Varanger 6/27/09

The day couldn't be more perfect aboard the Atlantus and diving one of the best wrecks in NJ, the Varanger. It was a beautiful morning as Bill and I, Brian Roemer, Brian and Andrew Larsen headed out to the Varanger. During my first dive I jumped in without my camera because I just wanted to check out the wreck and try to have a calm and safe dive. As soon as I hit the water I debated whether I should go back and get my camera, the visibility was so spectacular that I don't know if I have ever since vis like this in NJ (at least 100'). The water was such a deep blue that it was like you were in some other place. The wreck quickly came into view and also the thermocline that was at about 130' and boy did it feel cold on the bottom, it was 47 degrees! This wreck is so massive. I have dove it a lot over the years but, I was never in this portion before and I still am not sure where on the wreck we were. The upper decking was as a depth of about 112' and the sand was 149'. This portion of the wreck was large and open so you could go inside of it with ease. There was also a large debris field that was littered with ling cod. If I had my camera I would have taken a picture of the ling stacked up along the sandy bottom perfectly laid out as if each fish had its own assigned spot. There was also quite a few abandoned lobster traps with lobster and fish in them waiting for us to free them. There was no current and the vis on the bottom was easily 40'-50' and it was light. I spent 25 minutes on the bottom and it was way too quick. The hang was warm (68 degrees) with no current at all. As I surfaced and got back on the boat, the reggae music was blasting which made the most perfect dive even better (I'm a huge reggae fan). Brian Roemer got some scallops and Brian Larsen speared some fish.

During the surface interval we all relaxed and did some fishing. Since the Atlantus also does fishing charters they had poles for whomever wanted to fish. We caught a few keeper sea bass for dinner.

The second dive, I was definitely taking my camera. Once we got to the bottom the boat had swung around and we ended up doing our entire dive on the upper portion of the wreck and there were lots of artifacts around for the taking. Bill got some brass (I don't even know what it is) and the others speared more fish and got more scallops. I just shot a bunch of photos and then it seemed like only a few minutes and it was already 15 minutes and time to leave. During the hang I took photos of everyone. This dive is so awesome and I wish I could have stayed longer.





















We had a nice leisurely ride back in and topped it off with some nice cold beers and a great dinner at the Back of the Bay Ale House. What a day, it definitely doesn't get better than this!!! All of us on board want to go to the Offshore Paddlewheeler so we scheduled it for July 14th and I can't wait. Call the Atlantus if anyone wants to join us!

Till My Next Adventure!!!!

1st Dive of the Season- Pauline Marie 6/20/09

I arrived at the dock to sunny skies and no wind. I was really excited about finally get out for my first dive of the year. This dive was planned by Geoff Grahamn as part of our Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Techniques class and I did not know what wreck we were planning to dive. This was also my first time diving on the Atlantus out of Atlantic City Gardiners Basin. Once the boat was loaded and we headed out to flat calm seas, we decided to go to the Atlantic City Artificial Reef and dive the Pauline Marie.

Also along on the dive was Bill (my dive buddy), Jeff Heim, Kathy Ondrasik and her daughter from Dudas Diving completing some of their course objectives; Henry and Dave from East Coast Diving whom were in our class and also John? (the rebreather guy).

The Pauline Marie sits upright in about 80' of water. Since it is an artificial reef wreck it is fully intact. For the first dive we were to practice removing our swing bottles, securing them and then reattaching them to ourselves. We then were free to have fun and just dive. As I splashed I felt a sense of calm and relief as I always do (I am one of those whom would rather be in the water than on the boat), the surface visibility was great and the water felt warm. The visibility on the bottom was about 25' and bright and the bottom water temp was about 55 degrees. I completed my objectives with ease although I am not good at working clips with dive mits. Then I proceed to swim around the wheelhouse and then penetrated into the lower wheelhouse. Since the visibility was good I spent time looking around inside the wreck for some good areas to photograph on my next dive. There were some large tau tag and lots of small sea bass. There were some large mussels but not many, the wreck is covered with lots of baby mussels. After about 27 minutes on the bottom I headed up and was happy that my first dive of the year went really smooth and I felt great.

Once on the surface, I accidentally dropped my goody bag while clipping it to the line on the boat. So if anyone finds a yellow bag with "Dixon" on it along with a light and wreck reel, please contact me. Geoff told me that I looked really good in the water and that added to my confidence of the dive. Then the rain rolled in and did it pour but, you are wet when you dive so it didn't bother me and the seas remained calm.

On my second dive I took my camera along with my two new strobes from SeaLife. To make a long story short, my old SeaLife 960 strobes would never fire underwater, only on the surface. I sent them back and they sent me two brand new Digital Pro Flashes, kudos to SeaLife. On this dive, we lost the brightness and it was dark on the bottom due to the rain on the surface. There was also a little surge on the bottom this time which made it harder to stay still and shoot photos. These strobes are amazing, you can shoot pictures constantly with no waiting for the strobes to recharge. They are however, really bright and even on their lowest setting I was getting photos that were over exposed. I should have thought to turn one of the strobes off but now I know for the next time. I spent only about 20 minutes on the bottom for this dive because I got cold. I shot a few pictures during my hang and was soon back on the boat.


Me on my hang


The Atlantus is an old boat but it has a large cabin which was great to have especially with the rain. The ladder was easy to climb and the mate, Shane was very competent at helping everyone up the ladder and to get their fins off and tanks secure. The Captain of the boat, Brian Larsen was really friendly and made everyone feel at home on the boat. I would recommend diving this boat to other divers and they definitely go that extra mile to make divers comfortable.

Back at the dock we offloaded and headed to the "Back of the Bay Ale House" for a few cold beers. I was glad that I had such a good time diving and can't wait till next week. We are going to the Varanger!


Cold Water Hard Coral


Sea Anenomes




Dave, Henry & John



Oh- yeah... I know the date on my photos is wrong, I forgot to program the date in my camera before hitting the water.

Sylvia Earle Presentation

I've had a real busy week and finally have time to post about the Sylvia Earle Presentation that I went to this past week. Sylvia explained how she started scuba diving and how that eventually lead to spending large amounts of time underwater in labs. She enjoys spending time observing marine life in one location so you can become familiar with the "neighborhood" and really get to know the species and their daily habits. I totally related to this since I often find great joy of sitting on a wreck in one spot and watching what goes on around me. Each species has an area they live in, protect, and feed. Sylvia also talked about how everyone should try to dive and tried to explain how it feels like "flying" underwater. She said her own mother didn't try to dive until she was 81 years old and was regretful that she didn't take the plunge earlier. I remember being anxious about learning to dive and I am so grateful that I had the courage to take the plunge. My life has been forever changed for the better since I learned to scuba dive.

Sylvia spoke a at great lengths about the overfishing and pollution issues effecting all of the oceans and how these effects seem to be speeding up over the past 5-10 years. The populations of large fish (i.e. Tuna, Sharks, Whales) have decreased 90% over the past 10 years. She is trying to bring global attention to the oceans and to work together to reverse the decline of the Ocean's health and to preserve the sea. Sylvia is trying to set up a global network of marine protected areas called "hope spots". These areas will be restored and preserved for future generations to visit similar to the National Park System in the US. I personally think this is a great idea as long as the intent of allowing people to dive and visit these areas holds true. I do not favor protecting areas of the ocean and then prohibiting divers from viewing them.

Sylvia was instrumental in the new Google Earth 5.0 in bringing the oceans into Google Earth. You can now see all of the mountains and valleys of the sea through Google Earth. I even see in our area that a few wrecks are identified (Great Isaac, Oregon, Algol). You should all check it out, its pretty cool!

She showed some really neat footage of the Russian's recent exploration of the North Pole, 4000 feet down. The US had been trying to get there to explore the depths of the Artic but the Russians beat us. It is amazing the life at such depths and in waters so cold.

Sylvia being a woman, told a few stories of being the only female on research ships of 70 or more men and the challenges that she faced. She has in the past been prevented from participating in expeditions because she was a female even though she was highly qualified and experienced. I related to this since I am often the only female on all male dive boats in the North Atlantic (I'm not complaining!). Her message was to keep on trying and not to be deterred. Follow your passion and don't give up. I like that advise and I too won't give up.

Sylvia is an inspiration to all divers, the depths and research that she has completed throughout her life benefits us all. I had a great night listening to her and being able to ask questions about he life experiences. Now if only I could get in the water and dive to my favorite places....

Sylvia Earle, PH.D. at SmartTalk, May 11th

I was invited to attend an inspirational talk to be given by Sylvia Earle Ph.D. and would like to extend an invitation to any divers interested in attending. The event will be held on May 11th at 8pm at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ.

As you all probably know, Sylvia Earle is an outspoken advocate for undersea research. She brings awareness to the damage being done to the aquasphere by pollution and environmental degradation. She also has dove to a depth of 1250 feet untethered to a sumbersible, which is deeper than any human has ever been before. She has formed the companies Deep Ocean Engineering and Deep Ocean Technologies. Through these venutres she designs and builds undersea vehicles like Deep Rover.

I am sure that this lecture will be very interesting to any diver that has dreams of diving where no human has been. Tickets are still available and can be purchased for $25 each via pay pal by emailing Tickets@SmartTalkMedia.com with the following code mentioned in the email: New Jersey Earle. You can also visit http://www.smarttalkwomen.com/city.php?id=1&season_id=2009 for more information.

I am really excited about this presentation and hope other NJ divers will attend!

The 2009 Season Beginning Soon!!

"Ron Ostrowski, Joe Zeisweis and myself after a day of diving on the Brian C wreck"


I learned to scuba dive in 1986 because it was a requirement for me to spend a semester at the West Indies Lab in St. Croix, U.S.V.I. While at the lab I worked on cutting edge research on White Bands Coral Disease which has now desimated large areas of coral in the carribean. I also worked on a project which created "manmade blenny condos". These "manmade blenny condos" were placed within a coral reef as habitat for blennies. This is just like sinking ships in the artificial reef to provide habitat for various marine life. Back in the 80's, artificial reefs did not exist as they do today and these projects were conducted to see if a manmade reef could be successful. I spent everyday diving collecting data and observing habitat. This sparked my love and passion for scuba diving.

Today I love to dive for various reasons. I am still an avid marine biologist and thoroughly enjoy watching fish, lobster, sea anenomes, luminescence and other marine life in their habitat. I find diving therapeutic because for whatever reason it completely relaxes me, the weightlessness and the constant sound of yourself breathing must have something to do with that. I really enjoy trying to take that perfect picture so that I can share my underwater world with my friends whom quite frankly think I am crazy for diving. Last but not least I really enjoy the friendships and camaraderie aboard the dive boats.

I recently heard about the passing of Chuck Wine and although I only met him a few times, I can remember the laughter that he brought to the dive boat. There are always pranks and joking around that comes along with being on the dive boat for an afternoon. At any given time you could come up from a dive to find that someone opened your cooler and ate your lunch or left you some strange smelly creature in one of your bags or drysuit for you to find later once you got home. These are the things that I will always remember and bring laughter to a day of diving. The loss of a diver always hits home for me, Franz Dietl, George Hoffman and now Chuck Wine. They all contributed greatly to the comeraderie on a dive boat and made myself and others laugh. All of them had passion for life and diving which I find to be a common thread among divers. Like Chuck Wine, I have struggled with my health. I have searched far and wide for treatments for my illness that will not prevent me from diving. I also had dive friends that gave up on me when they heard I was ill, that too has been a large hurdle for me to overcome but it made me try even harder not to give up this love of shipwrecks and the underwater world. I am an optimistic person and I hope those that gave up on me will reach out, wipe the slate clean and become dive friends again, there is an empty hole in my life without them.

As spring is approaching I am getting really excited for the upcoming dive season. I just got my feet wet so to speak when I went to a lecture presented by Gary Gentile. Looking at his photographs inspired me to become excited for the dives that I am planning on doing this year. There are some wrecks that I really wanted to get to such as the Offshore Paddlewheeler, Moonstone, N. Pacific and Varanger and no one has it on their schedule. I may have to actually charter a boat myself to get there so if anyone is interested in going to these wrecks let me know! I also have a few dives to do in order to complete my Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Techniques course. The dives last fall were blown out and I am looking foward to completing these dives.

I am planning on taking lots of photographs this season so that my friends and family can share in my experiences. Photos also are a great way to document your accomplishments over the years. I was neglectful in that I did not photograph much in my earlier diving years in the 80's and 90's but I hope to make up for it now. If anyone has any photos of me diving from the early days, I would greatly appreciate a copy.

I also advised Gary Gentile that I thoroughly enjoyed his book "Wilderness Canoeing". He told me that I should go on a canoe trip. I think I may just do that this summer, I am looking into a canoe & camping trip somewhere in Northern Maine. I spent sometime in the area around Baxter State Park and they have a lot of areas where you could canoe streams and camp along the way.

I looking foward to seeing everyone this summer out on the dive boat. Please try to keep me laughing afterall laughing heals everything!!!



Joe Bachofffer, John Moyer, Joe Kelly, Bill Dixon and other divers.






Capt. Bob Meimbrese of the Down Deep, Ken Mason (I think) and Bill Dixon
Typical productive days fo diving!

End of the Season

The 2008 season of diving is coming to a close for me. I was scheduled to go diving on Nov. 16th to finish up the dives for my Advanced Nitrox course and that was blown out and re-scheduled for Nov. 22. Thanks to the smart thinking of my instructor, Geoff Graham, that too was cancelled since it is supposed to be too cold out. Therefore, this dive will have to wait to the Spring of 2009.

I am very proud of my accomplishments this year. I began the season with the goal of completing 1 dive safely and ended up completing about 15 dives. As many of you know, due to my health I did not think I was capable of diving again. Things in your life happen for a reason and I know that one thing that I have learned over the past few years is that you need to appreciate every dive no matter how good or bad it is. Each dive is a gift and it can be taken away in an instant. This past year and the year before has also been very trying on me and my diving capabilities because of personal issues. There are people whom misunderstand you, betray you and attack you quite unexpectantly. The fact that you care deeply about them is lost in the difficulties of the feelings they ensue. I am accepting the fact that I needed to learn these things in life... After this dive season I feel confident in saying that my spirit has not been broken and I am starting to find joy in diving again. There is still some concerns for my health and I am doing the best that I can with these concerns. Just as other divers have inspired me, I in turn, am pretty sure that I have at least inspired a few divers this year and I know I made a lot of new dive friends.

As I look back at this year I would have to say my best dive was on the Varanger, I always loved this wreck and I had a great time being able to dive it again. The vision of the beautiful sea anenomes is still fresh in my mind.

In looking onto the 2009 season, I hope to get to some of my favorite wrecks like the Arundo, Varanger, Moonstone, Offshore Paddlewheeler and N. Pacific. So someone pleeeaaase put it on your schedule!!! I also just heard about a trip to the Galapogas Islands being organized for 2011 and I am seriously thinking of signing up for it. I always wanted to go there.

Over the long winter I will be keeping up on my dive education by taking Decompression Techniques. Perhaps this course will lead me to some exciting dives next year! There are no dive trips planned for the winter, perhaps a little skiing in Maine if we can swing it.



I hope everyone has a safe winter and I hope Santa brings everyone lots of diving toys. I know my Santa's list includes a rebreather, new light, drysuit...I can dream can't I??? Oh yeah and a new wreck reel! I had an awful time trying to deploy a lift bag from mid water column with my current reel. It went up ok but trying to maintain your buoyancy mid water column and reel it back in...lets just say I had some major spidered nylon line. Good thing this was in the quarry and not on some wreck in the ocean. Therefore, I'd like one of those new reels with the plastic case that helps to prevent the line from spidering.

During these tough economic times we should all try and support our local dive shops so that they will be there to educate and support us in the future. I have always been a strong believer in purchasing all of my dive equipment from the local dive shop even if it costs a little more money than on the internet. Without them, all those joyfull days out diving on a wreck would not be possible!

I would like to wish a Special Merry Christmas to all the past, present and future diving companions, they all hold a special place for our shared love of wreck diving!

Safe Diving! Kim

11-4-08 Double East

Given the great fall weather we've had and the trip reports of great visibility, we decided to try and get out on our boat one more time. They were forecasting fog and 2-4' seas for this morning but we awoke to no fog and a steady 3' sea. We each only had one set of tanks full of air so we were going to do one long dive and then head in for a little striper fishing. Bill jumped in first and tied the hook in and came back with a trigger fish and some mussels. He reported about 30' of visibility. I wish I had my camera but one of the stobes is at Sea Life for a repair so this dive is purely sightseeing. I am not particularly fond of this wreck because when I was in my early 20's and diving on it with Triton Divers, it was loaded with sand tiger sharks and I could never shake that memory. In particular, Bill had a bag of speared fish and was doing his hang while these sharks circled us. They were swimming all around us on the bottom and on the hang. This is my second trip to this wreck this year and I was glad to find that I did not see any sharks on either trip. I did sea lots of black fish, sea bass and a few trigger fish. This wreck is actually quite fun to investigate with all of the giant concrete slabs. It creates lots of nooks and cranies to look in. The water temp was about 57 degrees on the bottom and I had a safe and relaxing dive. I guess in looking back it was a privilege to see those sharks way back then because I have not seen any since.

We didn't have much luck catching any stripers on our way in, but maybe next time. I will be off on another camping/backpacking adventure in Shenandoah, Virginia this weekend. The weather looks excellent for camping and it should be lots of fun. I have one more dive scheduled for November 16th and hope very much to get out for one more dive.

10-19-08 Dutch Springs

Yesterday Bill & I ventured to Dutch Springs to perform drills for the Advanced Nitrox course I am taking with Geoff Grahmn of East Coast Diving. I almost did not get out of bed this morning because I've been fighting a cold and I could not shake the chills. It was in the 30's this morning and I did not know if I could manage to find the strength to get into that cold quarry water. Once we got there it was not as cold as I thought it would be and the water actually was quite warm as far as the quarry goes. Lets say that I made it through the day but it was not pretty. I was very tired and it took a lot out of me. I was not very graceful and actually quite clumsy. I didn't give up and I made it through my two dives and the objectives. I learned that I have a few things I need to practice more in the future. I hope that when we go out in the ocean in two weeks that I will be back to myself and able to feel more conifdent and proud of my accomplishment.

10-15-08 Unknown Wreck

I have been really bogged down with lots and lots of homework (about 20 hours a week) from the Individual Taxation Course I am taking at Richard Stockton College as part of the MBA Degree that I have been working on. If anyone has ever taken a tax course before, they will know how I feel, especially since I have my BS in Chemistry and accounting is like a foreign language to me. Therefore, today I played hookey from all of my responsibilities and went diving. We took our favorite private boat out to check out some numbers that Bill had. Just think deadeyes, brass spikes and ballast stone. The water temps were 65 degrees all the way to the bottom and the vis was about 10-15'. Not many fish and no lobsters seen. It was a great day and the weather was beautiful.

9-21-08 Algol

Today we were scheduled to head out with Diversion Club on the Independence II to the Resor. Due to the weather forecast we all decided to change our destination to the Algol. We delayed leaving the dock until 8am to allow the seas some time to calm down. This was a good decision because as we broke the inlet, there were some large rollers coming in. As the day went on the seas layed down and it ended up being a perfect day to be out diving.

The Algol is an artificial reef and I have never been on it. After hearing a report of 60' and greater visibility from the Gypsy Blood whom was nearby on the Stolt, I opted to take my camera in on the 1st dive. When I splashed I couldn't believe the visibility, it was easily 50'-60'. I could see other divers swimming on the wreck as soon as I hit the water. I spent this dive photographing on 3 different levels of the wreck. There were some huge starfish sprawled on the walls of the wreck that were cool. I even saw a lobster walking down the deck (not legal size of course). There was an abundance of fish and there were quite a few large blackfish on this wreck. I have not seen large blackfish like that in a while. There were some mussels on the upper deck and boy were they good for dinner. During my hang I photographed the jellyfish and illuminesence. I also tried to photograph the divers on the wreck from my hang so everyone would believe what incredible visibility we had.

This was my first dive with the Diversion Club and during the surface interval there were lots of fattening treats like Lisa's butterscotch fudge brownies and Helen's Perogies.

During my second dive I penetrated the wreck on the 2nd level and took some photos inside the wreck. The visibility inside the wreck was fantastic too! The bottom temperature was in the 60's and the surface temp. was 73. Helen speared some fish and others brought up some lobsters. There were 2 or 3 incidences of divers being bit by the bergols. They were everywhere and were pecking at all of us divers. Given the gloomy weather forecast, this turned out to be a great day to be out diving.

Thanks to Helen of the Diversion Club and the other members for inviting us to join them. We had a great time! Also special thanks to Capt. Dan Bartone, Bill, Brandon, and Charlie for making everything onboard the Independence comfortable and relaxing. Kim Dixon

9-13-08 Gloria

I came back from an excellent week of backpacking in the White Mountains, NH to have my scheduled dive to the Offshore Paddlewheeler blown out by Huricane Hanna. I was really looking forward to that dive but there will be another time for it. On Saturday we woke up to sunshine and no rain and as a result, we made a last minute decision to head out for a dive on the Gloria. We didn't even leave the dock till 10 am and we had no babysitter so the kids came with us. The Gloria is a short run for us(about 30 min. from the dock) and it is a great wreck that I always enjoy. My plan for today was to practice with different swing bottles to prepare for my upcoming class this week at East Coast Divers. We arrived at the Gloria to find a boat fishing on it but they didn't mind sharing the wreck with us. I jumped in first to tie the anchor in. When I got to the bottom the anchor was neatly wrapped around a piece of the bow hull plate as is someone did it for me. I reinforced it with some sisal and I was off on my dive. Since we had the kids with us we were doing 1 long dive instead of 2 dives. The water temperature on the bottom was a balmy 60 degrees. The water was sooo comfortable that I did a 30 minute dive without even a chill. I swam to the very tip fo the bow where the two anchors were, one up high on the wreck and one below it near the sand. Then I swam into the debris field for a little digging. The visibility was only 15'-20' and it silted up easily. I didn't find any artifacts but I found some sand dollars and shells for the kids. The wreck had lots of sea bass and they were real skiddish and seemed to hang inside the bow. I really spent a lot of time just swimming around and exploring the wreck since there was no current on the bottom. I've dove this wreck many times and I feel like now I know the layout pretty well. Bill spent his dive spearing some sea bass for dinner and trying to find a legal size lobster. All of the lobsters were small. All in all, I had an awesome dive and feel prepared for my class this week. Kim Dixon

8-17-08 Varanger Dive

We headed out at 7am on the Tuna Seizure to the Varanger. We made it there in only 1.5 hours from the dock. I don't think I've ever got to the Varanger so quick. Dan Martinez jumped in to tie the hook in and the pool was open. I have not been to the Varanger in a long time and I was anxious to get back to a wreck I used to dive a lot. The sruface visibility was awful (pea soup) but it opened up below the thermocline of 40' and the visibility on the botttom was at least 30' of more but, it was dark. We were tied in right next to the boilers in the debirs field at a depth of about 137'. Bill gathered scallops while I took some photos and explored the wreck. The marine life on the wreck was incredible which is what drives me to dive on the deeper, less dove on wrecks. The surface interval was filled with lots of laughs from Mark Dolphin, Kenny, Bill and Rob and they tried their best to be polite with me on board. The second dive was better that the first for me, it seemed like the visibility opened up even more and it was a little brighter. We gathered more scallops and saw some large ling and taug. There was a little more current on this dive which prevented me from swimming too far from the anchor. This wreck proves to still be a fantastic dive well worth the 28 mile ride. I've been wanting to get back to the Varanger for the past 2 years and I want to give a special thanks to Capt. Bill & Kenny of the Tuna Seizure and N.E. Scuba Supply for getting me there. I am sure that everyone onboard had a great time and looking forward to out next trip out!

8-1-08 Patrice McAlister

We headed out to the Patrice McAlister and found calm seas and bright sunshine. I have not dove the Patrice McAlister in many, many years. I forgot what a pretty wreck it is. It is an intact tugboat, sitting upright at a depth of 58', and is covered in soft white coral. The visibility was about 20' and the bottom temperature was 51 degrees. I spent both of my dives taking photos and checking out the interior of the wreck. Funny story about this wreck, my uncle was the Captain of this tug when it was overcome by water and sunk. He lost his favorite coffee mug when it sunk and he always asks me to look around the wheelhouse for it. Needless to say I have never found his mug. Bill collected lobsters during both dives and we totalled 4. There were plenty of taug on this wreck but no flounder. It has been about 1 month since my last dive. I had to endure an unexpected surgery that prevented me from diving for a month. I really appreciated reading everyone's posts it helped to comfort me when I couldn't be out diving with everyone. I was scared that I wouldn't feel up to diving today but then I thought about an old friend whom inspired me to dive and decided I had to go and at least try to dive. What a nice day it was to dive. I often think of that old friend and whether they realize they still inspire me to dive. I have a few dives scheduled for the upcoming weeks as long as there are enough divers to go. So come on everyone, lets spur this economy and GO DIVING!

7-2-08 Gloria

We got out to the Gloria today for 2 dives. We were greeted with a 4'-5' ground swell on the way out which continued until midmorning and then it flattened out. We hooked the wreck in the bow on the first try and the pool was open. The surface vis was about 20'-30' but as we descended it became dark and silty. The vis on the bottom was only 10' at best. It seemed as though some areas were brighter with better vis and others were darker and no vis. The bottom temp was 46 degrees and the temp at 20' was 50 degrees. It was a cold one. Given the ground swell there was little or no swell on the bottom and almost no current. We speared two flounders, one 8lbs and 28" long and one 5.5lbs and 25.5" long and also a few sea bass. There were definately quite a few flounders on this wreck and since the water temp was so cold they were slow to move about and thus easy to spear. There were quite a few lobsters but they were all small. This wreck is quite large and due to the lack of visibility, I utlized my line reel to navigate to the boilers and back to the bow. My line reel got jammed midway back and I spent the rest of my dive collecting the line. I almost never use my reel and navigate based on memory and I think I'll go back to that since these reels waste too much time. All in all it was a great day to take a break from the beach and go out diving. Kim Dixon

5-23-08 Double East

WOW!!! What a great first day of diving for the season. We left the dock at 7am to a choppy 3'-4' seas and headed to the Double East. My first dive of the season was a typical "work out the kinks". I utilized new dry suit underwear and it made me very buoyant so as soon as I jumped in the water, I pulled myself down the anchor line and the first thing I did when I got to the bottom was grab some muscles to add weight. The visibility was about 15'-20' and the bottom temperature was about 50 degrees. There were lots of fish: sea bass, ling cod and large black fish. Once I reached the bouncy surface I had quite a battle with the dive latter and finally made it on board. The seas calmed down considerably during the surface interval. During my second dive, Capt. Bill was gracious enough to lend me his double mini's (45's) to see how comfortable they were. The were great, snug to your body and negatively weighted. This dive was so calming and relaxing, and it is why I love this sport so much. Its just you, the fish, the sound of your breath and weightlessness. I loaded up on muscles during this dive for the weekend barbeque. There were quite a few bugs brought up and of course sea bass. This was my first time diving on the Tuna Seizure and I have to say that their professionalism was outstanding. The boat was beautiful and spacious. The crew was very helpful and friendly. Due to life circumstances I thought that I would not ever be able to dive again. This was a big day for me and I hope to be out diving a lot this summer. Thanks to N.E. Scuba Supply and the Tuna Seizure for a memorable day of diving. I'll post some pictures once I figure out how to do it. Kim Dixon