Granite & Sea Girt Wrecks 10-23-12

I have not had good luck lately in terms of diving, I have been blown out of dives every week since my last dive on the Baleana.  I saw a window of good weather this week so, I jumped at an invite to go diving on "The Rage" boat.  We were originally thinking of going to the Bonanza but, we voted on going to the Granite wreck instead.  Today there were just  few divers, Gerard, Al, Gene, Tina and I which made for a laid back day off of work for diving.  The seas were flat calm and the sun warmed the cool morning air as we motored out of Manasquan Inlet.

The Granite Wreck is an old wooden sailing ship that was carrying a cargo of granite blocks.  It sits in 115' of water and has lots of wholes for lobster.  I have dove this wreck before under good visibility and it is an impressive wreck.

Gerard and Al whom both recently upgraded to new Revo rebreathers, splashed first to secure the anchor and do their dive.  The surface viz looked good but, when they came up they reported horrible viz on the bottom.  However, they both noted that as they were heading back up the silt was clearing and the viz was opening up so, they told us all to jump in and should give it a shot.  Tina and I splashed next and we were going to hunt for lobsters.  I did not take my camera in but, I took the Gopro along (Not a big fan of GoPro but its better than nothing).  The water column on the way down was loaded with large particulate matter and when we reached the bottom we had only about 10' of viz at best.  So I tied off my wreck reel and we headed off in search of lobsters.  It seemed like no time at all and Tina was signaling that it was time for her to head up. Of course we did not find a single lobster..I went with her back to the anchor line and I planned to stay down a bit longer but when we got back, Gene had already started to pull the anchor, so I too went up.

Granite Wreck Video

During the surface interval and for the remainder of the day we experienced a strange event .  There were these small birds of all different species that were barely flying (I suppose they were heading south for the winter).  Eventually would land in the water and since their wings would get wet they would drown.  It was unnerving to see so many of them die so Tina decided we should try to net them out of the water and save them.  I was of the belief that this is mother nature's way of weeding out the weak and frail thus, we should just let them be...  The two birds that Tina did rescue eventually flew away and committed suicide.  Ironic,  here we are taking lobsters but, rescuing small birds from a watery grave???

We moved inshore for the the second dive and went to the Sea Girt Wreck.  The last time I dove this wreck was last summer on a night dive aboard "The Rage" and we had a good time and here I am again on "The Rage" diving the Sea Girt (see my Sea Girt Night Dive post from August 2011).  Tina and I splashed first to tie in the anchor line and I was happy to see that the visibility was much better here, about 15'.  I was the first one down and while I secured the anchor and waited for Tina, I noticed an abundance of sea bass on this wreck.  Tina and I followed one of the walls of the hull out to the massive chain pile.  Tina was on one side of the wall and I was on the other and the two of us looked in every hole for a lobster, Tina got one real nice lobster and we had quite a few that were too small which were left on the bottom.  Once we got to the chain pile I was in awe with how many large sea bass were on the wreck,  it was covered and I wished I had taken my camera along because they seemed to be such a deep blue color that would look nice in a picture.  Before, long it was time again for Tina to go up and this time I followed her because I was freezing cold.  Even though the water was 59 degrees from top to bottom, I felt cold along with the other divers.  We were all so chilled that Gerard cranked up the heat in the cabin so it felt like a nice sauna...it was one of those nice luxuries. 

Today was a nice day out diving especially since none of us had to be at work.  The surface conditions were excellent and although the viz was not the best at the Granite wreck, it was still a good dive and most important, we all came back safe.  Gerard made a point in saying that I bring Good Luck to "The Rage" so I hope that means I'll be invited to dive with them again.!!

It looks like mother nature will not be permitting us to dive again this weekend so, I am planning on Diving the Arundo the first weekend in November...

Balaena 9-30-12

The Balaena is one of those wrecks that still has a lot of unknowns.  It is believed to be a wooden whaling vessel from the late 1700's-early 1800's.  The only item identifying the wreck is the bell that was found with Balaena stamped on it.  It remains in great condition after all these years and is relatively intact.  The water that flushes through the wreck site is from the Hudson River which contains fresh water and has helped to preserve the wood on this wreck.  This wreck is known for its abundance of dead eyes which is why I was anxious to dive it.

Today I splashed with Bryan and Kevin and the plan was for me to run a wreck reel and we'd just get a feel for the wreck since neither of us have dove it before.   As I splashed that crystal clear blue water loaded with jellies and luminesence was all around me.  I could see the wreck from about 128'.  This wreck is in 155' of water.  The visibility was about 30' which is excellent for this mud hole wreck.  I was prepared for the usual deep,dark, and dangerous type of wreck and carried multiple lights, knives etc.  However, we could see quite well and while there was fishing lures and monofilament on the wreck it was not as bad as many other wrecks in this area.  Once on the bottom, I found that the the hull of the vessel came up about 10-15' off the bottom and was intact around the entire wreck.  I headed off in one direction, I think the bow..and immediately noticed the large infestation of Sea Ravens.  They covered the wreck, kind of creepy.  Since this wreck had holds filled with coal, there were piles of coal all over the wreck.  I swam along and picked up every piece that I thought could be a dead eye but, ended up finding nothing but pieces of wood and coal.  There was also some type of soft sponge that looked like coral but it was soft and pliable all over the wreck.  I do not know what type it was and had never seen it before.  The area that I believe was the stern, opened up a bit more with lots of nooks and crannies for the resident lobsters.  Towards the end of the dive I found two lark circular pieces of wreckage that rose up at least 30'-40' that I was later advised were vats used to boil whale blubber.  I thoroughly enjoyed my dive and would like to come back to this wreck next year especially since it simply amazes me that a wreck so old is preserved so well.

On the surface, the coolers were filled with lobster and Ben found a circular piece of wood that would be on a mast to help hoist the sails.  It was a nice find and will look really nice once it is preserved.

Today was a nice Fall Dive with great conditions, we even had zero current under the Harvest Full Moon..I also enjoyed the crew and divers on board today, there was a lot of laughter that just added to an already perfect day out on the Atlantic..I am trying to dive as much as possible in the next few weeks while this warm, blue gulf stream water is in close to NJ.    Be Safe everyone!!!