Offshore Paddlewheeler 7-25-10

With a 4'-7' offshore forecast, we headed out of Atlantic City Inlet on the dive boat Atlantus to the wreck known as the Offshore Paddlewheeler. There was a ever persistent ground swell of 3'-4' that laid down as the day progressed. On board today was myself, Bill, John Priestly, Brian Roemer, Walt and Capt. Brian Larsen. After a 2 hour nap on the way out, Bill and I splashed first to tie into the wreck. The surface vis was unbelievable, nice blue/green water down to about 90'. Then we went into the darkness and I awaited for it to open up on the bottom. I hit the anchor line chain and realized I was on the bottom and could not see a thing...maybe 1' of vis. I have never had such bad vis conditions offshore. The water temp was 43 degrees at 147' and I sat and waited to see if my eyes would adjust to the darkness and I'd be able to see a little better. That never happened. I did not venture too far and collected a few scallops, took a few macro photos of a scallop and starfish. It was only about 7-8 minutes and I signaled to Bill that I was going up, he tried to convince me to stay down but I said no, its not worth it and up I went. There is nothing worse than doing your hang in water that is so pretty and clear when the vis was nil on your dive.

During the surface interval we debated about moving inshore, but no one wanted to go pop the anchor and sacrifice time for their second dive, so we were staying for 2. Capt. Brian took his spear to some of the surrounding buoy's in search of fish to spear and several of us went for a nice swim. It was HOT out there today!!! I think the heat got to a few of us including me. I do not like the heat and felt tired and weak. I snorkeled for a while shooting pictures of illuminesence and tried to get a picture of Brian Roemer jumping in for this 2nd dive. It didn't turn out...too many bubbles, all I got was his fins. I decided not go on my 2nd dive but, Bill did. He got a bagful of scallops and a lobster. He said I should have gone that the vis opened up and I didn't believe him. I asked Brian Roemer and he said well it was a little better vis but not much. Hence, I was glad I sat this one out. We were not sure where on the wreck we were, and Bill figured out on the 2nd dive that we were about 40' towards the stern from the engines.

On the way back to Atlantic City we went through a monsoon and electrical storm that was pretty wild. I shot a little video of the storm.. All our gear got a nice rinse and it finally cooled off. I have to admit that I was really disappointed about today's dive but, it still was an adventure and better than not diving at all!!

My tanks getting a bath!!

9 Minute Barge & Dry Dock 7-23-10

After a few blow-outs, I finally got out today and was happy I made the decision to go. I have not been underwater since June 20th, which is a long dry spell. I am supposed to dive the Offshore Paddlewheeler on Sunday and in looking at the weekend weather, it does not look good so, I convinced Bill to take a quick run out and dive today. We started out heading for the Glory wreck, Bill dove this years ago with John Slotnick (Captain/Mate of the Sea Robin) and just found some GPS numbers for it. He remembered it being a good dive. Well, the numbers didn't pan out and we couldn't locate the wreck. So, we continued on our journey and went to the 9 Minute Barge. We found it in no time and hooked it on our first try. I was not feeling well in the tummy (thanks to the rollers) soooo, I splashed first and had the job of setting the hook.

The surface vis was this terrible pea soup everyone is talking about and then it went completely black. So I was nervous that the vis would not be so good, boy was I wrong..we had an easy 30' of vis and as I descended I could see the entire layout of the barge. The hook was in a small piece of wreckage and needed to be relocated so with a few throws and some heaving, I got it over to a piece of wreckage that I could tie it into. However, before I could get my sisal around it, someone up above was pulling the hook.. This was not funny and I almost watched the anchor go bye bye. You are not supposed to pull up the slack until it is all set, oh well.. It's not so easy to tie into a low lying barge and I was thinking, this is hard work, isn't it supposed to be relaxing and fun?

Now I was off on my dive, the first thing I noticed was the overabundance of fish, you had to push them out of your way. The second thing was, this wreck had been hit by other divers because there was fresh sisal on it in two different locations. I took some photos and tried to take some video on a different setting. The video came out in better color this time but, it was not focused. Now I have to figure out why. I think it was because there was not as much ambient light on this dive. Some of the pictures I took came out ok. This wreck is wooden and low lying so it is good for both fish and lobsters. It sits in about 70' of water and is a decent size, although I did not get to see the whole thing because I was busy taking video and pictues. In the end I had about 30 minutes on the bottom. The temp on the bottom was 51 degrees and 65 on the hang.





Bill did a long dive and ended up with 2 lobsters and two sea bass. He liked this wreck too. Unfortunately he used up most of his air so he could not make a second dive. We both only had one set of double 80's each, we left our other tanks home since we hope to use them on Sunday. Thanks to my low air consumption, I got to do two dives.

The next wreck is called the Dry Dock. Since I was the only one diving I had to set and pull the hook plus Bill wanted me to figure out what kind of wreck it is. This wreck was in 60' of water and the vis on the surface was worse than the first dive. However, the vis did open up on the bottom to about 20', a little more cloudy on this dive. As I descended all I could see was a ladder. Here I am thinking, what is Bill doing to me, sending me in to dive on a ladder in the middle of the ocean?? How in the world did he find this and hook it. I was starting to say lots of curse words under water but then I figured all right, why is this ladder here? Lets run a wreck reel and take a look around, maybe just maybe there is a wreck down here. The anchor was hooked pretty good in the ladder and I headed in the direction of a large shadow and swam pretty far and hit nothing but me, the sand and the ocean. I went back to the anchor and went in the opposite direction and I did find ribbings of a wreck and some larger pieces but still could not desifer what it was. This wreck is wooden but it is mostly buried. There were some fish on it but not as much as on the 9 Minute Barge. About 20 minutes had passed and I was running low on air and decided to head back, undo the anchor and head up. I am still puzzled as to why the ladder was in the middle of no where and what I actually dove on. Maybe Bill was trying to mess with me...trying to get me back for begging him to take me diving today!! I did take some photos but they did not come out too good.

We were back at the dock by 1pm and I was floating on my raft in the pool by 3pm. I'm glad we went today especially if we don't get out on Sunday. I am keeping my fingers crossed, the weather man is wrong often and maybe he will be this weekend. If we don't make it to the Wheeler on Sunday, we are heading out again on Tuesday and hopefully I'll dive a wreck not a ladder.

After looking through my photos, Bill is trying to tell me that the picture below is an old washing machine dumped on the 9 Minute Barge wreck. He said it's the inside drum that is left. I do not believe him. This was after he told me someone must of dropped the ladder on the Dry Dock wreck...He says people are always dumping junk on wrecks. Hmmmm??? Its been a long day!

Washing Machine

Video of Conway/Wellington

I finally found some time to get my first video together. It is not very good and since I shot it in natural light it is very GREEN. I do not have a video editing program to help with correcting the color as of yet. This was shot with my SeaLife DC500 camera with no color corrective filters and as a result it isn't very clear. I am saving to buy a "real" video camera, housing and lighting and hoped to have it this season but, funds are a little tight so it will be on the back burner for now. I added some actual photos of the wreck at the end of each video so you can see the contrast in color. Please feel free to comment on it and let me know of any programs that are good for editing. Also, if anyone has any information on the Wellington (what type of wreck it was, when it sunk etc.) I would be interested in hearing about it. There is not much left of it, most of it is buried. I am planning on shooting some more video on my next few dives...



There is music so turn up your speakers!

Varanger-Blow Out 7-11-10

Bill and the kids went away camping for 3 days and I stayed home so that I could dive the Varanger today. I have dove this wreck a lot over the years and was looking forward to getting more photos of it. In my opinion, you can never dive the Varanger too much..it is a very large wreck and has a lot to offer from hoards of fish and lobster to great artifacts and history. My dive buddy for the day was going to be Geoff Graham. The forecast was not looking good Saturday night (4'-7') for offshore. When I arrived at the dock, we decided to head out into the Atlantic and see what the sea conditions were. We had a full boat, Geoff Graham, Jeff Heim, John Priestly, Andrew Nagle, Kathy Ondrasik and 4 other divers that I did not get a chance to meet as of yet. Once we broke the inlet there were some rollers but not too bad and no chop. After we drove for a while the rollers grew in size, were closer together and there was some chop. Therefore, it was decided that the sea conditions were not conducive to dive the Varanger. I then thought we'd hit something inshore but, there were several divers that were diving Trimix whom did not want to concede to a shallower dive thus, we did a u-turn and headed back into Atlantic City. We all had a nice breakfast at the cafe next to the dock and called it a day. A bunch of us will meet again as we are heading to the Offshore Paddlewheeler on July 25th. There are so few days to dive, I did not want to give up hope that we'd get out and dive something today. As the saying goes...better safe than sorry!

San Jose 6-20-10

Sunday, June 20th, we were destined to dive the Southern Lilian on the Atlantus with Geoff Graham's private charter. We had a last minute change in plans and decided to dive the San Jose instead. This ended up being the Atlantus' maiden voyage for the 2010 dive season. As we broke Atlantic City inlet we were greeted with fog and a solid 2-4' swell with the occasional 5' footer thrown in. Since we had a light load, Bill, myself, Kris Centrone (owner of The Dive Shop in Cherry Hill), and Brian Larsen (Captain), we decided to still go for the San Jose since it wasn't too far and the seas were supposed to lay down.

The San Jose is a freighter that sunk on Jan 17, 1942 via collision with the Santa Elisa. It is a large wreck that is broken up with some areas still intact. It is a good wreck for lobstering. It is also a silty wreck since it sits on a muddy bottom.

We arrived at the wreck in no time, the new engines in the Atlantus has the boat running a little faster this year. Brian hooked the wreck with ease and Kris was first to splash followed by myself and Bill. The surface vis was phenominal but as soon as we hit the thermocline around 80' it became darker, colder and the vis went to about 10'-15'. We were hooked in the bow along one of the bulkheads. I swam along a bulkhead and took a few pictures. I forgot my wide angle lens on the boat so, I didn't take too many pictures. I did notice that there were not many fish on this wreck. It was strange, there were areas with hardly any vis and then areas where you could see quite far??? We all agreed that these conditions persisted for all of us. My neck seal was leaking again, so I got wet and cold rather quickly. It was 45 degrees at 103'. I ended up with 25 minutes on the bottom before I headed up for my warmer hang. During my hang I shot some photos of Bill and Kris. Upon surfacing the seas were still a little rough so I was dreading climbing up the ladder. I actually got on the ladder fine but once I got towards the top, I made the mistake of taking my regulator out of my mouth to talk to Brian and BAMM a wave took me off sideways and I was back in the ocean. I was fine and just climbed that ladder again. I decided that climbing the ladder is the worst part of diving. Bill ended up with 1 lobster and Kris speared a real nice fluke.

Kris Centrone

















Bill









The surface interval passed quickly as we chatted about "diving". I was going to leave my camera behind for dive #2 but Bill convinced me to bring it along because he thought the vis would be better. He was right, the vis improved to about 15'-20' and it was brighter now that the sun was higher in the sky. I swam to an area of the wreck that had more relief and shot a few pictures. I only lasted 17 minutes and I was freezing so I went up. This time I tackled the ladder without a gliche. I felt great in the water today, slowly building my confidence... Bill got a piece of porcellin from a bowl or cup and Kris got a lobster.

Based on my recent dives and the reports of other divers, I have concluded that the vis has been better on the shallower wrecks. It seems that if you can stay above the thermocline the vis is good. I hope this rectifies itself before my next dive. The water wasn't as green as it had been and seems to be a little more bluer.

It was nice to meet Kris and to hear that his dive business is thriving. He told me all about the shops recent trips to the Bahamas and Utila. I am sure that we will see Kris again out diving someday. I'll also have to take a drive to Cherry Hill and check out his shop. We made it back to the dock quickly and then we were off to Father's Day dinner. We had Filet Mignon, Lobster and Crabs!

I am off to North Carolina next week and hope to get out diving, we'll see what happens. Then I will be diving the Varanger or N.Pacific on July 11th on Geoff Graham's charter...can't wait.

Conway & Wellington 6-18-10

Yesterday I spent the day with eight 12 & 13 year old boys at Great Adventure for my son's field trip. I am not an amusement park person and I was reminded why I do not like large crowds or rides. I just kept thinking, get through this day, and tomorrow I will be diving. After surviving the field trip, it made diving today more much appreciable!





We decided to head out and dive the Conway first today. It has been at least 15 years since I have been on this wreck. It is an old wooden clammer. We hooked into the dredge on our first try. Bill splashed first today to secure the anchor. When he surfaced he had speared 8 large sea bass and got 1 lobster. Not bad!!! I splashed second and was going to check out the wreck, take some pictures and maybe shoot some video. There was a little bit of a current on the surface, which made that swim to the anchor line a little tough but, there was 0 current on the bottom. This wreck sits at a depth of 59' and the vis was a cloudy 20' or so. That prevalent green water is still here. It was definitely loaded with sea bass and I could see how Bill did so well spearing them. I swam along the dredge tubing over to the actual dredge and then along the pipes to the larger part of the wreck. Most of the wooden decking is no longer visible, all that is left is the steel parts of the dredge. There was not a lot of growth on this wreck, just some white hard coral and the occasional sea anenome. I shot some video of this wreck and as soon as I can figure out how to edit it I will post it. The bottom temp was a toasty 52 degrees and the surface was even warmer at 66 degrees. I had fun on this dive watching all the fish chase each other around and ended up with 34 minutes on the bottom. At the very end of my dive I spotted a small sea bass with a large lobster attenae sticking out of its mouth??? Did the fish try and eat the lobster....it was pretty funny to see. I then decided, to try another wreck for dive #2 so, I had to lug the anchor over two of the dredge pipes to get it out in the sand to avoid it getting hung up when we pulled it up. This was a little hard but I managed it...Up, up and away I went.










Clam Dredge

Dive #2 was a little closer inshore on the Wellington which is a low lying wood wreck. We hooked this wreck on out second try and ended up tying in right by the boilers. Just like the previous dive, Bill went in first and he ended up with a very large sea bass and 2 lobsters. He said that the vis on this wreck was cloudier than the first. I decided to bring the camera even though the vis wasn't so hot and I'm glad I did because the pictures came out ok. This vis was still decent 15'-20' but just cloudier. This wreck sits at a depth of 54' and I had a bottom temp of 56 degrees. There were not as many fish on this wreck and most of them were smaller. I swam around the boilers and to the stern and then turned around and headed towards the bow which was more or less buried in the sand. There were some brass spikes sticking up out of the sand and it would be worthwhile to hit this area with a scooter. I kept following the pieces of the bow out into the sand and all of a sudden I realized I was lost...it got me a little nervous but I found my way back. I again had the task of moving the anchor away from the wreck and as I did I found another piece laying out in the sand. I was low on air so I will have to go back and check out that piece another day.












Boilers

It was a real nice day to be out diving while the kids were in school and made it home just in time to pick them up. Bill totalled 9 sea bass and 3 lobsters...that is a good day!

I'm sure with this NW wind, the water should clear up nice in the next day or two. Well, it better because I am heading back out on Sunday to the Southern Lilian on the Atlantus. Can't Wait!!

Anonymous Comments

I have been so touched and inspired by comments from anonymous divers in response to my "First Dive of 2010 Gloria Wreck" post. I have said before in my Safe Diving post (July 2009), that my training by Gene Peterson has greatly contributed to me being safe all these years. It was also things that he said, like, its normal to feel nervous before a dive, that I have carried with me all these years to help me to achieve what I have. Some of the anonymous comments that I listed below attribute to the fact that Gene was accurate in the things he has advised. By verbalizing this fact, it helped to comfort and calm me as a diver and I'm sure other divers too. It makes you feel like you are not alone. I am happy to know that my feelings expressed through my blog are helping other divers too. Lets all have a Great 2010 dive season full of excitement and adventure!

Anonymous said...
Sounds like a good dive and thank you for your honesty. I too have contemplated the recent losses of experienced female and male NJ divers. Your post convinced me I am not alone. I will rely on my training and my buddy (not to mention my gear) to keep me safe. Happy diving! May 26, 2010

Kim Dixon said...
I firmly believe that diving is safer than driving your car around the block. after all, I have safely completed a ton of dives over 24 years. However, these diving accidents and other personal issues intertwined with diving sometimes get into my psyche and expressing my feelings and/or opinion helps to ease the grief. Thanks for you comment, I will be Happy underwater! May 26, 2010

Anonymous said....
You have to wonder how many experienced divers get the feelings expressed by you, Kim, but, are embarrassed to let anyone know? I have 400 dives under my belt, but, still feel anxious quite a bit and don't understand it. Once I actually splash in, I am fine. Like you I could not picture life without diving! Thanks for sharing... June 3, 2010

Perfect Dive on the Double East 5/31/10

Yesterday was the most perfect day! We had a busy weekend filled with kayaking, barbeques, and fishing but, it was not complete without throwing in some diving. The problem was we were meeting friends at a barbeque in the afternoon at our favorite sand bar. Therefore, we needed to get in relatively early. Our original plan was to dive some snags that we found last fall but given the time constraint and the large number of boats out in the ocean we opted for a quick and easy trip to the Double East. As we went out of Little Egg Inlet there wasn't even a wave, which is rarely seen in this inlet and we made the 11 mile trip with ease.

We hooked the wreck on our first try and I was splashing first to tie in the anchor. The surface vis looked great and I decided to bring my camera along. Once I splashed although the vis was good, there was a lot of particulate matter in the water which makes picture taking difficult. As I descended, the wreck came into view at about 30'. Once on the bottom, the anchor was snugly tucked under a plate and was not going to move, so I didn't need to tie it in. The first thing I noticed was the abundance of fish, big difference from my first dive of the season. The fish were everywhere and you had to actually push them away from your face. I did not travel far on this dive, I hung in one small area and played around with taking photos with the external flash and also with natural light. I saw some huge taug, bigger than I've seen in years and they were not skittish. I tried to photograph them but they wouldn't come quite that close. There was no thermocline and the temp at 61' was 52 degrees and the vis was about 25-30'. This time I was not wet at all and I can't remember ever being this warm on a dive including my hands. I really really enjoyed this dive and stayed down for 35 minutes. I did not want to go up but I only had one set of tanks so I needed to save some air for dive #2.

Bill splashed next and he came up with a nice lobster, sea bass and mussels which ended up being out dinner at the barbeque.

We were going to change to another wreck for dive #2 but there was boats everywhere so we stayed put. On my second dive I ventured towards the stern of the wreck where the slabs rose like mountains from the bottom. Bill had seen some taug that he swears were about 15lbs, and I went in search of them. I found them, and I was in awe at their size, we will be back here when the season is open to spear them. I took another round of photos and managed another 30 minutes of bottom time. The perfect ending to this day was when I was all alone on the boat and I saw a fin heading our way and there was Bill hanging on the anchor. I thought, this is a shark and it is heading full speed for Bill. However, the fin kind of flopped back and forth in a strange manner, I then realized it was a sunfish. It swam right up to the boat and stayed next to me and looked at me with his enormous eye for about 10 minutes. There are days out there diving when you have the best dives and are also rewarded with the gift of seeing a sunfish. It couldn't get any better.










We made it back to the dock by 1:45pm with plenty if time to switch to our smaller boat and head out to the sandbar. We stayed out there until the sun set. What an absolutely perfect day!!!




My friend the sunfish!

First Dive of 2010- Gloria Wreck (5/16/10)

We took advantage of the great weather and went out on our own boat to dive the Gloria Wreck. I have a lot of new gear that I wanted to insure was working properly (two new regulators, new dive underwear, new tanks and a new computer) and I am also having a lot of anxiety about diving at all this year. So, I decided I'd pack everything and go along for the ride and see what happens. As we broke through Little Egg Inlet we were greeted with Lake Atlantic seas and the water was the prettiest aquamarine color with awesome surface vis. We passed two majestic sailboats on their way north, and they looked so tranquil. I grew up in a family whom sailed and I personally never took a liking to it but, this morning it looked so peaceful and relaxing. These were all signs that it was going to be a good day.

It is a quick 30 minute ride from our dock to the wreck and there were literally no boats out there other than the two sailboats we passed. We had wind against the tide so it took a few tries to hook the wreck. I was not ready to dive so Bill spalshed first while I stayed on the boat to contemplate whether or not I was capable of diving. Bill came up with two nice lobsters and he raved about the great visibility and told me it will be worth my while to go in and dive.


I then decided to go for it and I suited up...I don't know what came over me but I started to panic and felt like I couldn't breathe...I slowed myself and started to doubt that I should get in the water. Bill talked me through it and I don't know how he did it but, he got me to splash. The cold water and the great vis snapped the anxiety right out of me and down the anchor line I went. The Gloria is in 70' of water so in no time I could see the propeller rising high off of the bottom, we were anchored in the stern for sure. Once on the bottom I sat there going over all of my equipment and noticed right away that my older TUSA computer was not working. It was scrolling through Dive, Dive Log, Dive Plan, Time all by itself and was not registering that I was in the water diving. I played with it and could not get it to stop. This is why you always need a back-up and thankfully my new NiTek back-up computer was working fine. My new Aqualung Legend regulator breathed effortlessly and it has a cold water mouth piece that covers your lips, I did not like this option on the surface but boy what a difference it made in the 48 degree water on the bottom. My lips were actually warm! As I sat on the bottom going over all all my gear I said a prayer to keep me safe during this dive and the 2010 season.

I was ready to now go about my dive, I followed the propeller shaft to the larger debris field and took advantage of the 35-40' vis to get my bearings and memorize parts of the wreck. I came across a sort of building structure that I never saw before...maybe the wheelhouse?? It was taller than me, had pillars and a roof. Well, it had the largest sea bass and black fish swimming inside of it. The wreck was also covered with the smallest lobsters I've ever seen, there claws were not even as long as my thumb and they appeared to have no fear since they were walking around out of their holes. Once I got to the main wreckage area I noticed that there were no mussels at all on the wreck when normally they are there. I wonder why that is? This wreck has some serious digging potential and we will be back a lot this year to uncover some areas. The winter storms did uncover some areas that I don't recall being there last year. I know there are artifacts to be found here.

I ended up with about 22 minutes on the bottom before I was getting cold and decided I should go up. I did a nice longer hang and the water temp at 15' was 49 degrees, not really any different from the bottom but the vis was better, had to be at least 50'. My new fourth element underwear did keep me as warm as can be especially since my neck seal leaked and I was drenched. Once on the surface I played around with the weights to make sure I was closer to neutral buoyancy, I used only 800 lbs of air on my dive so my tanks were still really full therefore, I know I'll have to make more adjustments on another day. I opted out of the second dive but Bill dove and got a another lobster. We were back at our dock by 1pm with lobsters for dinner!


As the 2010 dive season begins, I am reminded that life is unpredictable, as I again hear of the loss of another female diver in NJ. This really hit me in the gut and I became very anxious about diving in general and the goals I set for this summer. In my struggle to deal with my emotions involved with diving, I reached out to some fellow divers for some reassurance that I would be safe diving this summer. The kind words from Mark Hennessy and Jeff Heim insured me that I am a good, safe diver and I will be fine. I am glad that they were not shy and spoke up because it was what I needed to hear to give me the push to get in the water. It meant a lot to me, especially because they are long time veteran divers and instructors. My husband of course always supports me but, he has to, he's my husband. It was he however, whom convinced me to get on the boat and get out there today. I owe him so much for doing this and putting up with my anxieties. I can't imagine life without diving. I have met so many wonderful people through my diving and I have had numerous divers reach out to me to say that they love my blog and can feel my passion for diving through it. I am so happy that when I needed some support there were divers there to help me in return. I will persevere!! Safe Diving...

Beneath the Sea 2010

Yesterday I went to Beneath the Sea and really enjoyed it. I don't go every year, I go every few years and for some reason this year I got a lot out of it.

I have been looking at getting into underwater videograpy and really enjoyed the large number of vendors of video housings that I could evaluate and compare. I really was impressed with Equinox and feel that I am going to bite the bullet and invest in this housing. I am going to first obtain a new video camcorder that works well in low light and take it from there. Hopefully I'll get setup for this dive season. I am new into this and still want to get more advise from other divers that have already invested in this. My Sealife camera has let me down so I don't want to invest in a video system without being sure it will suit my purposes.

I also really liked the Liquivision trimix computer. I was first drawn to it because of the bright neon yellow display. I need reading glasses and even with lenses in my mask, I have trouble reading my gauges in the dark NJ waters. I saw this computer and thought this is the answer. I later learned in talking to the rep. that you can adjust the font size too. This computer utilized a tap interface which was really nice too. The only problem was the price tag....a little pricey.

I have been wanting to buy Arctic weight Fourth Element dive underwear ever since my friend Helen, raved about how warm she it in this product. I ended up buying a full set yesterday. I will be warm this year!!! I got my drysuit back from Bare last week with new wrist seals and valves. It was leak tested and currently has no leaks. Between being dry and my new underwear...I am confident that those early season cold water dives will be warm.

Here are the links for the products I am referencing if you want to check them out:

Equinox; Liquivision; Fourth Element

It wasn't very crowded yesterday, I guess its a sign of the economic times. I only saw one old dive friend out of the corner of my eye. I never ran into him the rest of the show so, I didn't even get to exchange a hello. Maybe I'll see him again someday.

The dive season is approaching quickly and I am ready to roll. I have signed up for some awesome deeper dives this year and just pray the weather cooperates. We are working on getting our boat in the water by the end of April so we can get in a few shallow dives before my first deeper dive to the Northern Pacific in early June.

Nova Scotia 1991

In September of 1991 I went on an adventure to dive wrecks out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Little did I know at the time, but it would be some of the most challenging wreck diving I would ever do. I dove in Ketch Harbor for bottles and also the wrecks called the Deliverance, Lititia, Sonja Marsh and Zoe. I remember it was very cold both in and out of the water. We camped via motorhomes and tents and you never quite got warm the entire trip, after all it was September. Once unique characteristic about diving in Nova Scotia is the pink algae growing on the rocks which made it very beautiful.

There were a lot of laughs on this trip. There was a bunch of guys that bickered the whole time as if they were kids on a family road trip. They made the trip a lot of fun. In fact, there is one story of the "boys" that remains in my memory. It is the story of the disappearance of Franz's drysuit. He had his drysuit in the cargo hold on the bottom of the motorhome. Someone, I won't name any names, forgot to latch the hold. Well, when was time to get ready to dive, the drysuit was gone. Somehow the drysuit fell out of the cargo hold and was out there on one of the hilly Nova Scotia roads. We all backtracked and tried to find it to no avail. The drysuit was gone, and no where to be found. The "boys" fought the rest of the trip over whom did not lock the cargo hold. Meanwhile, Franz had the task of finding a drysuit or wetsuit to dive in the rest of the week. If my memory is correct, he found a drysuit but it was a tad small. I heard a year or two later that Franz's drysuit was spotted at a yard sale. I suppose someone came along and found the drysuit in the road, picked it up, and probably didn't even know what it was, held onto it and tried to sell it at the yard sale years later. This would explain why we could not find it when we backtracked our route. This is just one story of the many during this adventure to Nova Scotia.

Unfortunately I did not have an underwater camera for this trip so the pictures are topside only. In fact, I didn't even remember that I had these pictures, I thought I only had one or two pictures of the whole trip. In digging through all of my slides I found quite a few more. I did get an artifact on this trip, it was a drain grate from the Zoe. Although it was insignificant next to some other magnificent artifacts that were obtained by other divers.

During this trip we also visited the Halifax Citadel, a restored fort, and the Bay of Fundy National Park. I have yearned for a long time to go back to Nova Scotia to dive again. Maybe someday...




Press Play to watch the slide show

I want to thank Gene Peterson of Atlantic Divers for organizing this trip, I will never forget all the things that I accomplished as a diver on this adventure or the fact that Gene had faith in my diving capabilities. This is where my true passion for wreck diving began. It will always be a special memory for me.

Dive Schedules for 2010

Moonstone

I don't know if it is plain old good luck, karma, or what but, I have been letting you all know through this blog what dives I aspire to dive in the upcoming year. Now it seems, as the dive schedules are being posted that most of the dives I want to dive are on dive shop, dive boat or dive club schedules. To see that fellow divers have read my blog, and then actually put those wreck destinations on their dive shop or dive boat schedules means the world to me. This shows me that my blog is doing its job....to inspire others to dive. Thanks!! I guess there is some truth to the old saying "If there is a will, there is a way"!

I am looking forward to being on those trips with all of you whom share the same passion for diving the wrecks I want to dive. See you out there this year on the Cayru, N.Pacific, Freighter, Varanger, Moonstone, Arundo, and Terror Wreck. So far, I am signed up to dive the Moonstone, Arundo (twice), Cayru and Varanger. Lets see if I can manage to get too all the wrecks that set out to dive this year...

Me on the
Moonstone- 1990

Seagirt 9/20/90

The Seagirt is an intact clammer that sank in 1990 and we were some of the first divers on it. We went out on the Down Deep (Capt. Bob Meimbrese) and had a real productive day. I wrote in my log that the wreck had lots of cables to get hung up on and the wreck creeked since it wasn't quite settled into the bottom yet. It sits in 70' of water. All the divers together got a total of 7 portholes, 2 swing plates, 2 brass horns, a lantern, a compass and the box it goes in, cage lights and a bell (not the boats bell but another type of alarm bell). I actually got a cage light and the bell on my own and sent it up in my own lift bag. At the time that was real big for me. I'm not one that works with tools well. These are the few pictures of I have of that memorable day. I went back to this wreck years later and it was encased in mussels and sits on its side. Nothing like seeing a wreck upright and then going back and seeing it listed to one side.

Gulftrade, City of Athens & Brian C

Gulftrade Stern 1990














City of Athens 9/15/90



























Brian C on the Down Deep