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!!!