Stolt Dagali 6-18-16

After a blown out dive to the Resor last week, I was looking forward to getting wet today and the weather forecast was calling for a beautiful day.  We headed out of the inlet on the Independence II for the Granite wreck which is known for lobsters.  After arriving at the wreck, there was a large fishing boat anchored to the wreck.  There was no room for us to squeeze in and share the wreck so we headed over to the Stolt Dagali.  I like to dive a variety of wrecks and while I just dove the Stolt a few weeks ago, I was more than happy to dive the wreck again.  I honestly just love to dive and generally do not care where we dive as long as the company is fun and I end up in my underwater world.

Once I was on the bottom, there was no way that you could not notice how much life has grown on the wreck in just a few weeks.  The wreck was covered with bergols, and the sea anemones have grown to cover more of the wreckage.  There were some large black fish hanging on top of the wreck and also some large winter flounder on the bottom.  I also noticed a few comb jellies which is a sign of warmer water coming in.  The visibility was great again at a steady 30' and the water was a bit warmer, about 50 on the bottom but, a warm 65 on the hang.  I did head to the bottom for a few minutes but, for photography, the light was much better at around 60-80' so I hung in this area and shot some photos.  I had a nice relaxing dive that lasted about 40 minutes and I called it a day.  On the surface there were a lobster or two and some fish speared too along with some mussels harvested.

I tried my hardest to locate some nudibranch's while on my dive but could not find any with my naked eye.  However, just like my dive on the Tolten a few weeks ago, I did capture a few in my photos.  I am curious as to why they have not moved onto colder waters since the water is warming but, I suspect this was my last chance to photograph them.

Nudibranch to the upper right of the mussel.

Three nudibranchs in the lower right of this photo.

I will be taking the next two weekends off from diving unless I can squeeze in a Friday dive out on the Dina Dee.  I plan to dive the Resor on July 9th and then it will be almost time for Deep Week!

Tolten 6-4-16

Every dive season I always find myself diving the Chilean freighter known as the Tolten.  Given its hard sandy bottom it never disappoints in terms of visibility and today would be no exception.  This is my second trip out in the North Atlantic this year aboard the Independence II and we were again greeted with flat calm seas.  We all joked about how the boat charges extra for the guaranteed flat sea days.  Once we were tied to the wreck I splashed right away as today I wanted to do two dives.  I could see the wreck coming into view at about 60' and it was nice and bright on the bottom.  The wreck seemed to be loaded with sea bass today but, they were skittish for some reason.   I do have to say that I saw some very, very large sea bass and there were quite a few speared today.  We were tied into the bow and it has been a long time since I dove this portion of the wreck.  It is easy to navigate and is great for photography and for spearing fish.  Today was one of those days when taking photos came easy, there was plenty of ambient light, the water was clear and the wreck was full of color.

Immature Conger Eel

I saw some immature scallops and took a photo of one, this is always a good sign that scallops will be abundant again someday.  I also found an immature conger eel that watched me then came out of his hiding spot and swam right by me allowing for a procession of photos.  I swam towards the boilers but did not quite make it there as I was very distracted taking photos.  I lasted about 30 minutes on the bottom on my first dive and I became cold, the bottom was much warmer this week at 49-50 degrees and the surface was 56 degrees.  During the surface interval the sun was warm which warmed me up for dive #2.

Immature Scallop

On my second dive, I tried to photograph one of the large anchors on the wreck but, my camera is not the best at wide angle.

One of the Tolten's Anchors

The viz today was about 25' which is great in my opinion! I again lasted about 30 minutes and had to surface to warm up.  As much as I want a rebreather, I seriously I doubt I can stay down for hours since I just get so cold, but that constant PO2, that is something I still will greatly benefit from.

Once I was home and started editing my photos I noticed within the Hydroids that there was something pink scattered about.  As I zoomed in I realized they were Nudibranchs.  I have never seen Nudibranchs on any of my dives on wrecks off of NJ.  I was so excited!!  They appeared in so many of my photos all over the wreck.  Had I noticed this on the bottom or during my surface interval, I could have gone back to them and shot a bunch of macro shots of them.  At least I got a few good shots!  It was my big excitement for the weekend!!!  I did a little research on the Nudibranch and their scientific name is Aeolidia papillosa and they are of the species sea slug.  Nudibranchs feed on sea anemones which explains why they were so abundant on the sea anemone covered Tolten.

Nudibranchs within the hydroid!

Nudibranch - Aeolidia papillosa

You can see more Nudibranchs within these hydroids too!

I am not sure whom wrote this quote but it was so fitting for this weekends dive.  "Keep the explorer in you alive.  It will take you to your destination."  I believe, that I was destined to be on the Tolten to capture part of the wonderful marine life that exists on the wreck to share with others.

  Next weekend is the Resor, another one of my favorite dives.  I can never dive the Resor too often!