I have been anticipating my opening dive for the 2013 for a quite a while... It seems I live all winter long with visions of how great it will feel to be back underwater and today that vision came true. It was a beautiful spring morning with a spectacular red-ish pink sunrise that brightened to a bright orange-yellow hue as I drove up the parkway and loaded my dive gear upon the Independence II. It was great to see familiar faces again and I was excited for what adventure lay ahead for my first dive of the season to the Maurice Tracey. I was especially excited to use my new Santi Heated Vest with hopes of taking a little bit of the chill out of the 46 degree water.
It was lake Atlantic today as we all chatted about everyone's new dive gear for the 2013 season, we had new drysuits, Hollis Prism 2 rebreathers, lights, cameras, camera housings, and of course my Santi Heated Vest. I splashed right after Capt. Dan, Wayne Fisch and his newest rebreather student. I instantly felt that ice cream headache as the cold water hit my face but it quickly disappeared as I focused on the wreck below. As I approached the bottom I turned on my vest and was impressed with how quickly it warmed me up and I was thinking, boy I should have purchased this years ago... The visibility was 20' maybe more in some spots and it was relatively light with no surge or current. This wreck has two large boilers and then a debris field behind the boilers. There are several pieces that are out in the sand but, overall it is not a very big wreck. There was no need for a wreck reel on this easy to navigate wreck. I headed out to some pieces in the sand keeping the large boilers within vision. This wreck did not seem to have been effected by the hurricane, perhaps a little more sand but nothing really noticeable. What was really evident was the lack of fish. I saw a few sea bass and tautog but, they were not in abundance. I also did not see many lobsters. I did spot a rather large sea bass in the debris field and I wished that I had my camera, it was the most brilliant blue and was not frightened by scuba divers. I could have gotten some awesome photos of it. I left my camera on the boat since it was my first dive of the season and I figured I should focus on just diving for the first dive. In looking back at my trip report from 6/12/11, I wrote about the hydroids that blanketed the wreck giving it its grayish color. I did not notice that the wreck was covered by this hydroid today, perhaps it was removed by the hurricane or perhaps it is cyclic. There were a few pink-hearted hydroids on the higher pieces of the wreck but overall, not much marine life, hence maybe the reason for a lack of fish...
Two pictures from 2011 trip to Maurice Tracey.
Before long I headed up, I ended up with a 44 minute runtime which I know I could not have done without the heated vest, it made a huge difference at least for me. My hands were numb but that was manageable. Once I was up and on the boat, I was actually colder than when I was in the water. It was a raw day on the surface, no sun, and just plain old damp. I could not get warm enough to splash for a second dive. There were some lobsters and fish boated by the other divers.
It was a nice day out on the Atlantic Ocean, catching up with friends that I have not seen all winter and meeting a few new divers. I am thoroughly relaxed and thankful for such a nice fist dive of 2013. Till my next adventure... Be Safe!!!
