December 26, 2008:

More bad weather, fog and whatever else decided to come our way left us with only 1 day of diving over this holiday weekend.  Friday was an absolutely beautiful day - made me wish we had been scheduled for a deeper dive or even a trip to the Pinthis as the wind was calm, seas were flat and it was mild.  Nevertheless, I was still looking forward to our dive on the Poling since with all these blow-outs, I'm not getting enough diving in and it's starting to make me very irritable!  Anyway, given the rain and melt-off we had, I was prepared for bad visibility, which meant I did not bring the scooter, still or video camera.  This could only mean one thing: the visibility was going to be good.  We loaded up and got off the dock a little early, and headed up to the Poling.  Both moorings were still there, which was nice, and we tied off to the stern.  Scott, Roman and I suited up first and splashed in.  As soon as I hit the water I knew -- the visibility wasn't just good, it was awesome.  Of course it was, I had none of our toys with me.  Anyway, we descended down to the wreck, made our checks and got going.  The visibility was probably 50-60 feet as you could see clear across the wreck and beyond.  We decided to head inside first.  I dropped down to the engine room - it was the clearest I've seen it in a long time so I figured what the heck, take a tour through. Its very silty in there now and I do have some concerns about collapse given the decaying state of the Poling, but it was looking pretty good... pretty, pretty good... so we went for it.  We did the loop, and then headed up through the living spaces. It was crystal clear inside the wreck and there was so much ambient light shining in from the portholes it was really cool.  You didn't need a light even inside.  From there we swam out to the break and then out along the sand on the starboard side.  The visibility was so good, I really wished we had our scooters.  Our 40 min bottom time was up too soon and we made a nice uneventful ascent and decompression.  I thought I could see the boat (our boat) from the deck of the Poling.  I know for sure I could see the shadow.  There was no current to speak of either.  It truly was excellent.  The water temperature was showing at 43F, and it was pretty comfortable overall.  The wind and fog iced our plans for Sat and Sun - and of course I had gone home and put the camera together - but days like Friday don't come along all that often, so I'm glad we got that one in at least.  We're hoping for one more shot at 2008 on Dec 31.  If the wind cooperates, it should be awesome!

December 20-21, 2008:

December 14, 2008:

I knew things weren't looking good for Saturday when Sodasorb was literally blowing away as I was pouring it in my scrubber basket out in the driveway.  I thought to myself, "this is pointless," as I put my rebreather together knowing I'd probably be taking it apart the next day.  I was using open circuit on Sunday since I was diving with a student and so I was tempted to just dive open circuit the whole weekend since if we got out at all on Saturday, it would definitely be to the Poling only.  The wind was blowing 20-30 knots out of the Northwest and for long enough that the seas were whipped up to about 5 feet.  Even the Poling would be iffy with this weather.  We waited until 5:30 am Saturday morning to look at the weather and then reluctantly issued a cancellation. The wind was still up and with the wind chill, the air temperature was 12 F.  Later that day I broke down my CCR rig and put my open circuit gear together.  Yup, that was a fun exercise.  Anyway, the wind dropped out for Sunday - or at least it was supposed to - and we were planning on the Romance.  While the wind did let up for a little while, by the time we were loading on Sunday morning, the wind was up around 20 knots out of the SSW.  Great.  As we headed out past Marblehead Neck towards the Romance, it got pretty sloppy out there with a hard short-period 3 foot sea running.  I was wondering where that SW 5-10 knots they were calling for went.  When we got on site there was no mooring as expected, so Dave and Pat B suited up to put one in.  Everyone was expecting lousy visibility and to make matters worse, it was rough.   As we were approaching the shot to drop them in, a wave caught the open door and tore the latch off, taking the door hook latch and screws right out with it.  The door opens 180 degrees and sticks out a bit outside the hull.  As we turned, a larger wave caught it and tore the latch off the door.  Wonderful.  Anyway, we splashed them in and waited for the bag.  About 10 minutes later the bag popped up.  We labored a bit to get tied off as the seas were rough and there was a tremendous strain on the line.  To make matters worse, with the load on it, the line was short and we couldn't pull in our pick-up line or the buoy up to the bow cleat.  We didn't want to haul too hard on it - we've broken moorings in rough weather before.  This meant we couldn't drop the granny line in the water since we couldn't get it over the tuna ball on the original shot line.  Super.  Anyway, we got the line in the water and Don clipped it over the buoy so it would slide down to depth.  We would deal with fixing the pick-up line and buoy situation later.  Dave surfaced and I was ready for the no-visibility report to put the icing on the cake --- but no, no, the visibility report was good... the visibility was awesome according to Dave.  Suddenly I didn't give a crap about the door or the line anymore and I was ready to go diving!  We did have to fix the mooring though.  So, we suited up - our student Peter, Scott and I, hit the water.  Dave fed me a new line and I swam with it down to the wreck; we tied that one in and released the other one.  Dave pulled up the old mooring and we fell back on the new one. Mooring swap.  This line had more scope on it and everything was good.  From there, we were free to enjoy the dive - and the visibility was excellent at about 25 feet.  I tied off my reel and we headed off.  The conditions were excellent.  We swam along the port side all the way to the bow from our tie in point at the end of the shaft (by the engine), then all the way back to the stern, then back up the starboard side until we hit our 40 min bottom time.  I wished I had the camera, and the scooter too actually, but given what we thought the conditions were going to be like, it certainly wasn't foremost in my mind to bring these things.  Anyway, we had an excellent dive and despite not having dived open circuit in a few months, it appears I still know how to do it.  Since this was a nitrox class, there weren't too many in-water skills to do besides breathe-in, breathe-out.  I did miss the pleasant quietness of my rebreather though.  You don't realize how annoyingly loud open circuit is until you stop diving it.  Anyway, it was a great dive and everyone was thrilled about the good conditions.  We even had spare parts for the door onboard so that got fixed right away.  We cruised back with a following sea, and it was a much nicer ride.  All in all it was a classic December dive - a little sketchy at times, but definitely fun.

December 6-7, 2008:

From left to right: Tim retrieves the strobe from the line on the Holmes; Tim decompressing; Tim gets a Hollywood shot on final ascent; the catwalk on the Poling; inside the crew's quarters on the Poling; Brandon is assaulted by an open circuit diver's exhaust bubbles; Scott hangs out.

November 30, 2008:

Despite a 3-day diving line-up, the weather only allowed 1 day of diving.  We decided on the Poling for Sunday since the weather looked iffy and we had more people interested in doing that anyway.  Another storm was moving in on Sunday afternoon, but it appeared we would have light wind until about 12 pm.  The seas were down to 3-4' in a long period swell.  After several weeks of blow-outs due to weather, we just wanted to dive.  It didn't matter the details.  Anyway, we arrived on the Poling and we were surprised to find both moorings present - this was nice.  We picked up the stern mooring and got settled in.  Dave and Pat B hit the water first.  The rest of us darted in and out of the cabin to help the others get ready.  It was a bit raw outside, especially so since the wind was already out of the NE.  When Pat B and Dave returned they didn't have the best visibility report.  It wasn't good.  I didn't expect it would be given the swells that were running.  But I didn't care - I was going... even if I just swam down there and stared at murk for a few minutes, I needed to dive.  We splashed - the current was running hard, but surface visibility wasn't bad, maybe 15 feet.  But it got murky and darker as we neared the wreck.  I guess you could call it 5-7 feet.  Not completely terrible, considering.  Dave said the visibility wasn't bad inside the wreck, so we headed there first.  We spent about 20 minutes inside.  With low visibility in general and virtually no ambient light penetrating the interior, it was a bit murkier, but this just makes you look at the details more closely --- you know, a macro dive. We exited the wreck and headed out towards the break.  Here the current picked up or at least we were more exposed to it and I could feel the surge more.  The visibility was also worse.  We got out to the break, I dropped down some, but I couldn't see much.  We decided to head back aft and puttered along against the current until we reached the stern at just under 40 minutes bottom time.  We headed up and did a short decompression before climbing aboard.  The current was still going good and as I surfaced I could occasionally see the water spinning into a vortex... hmm... I decided not to let go of the line until I was ready to go for the ladder.  Overall, it was a good dive and it was great to get in!  Our gear was starting to dry.  The water temperature was 45 F top to bottom.  It's getting chilly, but still pretty tolerable for 60 min-ish run times.

Here are a few pictures from the day!

From left to right: Roman helps Pat B suit up; Dan Cullaty gets ready; Scott, Roman and Heather suit up for a dive, Scott gets yet another hollywood shot splashing in; and Dave drives the boat home.

November 22-23, 2008:

No diving due to weather.

November 15-16, 2008:

No diving due to weather.

November 9, 2008:

We were only running one day this weekend since Saturday was the MWDC Wrecks Show - back after a brief hiatus and now during a much more convenient time of the year in the fall instead of spring.  Sunday we were back to our regular game and out diving.  We were headed out to the Holmes - a wreck we're still investigating along with the Marblehead Schooner to try and more definitively determine which is what.  Since Dave was away traveling for work and unfortunately had to miss the entire weekend, I wasn't sure if I was going to get a dive in or not this weekend.  But fortunately my father was available to come out and help skipper the boat so I could splash in.  I hate having to miss a dive, so this worked out great.  We headed out and the weather was beautiful - the rainy, humid, foggy weather had blown out and we were enjoying a high pressure system bringing clear skies, and dry air.  We also had some wind unfortunately - about 15-20 our of the WSW.  It was not too bad heading out - a little lumpy with some swell, but by the time we reached the Holmes it was getting a little snotty.  Seas were running about 3 feet in a steep chop.  Fortunately the mooring was there so we got the boat secured and splashed in.  We all splashed in quick, and Roman and I headed down together.  Conditions on the surface were a little choppy with some current running, but once we descended down about 20 feet, it was pretty nice.  The visibility near the surface was cloudy, but it opened up below 30 feet and was quite nice most of the way down.  It got dark and a little cloudy as we approached the bottom with what I would call a dark 15 feet on the wreck at 155 feet.  Not bad.  I tied off a strobe and we swam off to the bow since we're closest to that end before turning around and swimming aft.  The water was pretty nice - bottom temperatures are hanging on at about 52F.  The thermocline is gone, but 52 isn't bad and one can still do a good 60-70 min dive without too much discomfort.  We ascended and decompressed uneventfully.  It was a little rougher on the surface when we got up and I took a good whack to the knee when a wave tossed me at the ladder while getting over to it, which was definitely the kind that "leaves a mark" (it did).  Other than that, all was good and we climbed aboard after a great dive.  We stowed the gear and cruised back, arriving right around noon. All in all it was a great way to end the weekend.  The MWDC Wrecks show was very well attended and it's great to see a fun local event back on the circuit.  Sunday turned out much better than I would have expected given the weather the prior few days.  This week I leave for a work trip to the UK that will run through the weekend, so this dive will have to hold me over until the next one.

November 1-2, 2008:

The first weekend in November kicked off with two days of trips to the Poling stern.  The weather looked good for a typical fall weekend and with any luck the visibility would be good too.  We loaded up from our winter slip and headed out a little before 9 am.  The marina showed the lingering effects of the previous night's Halloween parties with the remnants of various dockside celebrations.  If you wanted some stale chips and a few half-kill beers, there were plenty sitting around the transient boats docked for the weekend.  Anyway, we loaded up with a group of regulars and a few new people bound for the Poling.  The weather was nice and the seas were pleasant  We had a nice cruise up to the wreck, but unfortunately found no mooring present when we got there.  There was a lot of fishing gear in the water, so it could have been cut or any of the recent storms could have resulted in the mooring being lost.  Dave and Joel splashed in to refloat one of the existing moorings.  We dropped the shot and the divers headed in.  Soon enough the bag popped up with the line attached.  Unfortunately it was frayed and it snapped when we put some strain on it while picking it up.  So, we had 2 divers down and no mooring.  We pulled in the rest of the original line, made sure there were no bubbles in the area (Joel was a good marker since he was diving OC) and we dropped the line back in hoping they'd notice.  While we readied the next team to go and tie this line in, the bag popped up - with the line attached.  We had literally dropped the mooring in exactly the same place so Dave re-tied it.  A bit more eventful than I was planning for, but we got a new mooring in and finally starting splashing divers.  When Dave returned, Jeff, Scott and I headed in with scooters for our dive.  I was diving our prototype heated vest, which is still not completely done so we don't have the bulkhead adapter in the suit yet.  I shoved a 10 amp canister down the leg of my drysuit so that if things got wet it wouldn't be too serious having an unsealed battery pack inside a drysuit with me.  Fortunately I didn't have to swim much since I had a scooter, because a 9x3" canister isn't the most comfortable thing to swim around with.  Anyway, we splashed in and scootered the wreck before taking a tour through the inside.  Visibility was good, but not quite good enough for a run to the Gannett - I would say it was about 15-20 feet.  We had a good dive and it was nice to finally get a full test in with the heated vest - which I discovered, is plenty hot.  The following day we were back out to the Poling, which was probably for the best anyway since it was blowing around 20 knots out of the north and seas were running 4-5 feet.  Even up on the Poling it was a little choppy, but nothing compared to what sea conditions would be elsewhere.  Again, Dave splashed first and when it was our turn to dive, Jeff, Scott and I headed in again - this time Scott trying out the heated vest.  We scootered the wreck and headed inside for some demo work.  Visibility was decent - but not as good as the day prior at about 10-15'.  Once we were sure everyone was gone we blasted out the portside quarters with a scooter.  This demolishes the visibility inside and outside the wreck, so we didn't want anyone down there when we did it.  As we were the only boat onsite, once the last group left the bottom we were free to play.  We finally finished up at about 50 minutes bottom time - even tough the water temperature is still about 50F, I was sort of wishing I had the heated vest on!  The visibility was so bad scootering back to the break end mooring that I almost lost the wreck a few times.  At one point I heard and extremely loud thud - which was Scott crashing into something!  We ascended, did a short decompression and climbed aboard at just about 70 minutes run time.  It was a good dive and fun to test out some new gear. 

October 25, 2008:

The turbulent weather following last weekend's ocean storm persisted all week with rough seas running late into the week.  Another storm was forecast to come through Saturday night, but it looked like we had a brief window of opportunity - literally about 5 hours - on Saturday morning.  I checked the weather at 5 am, since this is the time of year where weather forecasts are very unreliable and even though things might look ok the night before, you discover they aren't ok come morning.  I gave a quick check on the buoy and things looked good.  The winds were south at about 10 knots and the seas were running about 2-3 feet in swell.  We are now leaving at 9 am, our winter departure time, so we got to sleep in a bit before gathering at the marina.  We were aiming for the NYC 14-2 and the weather looked like it would cooperate for this.  Around noontime the wind was supposed to pick up out of the SE 20-25 knots with seas building 4-6' so where this is a fairly short ride for us, everything looked to be lining up nicely.  We left a little early and cruised out.  Lots of fishing boats were out tending their gear.  It was a little sloppy already with a chop running on the swell, but despite a somewhat bouncy ride it wasn't bad.  We got on site and picked up the mooring. Everyone started suiting up - it was actually a fully-rebreather only charter!  We had a Meg, Inspirations, a rEvo, and a few PRISMs.  I can remember a time I used to get weird looks when I came on the Cape Ann Diver boat with a set of doubles on.  Its amazing to see now that without even trying, more and more tech/tech lite trips are at least even, maybe even majority - if not totally CCR.  Anyway, I suited up for a dive with Scott and Roman.  I woke up with a sore throat and some congestion, and wasn't feeling super great, but I really wanted to dive.  Of course, we had very low - and I mean very low - expectations for the visibility.  After the sea conditions that have been running all week, I expected 2 feet of visibility, maybe?  Finally we splashed in and descended down to the wreck.  Amazingly, the visibility in the water column was easily 20 feet - fairly clear, actually. I was surprised, but I didn't let myself believe this would matter with the bottom visibility.  We did pass through/into a "layer" at about 80 feet, but it didn't get that bad and I'd say we had about 10-12 feet of dark visibility on the bottom.  I'll take that.  We swam all around the wreck, checking out the engine space, boiler and machinery. I popped inside in the aft section briefly - visibility wasn't bad in there either.  We swam to the bow and cleaned up some old moorings.  Its still a mess up there with old lines and floats - so beware, there are some hang ups in that area.  We finished up our dive and ascended doing a short decompression.  When we surfaced the wind was a pretty steady 15-20 out of the SE and the seas had picked up.  We climbed aboard, wrapped it up quickly and beat it for home.  Overall, it was a beautiful day weather wise - mild, mostly sunny and if you got out diving in the morning, not too bad on the ocean either.  Sunday we were blown out as expected.

October 18-19, 2008:

No diving due to weather.

October 11-12, 2008:

I have to say, I never would have imagined we'd get a weekend in October as nice as this one.  Of course if we had made more ambitious plans, the weather would have been terrible - but none the less, we had a full weekend of diving lined up and great weather to go along with it.  On Saturday we headed out to dive one of our new wrecks in 220 fsw - the weather was beautiful and it felt more like summer than fall for sure.  Even better, everyone was coming back with reports of great visibility, which definitely was great news.  Roman and I splashed in and dropped down.  The water was murky near the surface, but cleared up nicely as we passed through 70 feet.  The visibility on the bottom was awesome - about 30 feet, and dark.  I set a strobe at 200' and we started swimming up the starboard side of the wreck.  Things were going so great, and then suddenly "blink" - out went my 35 watt HID light.  Wow, it was dark down there without a light.  I flipped the switch and it came back on. I thought that was weird, but shook it off as "nothing" - until the light went out again, and never came back on.  Damn, damn, damn!  I couldn't see much since without a light.  Roman handed me his back up light, which was a rust spot compared to a 35 watt HID.  I was ready to abort the dive, but then I paused to ask myself, "What would a couple of mavericks do?" - and so, we decided to press on and I would try to follow Roman and look where his light was pointing.  This worked out so-so since when Roman shoved himself into a opening, with his light, I was left in the dark with only a rust spot light.  Hmm.  Anyway, we made the best of it, but it was a serious disappointment to have no light on a dive with some of the best visibility I've seen on a deep dive all season.  We decompressed, surfaced and headed in getting back to the dock around 2 pm.  So, what happened to the light?  Well, when I got back on the boat, we saw that the test tube was shattered and the bulb (and god knows what else) was flooded.  I didn't hit the light on anything so it seems like perhaps the glass test tube was either damaged previously or defective and shattered under pressure.  The test tube was recently replaced following a separate mishap.  Either way, I am sure this is going to be expensive - what isn't with this sport?  Stay tuned.  On Sunday we headed out to the Holmes.  I was finishing a tech class so I was back to diving open circuit today, which I haven't used since August.  Would I remember how?  The weather was beautiful again and we arrived to find the mooring intact, but real short on scope.  The 3 of us splashed in first - the mooring was fouled on the wreck.  I freed it up when we got down there and then we enjoyed a nice dive swimming around the bow/mid section. Visibility was about 15-20 feet, dark but not as dark as last week.  Overall it was real nice dive.  The water is still pretty warm too.  When we finished up there we cruised back - and did the fastest turn-around ever I think - arriving at 11:40 am and departing at 12 pm - heading back out to the NYC 14-2.  Again, the mooring was there and the 3 of us splashed in first.  The visibility on the surface was horrible, but it improved mid-water before dropping down to about 10-12' and murky on the wreck.  Pretty typical for this wreck, so that was fine.  We had some "fun" with a guideline reel before calling it a dive and heading up.  Since we were ahead of the curve time-wise we were able to get back in around 4 pm, which was really nice.  With the season getting on and it getting darker sooner, it was nice to wrap it up before dark and get home at a decent hour.  This marked the last two-trip day of the season and our 70th charter of the year.  Anyway, the diving was really great this weekend and the visibility is good too - as long as we don't get any big storms it should continue to improve.  Now is the time - warmest water, nice vis ... get while the getting is good.

October 4-5, 2008:

I couldn't say I was really looking forward to diving after a massive storm moved through last weekend - followed by a week with heavy ground swell persisting until Thursday.  I figured it was going to be a no-visibility weekend for sure.  We loaded up Saturday morning with a hearty crew - and by hearty I mean people were wearing wetsuits, which come October isn't the most appealing of prospects.  Sure the water is still pretty warm, but the air temperature was around 53 F or so in the morning, and the breeze was up making it even cooler.  We headed out to Kettle Island for a lobster dive.  I was testing a few new pieces of gear - some modifications to my counterlungs (major improvements) and then making a dive with a prototype heated vest!  When we got on site I suited up and splashed in.  On this dive I was just wearing the vest for comfort checking.  Since the wiring and bulkhead through the suit isn't plumbed in yet, I had to zip up with a battery in my suit to turn it on - that test was later.  Anyway, I jumped in and began swimming over to the boat to grab the down line tied off to the stern.  I figured with such horrendous visibility I would use the down line to have a reference.  But when I looked over to the boat I saw it wasn't there - hmm.  I decided to just descend freely, and when I looked down, I saw the bottom and a diver swimming along!!!  Okay... the visibility was about 30 feet.  I couldn't believe it.  I happily descended down and swam all over in total awe that the visibility was this good.  After about 40 minutes I came up, did a short surface interval and went back in to do a heat test.  We put my 15.6 AH Li ion battery in a ziplock baggie and taped it to my leg inside my suit.  I jumped in and dropped down for about 10 minutes to see how warm the vest was.  Anyway, the test went well and I returned dry and with a good test report.  The wind was really cranking - about 20 knots out of the west, so it was a little bouncy out there, but otherwise it was a gorgeous day.  Not a cloud in the sky.  All the divers did well on lobsters too.  We returned to the marina and loaded up with the next group - this time we were going scalloping.  We were diving closer to shore this time so we were able to find some lee from the wind and the sea conditions were much better.  I splashed in with Joel and Richard - who god love him, was another one diving in a wetsuit.  Anyway, it took us a little while to get on the scallops, but about 22 minutes into the dive we hit them and collected a decent little haul.  We shot it all on a lift bag, reeled ourselves up and then hauled our goodie bags back to the boat.  That was tiring.  I was done for the day, but the guys went back in after we shifted position slightly to hit the area we found more quickly.  Another team hit the mother lode near the end of their dive and came up with 3 bags worth.  All in all, they did pretty good.  Sunday we were onto a more regular routine with a trip to the Holmes.  We cruised out with the regular gang with the hopes we'd have good visibility here as we did the day before.  On this day the seas were flat with very light wind.  It was cool and overcast though. We had to put a mooring in so we got one assembled and Dave and Pat B splashed in to tie it in.  I was diving with Peter and Dave C.  The three of us splashed in when our turn was up.  The vis report came in with dark, clear visibility on the bottom with lousy visibility most of the way down.  This was indeed the case.  The first 20 feet were maybe 5 feet and murky, then a little better to about 80-90 feet where it cleared up nicely.  I'd say it was a slightly cloudy 15' on the bottom and real dark - like night.  We are tied in on the port side, about 20-25 feet from the bow area I would say.  This was good because I like this part of the wreck - it's the prettiest.  We did a 20 minute bottom time, which was plenty for me.  I think diving 2 days and being outside with wet hair for hours and hours at a time in 50-55F air temps just wears you down.  I was chilled before I even got in the water.  Anyway, we finished up and everyone had good dives.  We returned to the marina amidst some event, which involved us waiting around to get back into our slip while a lot of people wearing matching outfits herded people into small boats.  We cleaned up and eventually got out of there, getting home around 2 pm, which is actually early for us and a sure sign the season is winding down to the slower mode.

The last batch of scallops ready for bagging.  Scott was a shucking machine.

September 27-28, 2008:

No diving due to weather.  This brings to an end 18 straight weeks of diving.

September 20-21, 2008:

As if 2 blow outs weren't disappointing enough, our 3rd and final offshore trip blew out on Thursday due to the remnants of Hurricane Ike passing out to sea.  This has been yet another insult in a disappointing offshore season.  By offshore, I am referring to trips 50-140 miles offshore south of Nantucket.  Some years it just ain't your year.  This apparently is one of them.  Since we had a free weekend, we decided that rather than scramble to put together a weekend of charters, we'd spend some time working on the boat in preparation for a haul out on Monday.  We haul out once a year for 1 week - usually earlier in late August or early September - to paint the bottom and do fiberglass/gelcoat repairs.  The bad weather coming through from tropical storms delayed us a few weeks, so we got some work done dockside (and the boat was hauled on Monday).  But we couldn't let a good weekend pass by without some diving (the weather was relatively good for coastal waters), so we headed south on Sunday for a dive on the Trojan with our friends Eric and Lori Takakjian aboard the Quest.  The weather was beautiful on Buzzards Bay and the Trojan had about 10 feet of visibility, which as Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm) would say, is "pretty, pretty good!"  Aside from flooding the left arm of my drysuit because my exhaust valve decided to leak, it was a nice dive! 

Gauntlet's new bow pulpit (left) - a miniature version of the one on the Quest, made by our friend Eric.  At right, the group wraps up a great day on the Trojan.

September 13-14, 2008:

August 31 - September 6, 2008:

Check out the Halifax 2008 trip report!

August 23-24, 2008:

Our last local diving weekend of August came with a line up that included the Crane wreck, the Poling and the Pinthis.  Next weekend, we're off to Halifax for a week of diving some of the eastern seaboard's best shipwrecks.  Saturday morning we headed to the Crane wreck for some tech class check-out dives.  This is a good site for that as it's about 140-150' max depending on the tide and usually has pretty decent visibility, though at times there can be some current - just to throw a little challenge into the dive.  We had a relatively smooth ride up -- it was a little choppy, but it was a nice day otherwise.  We arrived on site, grabbed the mooring and splashed in with Dan & Bert.  We dropped down to the wreck, did a lap around it and then poked around for our 20 minute bottom time.  Conditions were nice --- a little darker than I expected, but nice visibility around 20 feet or so.  When we wrapped up those dives, we headed in for an afternoon trip to the Poling.  Here, Dave was working with a class.  They splashed in while I waited topside.  The nice weather had long since gone and there was a nasty ESE wind 15-20 knots with a choppy 2-4' sea running.  The current was screaming too!  The granny and drop lines were stretched out about as far as they would go.  The conditions weren't that nice - though the visibility was apparently pretty good - so Dave wanted to get back in quickly and cut the surface interval to a minimum.  I decided to skip the dive so they could get back in quicker.  They splashed in for a 2nd dive, as did the others, while I ate pistachios sitting on the back deck.  It was a late one since we got a late start due to some accident on 95/128 creating gridlock mid-day and it was 7 pm before we got home to put our CCRs together.  The following day brought a trip to the Pinthis - couldn't wait.  We loaded up and headed down to Scituate bright and early.  The conditions were great - the seas were flat, wind was light and it was much nicer day than Saturday.  We got to the Pinthis and picked up the mooring -- Dave & Pat B splashed in first and when they returned Scott & I splashed in.  We had an awesome dive scootering the wreck, swimming through the wreck, and overall just enjoying great conditions.  I'd say the visibility was 40 feet.  When we finished, we hauled in the lines and headed home - for once getting in a bit early around 2:15 pm.  I actually ate dinner at "dinner time" .... a great weekend for sure.  Off to Halifax - hope we have good weather there too.  When we return, I am sure fall will be on our heels.  The summer has gone by so fast!

August 16-17, 2008:

Here we are already at the 3rd week in August -- where does the time go?  Saturday morning we kicked off a 2-charter day with a trip to the USS NH.  I was working with a tech class and we were punching out a couple of skills dives, and this is a perfect spot - usually - for this kind of stuff.  Unfortunately, despite beautiful surface conditions and air temperatures, there was a slight surge and the visibility was only about 10 feet with some surge on the bottom too.  We made the best of it and spent 2 good dives working on all those fun skills like valve drills, air shares, stage deployments, bottle passing, lift bag deployments, timed ascents - fun, fun, fun.  When we finished up there, we returned and reloaded for an afternoon trip to the Baleen with a group from NH.  Since I had already done two dives, I sat this one out - but the group reported decent visibility around 15 feet.  The sea conditions were beautiful and there was hardly any wind........... until, we had to go home.  On the way in, we had to pass straight through a nasty thunderstorm.  With lightning hitting the water all around us, torrential rain and black skies, it was a fun ride back.  Fortunately it didn't follow us all the way to the dock, so unloading was relatively dry.  Sunday the weather looked to be excellent again for our offshore trip - when I woke up the forecast simply said: SW 5-10 knots.  Nice!  We got underway and cruised out of the marina in the early morning hour -- we were motoring out when suddenly my cell phone rang.  It was Roman.  Why would Roman be calling me when he's on the boat.  I answered the phone thinking for some reason Roman was being a goober and calling me from the back deck -- but when I looked, no Roman.  A voice on the phone simply said "This isn't funny."  No kidding.  Anytime I have to turn the boat around -- it ain't funny!  It turns out, Roman decided to go get himself an egg sandwich at Brothers just as we were finishing up loading and we left without him!  Now, I know what you're thinking, "don't they do roll call?"  Well, yes normally we do, but we also tell everyone, once loading begins we leave as soon as we're done - and that might be early!  On top of that, not only did we need to come back to the marina (we had just cleared the jetty at the mouth of the marina), but Roman didn't even get ALL of us an egg sandwich!  Good thing he had his cell phone or it could have been a long, long day for Roman waiting for his dive gear and car keys to come back from diving.  As you might imagine, Roman faced a brutal day of hazing, but it was all in good fun.  Anyway, as we headed out, it became apparent that we did not have 5-10 knots of wind. I don't know who or what generated that forecast calling for 5-10 knots, but when we got offshore to our destination, we had more like 4-5 foot seas and 15-20 knots of wind our of the SSW.  To make matters worse, the current was so strong that when we dropped our shot line, it sucked the entire line - including a tuna ball - 10 feet beneath the surface.  We were lucky to get our gear back, as we grabbed it quick when it popped up briefly in the surging current.  Unfortunately, we had to scrub the dive since the conditions were too poor.  We decided to instead head back inshore and hit the Miss Sonya to see how she's aging on the bottom since April.  Overall visibility was about 10-12 feet and there was a decent current running from about 30 feet and up.  All in all it wasn't a bad day, but we drove a long way out to turn around and come back inshore.  That's how it goes sometimes.  The good news is, we can go back. 

August 9-10, 2008:

Divers suit up for the Romance.

August 2-3, 2008:

This weekend brought another busy weekend of diving with 3 charters lined up.  Saturday morning broke overcast, but without rain and with pleasant air temperatures.  We were bound for the Baleen, but changed plans last minute to hit the Coyote instead in search of a missing stage tank from earlier this summer.  We got out to the site and picked up the mooring - there was virtually no wind and seas were calm.  There was some haze, but overall the conditions were good and there was no fog, which was originally in the forecast.  I splashed in first with Dave Cangiano.  We dropped down to the wreck and found somewhat dark, but decent visibility around 15 feet.  It wasn't bad and there was no current at all.  We took a swim aft nearly to the stern from our tie-in point at the water tank near the boiler.  Our mooring was all twisted up - not having much luck this year keeping moorings from getting fouled.  This had wrapped it self about 10 times around some wreckage and is of course chafing the rope.  There was not much scope in the line.  I knew there was a reason it was such a fast drop - it was pretty much "straight down"... Anyway, we took a leisurely swim as Peter buzzed around us on his scooter running sand sweeps off the wreck looking for the stage tank.  The vis near the bottom was kind of murky though and it was tough discerning anything, as he found.  After 20 minutes I was actually getting cold - my hands - which don't normally get cold this time of year. The water temperature was around 42F - chilly!  We made our ascent and for most of the way the temperatures were around 48 F until we reached the shallower stops where it crept up to the low 50s.  The decompression was nice and there was no current to speak of - of course, until the current decided to show up!  I was floating back off the line when suddenly I felt as if something took a hold of me - didn't feel right for sure.  I looked to my right and noticed I was nearer to the equipment line so I headed over to that just as a switch flipped and the current roared in.  And I am talking roared.  I was at my 20 foot stop and as the current surged, it pulled me and the line out almost as far as it would go.  I dumped gas out of my wings and paid the line out in my hand.  Our 40 foot weighted equipment line slid through my hands until I was nearly holding the weight.  I was wondering what I was going to do if I had to keep going paying out line!  I definitely couldn't make it back over to the other line.  Hanging on - literally - I finished my decompression and then hand-over-hand hauled myself up.  That was an impressive current and it came out of nowhere (we were on a flood tide that was just starting so it wasn't totally unexpected, just stronger than expected).  With only 1 trip that day, after Dave and Pat B did their dives, we got in a little early and enjoyed some downtime in the afternoon.  Sunday's trip to the YF415 actually brought even better conditions than Sunday as we had some sun.    The wind was light and we enjoyed another great ride out to the site.  We picked up the mooring amidst gill nets in very close proximity.  Roman, Dave C and I splashed in together.  There was some current running again here too, but we popped through it below 30 feet and descended down to the wreck. Visibility was pretty good at about 15-20 feet and reasonably clear water.  Dark, but clear.  We took a leisurely swim forward and around the starboard side debris areas before heading up for another pleasant decompression --- this time in almost 68F water temperatures near the surface!  Crazy.  It was cold on the bottom - low 40s -  but in the shallows it was hot!  Such odd weather and conditions.  Once again the current showed up and I had to haul over to the line before it disappeared when it roared in.  It wasn't quite as bad as on the Coyote as it came and went more this time.  Overall it was a great dive.  Finally for the afternoon we capped it off with a trip to the USS NH where we had some students doing skills dives.  Dave worked with the class while Roman and I did a dive -- Roman having done his first ocean CCR dive -- I wanted to crack a bottle of champagne over the rig, but that seriously might have broke it.  Kidding.  Anyway, aside from a thunderstorm and torrential rain followed by "more rain" soaking us down for the unloading and cleaning up -- it was a good day.  All in all another great set of dives and pretty good conditions to boot - actually they were great conditions, doesn't get too much better than this.

July 26-27, 2008:

July 19-20, 2008:

Despite oppressive heat and humidity, the weekend weather looked pretty good. Saturday morning kicked off with a trip to the YF-415. The winds were light and it was very hot. The conditions were otherwise great with only a slight lingering swell from the persisting Bertha remnants in the Atlantic. The tide was incoming so I was hopeful for good visibility, but the swells have definitely murk’d things up a bit. The water column visibility was amazing at probably 50 feet, but down on the wreck, it was more of a cloudy 12 feet or so. Not the worst we’ve seen, but it could have been better. In the afternoon we headed out for some class dives with students. Fortunately it was a lot nicer out on the water temperature-wise, but with the SW winds, we did end up picking up a lot of annoying biting flies, which almost made putting pants back on a serious consideration despite the heat. For Sunday we were headed out to dive the Pinthis and Paul Palmer. The weather was once again excellent – with very light winds and essentially no swells at all. We were hitting the Pinthis first today since the tides worked out better for that with regard to the Palmer. The ride down was smooth and in no time we were picking up the mooring and getting divers suited up. Dave and Pat B went in first and when they returned, Scott and I went in. Since we were doing well on time (we needed to be over at the Palmer by a certain time for slack), we could do a longer dive. So we planned a 45 minute bottom time, which was plenty of time to see all of the wreck inside and out. We also had our scooters today and I was looking forward to that because the Pinthis is an excellent wreck for scooter riding since the visibility is so good – I would estimate it was 30-40 feet on our dive. When we got down to the wreck we decided to scooter out to the end of the anchor chain stretching out into the sand off the bow. Someone asked me about it and while I know there’s not much out there from talking with others, I hadn’t been out there myself. So, we blasted out to the end of that – probably in the neighborhood of 200 feet of chain is laid out in a snaking pattern, maybe a little more – at the end of this chain we found a small anchor. There you have it. We parked the scooters back inside the wreck and took a tour up and back inside. Then we did a few laps, did a few wide passes out around the wreck looking for debris and then headed up for a short deco, back on the boat in about 60 minutes time. Right on schedule, we hit the road for the Palmer. We had a nice smooth ride into Stellwagen, but didn’t see any whales, which was a bit surprising considering we almost always do. Dave and Pat B splashed in again here, and the others quickly followed as the tides weren’t particularly good (we didn’t have an actual slack per the current tables) and the window of opportunity is always small here in terms of slack time. Most of the time we can get 1-1.5 hours of "dive time" – but we’re diving in ~1 knot of current on the ends. Anyway, when it was our turn to dive we splashed in with scooters and buzzed down to the wreck. The visibility was a disappointing murky 15 feet – cloudy. This was probably the lowest visibility I’ve ever seen here. It wasn’t terrible, but we’re used to 30-50 feet of visibility on the wreck. Anyway, it wasn’t the end of the world - I think I saw about 50 ocean pout, so that made up for it. We cruised down the 276’ long wreck to the stern and worked our way back. As the dive progressed, we could feel the current picking up. The rides to the stern were slower, and we flew back as we scootered to the bow. After about 30 minutes we headed up in a now very stiff current. As we surfaced, it was clear the conditions had changed with the tide and we now had a choppy 2-4’ sea running with increasing wind out of the South. We beat it for home and in the process got hammered by thunderstorm after thunderstorm all the way. We could see them on the radar, but there was no avoiding them – and watching bolts of lightning hit the water as cracking and clapping went off overhead with hail and torrential rain coming down made that 30 or so mile run very long. But, it was a great day of diving and I can’t wait to go back and do it again!

July 12-13, 2008:

Despite it being the middle of July when you normally can't go wrong with weather, the remnants of Hurricane Bertha offshore in the Atlantic reached far enough up our way to make the weather plenty weird.  Saturday was a perfect day - absolutely beautiful.  Flat calm seas, light wind -- really awesome weather.  Our double-header trip to the Bow of the Poling was excellent - though the vis was not so great at about 10 feet and kind of murky.  Sunday the weather was warm and sunny - but windy - with 15-20 knots out of the South through most of the day, a SE swell running from Bertha and then some chop building in on top of that adding up to a 3-5 foot sea that was not so nice as the day wore on.  The morning run out to the YF-415 was not too bad, but the seas progressively built in.  For the afternoon, it was pretty sporty out there so much so that we had to make our lobster/scallop dives ducked in behind Satan's and Children's Island -- pretty much the only place we could get some lee, and even there wasn't all that pleasant sea conditions wise.  We did OK on scallops and lobsters despite the challenges with the conditions.  Overall the visibility this weekend on all dives was kind of blah, but it was otherwise it was very nice summer weather.  And for sure, 12 hours bouncing around on the boat yesterday made me appreciate having a desk job come Monday morning!

July 4-6, 2008:

The holiday weekend was upon us and we had great diving lined up from Friday right through to Sunday.  Friday we headed out to the Coyote and despite a relatively promising forecast (light wind) we discovered the weather forecasters pretty much have zero clue what the weather is going to do lately.  Instead of NNW 5-10 knots as predicted, we got NNE 15-20 knots with a choppy 3 foot sea.  Oh yeah, and it was raining in the morning too.  We had a nasty little sea following us all the way out to the wreck --- coming from behind slightly on our port quarter.  We took a couple of good "kicks" getting caught in troughs as the waves pushed us around.  Suffice it to say it was not a nice smooth ride out.  Anyway, once we got out there the motivation levels were quite low - no one was moving fast to put on gear.  Dave and I both decided to skip it, as the conditions were kind of blah and I was feeling pretty blah myself - not seasick, just feeling like I was getting sick.  Anyway, everyone eventually splashed in and reported vis around 12-15 feet, dark and just OK overall.  We headed in and by 2 pm the weather was improving - the sun was even coming out.  We re-grouped and headed back out later that day to catch some fireworks in Marblehead harbor - by then the weather was good and the show went on (last year it got canceled last minute).  Saturday AM came early for sure and when I woke up, I was sick.  I had that sick "buzz" in my head and a sore throat.  Not good.  I have been so tired lately from nonstop everything that I think I am finally sinking in the quicksand.  We loaded up and headed off to Kettle Island for the morning trip.  Despite wanting to go lay in a bunk, I decided I would not let this ruin my weekend so I suited up and went diving.  Scott and I hit the water and clocked in about 66 minutes before Scott's "I forgot to hook up my pee-valve" situation reached critical status and we surfaced.  We did ok on lobsters and everyone enjoyed the dives.  My father Fred even came out to dust off the gear and do a little lobstering himself.  For the afternoon we were headed out to do some scalloping.  Even though I was equalizing fine and didn't appear to have any problem getting up or down, I still felt like crap.  But I pressed on and decided I would dive in the afternoon too.  I lumbered into my stuff while Dave and Scott kicked back in lawn chairs and splashed in to do some scalloping.  I hit the bottom at 70 feet - vis wasn't bad at about 15 feet - and immediately saw I was "in them" - so I filled a bag in about 20 min.  The bag was getting heavy and I was a bit tired so I cut it short and shot the bag of scallops.  Unfortunately my reel jammed when the line hopped off the spool when the bag was half-way up and I had no choice but to let go.  At that particular moment I was cursing myself for getting in the water!  I ascended and when I hit the surface the boat came to pick me up since we had gone live-boat to pick up the first round of divers after dropping them in while anchored.  That was just fine with me since after I heard the engine grumbling above and I figured we were live, I stopped navigating with my compass!  Anyway, I did OK on scallops and we got my bag and reel back no problem.  It was a very long day - a fun day - but long and it was 6:45 pm when we finally left the marina to head home.  I pretty much left my rebreather completely set-up except for popping off the bucket to remove the scrubber and change out tanks.  I guess I was going to find out if we really needed to rinse out the hoses and counter-lungs each day!  I figured I'd be either "the same" or completely go down the tubes overnight, so when I woke up Sunday and felt "more or less the same" I was optimistic about the rest of the day.  Of course, I didn't want to miss out on a chance to dive the Pinthis, as it's one of my favorite dives.  We loaded up with a good group of people and headed out, getting off the dock about 10 min early even.  We had a great, smooth ride down despite heavy fog south of Boston.  When we arrived, we picked up the mooring that had been installed by another boat and got right to diving.  Dave headed in first.  When he returned, Scott and I splashed in for our dive.  I didn't have my precious scooter - yes, I was forced to swim - since Scott is breaking in the rebreather.  Of course, it was much easier for us when we first got our rebreathers since we didn't yet own scooters - so it wasn't much of a sacrifice. It is important to just focus on learning the rig when you're new, and you must leave the toys behind when you do it.  We didn't shoot video for almost an entire season when we first got our CCRs. The task-loading of learning the rig took it all.  Anyway, we hit the water and dropped down - the visibility was spectacular at 30 feet or so.  There was a rather annoying current running and it made me think, "boy a scooter would be nice right now" -- but I managed!  We popped inside the wreck for a swim to the bow to avoid the current.  Then we drifted back to the stern outside the wreck, went back inside and crawled as far back as I have ever been heading aft and exited through a small opening near a beam.  It was a fantastic dive and not once during the 45 minute bottom time was I cold or bored.  We had an uneventful deco accompanied by 2 good sized dogfish.  When we surfaced the others were suiting up and things seemed much like they were when we splashed in.  I asked if we already had the BBQ -- they did, and we missed it.  Fortunately, there was some food left, though someone forgot the cheese that is an essential component of a cheeseburger.  Scott and I polished off the remaining chicken wings, ribs and burgers -- everyone had a great lunch with a good BBQ on the boat's grill.  Those that were doing a second dive headed in, and we relaxed during the time everyone was off diving.  We were still socked in with fog so the ride home was one with radar and looking-out involved.  Everyone - and I mean everyone - crashed out hard for the ride back, except me of course because I was the lone person awake driving the boat back for the 2-hour ride.  It wasn't too bad, but I sure wished we had autopilot!  Just kidding.  Anyway, we returned back to the marina at about 3:30, off-loaded and called it a weekend.  After a good night's sleep I am hanging in there, and hopefully will shake this cold or whatever it is before next weekend!  Check out some photos from the weekend in the photo gallery!

June 27, 2008:

Our offshore diving plans got scrubbed due to bad weather moving through the region, so we tried to put something together for some local diving on Saturday, and then spend Sunday doing some regular stuff -- errands, sleeping, cutting the lawn -- stuff we don't do much of when the dive season is in full swing.  Saturday we met with a few of the regular gang - all of us blown out of one offshore trip or another.  The weather wasn't all that nice even up in these parts -- overcast, a little rainy, humid but not hot -- in fact it was a little cool... and fog, plenty of fog.  We loaded up and headed out.  When I checked the weather buoy in the morning the wind was showing as pretty light and out of the NNW.  But when we got down to the marina, there was definitely more of a breeze and it was more out of the N-NE.  We cruised out to the Coyote - cutting through fog and increasing seas.  When we arrived on site, it really wasn't all that nice out there!  We had a good N 15-20 kt wind and seas were running 2-4' anyway.  Worse, the way the wind and tide were running, we were sitting exactly beam-to in this so we were rolling back and forth.  Joy.  Anyway, I suited up and splashed in with Pat B.  We all planned to bring scooters, but the conditions weren't too inviting and I had a strange feeling the visibility wasn't going to be all that great since the tide was going out.  We splashed in and headed down. Sure enough, the visibility was about 10 feet - kind of murky.  We took a swim down the starboard side heading aft.  It was quite a smooth cruise actually and I was really enjoying Pat's 50 watt light -- no, I didn't have it, I was just following his light around.  Yeah, even with a 35 watt HID light myself, I seem to have some light envy going on.  Damn - that 50 watt is a nice light.  I want one.  Anyway, we turned around and it became apparent why the swim out was so smooth -- we had a fairly stiff current running now and we had to trudge our way back through it.  It wasn't terrible, but it was annoying.  Anyway, with the conditions somewhat borderline, we decided to head up and call it a dive.  The deco was uneventful, except for the fact that an O2 bottle that someone hung on an equipment line was gone.  In the rough seas, somehow both clips managed to pop off and the bottle sank to the bottom.  If I needed a reminder (I don't) why I always carry all my own gas, or have support divers available, this was it - clipping bottles off on lines isn't the most reliable option out there.  We'll be out looking for this bottle next weekend, but if its found before we find it, please contact me as it does belong to someone.  Anyway, we wrapped up and headed in -- by then the fog had blown out and while it was still rather blah weather, it was good to get out for a dive.  Unfortunately the kid that was supposed to mow our lawn flaked out and didn't do it, so we got to go home and deal with that.  Ugh.  I'd rather be diving.

June 21-22, 2008:

Another weekend of excellent diving was lined up and we kicked it all off with a trip to the Baleen on Saturday morning with the group from NEUE. The weather was absolutely glorious with essentially no wind, millpond-flat seas and sunny skies. We made the run out to the wreck, arrived, picked up our mooring and settled in for a great morning of diving. I suited up first and splashed in. On the surface the visibility was a bit murky and I got worried – we were coming off low tide and even though the flood tide had begun, there was a possibility the visibility would be bad from still water. Anyway, once I cleared the 80 foot mark or so, the water got crisply clear and by the time I arrived on the wreck I could tell the visibility was spectacular. The mooring line was fouled – the rope having gotten caught underneath a piece of wreck along the rail on the portside in the stern, so I freed that and placed my strobe on the line. There was plenty of ambient light and I would put the visibility at a solid 25 feet. I struck out heading forward, swimming along the starboard side. Swimming along I could look down and see the bottom or look up and see the top of the wreck. This is such a pretty site – especially when the visibility is like this – so I took a real slow swim just enjoying the anemone garden covering the upper structures. I rounded the bow and did the same working aft before rising up and checking out the stack. Finally I worked my way back to the stern and then headed up for an uneventful deco. When I got back aboard, Dave & Pat B splashed in and did their dive – and they too were thrilled with the diving conditions. Everyone had great dives and it was a very enjoyable, relaxing morning. We headed in for the afternoon trip – originally scheduled for the Romance, but the group decided on the Poling to get a shot at good visibility. We cruised up to the Poling with the next group – also from NEUE – and arrived on the wreck site at the same time as Cape Ann Divers. The other mooring was occupied by a private boat so we worked out the details to share the remaining mooring; we tied off to their stern. I suited up and splashed in with my scooter. I scootered up to the CAD boat, and descended down their line. The visibility was definitely good, but it was pretty murky when I first got down there from all the traffic. As my dive progressed – and others left the bottom – it got much better. I’d say it was in the neighborhood of 20-25 feet. The highlight of the dive was definitely seeing a large wolf eel that was holed up under the break. Boy, those things sure do look mean. I enjoyed watching the wolf fish for awhile as cod fish swam over to check it out. Pretty cool. Anyway, I finished up the dive and headed up the stern mooring. When I surfaced, our boat had moved to the break mooring since the other boat had left. Dave knew I had a scooter so he didn’t think it would be a problem for me to make it back over to our boat. The other divers had dropped in on the break mooring after we moved, and I just scooted back to Gauntlet along the surface. I love DPVs! Dave took his turn making a dive and the rest of us relaxed enjoying the great summer weather. The wind had picked up a bit, but overall it was still very nice. We finished up and returned back to the marina around 5-5:30 pm. On a scale of 1-10, if I were going to rate the diving on Saturday, I’d give it a 9 – these were pretty awesome conditions. Sunday wasn’t quite as nice a day as Saturday. Even though the skies started out pretty clear, the weather grew overcast with some fog/haze and rain moving in as we headed out with a group for a trip to scuttled eagle class destroyer in 240 fsw, Eagle Boat 42 in the morning. It did clear out for awhile – and we even saw some sun. The visibility was pretty good there on the Eagle Boat too - about 20 feet, but darker. As the afternoon wore on and we ran our PM trip to Egg Rock, thunderstorms moved into the area. As we motored home it got pretty windy with choppy seas from the gusting wind – definitely some squalls were moving through. When we got back to the marina we had a short delay getting back into our slip as the large schooner "Friendship" was trying to get off the wharf for a cruise (the schooner goes out a few times per year). The wind was funneling down the "alley" into the marina and turning a 200 foot long schooner (yeah, they were using engines) did not seem to be going well. It wasn’t real pretty. The harbormaster was involved, and a few boats had to play tugboat and push them around to get them turned in the right direction. It was interesting for sure. It was actually interesting for us getting out as well as getting back on Sunday. Apparently the marina was quite full on Saturday night with transient boats so they decided to put one literally on the last 4 feet or so of dock in front of a sailboat on a finger pier opposite our boat. I guess there is no such thing as "we’re full"… The only glitch was that the boat was about 30 feet long. It was not too cool on the marina’s part, and not too easy for us to get out considering we have to back out of our slip and we had less than 1 foot of clearance on either side between this boat and a large wooden Grand Banks trawler docked along the opposite side. If there’s one thing that I think most will agree on in that marina, it’s that when it gets ugly docking or pulling out, it gets real ugly – not a lot of room for mistakes in there – especially when there’s wind or any tidal current involved. Luckily, there was no wind and I carefully backed us out; we cleared through without incident … thank goodness for bow thrusters.

Well, my dive report for this week has been slightly delayed, but not for lack of trying. A glitch with our FTP account prevented me from updating the website, but that’s all resolved now. Anyway, this past weekend was sort of a mixed bag weather-wise, but we got out both days and were able to run 3 great charters. Saturday kicked off with a trip to the USS NH wreck site. We were finishing up a class and this is an excellent training site because you can get some depth (30-40 feet), it’s a nice sand bottom and the visibility is usually good. I hopped in with the group to finish up our last 2 dives for the Intro to Technical Diving class. This is a fun class where we do endless air-sharing drills, valve drills and lift bag deployments – among other skills. We did 2 dives and clocked in a total of about 90 minutes bottom time, which was good. It was actually fairly hot out with very little wind – beautiful weather – but I was pretty warm in my suit – didn’t even cool off much in the water. It made me wish I was wearing a lighter undergarment… but since I knew that I have been bordering on getting sick from being a bit run-down towards the end of last week, I think my internal thermostat was off, especially since I froze on Sunday’s dive. Oh well. Anyway, we hammered away at drills and everyone did great. We wrapped up and headed in just in time to load up for our afternoon trip to Burnham Rock and Kettle Island with the New England Aquarium Dive Club. Since I had done 2 dives in the morning, I was skipping these and Dave was planning to dive at Kettle – one of his favorite spots (and mine). I was mainly looking forward to relaxing for the afternoon and letting Dave take care of putting new zincs on the boat since we forgot (again) on the morning trip… this was the plan anyway until his neck seal split like a melon while he was suiting up – he was done, for today at least. This tear was beyond duct tape. Fortunately Dave has another suit at home, and he knows this guy who does a hell of job on drysuit repairs – so there were no worries about the rest of the weekend. While we considered waiting to put the zincs on the next day, we weren’t keen on this because we were going to be further out and not in such a sheltered place, and where bouncing around under the boat is not too desirable. Despite urges to remain in my chair like a lump, I got up, put all my stuff back on and got in the water to do the zincs. I needed to cool off anyway, as I was still hot. I didn’t have enough gas or energy to bother doing an actual dive, so when I finished I climbed out and returned to my chair. Everyone enjoyed their dives – Burnham was great with excellent visibility despite a little bit of current running. Kettle got high marks from everyone also. This site never disappoints. All in all it was a good day and we returned to the dock around 6 pm. Sunday we headed out to dive the YF415 and Reliance as a single trip, and the weather was quite different – overcast, pouring at times and cool. There was a moderate breeze around 10 knots out of the East, which lumped up the sea a little bit. We did have the heat on most of the day, quite the difference a day can make in New England! Hot one day, freezing the next… such odd weather. Anyway, we got back to the dock a bit early around 3 pm, as we were able to get off the dock about 20 minutes ahead of schedule. This was good because it was in fact Father’s Day and we were already overdue for a cookout. Despite the gloomy weather to close out the weekend, it was an excellent series of dives.

Finally a brief break in the weather allowed us to get April started off right with a double-header day of dive charters on Saturday before weathering out of Sunday’s dive. For the morning trip we were headed to the New York Central 14 II – aka NYC 14-2 and formerly known as the "Pug Wreck." The morning broke with dreary skies and light to moderate rain. But the wind was very light and the seas were laying down into a ground swell, so we departed almost on time for the NYC 14-2 with an eager group. You might ask, why only "almost on time"? Well, someone overslept. It was the same someone who was the guilty oversleeping party on another trip not long ago (see the May 20, 2007 dive report). Yes, a repeat offender. Out of the kindness of our hearts we waited. Fortunately he did arrive by about 7:35 am, so we were not delayed very long and we were cruising out of the marina by 7:45 am. There was a moderate ground swell running, but it wasn’t bad and we made good time riding out. When we arrived on the wreck site, there was no mooring. This was no surprise given that we haven’t been on the NYC 14-2 in quite a few months now. We made ready to put in a line and took care to make sure the drop was good. I was a bit concerned at first about how precise we were – mainly because I knew the visibility was not going to be good and if we were even a little bit off the wreck, it would likely mean a wasted dive and another round of drops. I had received a visibility report earlier in the week and while I felt we had a better shot of some visibility in deeper water, the NYC isn’t known for the best visibility and given the combination of "everything" – there was a really good chance it would be just plain terrible. After a few passes by the line, I decided the drop was good, and Dave and Pat B splashed in to tie in the line. I had counted about 7 minutes when the lift bag popped up indicating we were secure, so I knew something had to have gone right. The group suited up and divers began entering the water. Soon, Dave was back, as was most everyone else. As can be expected, visibility reports varied widely from "can’t see anything" to "don’t bother" to "it’s not bad"… Honestly, it didn’t matter to me what the report was, I was going. Between dive shows, blow-outs and being sick it has been too long for me without a dive. Some of my dive gear had actually dried. When I woke up on Saturday morning, I honestly thought I was getting up for work – the regular kind. So, I was diving no matter what. Roman had finally woken up and we got ready. The final consensus was "black as night, terrible water column visibility, but about 10 feet on the wreck." That actually didn’t sound too bad to me, considering. Roman and I hit the water and began dropping down. The surface water was a murky, nasty brown color and by the time we hit 20 feet it was indeed dark as night. We saw the wreck just a few feet before running into it. I had some reservations about backscatter in low visibility with my new Salvo 35 watt HID light, but that was quickly put to rest on this dive – the light cuts through everything. We got situated and then swam the wreck. I should add we were tied in right on the edge of a beam adjacent to the frame around the deck opening for the engine and boilers. When Dave & Pat dropped down to the wreck, they found the shot line had landed squarely in the middle, right on top of the engine. So, that made things easy for them, plus it tied us in to a good spot on the wreck since for some of the divers on this trip, it was their first visit and this at least had put them in a spot where they could see something interesting without getting too far from the line. Roman and I took a lap around the wreck and then popped inside before puttering around the engine and boilers for the reminder of our bottom time. It was like a night dive. I couldn’t see any gauges without a light or some kind of illumination. It reminded me again of how much I would like to have a secondary display for the PRISM with a luminescent face. Anyway, it was dark down there, but overall not too bad. I mean, it wasn’t too good either, but it was good enough. The water temperature was about 39F, so it’s coming up a bit. We ascended through the very dark and murky water column, did a short decompression amidst a slightly annoying ground swell we could feel around 20 feet and up, and surfaced. It felt really good to be back in the water. By the time we surfaced, the rain was gone and skies were clearing. We cruised back to the dock and unloaded in preparation for the afternoon trip to the Poling. The sun was coming out and the wind was all but gone – and while this seemed promising, I knew the visibility was probably going to be worse given the Poling is shallower and we were hitting an outgoing tide on a new-moon spring tide. Eek. We loaded up with the next group and enjoyed a nice run up to the Poling where we had the wreck all to ourselves. There was no mooring here either so Dave and Pat splashed in to repair the old mooring. We dropped them in on a shot line and had them reattach a new piece of line with a buoy they carried down with them to the old mooring and then blow the whole shot line to the surface where we would collect it back aboard. They did just that and in no time the group was getting ready to dive. I was undecided about diving. The visibility report from a few days ago was a black 2-4’ and I could tell just looking at the lines in the water that it seemed worse than the visibility on the NYC 14-2. Dave came back and said it was real bad. Actually, he was so descriptive about how bad it was that we decided it was detrimental to morale and needed more appropriate "messaging" (some of the customers weren’t yet in the water and suddenly looked not very enthused). So, the group coined a new term to be descriptive, yet positive about the visibility – "macro conditions." It was going to be a "macro dive." We thought that sounded nice – after all, in these macro conditions, one might see a nudibranch that might otherwise be overlooked – and that sounded nice. Wouldn’t you like to see a nudibranch on your dive? Anyway, I decided to skip this one. The group hit the water and managed to make the best of their dives despite the challenging and not so pleasant conditions. Unfortunately, these are typical post winter-thaw spring conditions. I try to look at from the perspective that these are good skills dives – since whether it’s a deep wreck or a shallow one, low visibility and darkness add complexity and thus help sharpen skills for future dives. The good news is the weather is getting better and better diving conditions will be upon us soon enough. Either way, diving is fun.

Well, I suppose it would be an understatement to say that it’s been a tough March weather-wise. While this winter hasn’t been unusual in terms of blow-outs overall (I just finished analyzing 4 years of charters looking at every weekend – very interesting), March has in fact been one of the worst months we’ve seen in years. March should be a great month. After all, it is my birthday month, but the truth is, it’s still very much winter and a thus a surprisingly tough month with weather – and for getting sick. I don’t know how many of you out there got completely sick right after Sea Rovers, but I did and I must say, I haven’t been that sick in years. I actually took 1.5 sick days from work and spent 4 days in bed – that’s a lot for me. Many people I spoke to reported essentially the same thing (some even ended up in the hospital). So, who ever you are that got out of your cage and brought this into Sea Rovers, Dustin Hoffman and the "Outbreak" team called – they’re looking for you. Anyway, I am improved, but was still on the DL for diving this weekend and had planned to stay topside. The wind of course hammered us Friday and into most of Saturday, keeping us dockside. And while we normally reserve the major holidays for family stuff, we decided to run on Easter in order to get a trip in. We arrived at the marina bright and early now that we’re back to our early morning departure schedule. It was quiet. One of the live-aboard people ran into us as we were loading and asked us if we were out "getting our religion" – well, I guess you could say so. There were no Easter eggs in sight, instead just a full boat of mostly the regular gang who were eager to get a dive in after many disappointing cancellations. While the forecast initially looked good for Sunday and a trip to the Holmes, the wind was actually up and the 7 am buoy report was showing 20-25 knots of wind out of the NW and seas at 3 feet. We decided to keep it simple and head to the Poling, the most protected location with this wind. At this point, we’ll take whatever we can get. Interestingly, the marina basin water was very clear and I predicted good visibility. We got underway and enjoyed a nice ride up to the Poling. The seas were a bit choppy, and it actually got progressively worse during the time we were out. I am not sure if there was some sort of local wind effect with the wind coming off the land, but we were seeing increasing seas and had some gusts to 25 knots or more with wind that was mostly westerly, even though the buoy was reporting improving conditions. With the boat secured we got the divers suited up and in the water. The water looked murky on the surface, but everyone came back with two comments mainly: it was cold (37F) and the visibility was very good (15-20 feet). The air temperature was cool, especially with the wind chill so we did have a little bit of freezing up going on, but the sun was bright and kept things melting. All in all everyone seemed to have good dives and even reserved some time for a good prank. As many of you know "trail mix" is very popular among some on Gauntlet. Personally, I don’t like it, but certain people will go so far as to sniff it out (and eat it all) where ever it might be hidden aboard the boat. This time, the "communal" trail mix that was (oddly) freely offered up had a bit of a surprise with an additional ingredient – it was spiked with loads of hot pepper! Suffice it to say there were some sour faces on that deal after a handful went down not-so-smoothly, and later I found myself throwing away a nearly full package of this stuff when cleaning up the boat. I guess no one wanted it today. Anyway, we got back to the dock at about 10:30 am since Dave also skipped the dive so we could get things wrapped up quicker – we had the boat unloaded and buttoned up by 11:30 am and were heading home to join our family for Easter lunch. We even had time to see the Easter bunny so Dave could get his chocolate eggs. Next weekend is BTS – but April is around the corner and it’s time to get back to diving.