Gear review: Aqualung technisub micromask

Let's face it I have a problem when it comes to diving. Part of that problem is having to try every new piece of gear that comes along. After staring at these sweet looking little masks in the shop for a while now I finally caved and picked one up this past Saturday and tried it on Sunday's dive (see Tug report below).

I will jump right into the cons of the mask... There were 2 reasons for my delay in picking one of these up: 1. This tiny mask makes up for its physical disposition with its relatively high retail price ($99.99), and 2. I had noticed at Bainbridge on JC's that the strap buckles connect with kind of cheap (especially considering the price) buckles (see pic below) the type of which I had broken on a Poseidon mask.

The good: This mask is pretty awesome. It's very small and with the lenses very close to your eyes the field of vision is pretty amazing. The skirt is also a nice soft silicone and is probably the most comfortable mask I have ever tried. Additionally for you rebreather folks equalizing and clearing the mask takes virtually no gas and venting gas through my nose was as smooth as if breathing on land.

Overall I am very pleased and will be using this mask as my primary from now on, but will be keeping my fingers crossed on the durability of the buckles.

Micromask (top) and my trusty old Seadive mask (bottom) for size comparison

Close up of buckle with plastic "knob" that I sheared off on my Poseidon mask

You can't go out and play until you do your homework!

So you want to find out more about a shipwreck that you are diving (like where the bell was located)? Or better yet are you trying to identify an unknown wreck? This past Friday Danny and I made a trip to the Independence Seaport Museum at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia to check out their archives and library and do some of our own research on some projects we are working on. The museum is open to the public but the library is available by appointment only and is an invaluable resource as it houses (among MANY other useful resources): the Lloyd's Register back to 1764, American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) records back to 1874, and the New York Shipbuilding Collection (hint: contains some well known wrecks).

Upon our arrival, Matt the librarian was quite accommodating and happy to help us out which was greatly appreciated as we our new to this kind of endeavor. After a quick orientation and some initial directions to head in we were quickly tearing through the collection.

We got several good leads and are looking forward to returning a bit better prepared now that we know what kind of resources are available.

If you haven't been to the Seaport Museum it is definitely worth the trip. In addition to the museum which contains a variety of maritime exhibits including some cool artifacts, the seaport also houses the museum ships USS Olympia and the submarine Becuna, which are open for tours. Divers takes note: the Olympia is the same class as the USS San Diego lying off Long Island and the Becuna is the same class as the Blenny which is off Ocean City, MD.

Olympia

Becuna

http://www.phillyseaport.org/

Tug on this

4-27-08

Independence II trip

Despite the ugly forecast for most of the week Capt Dan decided to give it a try when NOAA downgraded it a bit yesterday. Heading out the inlet we found decent seas inshore but the horizon was bearing its toothy grin which meant the Stolt would have to wait for another day. We ended up on the Venturo tug which sits in ~70 fsw. This tug was sunk intentionally as an artificial reef and sits upright and intact. I found the shot in the sand right off the bow making for an easy tie in. Visibility on top of the wreck was a decent 10-15 feet with a slight current/surge. On the bottom the visibility dropped down to 5 feet or so. Temperatures were 46-48F on the bottom depending whose computer you checked with a slight 2 degree increase near the surface so it looks like the temperature is easing up slowly.

I did a couple tours around the tug and poked inside the engine room. I ran my reel out in the sand looking for edible creatures and some of the APCs (armored personnel carriers) that have been placed around the wreck. After finding only sand dollars and a lonely skate with a bent tail I headed back. I took advantage of my rebreather and spent a couple minutes staring down a school of bergalls (only fish I saw on the wreck) along the railing who looked like they were hoping I had (or was) something for them to eat. There were reports of a rather large bug in an undisclosed location that eluded its captor.

I wouldn’t want to dive the Venturo every weekend but it is a nice little dive and gave everybody the chance to work out the rest of those early season cobwebs.

Thanks to Mark Clark for the pictures.

Dela...where?

Today the Independence II braved the seas and after a democrat vote of the 9 customers on board, the decision was made to change the intended destination of the further offshore Tolten to the Delaware so there would be a greater chance of getting in 2 dives.

Seas were a manageable 2-4 foot on the short ride to the wreck and we ended up tied in on top of the engine at about 65 fsw (sand at ~75 fsw). Visibility was on the poor side in the range of 5'. About half the crowd got in two dives while the other half were content getting wet with one long early season dive. A total of 3 keeper lobster were boated along with a couple decent ling. We cut loose just as the forecasted winds were beginning to pick up and Capt Dan eased her back into the dock around 1:00 making for a nice short day.

Delaware

Oppurtunity knocks twice?

4-13-08

My life has been pretty hectic over the past month or so, but lest anyone label me as an internet diver I made sure my priorities are still in order and snuck in a second trip in three days this past weekend. Sunday was the first trip out for the Independence II and a little thing like moving out of state wasn’t going to get in my way of a dive. We headed out to the Pinta in seas that were a little rolly but not too bad. Frankly I was grateful I didn’t get sick as it usually takes me a couple trips to get my sea legs back after a landlocked winter at the quarry.

Heading in to tie in I was relieved to find much clearer water than Friday’s dive and a decent 15 feet or so of visibility on the wreck. Water temp was 45F from top to bottom at 85fsw and made for a comfortable dive (at least for April). I had a project from last season I was eager to get back to and spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out how to get to it. It appears that the wreck has collapsed a fair bit more over the winter. While this has opened up some additional areas it has also covered others :-(

Lots of small bugs spotted but no keepers were retrieved. There were a fair number of blackfish tucked up inside the wreck but I can never keep track of the regulations on them so I just leave them alone. All in all it was a pretty excellent weekend of Jersey diving.

Salt for your wounds

Ah, the taste of salt. Today was the return of the Tuna Seazure from her winter hibernation. We headed out bright and early and made a stop at the Great Bay “raw bar” on the way out to the Kennebec for some fresh clams on the halfshell (don't ask). Seas were quite nice but there was a persistent fog for most of the day. On the wreck we had sub par conditions with 1-2 feet of what could be called poop soup visibility at ~70fsw. Add in a decent surge and it made for a challenging dive. Nevertheless, everyone still made lemonade and clocked in bottom times in the hour range, and the temperature was actually a comfortable 46^oF which seems warm for this time of year but who’s complaining. One toddler lobster was boated and returned to the sea by an unnamed gentleman who also called the visibility 15-20’ so if nothing else we learned who’s judgment is suspect. Not the best day, but sure beat working, and most importantly kicked off what should be another outstanding dive season.

The Quarrior Strikes Back

I don't really like to post quarry reports but what the hell there is nothing else going on so here is the over dramatized version of today's dive...

Diving Bainbridge is no joke

If today was a month it would be March because it came in like lamb and went out like a lion. Morning was bright and sunny and not too cold, by the time we got out of the water an arctic wind was howling, the temperature plummeted, and a part of the drive home from Bainbridge was in blizzard like conditions. But enough about the weather we had a mission. The past couple times we visited Bainbridge we have tried unsuccessfully to find the mythical "barn". Today the elite team was Dan Martinez, Dr. Gozum, and myself stepped up to the challenge one more time. This time we took some tips from yesterday's seminar by John Yurga on shipwreck research and got information BEFORE we hit the water.




We threw caution to the wind (light to none at this point) and chose to ignore the ominous warning sign left by some previous traveler (above) as we took a different tact than previous missions by entering on the other side of the little peninsula in hope of surprising the barn before it had a chance to hide. Armed with sophisticated reconnaissance equipment we set out in conditions about the same as last week at 39-40F and a solid 20 feet or more of visibility. We wasted no time dropping to 90 ffw and bypassed the boat via a jump to "A" line. After that the details get sketchy and we followed a trail of destruction on are singular mission to find the "barn". Some evil force has left in its wake upturned vehicles, leveled buildings, and great rocks shewn about like they were nothing more than marbles. They say discretion is the better part of valor... we chose the lesser part. Finally out of the gloom appeared the silhouette of the remains of the great hall. After all these weeks we had arrived at the "barn". Dan and Marvin wasted no time storming the entrance while I remained outside snapping pictures in a state of great trepidation and awe. At last the draw of the mystery of the great barn was too overwhelming and I entered and was instantly basked in the green glow filtering down through the holes from above like rays from heaven. After some congratulatory high fives we triumphantly headed for home (and a chilly deco). To the victor belong the spoils!!

Discovery!

(This is not a barn)

Museum of New Jersey Maritime History

Last weekend Danny and I took a break from diving to take a little field trip out to Beach Haven, NJ (LBI) where we met up with Capt. Bartone to check out the Museum of New Jersey Maritime History. This non-profit museum contains a ton of information on the Jersey coast and is a great resource for wreck divers. There are lots of artifacts recovered and donated or on loan from divers from local wrecks on display as well as binders full of shipwreck research and photos. In addition there is a nice library and DVD collection that are all available to borrow. There is a great S-5 exhibit complete with personal artifacts recovered from the wreck and underwater images of the wreck as she sits today. The museum is definitely worth the trip out to LBI for the serious wreck diver on anyone with a general interest in the maritime history of our coast.

Bell from the Bidevind


Gun sight from the Ayuruoca (Oil wreck)

Engine room telegraph from the Resor

It's been a summer

1-12-2008

With the spurt of spring like weather the last couple days I let John talk me into switching from Sunday (weather looking terrible) to Saturday for the Tuna Seazure’s season ending trip to the Glory wreck. This large steel wreck in 70 fsw has never been properly identified and is thought to possibly be the Kennebec or Lake Frampton. There were some decent 4-5 foot swells as we cleared the inlet but they quickly laid down and Capt Bill punched it. The short ride barely gave me enough time to get dressed to tie in. Heading down it was nice to see the visibility much better than the past two weeks in the 15 foot range with nice ambient light. The water temperature was ~44F top to bottom. The anchor line came down across the two large boilers providing a nice view. We were hooked in on the top of the engine just aft (nearly touching) the starboard boiler. I took my time exploring and had a great time checking out the wreck from stem to stern for a solid 90 minutes. I was surprised how many little pieces were off the sides of the wreck that I hadn’t noticed before. There was a decent surge on the bottom which made running my reel a little tricky. I even managed to tangle myself up twice. Other than that it was a great dive for what will probably be my last ocean dive until spring. Until then you may refer to me as the Quarrior! (cue Scandal)

PS: Mad props to Bill Trent for letting me borrow his meg head while mine is in the shop for "upgrades".

Theme music

Sucker for winter sunrises

01-05-2008

The Astra was my first dive of 2007 so it was only fitting that we made it out on the Tuna Seazure today to the Astra for my first dives of 2008. Headed out around 0800 in slightly bumpy 3-4 foot seas. Temperature dropped a few degrees from last week and was 42 top to bottom. Visibility on the wreck wasn't the best in the 10 or less range. We were hooked in next to the prop shaft about equidistant from the boilers and the (semi) intact stern section. A decent number of very small bugs were spotted with only 1 keeper boated.

Best wishes for 2008.