Resor 8-28-16

This summer has been so strange, lots of blow out dives and whenever I do get out it seems I end up on the Stolt or the Resor.  I am not complaining, both wrecks are fantastic and I do not get bored of them!

Today I was fortunate to join the Sea Gypsies dive club on a trip to the Resor on the Independence II.  The Sea Gypsies are a very friendly group and I enjoyed meeting them all.  Today it was very sloppy out on the ocean to say the least.  It makes you appreciate the flat calm days so much more!  When the seas are rough it is that much harder to gear up, get in the water, do your decompression and get back on the boat safely.  I was actually happy to be returning to the Resor so that I could locate more nudibranchs to photograph.  The plan was to dive with Sean Martini after all he divers were done and pull the anchor.  So, I was topside while everyone else went diving, patiently waiting for my turn to splash.  There is advantages to waiting it out...you get bottom reports for conditions from other divers and on a day like today, I could see how everyone struggled to get in the water and grab the carolina line given the seas and current.  After watching this with diver after diver, I opted to leave my camera topside and just dive.  No sense in struggling with my camera in these conditions, there will be another day for photos.

I splashed ahead of Sean and we were meeting up on the bottom.  However, that never happened, my ears wouldn't clear quickly and Sean whizzed past me on the way down yelling at me to go, go go.. We never found each other on the bottom.  That was ok by me and I am sure Sean too.  The viz was about 50', so crystal clear and cold of course.  I swam out towards the gun and then circled around the stern structure in the sand.  I then followed the debris field out and found a lobster.  I contemplated grabbing the lobster but, I was too chicken, so he was left for someone else to find.  I really enjoy going in the debris field and then looking back at the main piece of wreckage, it really is impressive, about 40'  of relief seems so large. I then went back to the stern and looked for nudibranchs.  There were hundreds of them, all over, some pieces of hydroids were literally covered in them.  I was sure missing my camera.  I just lit them up with my light and watched them, they are so small and yet so cool to see.  Truly such a privilege!

The hang was miserable, no viz, anchor line dancing all over, current...it was torturous and then the ladder smacked me good in the shins but, I got up easily.  The Indy ladder is the best!!  So is the crew, always there to lend a helping hand!

I contemplated doing a 2nd dive and taking my camera to shoot the nudibranchs but, given the sea conditions, almost everyone did not do a 2nd dive so I figured I'd skip it too.

There was lobsters, flounder and cod boated by other divers, not a bad meat day.