I went out on the Independence II and we were originally destined for the Immaculata but, the sea conditions required a modification to our dive destination. We eventually ended up on the Maurice Tracy after going to the Tolten and Granite Wreck and finding boats on them. Since the Stripers are not quite in yet, there are lots of boats out wreck fishing and it has been making it difficult to get on a wreck. The sky was really cool in the morning with rays of sun shining through the clouds to the ocean.
The Maurice Tracy is a collier that sunk on June 17, 1944 when it collided with the Jesse Billingsly. I do like this wreck and have never had a bad dive on it. It is easy to navigate, shallow giving divers lots of bottom time and I typically have good visibility on it and today would not be an exception. It was a chilly raw day and the seas were a little choppy forewarning of the fall and winter to come, it was winter coat weather today!. Once we were tied into the wreck I geared up and splashed to clearest water that I have seen in quite some time. There was a lot of particulate matter floating in the water column but I would say the visibility was at least 35'. The water temperature from top to bottom was 59 degrees. I had a little trouble clearing my ears on the way down and when I was almost on the wreck I actually had to go back up to try to clear my right ear. Once that was out of the way I was off on my dive. I luckily had my camera with me and started taking pictures right away. I knew the particulate matter was going to interfere with taking photos since the flash really reflects it back but, I feel that it adds to the character of photos taken of wrecks in the North Atlantic. I have been complimented numerous times that my photos show what it really is like on the wrecks of NJ. Therefore, I shot away and did my best to shoot down at the wreck to avoid too much back-scatter. I was not down very long when another diver gently tugged on my fin and wanted me to follow him. We swam around the boiler and he showed me a big conger eel in the back of the boiler. I took a few shots of it but it was a tad too far for my camera..
I swam all around the boilers and the debris field noticing that there were a ton of juvenile sea bass, they were so cute, they look the same as their mature version but, are only about an inch or two long and that is with a mask on. They kept swimming up to my mask and were quite fast, it took a while to get them in my viewfinder for a picture.
The other thing that I noticed was the bottom was covered with mermaid purses..
I spent the entire dive looking for tropical fish and it was not until the end of my dive that I spotted a butterfly fish. I chased him all over trying to get a good shot. I never swam to the bow but, other divers said there were more butterfly fish there.
As I was chasing the butterfly fish I found another conger eel in a pipe and he was sitting there smiling at me begging for a photo opt..
I started to feel a chill after about 45 minutes on the bottom so I headed back towards the anchor and thought to myself, boy I had a great dive, if this ends up being my last dive of the year, it was a good end to a great safe dive season.
Once I was reviewing my photos at home, I noticed that the gun mount was in the sand and used to be on the superstructure, next time I'll have to look at it again and see if I was truly seeing the gun mount or another piece of wreckage. The last time I was on this wreck was June of 2011 and I did capture a photo of the gun mount right in the area that I was diving again today..
The Independence II will continue to head out as weather permits, I hope to be out at least one more time with them. We had a lot of laughs on board which is good for the soul!!!
Safe Diving!!
