The Tolten was a Chilean freighter that was torpedoed and sunk on March 13, 1942. I have never had a bad dive on this wreck and the visibility is always great and today would be no different with 30-40' viz.
It has been nearly a month since I dove, I had minor surgery and could not dive for over two weeks and of course it was unplanned and landed right in the middle of dive season. The good news is that I am clear to dive again for now and I am going to try to make up for lost time. Today the Independence II was chartered by Gotham Divers and it made for a nice group of divers.
Every summer the past few years we end up with this algae bloom that creates pea soup layer on the top 20'-30' and then once you are below the thermocline the water clears up but, it is very dark due to the sun not being able to penetrate through the algae. I don't mind the darkness but, it does make it more difficult for photography. As I descended I immediately recognized the area of the wreck I have have visited many times over the years. I shot some photos and then noticed that there were lots of fluke (summer flounder). I finally found one that let me approach rather close and I spent quite a while taking photos. I wish I had a bug bag because I could of easily scooped this one up for dinner. In fact, Joe did just that, he just bagged the fluke with no need to spear or stab it. For some reason, they were not skittish, I even touched the one I photographed and he remained still.
After a while I left the fluke and swam around the wreck and could not help to notice that this wreck was absolutely covered in nudibranchs. I wonder why they are so prevalent this year? The water was 52 degrees on the bottom which is still rather cold so perhaps that is why they are so abundant?
I enjoyed my dive and and before long I was heading up to hang in the nice warm water on top. The visibility was so awful on the hang that a diver crashed into me with his scooter because he could not see me. It does disorient you when you can only see the anchor line you are holding onto.
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| So many Nudibranch |
There were quite a few fluke boated and some real nice lobsters too. It was a great day of diving!
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