other women divers. I think the fact that sticks in my mind the most is that Evelyn Dudas dove the Andrea Doria with no pressure gauge. I cannot even fathom that.. There was a common thread among theses women divers in which they were all inspired to get involved with diving because of a special man in in their lives. Yet it is the "men" that created so many obstacles for these women. I could totally relate to that because there are special people whom inspired me to continue to dive all these years and yet they also have compromised my diving at times. The presentation was well done and had a great sense of humor about it. It was a nice night out and I finally got Bill to the museum to see our artifacts on display. We have a light and porthole from the Sea Girt Wreck, swing plate from the Brian C and china from the SS Mohawk on display. I am working on getting some more artifacts and photos to the museum, I'd rather have them there for many to enjoy than sitting in my garage or attic.




I also attended Ocean Wreck Divers Flea Market on Sunday in an attempt to sell some of our older gear. We sold a UK light but then ended up spending more money than we made. We got two small up-line spools and another pair of mitts. It was more of an excuse to get out and see some dive friends in the middle of the winter. Helen Bilinski and I were noticing that the crowd did not consist of divers from the younger generation which is bothersome. Who will the next wreck diving adventurists be, if we don't get younger divers involved in diving? I think its is mostly a result of the economy coupled with the inflated prices of dive gear. It seems to be much more expensive to start out diving than it did when I was a teenager. Which is exactly why I expected to see younger divers at the flea market trying to get a bargain. I hope this industry re-cooperates and the days of boats full of divers returns!

I decided to add a few more dive logs for fun:

First Lady (Horizon Dive Boat) 7/1/90
Depth 100', 23 minutes of Bottom time
"In-tack clamer, artificial reef, tons of mussels and large black fish, real nice wreck"

San Jose (Horizon Dive Boat) 7/1/90
Depth 112', 32 minutes of Bottom time
"wreck was in a circular shape, good visibility and lots of bugs"
I don't know what I was looking at back then to think it is was circular???

A.C.Wescott Barge-Artificial Reef (Horizon Dive Boat) 7/22/90
Depth 71', 29 minutes of Bottom time
"Square barge, sea squirts an anemones. I got my first bug in a tire (6lbs). Good photography wreck."
My dive buddy was Dave Keller (Killer) and he helped me to get this large lobster. I know there is a picture out there somewhere of "Dave and I" holding the lobster together. I sure would love to have a copy, if anyone comes across it. I remember this day fondly because Dave was and still is such a nice guy and he wasted his dive helping me tackle this lobster. I was proud of myself for getting that bug...I am not talented at harvesting lobsters and that was my largest one.




SS Mohawk (Sea Lion) 9/18/90
Depth 79', 39 minutes of Bottom time
"I circled around the entire wreck and then dug for china. I got pieces of china, a leather shoe sole, pieces of a toilet. I couldn't find the anchor so I did my Deep Diver objective: ascent using my spool tied off to the bottom. It wasn't difficult but the seas were calm and there was no current." On my second dive to this wreck I found a piece of a serving dish, piece of china with a flag on it (there was a "C" inside the flag), and pieces of crystal. During this dive I ended up going into decompression and ended up hanging extra long because I was cold.

Arundo (Sea Lion) 7/10/91
Depth 130', Bottom time-20 minutes, 22 minute safety stop
"Lots of flounder and poison fish on the wreck and portholes. I got my first case of nitrogen narcosis and felt like I was going to pass out and go to sleep. It occurred half way through the dive".
2nd dive on Arundo:
Bottom time 20 minutes
"I went inside a large piece of wreckage and found 2 portholes near the anchor line. Bill didn't have enough time to get all the bolts off, it'll wait till we return another day".

Sea Hag (Robin dive boat) 7/14/91
Depth 90', Bottom time-27 minutes, 15 minute safety stop
30-40' visibility
"Great visibility, we were in the bow where a room caved in. Lots of beautiful sea anemones, fish and mussels. easy wreck to navigate and I liked it a lot".

Resor (Robin dive boat) 8/11/91
Depth 130', Bottom time-22 minutes, 30' visibility
Dive buddy: Barb Mortenson
"Hooked into stern where there was plenty of places to penetrate the wreck. There were 3 backing plates near the big entrance"
2nd Dive: "My buddy Barb got stuck in a lobster hole and thank God I was swimming by. I saved her life, it took a lot to get her out of the hole and it put me over my time limit and into a long decompression. We also had to pull the anchor...The hang was hard and I was very low on air".

I still think of this dive a lot and I am so thankful that I swam by and noticed that Barb needed help. If I was not there and alert, Barb would not be here today. I was forever shaken up by this dive and I hope that someone would do the same for me if I needed help. We never really expressed fully to other divers exactly what happened because both of us were so scared, instead we joked about it but, in reality, it was very serious. Barb has not been diving in recent years but, we keep in touch and we both know I was her guardian angel that day. This event also changed the way I dove, I realized that I must be self sufficient because I may not be so lucky to have someone swim by and help me out if I was in trouble. I became very aware of staying away from areas that I could get hung up on and made sure I was proficient in using my equipment to save myself if need be. It gives me chills to think about this day especially knowing it could have turned out very differently. We were very, very fortunate..

Since my last post I made the decision to go to the Cook Islands with Pangaea Explorations.
Link: Pangaea Explorations
It was a huge decision for me but, you only live once, and I really wanted to go dive, photograph and experience the pristine reefs of the South Pacific. Yesterday, they contacted me and advised that they were changing up the itinary and were only going to the island of Rarotonga and will not be visiting the other 7 islands as they originally planned. I was crushed to say the least and decided to pass on the trip. They did extend the invitation for me to participate in the portion of the expedition which covers the northern Cook Islands to Christmas Island near Hawaii. I am still contemplating this but, the timing is an issue with my schedule. A diver that inspires my diving advised me a few months ago to go and dive the world. I thought this was my chance...I guess the universe has different plans for me.