Varanger 10-23-10

As I awoke to the alarm at 5:00am, I contemplated staying home because I had a mentally exhausting week and did not know if I should go out diving. BUT....it was the Varanger, one of the greatest wrecks to dive, and fall/winter is knocking at our door. So, I dragged myself out of bed and headed for the Atlantus Dive boat. The drive to the boat was so cool because it was a full moon and the light glistened off the Mullica River in the most mysterious way that it made you thankful for getting up and being able to see it. When I arrived at the boat the moon was just above the Borgota and I took some pictures of it.


The date is incorrect on this photo it should be 10/23/10

The forecast was for 3-6' seas and it was supposed to lay down as the day went on so we all decided to run for the Varanger and if the conditions worsened we'd hit the San Jose. We had 7 divers today including Steph McAllister, John Thomas, Jim, Jason, Ken, Bill and I. Most of the divers on board have never dove the Varanger so, they were very excited. On the way out Steph gave me some camera pointers since he tests Sea Life cameras and it was most helpful to me. I couldn't wait to get in and take some photos. The seas started to grow and about midway to the wreck Captain Andrew came down to insure that we all felt ok with diving in these conditions. It was rough but nothing we all couldn't handle so we pressed on.

After we arrived at the wreck we threw in the shot line and John Thomas and Ken were going to go down and tie us into the wreck. As soon as they splashed we noticed there was a current. They managed to get down, tie us in, and pool was open. I was splashing next and got held up because Bill's dry suit inflator valve got stuck and wouldn't stop inflating. Capt. Andrew worked on the inflate valve and got it to work better and we decided to head in. The seas were picking up as well as the wind so I decided I was only doing 1 long dive. Capt. Andrew also suggested that I take my tanks off in the water so that I don't get hurt on the ladder. I told him that is what I will plan on doing. After the week I had, I wanted to air on the side of caution. I splashed and immediately noticed the intense current because I had to really struggle to right myself and at the same time my regulator was massively free flowing. I quickly grabbed the granny line and went to pull my self to the anchor line and couldn't make any headway and I took 2 very large waves and I realize this was not safe for me. I am not strong enough mentally or physically to do this. So I aborted. It took all my strength to hold onto the line with one hand, this current was the most intense I've ever been in, and with the other hand take off my tanks and attach it to a line. During this the waves were a good 4-5' and were crashing into me, I'm sure you get the picture. All I knew is if I let go of the line to the boat I'd be out to sea. I managed to get everything off and then I had my tanks in one hand the the line to the boat in the other and was paralyzed, how do I tie off the tanks without letting go of the boat. In comes help, Bill whom never got in the water jumped in and grabbed my tanks and swam them to a line and I got safely on the boat. Even with no tanks I had a tough time getting up that ladder.

The next divers, Jim and Jason were getting ready to splash but after seeing my struggle they were having second thoughts. They nonetheless decided to go for it. Jason jumped in and the same thing happened to him, the current beat him and in no time he was back on the boat. He however noticed that the granny line was now wrapped around the shaft and prop. Jim never made it in the water. Now up comes John Thomas who was very exhausted and said he had to fight the current the whole way down and it was still present on the bottom. He said the vis was good but the current prevented him from making much headway. He also said the hang was unbearable, a two handed hang. I knew after hearing this that I did the wise thing by aborting, I would not have been able to deal with those conditions today. Maybe on another day I could handle it when I am stronger but, not today. Ken came up a while later and he really enjoyed the wreck.

Ken was gracious enough to go under the boat in these rough conditions and cut the granny line from the prop shaft and prop. Now who was going to go in and pop the anchor. Well Steph wanted to but, he got a stomach bug and was spending much of the trip in the head. I advised him that it was not a good idea because he was probably dehydrated and he also was weak. No one else felt it was safe to send another diver in to get the grapnel so we decided to cut the anchor and come back in a week or two and retrieve it. At this point there were some solid 6 footers and it was the wise thing to do plus there were little signs along the way saying not to put anyone else in the water. We all should have known that the current would be ripping with the full moon. If it was just the seas we had to deal with everything would be fine but the combination of the seas and the current is what made it for a miserable day for diving. On this day I got to swim for a short while on top of the Varanger but, no diving :(

Once we were all safe back at the dock, I realized one of the reasons I like diving so much is the adventure. When you leave in the morning you never know what unpredictable adventure lies ahead. However, this day...I should have stayed in bed! We will be heading back out to retrieve the grapnel in the next week or so, and I'll hopefully get to dive then. Always be safe!!

Arundo 10-17-10

As I left my house this morning I looked up into the sky to see so many stars and then, I saw a shooting star! This would be good luck!!! I have not been in the water for 3 weeks because I kept on getting blown out. I knew the wind was going to blow again today but I had faith that we'd get out somewhere. As I was loading the boat Capt. Jim of the Gypsy Blood said "oh know, I saw you were on the list of divers and I hope you don't bring us bad luck since you's been blown out so much!!" Well, we got out and went to the Arundo. This was my best two dives of the year!! Thanks Capt. Jim for not canceling!!!

We were diving with Diversion group today and we had 13 divers aboard. Our leader, Helen Bilinski was not well today and was forced to stay home but she did send her peorogies and salsa dip and chips for us all to enjoy. She was with us in spirit and I hope she gets well soon!

The Arundo is a freighter that was sunk via torpedo in April 1942. She was carrying supplies for the troops in N. Africa. The supplies included Canadian beer bottles, jeeps and 10 wheeled army trucks.

Bart tied us into the wreck after a choppy ride out and the pool was open. Once I splashed, the vis was not very good, lots of particulate matter in the water, but once you got down about 50' it cleared right up and we had an easy 30'-40' of vis. I left my camera on board by mistake, I forgot to grab it when I jumped in and boy was I sorry that I forgot it. We were hooked in the stern right next to the propeller's and rudder gear mechanism. I swam quite a distance away from the anchor to an area with a tall stack and lots of ribbing. It was so cool to see this with such great visibility. I followed along part of the hull with lots of windows and came to an opening and underneath the sheeting was big truck tires. If I had my camera this would have been a great shot. The wreck was loaded with large sea bass and black fish. This dive was so great that I didn't want to leave but all great dives come to an end and up I went. The bottom temp. was 58 degrees and the surface temp was 61, I was nice and warm!.

During the surface there was lots of scallop shucking, there were a ton of scallops brought up. The seagulls were dive bombing the boat to get the scallop guts, it was quite the show. Also, Shawn the mate said he saw a black tipped shark during his dive, he said it was about 5' long. I was definitely bringing my camera in for the second dive in case I see the shark.

During my second dive, the vis seemed to open up even more. I could see the bottom from pretty far up the anchor line. This was my first dive with my new camera so I spent a long time trying to figure out all the menu's and which option was best for the conditions that I had. As a result, I didn't take too many pictures and also didn't travel too far. Bill took off with the scooter and I went in the opposite direction of my first dive. I came to some large pipe like openings that you could swim into and tried to photograph it. They didn't come out too well. I then came upon a toad fish and he was my model for quite a while. 30 minutes went by in a blink and it was time to head for the surface. Bill and Shelly saw two sunfish on the bottom of the wreck. They were not large ones but they were all the way down on the bottom at 120'. Pretty cool, I wish I saw them. I never saw the shark and neither did anyone else.


My Friend the Toad Fish









I think that shooting star this morning definitely brought me good luck and thank god my blow out streak has been broken! Its not often that you have such great conditions on the Arundo since it is in the mud hole. I'll be back out diving next weekend!! Look for me then...

John Marvin, Gloria, & Patrice McAlister

Today we went to the John Marvin, Gloria & Patrice McAllister and had 0 visibility at all 3 wrecks. The water is back to that pea soup color and you can not see a thing. I have been diving long enough to know that when the vis is that bad its not worth the risk and you are better off just going back to the boat. Very frustrating day..not much to say other than I thought diving is supposed to be fun. Today it was hard work with no reward. I didn't even get to use my new camera. I'm slowly losing faith...I am diving the Varanger on Saturday and then an epic secret wreck on Tuesday (this was blown out last week and has been rescheduled). This is usually the best time of the year to dive, I'm just not having much good luck these days :)

Varanger Finally!! wait, no Southern Lilian 9-12-10

After being blown out of 2 Varanger trips and an Arundo trip in the past few weeks, I finally got out today and we were planning on diving the Varanger. However, due to a weather system coming towards us and vis reports from the prior day, we took a vote and opted for the Southern Lilian which is also an awesome wreck. First off, I had a real busy Saturday and didn't get much sleep so as soon as I loaded the boat, I plugged into my ipod and went to sleep for 2 hour trip to the Southern Lilian. When I awoke I felt much better and was happy to see the sea conditions were calm and it wasn't raining yet.

We had a great bunch of divers today, Geoff Graham, John Priestly, Dave Oldman, Rich Venuti, Bill & I, Capt. Brian and Shaner the mate. Once we hooked the wreck, Geoff went in to tie in the anchor. I was being optimistic and I was planning on taking my camera because this wreck always has great vis due to the solid sandy bottom. Once I jumped in my Diverite regulator would not stop free flowing..this reg has given me more trouble...anyways I was doing everything I could think of to get it to stop and Geoff was hanging on the anchor line and and was probably laughing at me fight with my reg... Finally my reg slowed to a trickle of bubbles and I headed down. When I got closer to Geoff he signaled me that the vis sucked down below. I was so bummed on the rest of my decent. At about 70' the vis shut down and I did the usual for this summer, I hit the wreck. Dark and 0-5' vis. This season has been the worst for visibility conditions offshore. I know this wreck pretty well but, I could not figure out where I was. I saw large sheets of metal laying flat on the wreck and I remembered seeing this on other dives but I simply could not see enough to figure out where I was. Therefore, my dive was real short. As I ascended I saw Rich Venuti doing his hang and looking up at him in the great surface vis with the boat shadow behind him, I went to take a picture of him. Before I even turned my camera on I noticed it was flooded. I was looking at the camera and saw no cracks in it but it was definitely filled with water. Now I am thinking what a dive...70' vis on the surface to 5' vis in a matter of feet and now a flooded camera. This is definitely not a good day. One thing that was cool on my ascent was when you crossed from the brown muddy water into the blue water if was like a literal line and it looked so strange and awesome at the same time.

Once up on the surface, I could see no reason that my camera flooded. However, the buttons have been hard to press lately so Dave O. said maybe it flooded through one of the buttons. I guess I'll be on the phone to Sea Life this morning. During the surface interval there was lots of rebreather talk and we are getting closer and closer to taking class and making a major purchase. Capt. Brian is hoping to make the switch soon too. We debated whether or not we were going to move to the Boiler Wreck or stay put and we decided to stay where we were since the Atlantus was on the Flour Wreck and Pauline Marie yesterday and they too had 5' of vis.

On my second dive we were deploying the wreck reel and taking a tour for lobsters. It wasn't long before I saw Bill passing me a lobster or so I thought that was what he was doing. He was basically handing it to me but, he didn't want to give it to me he wanted me to bag it. Anyways in our mis-communication the lobster got away. I took a lot of abuse for this on the surface and as Geoff and Dave said.."It was my fault, its always my fault" "Husbands are never do any wrong". They were of course kidding around. Bill did eventually get another lobster and found another one with eggs. This dive didn't last long for me because my trustworthy drysuit flooded and I had to head for the surface. All in all my dives were terrible but I'd rather be out diving a terrible dive than sitting at home. On the drive home we listened to great stories of diving the St. Lawrence River and Lake Erie. Looks like Geoff is going to set up a trip for all of us to go on to the St. Lawrence next fall. I'm definitely up for it!

This was my 5th attempt to dive the Varanger this season and maybe the vis would have been better there but maybe not, I guess I'll never know. I had a fun day with some nice people! I am actually going to dive the Varanger again in two weeks with Steph McAllister and his friends if weather permits. I also have one more trip to the Arundo in October and I hope that one goes. I have a few more exciting dives coming up on the Independence and also will be trying to get out once a week on my own boat now that the kids are in school. Sooo...if the weather cooperates, there is still plenty of diving for me this Fall. All we need now is for this mucky vis to go away. I almost forgot, the bottom water temp was 54 degrees and the surface was 70 degrees, at least we were warm!! Safe diving!

Max's Wreck/Montgomery 8-20-10

Leaving Atlantic City




I knew today was going to be bittersweet when I ran into our old dive friend, Paxton Holden as we were loading the boat.



Paxton Holden getting ready for a day of fishing




Last summer we ran into Paxton prior to diving the Southern Lilian and he brought us good luck as we captured 9 lobsters that day (see August 2009, Southern Lilian post). Today Paxton was wearing an Atlantic Divers Nova Scotia Expedition T-shirt and it immediately brought back good memories of that trip we shared with Paxton and many other great divers. In fact, this is the time of year that they usually head up to Nova Scotia and it left me yearning to go. Paxton told us a story of spearing 13 huge flounder on the San Diego many years ago and he told us he misses the heck out of diving. He was heading out fishing and I said if he's here when we return I'll give him a lobster. Just like last year, my heart was so sad to leave him behind and my whole ride out I thought of all the trips we shared and wishing I could go back and dive Nova Scotia one more time. Someday I hope!!!

Today it was just Capt. Brain Larsen, myself, and Bill aboard the Atlantus and we were destined for Galimore's Cayru, lets just say $#@$ happens and we ended up at Max's Wreck and/or the Montgomery. This wreck sank in 1877 and it is a wooden steamer. When we arrived, there was a fishing boat on it but he didn't mind us anchoring up as long has he could still fish, we all agreed and the anchor was dropped. Bill and I went in first to tie in the anchor. I was praying that the vis would finally open up offshore and we were blessed. At about 116' I could see the wreck, I could see a good 30'. This wreck is extremely silty so you more or less needed to stay off of the bottom or you'd created massive silt clouds. We were anchored in the extreme bow near the chains. There were scallops and large lobsters everywhere. So, naturally, I got to work taking some photos while Bill speared fish, captured lobsters and scallops. After a while, I stopped taking photos so that I could collect scallops too. The past few dives with Bill as my buddy have not been as fun as they could be, there have been communication issues under water. This is common among husband and wife divers and has been an issue in the past. Anyways, today we decided that we would each do our "own thing" and see each other on the hang. Boy did that make a huge difference, I had no worries except for myself and as a result, I really enjoyed my dive and he did too. During this dive, I didn't explore too far, I was trying to get acclimated to the layout of the wreck. The maximum depth during this dive was 147', a bit shallower than I remember this wreck being. It was very cold, 45 degrees on the bottom and it was a struggle to make 20 minutes on the bottom. The hang was a comfy 77 degrees and seemed to last forever. Once we were back on the boat it was Capt. Brian's turn to dive. It was hot out there today so I spent sometime swimming, Capt. Brian had seen a turtle while we were diving and I was hoping he'd show back up for a photo shoot. Capt. Brian got a bunch of scallops, lobsters and thoroughly enjoyed his dive so we were staying for another dive.

Capt. Brian and his scallops



On my second dive I swam towards the stern and saw a large stack sticking up about 20' from the main wreckage and eventually saw the engines, prop shaft, and propeller. You could even see the remnants of coal from the engines. I tried to take some photos of the wreckage and Bill collected some more lobsters and scallops. I saw two eel pouts sitting in a hole of the wood wreck and I took their picture and they didn't even move when the flashes went off. I also saw some cloth or burlap that was wrapped and tied around part of the wreck and I was wondering why it was tied in that way, I took a picture of it...it was almost as if the burlap was tying two pieces of wood together on the ship...kind of strange I thought. At the end of this dive we had a total of 4 nice lobsters and a bunch of scallops, sea bass, and ling. I guess our old friend Paxton brought us good luck again! Oh yeah...one of the fisherman caught Bill, their lore and weight was being jigged right into Bill's mask on the bottom and finally hooked his glove. It was hysterical to watch Bill trying to figure out what was hitting him in the face. I had seen the lore earlier in my dive so I knew exactly what it was. He was actually lucky the weight didn't break his mask.. They were fishing the whole wreck and they manage to catch a diver..what are the odds!





Burlap or cloth tied on wreck


Eel Pouts

We arrived back in Atlantic City quite late and our friend Paxton was gone, I would really have enjoyed sharing our lobsters with him. Maybe next time. I don't like to think about my diving days being cut short for illness or old age but it is inevitable and Paxton reminds me of this fact. I recently read somewhere that a woman dove the Andrea Doria at 65 years old...it just amazed me. It made me think, maybe I too still have time to dive the Andrea Doria, go back to Nova Scotia, and dive other wrecks that I aspire to dive.

The things that made today so nice was that the seas were calm, we all took our time diving and fishing during the day and the wreck was awesome. I wish every day diving was like this one!

Next Saturday Bill is mating on the Independence and I was invited to dive the Varanger. I am having trouble getting a babysitter, I hope it works out and I am able to go because I love that wreck too.. So many dives, so little time!

Yellow Flag 8-7-10

Cool Jellyfish!







This week started out great with two nice dives on the Moonstone on Monday, and then it went downhill from there. I was blown out of the India Arrow on Wednesday which is a dive I was looking forward to doing all year. With 5'-8' seas it wasn't mean to be. I was really disappointed so, I contemplated diving the S-5 on Friday as a substitute but, for various reasons and my own indecisiveness I did not go. Those that did dive the S-5 said conditions were excellent and they all had a great dive. I was so upset that I gave up a perfectly good opportunity that I contacted Capt. Roger of the Dina Dee and got on their dive today along with South Jersey Dive Club. We were destined for the Magnolia or Chappara but, there were boats already on those wrecks so, we went to the Yellow Flag. I never dove this wreck and it is some sort of schooner that sits in 76' of water.











It has been a long time since I've been on the Dina Dee and it was nice to see Capt. George and First Mate Chris. I ended up meeting a lot of very nice people from South Jersey Dive Club and enjoyed their company.









After Chris tied in the hook, I splashed into horrible murky water that quickly opened up to an easy 30'-40' of vis on the bottom. It was however, cold, 47 degrees on the bottom and 58 degrees on my hang. I managed to stick it out for about 30 minutes before I was cold enough to head back up to the boat. I took a lot of photos since the vis was so good and spent a lot of time chasing the red jellies and taking their pictures. This wreck is pretty scattered and has lots of cross beams for fish and lobster to hide. Chris the mate was spearing fish and at one point he spooked a winter flounder that nearly hit me. Once he settled to the bottom, stunned, I tried to take a picture of it but it got up and took off for the sand. There were 10 divers today and this wreck is not so big so, I swam out to several pieces out in the sand to get away from the "crowd'. There were lots of fish on the out pieces that perhaps were scared off the main wreckage by other divers. I really enjoyed my dive and was glad I came.

Once back on the boat there were several lobsters and a few sea bass speared, including Tricia's barnacled lobster that looked prehistoric. There were some divers in which this was their first ocean dive, it was great to see how much they enjoyed it and they were so enthusiastic, its been a while since I've seen that. It made me feel great to be there and be a part of it.

On my second dive, I swam out to one of the distant pieces of the wreck and took a lot of photos. I took so many photos that my scan disk was full and I couldn't take anymore. I then just spent my time exploring this wreck. Its amazing how you can easily map a wreck in your mind when the vis is so good. I ended up with about 25 minutes for this dive and it was time to head up. At the end of the trip Capt. George was having Tricia and a some others draw out the wreck so that they would remember the layout of it for future dives. Not a bad idea...


Mr. Crabbie






We were back at the dock by noon. Fate brought me to the Yellow Flag and it ended up being an amazing day and I'm glad I decided to go. Thanks to the Dina Dee for a great day of diving!

USS Moonstone 8-2-10

Yesterday, August 2, 2010 we went out on the Independence II to the Moonstone. The USS Moonstone was a luxury Yacht that was built in 1929. It was purchased and commissioned into the US Navy during WWII. The wreck sits in 130 feet of water off of Cape May.

We left Utch's Marina by about 6am and were greeted to to a beautiful sunrise. On board today were 9 divers, Capt. Dan Bartone, Capt. Bill Trent, Dave Oldman, Joe Rogers, Tony Hilbert, Steve Kirkland, Steph McAllister, Bill & I. I have not been to this wreck since 1991 so I was pretty excited. We had calm seas and the water was finally that deep aquamarine blue.








First off, the new benches on the Independence are awesome, there is so much room on this boat that it makes gearing up really comfortable! Then I forgot how much I liked their Carolina line system..a simple giant stride or rather a leisurely step in and there is the line heading down below the seas. After I walked off the boat, I was blown away by the unlimited visibility..is this NJ or what? As I descended there were a few illuminesence and just deep blue water. Once I hit the thermocline and boy did you notice it (very cold) it became darker. Once on the bottom we had only about 20' of vis which is not so hot given how far offshore we were. The bottom temp was 47 degrees which isn't bad but, I felt like it was a lot colder and the other divers also felt cold. I did notice that the wreck looked very different from what I remember. It sits a lot lower to the bottom and there was a lot less marine growth on it than what I recall. You can see all the pieces of decking that already collapsed and they lay in neat rows. The gun is still in the bow but does not sit as high up as it used to. The deck below it has collapsed and you can not longer swim into it. I saw some tiles and remnants of a sink. I took a few photos and before I knew it my time was up. During my hang Bill & I fooled around taking pictures of each other to kill the time. There was little or no current so the hang was comfortable.


On the surface interval we talked a lot about rebreather's and the differences between different models and their reliability. Bill and I are going to try a few of them out over the upcoming weeks and hopefully will finally make the conversion. In fact, the Independence was diving the N. Pacific tomorrow and we could not go because we had no where to get air after our dive and if we had a rebreather this would not be an issue.

On my second dive we were going to work on a project that the others were working on. I did not bring my camera in for this dive and once we were on the bottom we swam to the bow (we were anchored in the stern). Bill located the work area and I swam around looking for an area to dig. The vis was better on this dive, brighter and clearer. I was not feeling that great on this dive so I went up earlier than I originally planned on. Several of the divers got valves and they tried to convince me it was something more than a hunk of brass. To each his own... Bill got some tiles to add to our collection of tiles in the garden.

It was nice to be back out on the Independence, they run a clean and safe boat. I am really looking forward to being back on the Independence tomorrow to dive the India Arrow.

I cannot write this trip report without saying, this was a tough day out diving for all those that knew Yasuko. I know I am extremely sad about losing another diver and at this point I am at a loss for words. However, I thought I'd still try and go out and dive and if it was too much for me emotionally, I just wouldn't get in the water. Once I was out there, I figured, I should go and dive in her honor. I was glad that we all kept our thought to ourselves and no one brought up the latest dive accident until we were back at the dock. I know it helped me get through a tough day. We are all involved in this love of scuba diving and it effects all of us, we need to support each other and dive as safely as we can.

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