Gulftrade Stern 8-10-19

Today was an early departure, we were off to the Gulftrade Stern aboard the Independence II.  The conditions on the surface were calm and I did notice that the sunrise is getting later.. We had a nice  ride out to the wreck filled with chatter about salty wisdom, and were lucky to beat the fishing boats to the wreck and tied in before 8 am.  

There were a lot of divers that were planning to spear fish today and as a result, I waited for all of the spearfish divers to be towards the end of their dive before I splashed.  I did not want to be in the path of divers learning how to spear!!

 

The Gulftrade stern was a tanker heading for New York with a cargo of fuel oil when it was torpedoed by the U-588 on March 10, 1942 in the mid-ship breaking the tanker in two.  The stern section sits in 90 feet of water about 8 miles from Barnegat Inlet.

I have always enjoyed diving this wreck and today would not be the exception.  It is a good wreck for photography and fish.  Once I splashed just ahead of Arthur Vaccarino whom also did not want to be in the path of the spearfishing divers, the water was very green with some bioluminescent and the occasional jellyfish.  At about 30'-40' I hit the thermocline and went into the very cold water for this time of year.  I had about 46 degrees on the bottom.  Once on the wreck I noticed that there were no divers to be found so I headed off to the pieces of wreckage in the sand and began taking photos.  There was a lot of particulate matter in the water column however, when you are shooting photos you tend to forget this fact at times, and I thought I was getting some great shots of the tons of sea bass on this wreck.  I would find out later that the particulate matter effected a lot of  my photos.  Anyway, I enjoyed photographing the sea bass, ling cod, and a lobster that was tucked away in a pipe.  

I stayed on the bottom as long as I could before I was so cold it was time to head up to warmer waters.  During my hang I tried to photograph some jellyfish but the water was too green so, they just blended in.  Up on the surface, lots of door mat sized fluke came up along with sea bass and lobsters.  

I had a great day and realized that 1/2 the season is over an I have only been out on 4 dives.  I need to get out here more often because I truly love it!  Hoping to get out next week somewhere and then if I can fill my tanks with Trimix, I hope to get out on the 56 Mile Wreck which is my new favorite wreck since I first dove it last year.  A shout out to the crew of the Indy, thank you for always helping me load and unload my heavy tanks, ti is much appreciated!!  Be Safe!!

 

Stolt 8-4-19

Today we ended up on The Stolt Dagali again, I am not complaining, I enjoy this wreck and had a great day out diving.  We were headed for the Algol but, there was a fishing boat on top of the wreck so we diverted to the Stolt which is a close good option.  This year I have not been out diving much for various reasons but mostly health, so it felt great to get in the water.

The wreck is covered in small mussels which allows for abundant food for lots of fish.  I also noticed that since I was on the wreck a few months ago there are lot of starfish have moved in to feast on the mussels.  I recall a few years ago you could not find any star fish due to the star fish wasting disease.  It is nice to see that they are coming back and thriving! 

The visibility was only about 15' today and it was cold on the bottom, 49 degrees.  I spent my dive as usual, shooting photos and it was not long that my hands were becoming numb.  My dive was very relaxing and peaceful...

Once I surfaced, it was a smorgasberg of fish, we had lots of flatty's, sea bass, lobster, monkfish and the elusive cod.  It had been a long time since I have seen someone spear a cod.

Thanks to the Indy crew for a nice day!  Looking forward to next weekend!

Stolt 6-1-19

Well it has almost been a year since I posted to my blog.  I did not have a lot of time to post last year and hopefully this year I will find more time.  In looking at my blog, I see I didn't even post about my dive to the 56 Mile wreck last year, it was one of the best dives I ever had and hope to get there again  this year.  I had tried to dive that wreck for years and it was worth the wait!

I went out over the weekend with Gotham Divers on the Independence II to dive the Algol.  Upon arriving at the Algol a very large fishing boat was double anchored right on top of the wreck so we moved over to the Stolt Dagali and joined the Gypsy Blood  dive boat whom was already anchored on the wreck.   I had heard about the epic visibility on the wreck last week but, today it was only about 25' which still is not bad. 

The wreck this year is covered with tiny mussels.  I am always amazed how one year the wreck will be carpeted with sea anemones and another year it is covered in mussels.  There were some sea anemones but not as much as in prior years.  I looked all over for nudibranchs but, they were elusive.  I took some photos however, one of my flash diffuser fell off when I splashed so the lighting was not ideal.  The water is deep green and the temp was in the low 50's.  It did't seem too cold but, then again I was warmed up from swimming on the surface from the Independence II to the Gypsy Blood's Carolina line.

Stony Coral

I did see some large Tautog, they were on top of the wreck letting the current run through their gills.  Perhaps the limited open season for these fish has resulted in the population increasing because there was definitely quite a few on the wreck.

There were mussels and winter flounder boated.  Everyone seemed to have a great day of diving and I sure was happy to be back at it!!  Be Safe...