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!!!