End of the 2016 Dive Season

This year was definitely interesting and unlike any other year in terms of diving.  I started out with an amazing dive experience of diving with Stellar Sea Lion in British Columbia.  I am so in awe of these creatures and know that I will go back to dive in the Quadra Island area again.  I enjoyed the Quadra Island and diving so much, it is somewhere I would really consider retiring to some day.

The NJ Wreck Diving season started only a few weeks after I returned from British Columbia and it started out exciting as I was seeing large numbers of nudibranchs and I became obsessed with photographing them.  Many divers have told me that there are little to no photos of nudibranchs in NJ and I was lucky to have the chance to see them let along photograph them.  I do think seeing so many nudibranchs in British Columbia opened my awareness of them enabling me to find them easily on wrecks.

Nudis on the Tolten

This year the dive season was a little odd for me, the weather caused lots and lots of dives to be blown out and when I did get out, it always seemed to be on the day that we were heading to the Resor or the Stolt Dagali.  These wrecks are among the best but, I was disappointed that I didn't get offshore once this year or that I didn't have a little more variety of wrecks that I dove.  My dive season ended on September 17th which is the earliest it has ever ended for me.  Diving is so unpredictable which is why I usually try to head out as much a possible,as some years the season is just too short.

The blown out dives did enable me some free time to demo the JJCCR and Megadalon Rebreather as I am gearing up to crossover.  I think this winter I will be making the switch so that next summer I will be diving CCR.  There are so many reasons I have wanted to do this for a long time and I am very excited for this new chapter in my dive life.  We shall see what unfolds!!

I will be updating my display at the NJ Maritime Museum next week so, stop by for a visit this winter and let me know how you enjoyed your visit.

I want to say that I was very sad to see that the Dina Dee dive boat is for sale.  I try to dive on the Dina Dee every year and always have a great time out with Capt. Roger and the crew.  The NJ Wreck Diving charter boat industry is truly dying and there are only a very few boats left.  I hope the day does not come that the industry is completely non-existent.  In addition, we all can clearly see that the number of wreck divers are dwindling too.  It is part of the reason that I share this blog with fellow divers.  Diving has enriched my life tremendously and I want nothing more than to share the excitement of wreck diving with new divers so that this amazing sport stays alive.  I do not know what the answer is, but I will continue to do my part and GO DIVING!!

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas with lots of dive toys under their tree!  Don't forget to support your local dive shop through the holidays and winter...they are needed.

Enjoy my video of Wreck Diving 2016: