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.