Tolten 6-6-15

Well I have been kept at the dock the past two weekends while the wind blew and blew.  However, it gave me some free time to go fishing and enjoy the sandbar with my friends..

My favorite sandbar, many great days here.

I thought for sure that today was going to be an addition to the string of blow-out weekends but, was happy that Capt. Dan  of the Independence II decided to persevere and try to at least dive something inshore.  My son Matt, whom is an avid semi-pro surfer has been telling me all week how crystal clear the water is and I was hoping that the clear water was around today for my dive.  As everyone knows...I am the optimist so I brought my camera along for good luck...

We were all pleasantly surprised that NOAA was wrong again with their forecast, instead of the predicted NE 3'-5' going to 4'-6' seas we had some 1'-2' rollers that eventually laid down as the day went on.  After following the SailFlow App for the past two years, it seems to be a much better predictor of wind and seas and was accurate for today's weather .  Captain Dan headed to the planned destination of the Tolten.  I always liked this Chilean freighter that sits in 95' of water and today I would not be disappointed.  The Tolten was a World War II casualty and was torpedoed by a German  U-boat on March 13, 1942.

The catch from the Tolten!

The surface visibility looked great and I almost did not take in my camera but, Sue said...its the days you leave it on the boat that you are blessed with good viz for photos.  So, I quickly put it together and brought it with me which was a great decision because we had a good 20-30' of viz.  The ocean is starting to warm up too, we had 54 degrees on the bottom and 59 degrees on my hang.

I did not travel far from the tie-in, I just swam around and shot a ton of photos.  I believe we were in the bow section since there was a lot of relief to the structure.  The wreck was covered in fish and lobster pots from last year..they were strung all over the wreck along with the ropes stinging them together.  There were some sea bass and cunners but, I did not see any larger fish.  A diver spotted a cod in one of the fish traps and there was a lot of lobsters brought up now that the lobster season is open!!
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed today's dive and has us all excited for the upcoming dives of the summer.

One of the many fish pots abandoned on the wreck.

Not sure if many of you know this but, I paint watercolors for a hobby.   I enjoy diving on the Independence II so much, that I added the dive boat to the view outside of the window in my painting that I did last year.  I am working on some underwater paintings now of some ocean pouts and lobsters, boy are they difficult to paint!

The "guys" are trying to convince me to go and dive the 56 mile wreck next weekend, I am hesitating because of the cold water temps, I find it difficult to safely off gas when the water in the top 40' is still so cold.  I have never dove that wreck and really want to dive it so we will see in a few days what I decide to do...I am leaning towards going for it!

Lessons learned that saved my life...

We all hear about tragic scuba diving accidents that so deeply effects our small community of wreck divers.  We do not hear a lot about the scuba accidents that did not result in another death but, resulted in a life saved.  I have pondered for quite a while over whether or not to tell the story of my diving tragedy that took place over 2 years ago.  Part of me wanted to keep it private and yet it is so profoundly affecting me that I feel telling other divers may help me to get through this and possibly help to save another divers' life someday.

This tragedy started to unfold in 2012 when I started to do more frequent deeper dives and dives utilizing Trimix.  I was conducting dives according to the tables that I prepared for the particular mix and depth I was diving and I always added extra safety factors.  Safety factors included hanging longer at my last decompression stop even though my computer cleared me.  However, I would surface and within 1/2 hour I'd have a case of the skin bends which would go away after breathing on O2.  I know this is common among divers that routinely dive deep but, in my past this never occurred to me.  I started to think that diving on Trimix was what was leading to this repeated skin bends.  The addition of Helium (thus Trimix) would make me even colder than on air or nitrox so, I thought being so cold was preventing me from off-gassing particularly at the deeper and colder decompression stops.  Therefore, I purchased a Santi heated vest to help alleviate the cold and hopefully eliminate the skin bends.

In 2013 my deeper Trimix dives that I planned were cancelled due to weather so I never got to try out the heated vest while diving Trimix.  However, I started getting skin bends on shallower dives.  Some of the cases were in no decompression recreational dives that I even hung on O2 at 15' just for added safety.  This frightened me and it would not happen on every dive so I could not figure out why it was happening.  I took the worst hit on a dive that was only 65' deep and my bottom time was only 30 minutes on 28% Nitrox.  I even did a safety stop on O2 at 15' for about 15 minutes.  In this case the skin bends went from a rash to pain to tingling down my leg.  I breathed on O2 for a long time before the symptoms ceased.  I could not figure out what was causing this and now my original theory of breathing Trimix coupled with being cold went out the window.

This brings me to my tragedy that took place on October 5, 2013.  I was diving on the Immaculata which is in 95' of water and I planned to do a safe no decompression dive. I do not usually utilize a wreck reel but, when I arrived on the bottom it was pretty silted up so I opted to use the reel to get away from the anchor line and into clearer waters.  The dive was calm and uneventful.   I recalled looking at my computer and having 4 minutes left before I was required to decompress.  I was reeling in my wreck reel heading towards the anchor line.  There was only 5-10' of viz on this portion of the wreck due to divers digging for bottles.  All of a sudden this feeling came over me and I was started to lose consciousness, everything went black.  I recalled that I was aware that I was still breathing and that I was 95' underwater.  I realized that I was in the process of losing my life while diving.  I tried to keep breathing and prayed to an angel and asked that I not die here, not yet, and not here on this wreck.  I still had my wreck reel in my hand but, I could not reel it in.  My arms felt heavy and I could not move them.  I was able to kick my fins a little and hold onto the reel line and guide myself blindly towards the anchor line.  I was still breathing and unable to see and my heart was starting to pound out of my chest.  I was aware that panic was setting in...  My body then started to convulse.  I kept praying and I looked up and saw a faint light in the distance and it turned out to be the strobe on the anchor line.  I focused on that light because everything else was still blackness and I somehow got myself to the anchor line. Once I made it to the anchor line, my vision returned but I was extremely dizzy.  As a result of holding my wreck reel line as I tried to make it to the anchor, I was now all tangled in the wreck reel line.  I told myself to calm down I will get out of this. I looked for other divers to help but no one was nearby.  Somehow, I do not know exactly how, I got my fins untangled all the while my heart was still beating strongly.  I sat for a moment knowing that I needed to get my heart rate to slow down prior to my ascent.  I looked at my wreck reel and what a mess, I tried to straighten it out so that other divers did not get tangled in it and then I remembered what my old instructor always said, "no piece of equipment is worth dying over".  I dropped my reel, grabbed the anchor line, and left it on the bottom.  As I started to ascend and the feeling of losing consciousness came over me again.  I wanted to just make it to the boat.  I tried to go as slow as possible.  I recall losing consciousness again around 60' but, it was only briefly.  Once I reached 20' I was now in decompression.  I had to hang.  I somehow switched to O2 and started my decompression.  I kept hoping another diver would come along so I could have them hang with me in case I lost consciousness.  I spotted another diver coming up from the bottom but he was hanging at around 50' and I could not get his attention.  I was not thinking clearly and did not think of shaking the anchor line to get his attention. I also was aware that he had a lot of deco too.  Once my deco was done, I was feeling better and I tried to hang longer for added safety due to what transpired on the bottom.  I hung an extra 16 minutes and I decided to surface.  Up on the boat I felt ok and I had no symptoms of DCS or anything else.  I was however scared to death.  I obviously did not do my 2nd dive and I kept what happened to me on the bottom a secret.  I was trying to be strong and not completely break down emotionally over what had just happened to me.  I was so scared that I simply did no how to handle this and in hindsight I should have spoken up and told someone.

The next day I made an appointment to go see Dr. Alfred Bove and try to figure out why I have been getting skin bends and why I went unconscious on the bottom.  I have thought long and hard about this and I should have died on that wreck.  I do believe some angel or other spiritual being saved me that day.  There simply is no explanation for how I got to the anchor line.  I could not see and could not move my arms but somehow followed my wreck reel line and got to the anchor line.  This is what causes me so much angst to this day...how did I make it to the anchor line???

Dr. Bove tested me for a PFO but, he did say that if I was positive for one, he would advise me to continue to dive but to add a lot more safety factor and to dive more conservatively. I tested negative for the PFO. Therefore,  I went through a battery of other tests to figure out why I am having so many complications while diving.  It was determined that low blood pressure was the culprit for my problems.  The low blood pressure was resulting from some of the medications that I take.  I now need to dive much more conservatively and to monitor my blood pressure on a regular basis.  I know that I cannot dive when my blood pressure drops.  Dr. Bove explained how when your blood pressure is very low and you exercise it will cause it to drop even lower which is why he believes I lost consciousness.  Likewise, the low blood pressure effects circulation and was preventing me from off-gassing properly, thus the skin bends.  In other words, I am getting older even if my mind still thinks I am 20 years old.

I have contemplated what would have happened if I had another diver nearby for assistance.  One of the most important lessons I have learned over the years in diving is to be self reliant.  In knowing myself and my personality, I think having another diver there to try and communicate and ask for help would have raised my level of panic even further and wasted valuable seconds.  I believe that knowing I had to rely on myself helped me to continue to breathe and focus on getting safely to the surface.  If I was not an experienced diver, this plan of mine would most likely have failed.  I have concluded that the instructor that taught me the lesson to be self reliant resulted in me saving my life.  This instructor is Gene Peterson.  I owe him my life.  There are so many skills that he taught me over the years that never seemed that important at the time until this day when I did exactly as he taught and I am still here to talk about it.  We have been estranged for quite some time and I hope that some day I can thank him in person.

One of the reasons it took me so long to write this story of my tragedy is I wanted to make sure that low blood pressure was the only reason this happened.  I dove through the 2014 and 2015 seasons and have not felt like I was going to lose consciousness.  I have had a few minor skin bends and my answer to that is I need to hang longer at 15' for every dive, even no decompression dives.  It is working!!!  I have also changed in that I try to dive with a buddy or at least stay close to other divers on the bottom but, the truth is as I stated before, I am not sure being near a diver or with a buddy would have helped in this situation or even if it happened again. I should interject here that on all deep dives I always have a buddy and one that is aware of my potential problems prior to entering the water.

I hope that the worst is over and that I can continue to dive for many more years.  It is a reminder that everyone must monitor their health, the slightest change can cause big issues under water.  I already knew that each dive truly is a gift but now, I cherish each one even more!  Be Safe everyone!

The 2015 Dive Season has begun!!!

I was so ecstatic to go out diving today after this long and cold winter!!!  As you all know I did not dive a lot last summer so, I wanted to get in the water early this year and try to dive a lot.  We were originally destined for the Arundo on the Independence II but, given the weather, we opted to stay inshore and voted on the Rockland County.  This was fine by me because I am "old school" and I like to do at least one shallow dive before I venture into deeper waters.  Of course the weather forecast was inaccurate and there was little or no wind and flat seas instead of the predicted 3-5' seas.

The Rockland County was a 95' tugboat that was sunk in the Sea Girt Artificial Reef on Valentines Day in 1986.  It sits in about 76' of water depth.  I actually had never been on this wreck and it is always nice to check out a wreck that you never dove.

I knew that the water temperature was going to be cold so I came prepared with Cold Gear Under Armour,  Fourth Element  undergarments and my heated Santi vest.  I turned on my heated vest before I hit the water so that the chill would never set in.  I was pleasantly surprised that when I hit the water, it  did not seem all that bad.  The visibility was about 10' and I believe we were tied into the top of the bow section.  This wreck is great for macro photography because it is carpeted with large sea anemones and mussels.  The pushers in the bow that were used for pushing barges are now covered in pretty anemones lined up in perfect rows, I wish I had my camera to photograph it.  My dive was relaxing and uneventful, I hardly saw any fish or lobsters.  I lasted 24 minutes and my fingers started to get numb.  My computer said the bottom temp was 47 degrees but all the other divers said it was 44 degrees, either way its cold!!

It felt great to get in the water and insure that all of my scuba equipment was performing well.  I was impressed with Igor and his 3 hour run time..I asked how he stayed warm so long and he said you have to keep moving, he must have checked out every inch of the wreck with a run time like that!!  All in all everyone onboard today had a nice dive and was happy to get wet.

This spring, I have been busy setting up a rotating display of some of  my underwater photographs and artifacts at the New Jersey Maritime Museum.   http://njmaritimemuseum.org/

 If you are looking for something to do on a day when your dive has been blown out, please visit the museum in Beach Haven. There are some fabulous rotating displays by local divers so you will always see something new.

What Makes a Great Wreck Diver?

I have often thought over the years about What Makes a Great North Atlantic Wreck Diver?  Is it passion?  Is it skill and athletic ability? Is it a thirst for the history of shipwrecks? Or is it something more...  We all know that Wreck Diving in the North Atlantic is not for everyone, just look at the thousands  of divers certified to dive in the local area and how few of them continue on to wreck dive in the North Atlantic for decades.  Why would you chose to dive wrecks in cold water over warm water with pristine visibility in wildly exotic locations???  I can only speak for myself and provide some possible analogies based on what I have seen over my 29 years as a North Atlantic Wreck Diver...

From a very young age I was always drawn to the ocean...my younger years growing up were spent along the Gulf of Mexico with a fascination in the abundance of sharks lurking under the water as I swam.  During my teen years, I spent every minute possible in the Atlantic Ocean off of Fire Island, NY.  If the ocean was unusually rough and most swimmers did not dare enter, I would be out there for hours riding in the waves while my friends simply sat on the beach and sunbathed.  The ocean always soothed me and I was always at peace when I was in and around it.  Was this the precursor to becoming such an avid Wreck Diver?  I do think that those whom wreck dive for a long time do have a relationship with the ocean and as a result, they feel at ease and comfortable diving in it.  Wreck Divers like others whom are in and around the Ocean a lot, also have a enormous respect for the power of the sea.   Is this something that you are simply born with? The natural tendency to be drawn to the water and the sea?

Perseverance is another trait that I see over and over in Wreck Divers of the North Atlantic.  Lets face it, diving in the cold and dark waters of this area is not always a walk in the park.  I look back at becoming a certified diver on the eastern end of Long Island in water with extreme currents and such bad visibility that I could not even see my instructor.  I vividly remember wanting to quit and not finish my course but, I persevered.  It was not until several years later, that I dove on my first Wreck out of Barnegat Inlet, NJ and realized how wonderful Wreck Diving can be.  That perseverance however continues every year in different ways such as on the days with arduously rough seas where you wonder if you will ever be able to climb back on the boat, and get safely back to shore.  Its being told you are not ready to dive that deeper wreck so you dive as much as possible to gain the respect and skills needed to achieve the goal of diving that really dark, dangerous and, deep wreck safely. Its being faced with medical issues as you age and trying to stay in the best health and fitness so that you can continue to dive safely. Its working so hard to get out to dive a particular wreck and then having equipment problems that keeps you topside till another day.   I see these things and more in lots of divers but, we all come back another day and try again.  For me this perseverance has resulted in me diving wrecks I never dreamed possible like the Oil Wreck, Durley Chine, and Virginia.  It has also resulted after all these years in respect among fellow wreck divers which is only something that can be achieved over time.

Down Deep on the way home from the Moonstone Wreck.
Wreck diving can bring grown men to exhaustion..Perseverance

Training and skills are monumental in making a Great Wreck Diver in the North Atlantic.  We all know that wreck diving is not as easy as simply taking a wreck diver course and going out there and diving a wreck.  It involves taking all the required courses with the instructor that is gifted in teaching the skills above and beyond the course curriculum and insuring that you are well versed in those skills.   You will never quite realize how important your instructor or skills are until, you are faced with an underwater emergency and automatically recall the lessons taught that end up saving your life or another divers life.  I also firmly believe that Great Wreck Divers never stop learning or perfecting their equipment or skills.  Wreck divers need to keep up with the modern times and technology, learn from more experienced divers, and learn to accept constructive criticism.  The more often you dive wrecks and utilize your training and skills, the better diver you will become which, will lead to decades of  wreck diving.  Wreck Diving in the North Atlantic has a lot of adversity and you need to be prepared to handle a myriad of conditions that can change in an instant. I also believe that some wreck divers have a natural talent or athleticism at becoming a proficient and graceful wreck diver.

Fun and Excitement is part of being a Great Wreck Diver.  Diving is not a job, it is a leisure activity that is supposed to be FUN and ENJOYABLE for all!  The minute that wreck diving doesn't bring you joy, you should move on to another hobby that will bring you joy.  If you are not having fun you most likely will be stressed and uncomfortable that could lead to a dive accident.  Know when to you are out of your comfort zone and don't be afraid to pass on a dive if you are not comfortable.  The camaraderie on dive boats and the laughter that is ever present is one of the things that has drawn me to come back year after year and dive.  A great relief from your stressful work week is going out and having some good ole fun on a dive boat.  It is at times better than going to a stand up comedy show!!  I also love when a diver finds an artifact or gets a great lobster and everyone supports each other with congratulatory compliments.  What is life and wreck diving without laughter...

Sean the happy diver after diving the Oil Wreck

History...we are fortunate enough to be able to dive on local wrecks that have so much history and mystique about them.  I believe there are as many as 4,000 wrecks off of NJ in which each wreck has its own historical story.  Many Great Wreck Divers are drawn to find new wrecks, artifacts or identify an unknown wreck.  This is where a diver either has a natural attribution to locating wrecks and artifacts and/or they spend lots of their free time researching wrecks.  It takes a passionate and intelligent diver to conduct the research needed to locate a wreck or a specific artifact and then to accurately identify a wreck.  It is often like a huge puzzle or maze in which you have little pieces of history and you keep trying to find that one item or piece of knowledge to put it all together and result in identifying a wreck.  I have been on many trips in which we have searched for wrecks and came up empty.  Its those trips where you do find a new wreck and you are fortunate enough to be one of he first divers down on a wreck that was lost for many years, do you realize how special it is to be a Wreck Diver in the North Atlantic.  There is no feeling greater that being in place that no other person has been before.  To be able to see and touch a wreck that was lost is a privilege that definitely draws me back year after year.  I especially enjoy taking photographs a of wrecks and sharing them with friends and interested parties whom would never have the opportunity to see what I have seen unless I photographed it for them to see.

Varanger- One of my favorite wrecks to dive!

As you see there are so many characteristics that contribute to making Great Wreck Divers of the North Atlantic,, I am so fortunate that I still have such passion to dive wrecks and have not tired of it. I hope that this blog and the inspiration of other wreck divers will inspire more divers to continue to dive wrecks for decades... For me, I will continue to wreck dive as long as my health allows...My Wreck Diving goals may change from year to year which makes it interesting but, most of all I am at peace down there on the bottom the ocean.. Looking forward to lots of wreck diving this year!!

Looking for some wreck related social events to attend this winter...come out to the NJ Maritime Museum on Feb. 27th to hear Bart Malone present " Marine Life found while diving shipwrecks off of New Jersey".  Bart has a few of my marine life photos in his presentation.  See the link to the museum on the side bar of my blog for more information.

End of the Season 2014

Well what can I say, my 2014 dive season was not at all what I expected.  I was very happy and proud  to experience my son Matthew becoming a certified diver but, greatly disappointed in the amount of diving I did this year.

 I dove in the Quarry and on wrecks such as the Dykes, Terror Wreck, Hvoslef, Oregon and Delaware.  I wouldn't even call these few dives a dive "season" and I don't quite know what happened but, I suppose life got in the way coupled with the turbulent fall weather.  All I can do is sit back and enjoy the winter and anticipate wreck diving in 2015.  I was very happy to finally get to dive the Terror Wreck, that was one wreck that I had wanted to dive for a long time and I finally got there and enjoyed it.

"In wisdom I have gathered over time, I have found that every experience is a form of exploration" Ansel Adams

  I recently read an article about the possibility of  the dive industry imposing dive certification expiration dates that is renewable when the diver demonstrates knowledge and ability.   This would apply to those divers that are not diving often enough.  It was strange how I found myself reading this article at the time where I had so few dives this past year.

In the past, once you become a certified diver you are certified for life whether you dive each year or not. I think most responsible divers would voluntarily go through a re-fresher course if they have not been diving for several years but, I fear the day that the dive agencies put a minimum number of dives per year required to maintain your certification.  In looking at this year where I only dove a total of about 11 dives, not because I didn't want to dive more but, merely because of weather conditions, I would not enjoy being required to go through a refresher course each time I did not dive a certain number of dives a year especially, if the course was not offered free of charge.  It costs an extraordinary amount of money to maintain your equipment each year prior to even splashing and I find that this new re-fresher requirement if it ever came to life would be the last straw.  I hope dive leaders in NAUI and PADI realize that the dive industry is shrinking each year and that the very thought of coming up with these new requirements could have a major impact on the industry.  I believe the current diver attrition rate is as high as 70%.


I also personally feel that most dive certification courses do not adequately prepare a student to dive. The courses have become very watered down and simply do not provide enough open water skills and practice to build confidence.  There are some instructors out there that feel as I do and therefore, are going above and beyond to insure that their students become capable confident divers but, that is not the norm... Without new divers feeling confident in their skills, I am sure it will lead them to find other activities in which they are more comfortable, thus adding to the high attrition rate of divers...  OK, enough of my rant!!!



Since this year was a big flop, I hope to get in the water early next year and be a little more flexible with my schedule so that on bad weather days I can dive an alternate day and hopefully not end up with just a few dives like this year.  I already know that the Independence II is working on a dive schedule for 2015 that will be as exciting as ever!!!


"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever"  Jacques Yves Cousteau

I took this shot this fall while watching my son surf, it is one of my favorites with the Tall ship in the distance.

Here is a story that may interest you if you have a love of the sea and wilderness such as I...

http://www.bbc.com/earth/bespoke/story/20141203-back-to-nature/index.html

Delaware 11-8-14

This past week during my daily 6:00 am run, I became acutely aware that the temps are dropping and the beautiful fall foliage is letting the last of its leaves fall.  How did it get to be November and where did my September and October diving go? I think this was the longest stretch of blown out dives I have ever experienced.  I am so grateful to have broken this blow out pattern and got to go diving today.  It had been so long that I felt like it was my first dive of the season so, naturally I was nervous.

Today we were designed to the famed Stolt Dagali on the Independence II!   Once we broke the inlet we could see large seas along the horizon as a result of the gale winds blowing most of the night. We took a quick vote and decided to dive the Delaware instead of simply turning around and heading in. It had been a long time for all of us since we got wet so, "better to dive than not" was the motto for the day.


I have not dove the Delaware since George Hoffman ran the Sea Lion so it has been quite some time. The Delaware is a 250' long steamer that sunk on July 9, 1898 as a result of a fire in her hold. The wreck now sites in 75' of water not far from the beach. This wreck is a great choice for days that you need to stay close to shore and today would not be an exception. It is dove a lot and is frowned upon by most divers for its typical low visibility and the fact that it is picked over in terms of artifacts.

I was so desperate to dive one more time this year that I decided I was going to dive not matter what the conditions were.  It was only 32 degrees out on my drive up to the boat and now that we were anchored the wind was starting to pick up making for very cold conditions up top.  I suited up and jumped in (boy I am brave,..lol)!  The initial shock of cold water on my face made me think, what am I crazy to be out here diving today?  It was a full moon so I was also worried about the current but, to my surprise, there was no current at all.  The water was a deep pea soup green and it looked like this would be one of those typical no viz dives but, once I got on the bottom I was pleasantly surprised that the viz was about 20' and was not completely dark.  

I headed towards the bow initially and spent my dive looking for artifacts.  I saw lots of brass spikes, copper sheeting and baby lobsters.  The entire lobster was not any larger than my hand, they were so cute...  There were also quite a few butterfly fish that did not make it back down south.  Several areas of the wreck had wood exposed that was clean with no growth on it which was neat to see.  It always amazes me to see so much structure still existing on wrecks as old as the Delaware.  I ended up swimming most of the wreck and was happy to report that the bottom temp was 56 degrees which allowed me to stay on the bottom for longer than I anticipated.  The engine block still stands about 10-20' off the bottom and is easily identifiable.   This dive was so worth the wait, it was relaxing and I really enjoyed it.  In fact, for all those divers that frown upon this wreck, you simply cannot find a better wreck so close to shore that has so much to offer and I would dive it again.  Like I said earlier, going out and diving the Delaware is better than not diving at all.

Now for the tough part, once I was on the surface the wind was blowing and I thought that my hands and my head was going to fall off.  It was so cold that I had the nastiest ice cream headache!!! BRRRR...  this reminded me that it is November and time to most likely hang up my regulators for the winter.

However, I may still try to get out diving again in the next week or two if the weather allows,..so stay tuned!

Oregon 8-26-14

Today was a crew day out on the Independence II and we decided to go to the Oregon since we all had a nice dive there last year.  The sea conditions were conducive to allow for the long ride out to this passenger liner.  My trip report from 7-16-13 provides some perspective on the wreck along with some photos.

After a long nap on the ride out, a leather-back turtle sighting, and waiting for the first group of divers to surface, it was finally my turn to splash.  Initial reports were advising that the visibility was about 25' with lots of particulate matter in the water column.  As a result, I opted to leave my camera on-board.  We were anchored into the engines which are massive to say the least.  They rise about 40' off the bottom.  There are a total of 9 boilers!  Once I reached the bottom there was an evident current that made it that much harder to move about.  I tried to find an area with some relief from the current and found this along the sand of the starboard side.  The visibility ranged from about 25' to further at times as the particulate matter rolled in and out in waves with the current.  I saw rows of where portholes once were and I am sure there are plenty still to be had.  The Blackfish were huge on this wreck and I even saw some Triggerfish.  The water temperature on the bottom was a balmy 55 degrees while on the hang it was 71 degrees.  I swam around the entire engine block more than once and it is so large that you can actually swim through it.  I have to say that I enjoyed last years dive to the bow more because there was a bigger debris field which made it a little more interesting.  The engines are relatively intact and did not have as large of a debris field, if it were not for the current, I would have tried to swim towards the stern to check out that area.  Next time.  I ended up with about 27 minutes on the bottom, sticking to my conservative diving profiles so that I can continue to dive..so far, it is at least giving me the opportunity to still dive....

In hindsight, we were all saying that today would have been the day to go to the 56 Mile wreck...I've yet to dive the 56 mile wreck and hope to get there this season. Here are a few surface pics of John and Sean.

John, a man with a mission!

Will he fit out the exit to the water??

Sean displacing some water

Well I hope to be out diving again soon, this season is slow and steady and I am pleased with my accomplishments thus far.  We did spend some time talking about warmer dive destinations, Capt. Dan spoke of his epic trip to Thailand diving deep wrecks and Sean of his upcoming trips to Cozumel and Cocos.  I would love to go to Thailand someday, I have heard so much about their wreck diving but, at the same time, I would love to dive with whale sharks and large schools of hammerheads too.  Once I retire, perhaps these more grandious trips will be a yearly event but for now, wreck diving in NJ is just fine with me!

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!!!