The 2015 Dive Season has begun!!!

I was so ecstatic to go out diving today after this long and cold winter!!!  As you all know I did not dive a lot last summer so, I wanted to get in the water early this year and try to dive a lot.  We were originally destined for the Arundo on the Independence II but, given the weather, we opted to stay inshore and voted on the Rockland County.  This was fine by me because I am "old school" and I like to do at least one shallow dive before I venture into deeper waters.  Of course the weather forecast was inaccurate and there was little or no wind and flat seas instead of the predicted 3-5' seas.

The Rockland County was a 95' tugboat that was sunk in the Sea Girt Artificial Reef on Valentines Day in 1986.  It sits in about 76' of water depth.  I actually had never been on this wreck and it is always nice to check out a wreck that you never dove.

I knew that the water temperature was going to be cold so I came prepared with Cold Gear Under Armour,  Fourth Element  undergarments and my heated Santi vest.  I turned on my heated vest before I hit the water so that the chill would never set in.  I was pleasantly surprised that when I hit the water, it  did not seem all that bad.  The visibility was about 10' and I believe we were tied into the top of the bow section.  This wreck is great for macro photography because it is carpeted with large sea anemones and mussels.  The pushers in the bow that were used for pushing barges are now covered in pretty anemones lined up in perfect rows, I wish I had my camera to photograph it.  My dive was relaxing and uneventful, I hardly saw any fish or lobsters.  I lasted 24 minutes and my fingers started to get numb.  My computer said the bottom temp was 47 degrees but all the other divers said it was 44 degrees, either way its cold!!

It felt great to get in the water and insure that all of my scuba equipment was performing well.  I was impressed with Igor and his 3 hour run time..I asked how he stayed warm so long and he said you have to keep moving, he must have checked out every inch of the wreck with a run time like that!!  All in all everyone onboard today had a nice dive and was happy to get wet.

This spring, I have been busy setting up a rotating display of some of  my underwater photographs and artifacts at the New Jersey Maritime Museum.   http://njmaritimemuseum.org/

 If you are looking for something to do on a day when your dive has been blown out, please visit the museum in Beach Haven. There are some fabulous rotating displays by local divers so you will always see something new.