Hvoslef 8-6-14

The Hvoslef is a Norweigan freighter that was torpedoed and sunk in 1942.  The wreck sits on a sandy bottom in about 140' of water.  We decided to dive this wreck today because it was predicted that swells would be rolling in from the tropical storm offshore.  Given the high relief of the wreck and sandy bottom we figured it was out best bet.  There were some swells but they were very small and as the day wore on the seas flattened right out.

As I splashed on this wreck the current was ripping on the surface and as a result we all jumped in with a tow to the carolina rig.  However, once you were down about 10' the current let up and was barely noticeable.  The surface viz was was similar to yesterday, never ending.  I did take my camera along for this dive so I was hoping for the best on the bottom.  Once we got to the bottom, this viz was not so hot, it was about 20'-25' but it was light.  We were anchored mid-wreck in a debris field with lots of pipes.  As you followed one of the pipes it led to the bow and the boilers and seemed to have lots of artifacts.  I spent my dive shooting some macro of the gargonian corals that you typically don't see in this area.

The viz seemed to get worse the longer we were down which made it hard to navigate.  I never checked the bottom temp but it was very cold, however, from about 50' up to the surface it was a balmy 75 degrees.I would like to visit this wreck again and hope to gain better conditions.  Sean found a dead light window which should polish up real nice!!

Again, there were lots of lobsters boated and some nice flounder.  I felt great after the dive, I have concluded that I need to do real conservative dives and hang extra long...it is what it is and at least I am still able to dive:)))  On the way in we saw a whale and a nice turtle, the ocean is full of life!

Ben Roberts hanging

We finished up the week of diving in Cape May at Lucky Bones for dinner, its seems we all ate a lot this week..  I am truly regretful that I did not dive the St. Augustine, the conditions were epic!!. Everyone raved about the visibility that lasted forever, the warm bottom temp in the 50's, and the wreck being covered in leopard dogfish along with the visiting Mahi Mahi.   I need to take baby steps and I will get there someday...I am now officially exhausted, it is not easy to dive deep multiple days.  I am looking forward to a few days in Chincoteague, VA with my friends to catch up on some much needed rest and sleep..then it will be time to go diving again..looking at the N. Lilian or Resor in the coming weeks.

Terror Wreck 8-5-14

I have been trying to dive this wreck for a long, long time.  My last attempt was in 2007 and when that did not pan out I was very disappointed.  I always knew I would be given the opportunity to dive it again but, I never imagined it would not be for 7 years.  Today, I was finally going to have this opportunity aboard the Independence II.

The Terror Wreck is an unidentified Swedish freighter that sits in 160' of water.  There have been many artifacts recovered from the wreck but, still its true identity is a mystery. Some believe it could be the Solvang.



As we left Cape May Inlet, the seas were flat calm and the sun was shining.  I was excited, yet nervous since this was only my second time out diving this season.  Today I was diving with Captain Dan and Dan Martinez and we were all going to swim around the wreck and stick together.  Since I was on open circuit I knew I would be heading up long before my buddies so I made sure I knew where the anchor was at all times.  The surface viz was awesome and the viz on the bottom was about 30'-40'.  It was clear and bright yet lots of particulate matter and luminesence in the water column.  We were anchored into the extreme stern of the wreck right next to the props that were easily identifiable.  There was a high piece of the stern that rose up about 20' from the bottom which is easy to penetrate.    If you swam along the prop shaft it would take you to the larger and higher mid section of the wreck that was impressive.  We all spent the dive just exploring the wreck.  There were some massive fish speared and a good amount of lobsters taken.  My main goal of this dive was to relax and take in the wreck and to be safe.  My goal was accomplished and I was so happy.

It was such a treat to be able to dive this wreck with such great visibility and lack of current.  This wreck is known to be dark and low viz but today was the exception. It was worth waiting 7 years or longer to dive it!!! Perhaps the opportunity will come again and I will be able to visit the Terror Wreck again.

The Dykes, July 26, 2014

I cannot believe that it is the end of July and I am finally making my first North Atlantic Dive of the 2014 season.  As some of my fellow divers know, I have had some health problems that precluded me from diving for quite some time and in the future I intend to share the story in an effort to help other divers know how important it is that you DO NOT dive unless your health is 100%.  That being said, I am so happy to finally be able to get out and dive again.  On board the Independence II we were destined for the Resor but, due to the weather forecast we opted to stay closer to shore and dive the Dykes for fish.  I personally was happy with this choice since it is a tad shallower than the Resor which made for an easy relaxing dive for my first ocean dive of the year.  I did dive 4 dives in the quarry last week to make sure everything was A okay and also to remind myself how lucky I am that I don't have to dive the quarry often.

I have actually only dove the Dykes one other time and it is not a bad dive.   The Dykes was a five masted steel schooner built in 1919 and sunk as part of the artificial reef program in 1983.  This wreck is rather large yet easy to navigate if you follow the keel through the center of the wreck.  On my first dive, after I splashed I was following the Carolina rig and realized the wreck was in view at about 20' down.  The wreck sits in 65' of water although I believe I didn't get any deeper than 63' in the sand, most of the dive was at 52'-54'.    I quickly explored the stern and then followed the edge of the keel and ribbing along the sand towards the bow.  The wreck is covered in mussels and there is a decent amount of sea bass, tautog, and flounder on it.  I did not see any lobsters and there were no lobsters brought up by other divers.  The visibility was great, about 30', although is still quite cold on the bottom.  I kept my bottom time short, at 30 minutes and headed up for the surface.

The Independence II attracts a lot of re-breather divers and as a result, most of the divers do one long dive. In fact Igor was down for 180 minutes.  I often wonder what you do down there for so long but, when they come up with lots and lots of fish or lobsters, I guess I see what they do with their time.  I did a short surface interval and went back in for dive #2.  On this dive I followed the opposite side of the ribbing and collected some sand dollars.  I enjoy painting and usually can't pass up nice sand dollars or sea shells that can be used for later projects. In fact, I spent most of the winter painting with watercolor and I am almost done with a painting that has the Indy II in the painting, I will share this on my blog once it is completed.

This trip ended with us back at the dock before noon.  There was a lot of fish to filet and we all had fish or mussels to bring home for dinner.

Sean Martini with his catch for the day, Looks like Igor is jealous in the backround!

Next week is the trip to Cape May for the week, time and weather will tell what wreck I may or may not end up diving..Be Safe!!

NOAA and the Robert Walker Wreck

I have held back for quite some time in writing about NOAA's recent report in which they have identified a wreck off of Atlantic City commonly known as the $25 wreck or Mason's Paddlewheeler.  Here is a link to the report:
Identification of the Wreck of the U.S.C.S.S. Robert J. Walker

Last July (2013) I was invited by the NJ Maritime Museum to attend a meeting with NOAA about the possible identification of the wreck.   I attended only because I was curious about their findings.  During this meeting NOAA advised that they have identified the $25 Wreck and/or Mason's Paddlewheeler and find it to be the Robert J. Walker Wreck.  They were interested in creating a bridge with the wreck diving community and ultimately setting up a display in the museum about the wreck.  They hoped that the wreck diving community could work together with NOAA to continue to further document the wreck and to have artifacts previously recovered by divers displayed in the museum.  Initially I thought that NOAA has finally changed its view about wreck divers and have found a way to work together towards common goals.

After the meeting I read through the report identifying the wreck and noticed immediately that my words were taken from my blog and used as a means to help NOAA identify this wreck without my permission.  I subsequently contacted Mr. James Delagado and expressed my copyright concerns and he agreed to remove reference to myself and my blog from the report.  Since our meeting, Mr. Delgado has been very proactive in trying to get the message out to divers that NOAA wants to form this bridge with them and that they are not here to confiscate any artifacts found on the wreck in prior years when the wreck was unidentified.  NOAA is currently working on a letter that would allow divers to display their artifacts in the NJ Maritime Museum without NOAA taking ownership of the artifacts.  I am cautiously optimistic that this letter will come from someone with authority given the existing laws in place claiming ownership to all Federally owned wrecks and their contents.  It is disturbing to know that while NOAA is trying to form this bridge with wreck divers, the Department of  Defense is trying to pass a rule revision that would further restrict diving to military wrecks or government connected wrecks..  Time will tell how this matter will be handled between the two Federal agencies

As you all know, I love to wreck dive and all of these events have deeply saddened me.  I have worked for and/or with government all my life and what I have observed is they do like to come in and propose radical regulations that restrict so many freedoms but, then in time they "relax" those regulations due to their impact on the economy or lack of means to enforce them.  I suspect this will be the case with these new regulations restricting our freedom to dive so many wrecks here in NJ that were tied to war times.  What NOAA or the Department of Defense cannot take away from me is my memories and adventures that I have lived diving these wrecks.  I have had great times out diving the $25 wreck in the 1980's and have participated in great conversations of what this wreck or other unidentified wrecks could possibly be.  NOAA came in and took credit for identifying this one wreck but, there were many years that divers found artifacts and saw the wreck before it settled into the muddy substrate.  During those times divers shared their findings and worked together to try to put the pieces of the puzzle together and identify a wreck.  I'm afraid I am still not convinced that there is enough evidence to accurately identity the $25 wreck and/or Mason's Paddlewheeler.  Those years where divers worked together and shared artifacts are now coming to an end as a result of the overzealous government agencies, and now this must be done in absolute secrecy.

I removed my post about the $25 wreck last year to protect my copyright rights.  Until the foreseeable future, I will no longer post in my blog photos of artifacts recovered, or even write about them unless I am absolutely positive that it is not a government wreck. I will however, continue to photograph divers obtaining artifacts underwater and up on the boat but, it will simply be shared in privacy among fellow divers and not on my blog.  Safe Diving!

Another Dixon becomes a Certified Diver

I have spent the last few weeks with my son, Matt learning the basics required to become a certified PADI Scuba Diver.  Matthew is an avid surfer whom surfs all winter long to catch the larger swells. He has developed quite the name for himself and respect of the Pro's that surf along with him.  As a result, he is a natural in the water and Scuba is like a walk in the park for someone adapt to 39 degree water and surfing heavy waves.  Scuba is the perfect sport to parlay with surfing...if its too rough to dive, you surf.

I went  to Dutch Springs with Matt on July 19th and 20th and watched as  he completed his 4 check-out dives and became a certified diver.  I am now a proud mom of two scuba divers!!!

I am planning on taking Matt out for his maiden voyage to a NJ Wreck within the next few weeks and hopefully he will be able to squeeze a few NJ wreck dives in this year!

Congratulation's Matt !  I hope you find passion for wreck diving as I have... (although I believe it will be VERY hard to sway him from his first passion, Surfing).

2013 Wreck Diving

Well here we are in the midst of a cold and snowy winter.  I actually enjoy winter because I enjoy winter sports such as skiing, snowshoeing, winter hiking, and ice skating.  However, I cannot ski or snowshoe every week so I often find myself with time on my hands.  Therefore, I compiled some photos from 2013 and created a slide show to share.  These photos are from various wrecks in New Jersey and North Carolina.

Last week the crew of the Independence II met to create the 2014 wreck diving schedule and I have to say, it looks like one of the best schedules as of yet!!

End of 2013 Season!

Well I don't know how time flies so fast but, it seems like a blip since I was writing about my first dive of the 2013 Dive Season.  I suppose I should be grateful that my life is so rich and packed full of adventure that time goes by so very fast.  As I type this we already have a few inches of snow on the ground in what appears to be a long snowy winter ahead which should give me lots of time to edit photos from this year.

In reviewing my dives for this year to wrecks such as the Maurice Tracy, Stolt Dagali, Moonstone, Oregon, Gulftrade Stern, Sam Berman, Resor, Cranford Ferry, Shurz, Pappose, Indra, Carribsea, Aeolis and lastly the Immaculata.   I have to say hands down the highlight was diving in North Carolina with my daughter, Rebecca.  It is so difficult to raise children these days and to keep them involved in healthy outlets.  I wanted Rebecca to learn to dive earlier than she did but, I also wanted her to do it when "she" decided that she was ready and wanted to do it for herself not to please Mom.  My patience paid off this year when I saw how she progressed with diving and found that she is a natural diver.  After all, not many newer divers can handle diving with sharks especially when it took me 25 years to be brave enough to do it!  I was sorry that the weather and timing never worked out for her to dive in NJ this summer but, there will be next year.

 

There is such beauty among all wrecks.

I am also very proud of an artifact that I found this year that I am still trying to restore.  It is a brass candlabra wall sconce and it is from an unknown wreck.  Once it is fully restored I will post a picture of it.  As you all know I have found a few artifacts over the years but, in recent years I have been too busy taking photos and as a result have not acquired many artifacts. I do enjoy taking photos especially when I can photograph someone else digging up an artifact and then then up on the boat photograph the diver with a big smile proudly displaying their great find.  I cherish those photos and I am sure the diver will too as years pass on. 

I hope all my diving friends have a nice Christmas and Happy New Year!  Don't forget to support your local dive shop during the Christmas season and also throughout the year.  There are so many dive things I would love to have such as a Rebreather, Housing for my Nikon camera, a new wreck reel but, most of all I just want to be able to safely enjoy wreck diving.   Wreck diving has brought so much value to my life, especially through other divers that I have had the pleasure of meeting along the way.

The sun sets on yet another year gone by..

I took this photo of a sand dollar on the Shurz Wreck this summer!

 "The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence.  It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the 'Living Infinite...'"  Jules Verne

Immaculata 10-5-13

We have all been fortunate to have such Great Fall Diving weather and today would be no exception.  I was initially not happy when I walked out of my house this morning to find it pouring rain but, it seemed that it was only raining in the south and there was no rain at all when I arrived at the Independence II.  We were heading to the Stolt Dagali today but we were aware of other dive boats destined for the same wreck so we took a quick vote and agreed to go dive the Immaculata.  The Immaculata is not one of my favorite dives mainly because of it being a dump site, kind of grosses me out but, a lot of divers enjoy the dive since it is known for lobsters, fish and bottles.  I will admit there is something for everyone on this wreck.

Once we arrived at the dive site, the sun was still hidden behind the clouds making it a little dreary so I opted not to take my camera and instead to try and find some bottles.  The surface visibility was about 40' until we were at the wreck.  On top of the wreck the visibility was about 20-25' but down on the bottom in that elusive silt, it was 5' or less.  I immediately grabbed my wreck reel since I could not see where I was anchored in and headed off along the ribs of the wreck.  After I got away from the anchor line, you could actually see about 20'.  I swam to the end of one of the ribs looking for a spot to start digging and didn't find a "good spot".  I turned around and reeled in my reel back to the anchorline and headed across the wreck to another set of ribs.  This part of the wreck looked more promising because I found lots of broken glass and china.  There are lots of holes on this wreck and each one either had a crab or lobster in them.  If you enjoyed eating the crabs you could have filled you bug bag with them.  I saw one fluke and a lot of larger sea bass.  I found a spot to dig and of course I pick the one spot that gave me nothing but broken pieces.    It is neat to find old bottles but, I prefer one from a wreck that has some history other than a garbage barge sunk on top of a garbage dump.  On my way back to the anchor line my trusty OMS reel became the usual mess, so much so that I left it on the bottom because I was too aggravated to deal with it on dive #1.  Terry came along and saw my mess with the reel and was nice enough to reel it in and bring it on up for me saving me the aggravation on dive #2.  That Terry is such a nice guy!!

On the surface everyone (except me) came up with either lobsters or bottles.  Capt. Dan even found a statue and an espresso cup.  There were all different sizes and colors of bottles including a real nice seltzer bottle. It is fun to read all of the bottles and figure out what they were used for and how old they were.  Now a days everything is packaged in plastic so there are not many bottles anymore.  Future generations may never know what it is like to dive for bottles...

I opted to sit out dive #2, I just didn't feel up to it.  The other divers did another dive and came up with even more lobsters and bottles.  Hence it was Bottlemania today on the Immaculata!  The water temp was 64 degrees on the bottom and 67 degrees on the hang.  The past few weeks there seems to be a lower number of divers on all of the dive boats and I do not know why, the conditions have been great!  What are you all waiting for get out there and enjoy the fantastic Fall Diving that makes diving Wrecks in NJ so much better than anywhere else!!

The Cranford Ferry 9-21-13

It feels like it has been a month since I went diving even though it has only been 2 weeks.  I spend several days a week up at the beach with my son surfing and all I think about when I am up there is gosh, I wish I was out diving!!

Today we were destined for the Imacculata but, the weather kept us closer to shore and we decided to go to the Cranford Ferry.  It seemed to be a girls day out since there were mostly girls out diving on this charter.  It had been a long time since I went diving so close to shore that it took no time at all to be at the wreck, I believe we were anchored with the pool open by 7:30 am.  I splashed and was greeted with murky green water that stayed pretty much the same all the way to the bottom.. The visibility was about 10' and at times 15', it was not real dark so it wasn't too bad for an inshore wreck.  I did bring my camera and spent time running my wreck reel from piece to piece looking for clearer water and subject matter.  Since this wreck is an artificial reef and it was an old ferry boat, there was not much to really look at plus the wreck was pretty covered by mussels.  I saw a lobster and a summer flounder and some small sea bass.

Look at all that particulate matter in the water column!

 The bottom temp was a balmy 61 degrees which resulted in me staying down for one long dive.  I still turned on my heated vest midway through the dive to take the chill away and without it I would have gone up sooner.  I took a few macro shots of the mussels and in the end loaded up a bag full of them for dinner!!

 

The Resor 9-7-13

I  was planning on diving the Northern Lilian tomorrow but a quick change of plans landed me on The Resor today and it ended up being an epic dive for me!!  As I left my house at 4am, I noticed that the sky was loaded with bright stars and it was so clear it felt like you could touch them, it was a sign that good things were in store for today.  While we loaded the boat Stephan whom just returned from a trip of diving Lake Superior wrecks was playing the song..The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, on his cell phone.  He thought the song was appropriate music as we left the the dock and headed out the inlet.  This song brought back good memories of another trip I was on in the Gulf of Mexico.  A guitar player was playing that song as we ate our dinner in an outdoor bar prior to leaving on the live aboard "The Ultimate Getaway" and at the time the song too seemed fitting as we headed out into the Gulf.  That trip ended up being a great one and I hoped the song would again bring us good luck today.

It was flat clam out in the ocean today and we had a full boat of enthused divers, the last trip out to the Resor brought loads of scallops and today everyone was hoping for a repeat.  The surface visibility looked amazing and once I splashed you could see forever.  The wreck quickly came into view and I just could not believe the visibility, easy 60' or more.  I hung on the anchor line for a minute or two to take in the layout of the wreck, I was so excited because you could see so far and it was also very bright on the bottom.  We were tied into the extreme bow of the wreck which is sinking into the sand, it does not sit up as high as it had in the past.  There was a little current on the wreck so I quickly tucked behind the starboard side of the wreck to be sheltered from the current.  I saw a few cod, they were small but nice to see and the wreck seemed to have a lot of sea ravens in the sand as well as on the wreck.  I swam towards the stern and came across a washed out area loaded with ocean clams, scallops and razor clams.  In the corner of this area I spotted a lobster, you know me, I am a chicken when it comes to grabbing lobsters but this one was out in the open and not in a hole.  I saw John Haws and I got his attention and showed him the lobster then I remembered, he doesn't like to grab lobsters either.  Here we are two of us on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean yet too afraid to grab a little lobster. Well John got brave enough to go for it and got the lobster and put it in my bag for me..I then started to collect scallops along with John,  He brought me over to the port side of the wreck and pointed out the bow anchor.  I tried to photograph it but my wide angle was not large enough to capture the whole anchor. The wreck was teaming with marine life, there was tons of cunners, large ling cod and tautog.  I was loving every minute of this dive and did not want to leave the bottom but my time was up..It is not often that you have such great visibility off of NJ but when it happens it just makes the dive that much nicer. 

Part of the Anchor

The Bow

The Bow

 Once on the surface, the bags of scallops, lobsters and cod came up.  Everyone was happy and excited for the second dive.  This day was also beautiful on the surface, it was just the right temperature with a brilliant sun shining.

Flounder

The Bow

 

As I descended for my second dive I noted that the current really picked up on the surface but on the bottom the current seemed to let up.  I decided to try and video the bow section of the wreck and the anchor with my Sealife video, I did not have my Gopro with me.  I knew the video would come out green but, with this much ambient light at this depth, it should at least be worth a try.  Before long, I realized I was not feeling my best, I could tell I was not breathing properly and started to get a head ache and to feel lightheaded.  I consciously told myself to try and breath steady breaths but still felt like I was not getting enough air.  Therefore, I just sat in the sand off the extreme bow and tried to calm  myself down by resting and taking photos.  My head hurt even more so I went up, I still managed 20 minutes on the bottom but I was upset that I was not feeling on top of my game.  During the hang Capt. Dan, Stephan and I were strung out like neatly stacked flags and the current was flowing.  My arms kept tiring and I had to keep switching hands to hang onto the anchor line.  I did manage to video tape several divers ascending and descending while on the hang.  I hung and extra 15-20 minutes on O2 as a precaution since I was not feeling my best. The old saying, hang until your head stops hurting. 

Ling Cod among clams, scallops and razor clams

While the viz was outstanding today,  the water was full of comb jellies, salps etc. which does not work the best for photography, it creates a lot of back scatter so my pics are not too hot but, I am sharing them anyways.  More scallops and lobster came up after dive #2.  We checked out some numbers on our way in and by the time we were nearing the inlet it was getting pretty rough in the Atlantic.  It was a beautiful day to be out diving so I am glad to say that the song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was good to me again.  I am hoping that next week brings another great weekend for diving!!!

The video came out ok and I'll post it later in the week. Be Safe!!!

Gulftrade Stern 8-25-13

Early this morning after arriving at the Independence II we took a vote and the majority sent us heading to the Gulftrade Stern. My first logged dive on the Stern of the Gulftrade was on May 30,1988 and I was still diving in a wetsuit!  In my logbook I noted that the wreck was covered in mussels and was a good sightseeing wreck.  Wow, hard to believe that I have been diving on this wreck for 25 years. Although, I am not sure exactly how many dives I have on this wreck over that time period.  I was last on this wreck on Sept, 25, 2011 and I posted a trip report located in my blog archive which you can refer to for a little history on the wreck, plus there were some old photos of the wreck in that post too.

Today it was a little bouncy on the ride out and it felt cool like the fall but, as usual I was thankful for another day out diving. This wreck sits at about 70-90' and I was planning on doing a longer dive to take advantage of that oxygen enriched air. I splashed to brownish green water filled with the typically summer luminescence and salps that yielded 30-40' of visibility on the bottom.  You could see the wreck from the carolina rig which always tells me the dive is going to be awesome.  The visibility was great yet it seemed a little more cloudy on the bottom since the water was so full of life.  We were anchored into a high piece right next to the boiler and I swam to the edge of the wreck and followed it down to the extreme stern to a large debris field.  This wreck has changed a lot of over the years and is slowly breaking down but it is still an interesting wreck with lots to see and do.  The wreck is great for photographing sea anemones.

  After checking out the stern debris field I headed to a few pieces off the starboard side of the wreck about 40' out in the sand.  This area was loaded with sea robins and I tried to coax them to come closer to my camera for a good macro shot but they were skittish.

 

 I went back towards the wreck and went inside the wreck to photograph some of the sea anemones since the water was a little clearer inside.  I had a great time looking at this wreck and didn't want to leave the bottom but that deco was mounting..During my hang all alone, I looked out and saw a large sting ray that spanned bigger than me.  It swam around me and then took off.  Sometimes when you see things like this all alone you realize that it was a gift for you and you were meant to be in this exact spot in time:))  For me it was the icing on the cake for an already fantastic dive.

During the surface interval lots of lobster and fluke were boated.  Some of the lobsters were quite nice.  The sun was shining and felt so good and the seas started to lay down.  A few divers on board were only doing 1 dive today, mostly rebreathers since they spend like 3 hours on the bottom but, me still on the old fashioned open circuit was definitely going in for dive #2.

The sun was sitting higher in the sky so it provided that extra light on the bottom that helped you to see even further on my second dive.  I went out into the sand near those sea robins I saw earlier and realized that the sea robins were collecting sand dollars in their garbage piles.  I collected about 15 sand dollars to bring home.  I then saw a dead crab and this blackfish was eating it.  He let me practically get my lens right on top of him and posed for a few photos when out of the corner of my eye I saw an ocean pout swimming in the sand.  He appeared to be yellow with some blue in it.  He was not scared of me so I took a few shots of him.  Kind of ironic because we were just talking during the surface interval about "some" divers fear of eel pouts and lobsters. I won't name any names...

 

 This dive too went by way too fast.  On my hang it was just Sue and I with out cameras and we took photos of each other.

 

 I ended the day with a nice cold beer at the dock laughing with the crew:)

I am taking Labor Day weekend off from diving but, look to get out to the Lilian and 56 Mile wreck in the following weeks.  Be Safe!

Sam Berman 8-17-13

 
After sitting on the beach a few days this week and enjoying the flat calm aqua green water, I decided that I needed to go diving this weekend and not allow a weekend of 2' seas to pass me by.  I signed onto dive the Sam Berman with the Independence II.  The Sam Berman was sunk as part of the Shark River artificial reef in 1987.  It is a 160' long navy tanker that sits in 125' of water.  This wreck is not dove very often and is within 1/2 mile of the Stolt Dagali.  It is known for good visibility and today would not be an exception.

As we anchored up the visibility looked at least 50-60' on the surface but when I splashed the great surface visibility lowered to about 30' on the bottom.  There was lots of silt that easily stirred.  I swam around the bow and noticed that this wreck was covered with lobster traps.  They were strung across the wreck and out in the sand too.  The wreck seemed to move with the abundance of summer flounder, they were everywhere along the edge of the wreck.  This wreck sites upright and is easy to penetrate although I did not venture into the decks below.  There were also lots of lobsters on this wreck that were not even in the traps.  There was basically no scallops and the few token scallops found appeared to be very old with growth on them.

On the surface a lot of lobsters and fluke were brought up.

During my second dive the visibility improved to about 40' and  I found a Sea Raven on the deck and I was determined to get a close up picture of it.  This little guy played a nice game of chase with me.  Every time I got close he'd take off before I could take a photo.  This went on for a while and eventually he turned around and came at me!  I got a few pictures but not the shot I was looking for.  The rest of this dive I swam towards the stern and looked in the huge holds that were full of marine life.  This artificial reef wreck was not bad, better than the popular Algol.

More, fluke, lobsters, a monkfish and a cod were brought up on the second dive.  Most of the divers on board today were heading offshore to the Carolina tomorrow.  I sure wish I had planned to go along, I never dove that wreck and would like to someday.  I hope they all have a safe and prosperous dive!  I am looking at trying to dive the Oil Wreck next weekend.  Sean is promising to take me to get some floor tiles, time will tell if I am up to the challenge..

Photo of me coming up from my dive by Brandon McWilliams

The R.P. Resor 8-10-13

Even though it has only been a few weeks, it seemed like much longer since I went diving in NJ.  Today we were destined for the R.P. Resor, one of those wrecks that has something for everyone and you never get bored diving.  I have dove this wreck lots of times over the years and each time I return, I am not let down by what it has to offer.  As we set the hook I noticed the deep blue water I left last week in North Carolina has arrived here in NJ for the summer and I knew that meant great visibility.  The surface vis was at least 60' and the bottom was about 40' or greater.  Today was a day filled with tons of scallops, lobster, and a plethora of fish.  On my first dive, I explored the extreme stern of the wreck and took photos while other divers spent their time hunting the abundance of monkfish on the wreck.  There were lots of "projects" underway by other divers that yielded one nice porthole and other artifacts that needed some more work on future dives.  It is amazing to see a wreck dove so often still yields portholes, cage lights and other engine machinery.  The stern is still so impressive with its 30' of relief with lots of areas that allow for penetration into the wreck.  I had a great dive and knew today I would definitely be making two dives.

On the surface the seafood came up, quite a few lobster including some real nice larger ones, fluke, ling cod and the monkfish.  One thing about monkfish is they are great to eat but, there is always a battle story that comes with every one taken.  Today it was the stabbing of one with a dive knife that just would not die and then having it try to bite divers while decompressing.  Nothing like a huge mouth open and closing close to the legs of innocent divers trying to hang...

Just before my second dive the gold mine of scallops was discovered by another diver and it got everyone excited.  With scallops being one the the best delicacies on the ocean floor and the price nearing $22 a pound, we all were anxious to get our own personal load of scallops.  I spent this dive looking for scallops and taking more photos.  With so many hunters on the bottom the large tautog were staying away from those with spears, yet they were not afraid to come and hang near me the diver with only a harmless camera.  I had fun trying to get close to these large fish to take their photo.  

 

 

 

 

 Once on the surface, bag after bag came up loaded with scallops.  I personally have never seen so many on a dive boat before.  In addition, even more lobster and a smaller monkfish were boated.  Today was truly a great day to be out diving for food.

A few of the many bags of scallops and the porthole tucked away in the rear.

I cannot end this report without saying that  I was deeply saddened to hear about the local dive accident last weekend.  My heart goes out to the family of the diver and also to the crew and other divers on board the dive boat.  You are all in my thoughts and I hope that the bond of  wreck diving helps to ease the pain of your loss.  Be Safe!!