Down too long in the mignight sea...

www.downtoolong.com

2008-09-06T19:47:00.002-04:00

It is my great pleasure to announce the launching of downtoolong.com.

The new site should be a great improvement, and I hope to make it more than a blog, with more content, and (hopefully) more useful features. The blog of course will be continuously updated.

I was going to wait until construction was complete, but what the hell, I figure it's better to get feedback early on, so please, check it out, let me know what you think and if there is anything you'd like to see, and most importantly of all update your bookmarks ;-)

www.downtoolong.com

Tell a buddy!

The Independence does Long Island

2008-09-02T22:27:00.002-04:00

Today, Team Independence headed off Long Island to dive the USS SAN DIEGO (almost) and the OREGON. With the weather acting up, our offshore plans were diverted to the north where we could tuck in the lee of Long Island and take advantage of the opportunity to visit some wrecks we don't normally get to. It was an all crew, all CCR trip, consisting of the usual suspects... Capt Dan, Frankie Pellegrino, Richie Kohler, Bill and Ginny Trent, Dave Oldham, Dan Martinez, and myself.

Our first stop was the USS SAN DIEGO which was an armored cruiser that sank in 110 fsw after hitting a mine in 1918. Danny and I were to tie in and the visibility was not that great. I found the bottom when I crashed into it. With only a foot or two of visibility we called it and headed 8 miles further east to the OREGON.

The visbility on the OREGON was much better at 10-15 feet. We were tied into the large winch near the bow. I ran my reel out a ways and found the remains of the kitchen which is indentifiable by the glazed bricks laying about. Coming back I found one of the many empty portholes was not empty and had a nice brass backing plate. It was still real solid and what interested me more was what lay inside. There was a piece of china and some other oblong obeject that looked interesting. I thought I might be able to reach the goodies so I gave it a shot. I inverted myself and stuffed myself up to the shoulder into the porthole and managed to grab object number 1. I pulled it out and when the surge and current cleared the black smoke I laughed at myself. It was an old axe that I assume someone working on the porthole had dropped inside. At this point Danny found me and when I showed him I noticed the china got lifted up when I pulled out the axe and was sticking up and easily reachable. I grabbed it and it was just a broken shard. I was getting cold at this point so I left.

Fuzzy blocks

2008-08-31T22:14:00.004-04:00

Got out to the "Granite wreck" today on the Independence II with the group from the Diversion dive club. This is one of the many nameless faces littering the sea bed off New Jersey. This particular wreck in 120 feet of water gets its name from the large stone blocks scattered about the site (that may or may not be granite), and is likely the remains of a wooden barge. It is known among the hunting crowd as a particularly good lobstering wreck due to the many nooks and crannies in between ribs available for these sea roaches to hide in.

The layout is pretty simple and consists of a continuous keel with ribs, a small donkey boiler, and a large chain pile at one end. Today we were tied into the donkey boiler and the visibility was good enough (about 25 feet) to spot the "granite" blocks in the distance from the anchor line which gave the feeling that you were descending into an underwater Stonehenge. The temperature was still a nippy 48F on the bottom, and sitting in place messing with the tripod made me feel it. A picture is worth a 1000 words so I am going to shut up and put up 4k. Gotta love Jersey diving.

Exposed tubes of broken down donkey boiler

Fuzzy block

Chain pile

EM CLARK

2008-08-25T20:33:00.003-04:00

24-Aug-2008

Ever play tug of war with a 500 foot long, 9,647 ton oil tanker? I can now say I have. In fact, I was beginning to question my sanity (and the existence of a God) as I pulled myself against 1 knot of current down the anchor line that seemed to go forever. It was hard work but I took it slow, and as long as I was not winded I decided to power on knowing I would be rewarded at the other end with one of the most spectacular shipwrecks on the east coast.... the EM CLARK.

The CLARK was carrying a load of oil when she was torpedoed by the U-124 in March of 1942. The wreck now lies like a sleeping giant on its port side, perfectly intact in 240 feet of cobalt blue Gulf Stream waters. When my Jersey diving plans were canceled last minute, I managed to weasel my way onto Capt. JT Barker's Under Pressure. The weather was looking iffy and with Saturday already blown out I knew it would be a risk to drive down to Hatteras, but eagerly hopped in the car with Bedford for the opportunity to dive this world class wreck.

Saturday night I got the opportunity to meet the legendary Capt Artie Kirchner who's Margie II was docked along side the Under Pressure having just finished the 2008 MONITOR expedition. He was generous enough to offer up some tips on the CLARK as well as some other quality stories that I don't think are appropriate for this G-rated blog. Needless to say I was all ears and felt the effects of the late night Sunday morning. The wind had laid down as predicted and with confirmation that we were heading out my groggy head quickly cleared.

Which brings us back to the descent... The prayers echoing through my DSV were mercifully answered at around 150 feet when the current finally let up. That plus the realization that I was actually looking at hull stretching into the distance in all directions and not the sea floor, kicked my adrenaline into high gear and that last 50 feet went quick as I landed on the flat side of the wreck at 200 feet. I did a precautionary loop flush and picked up my camera for the first time to see how it had faired being dragged behind me like a sea anchor up to this point. I fired it up and with a setpoint change it was all systems go. I slowly crept over to the edge of the wreck on my knees and bent over to look down and was just awestruck. Words really can't describe it. It was like being perched on the ledge of a 5 story building, except this was an amazingly intact tanker from WWII towering nearly 50 feet above the seabed below. A big barracuda buzzed me as I took a "leap" off and free fell down to the sandy bottom.

I wanted to head aft and see the mighty props so off I went not knowing how far the stern might be. I soon came upon the dark gaping maw of what must have been the engine room skylight and could not resist the invitation to explore within. It didn't help that Capt Art telling me that a Jersey diver would go in and not be a Sea Pu... uh... kitty, was also fresh in my mind. I soon spotted the unmistakable white gleam of china poking through the silt but it was only a broken saucer with no markings so I left it behind. I worked my way through the engine room much to the chagrin of some large amberjacks who came blasting out from behind some machinery. I proceeded aft and popped back outside into open water right at the fantail. I rounded the stern expecting to come face to face with the prop and completely forgot the massive height of the ship and could just make out the shadow of it in the distance beyond the massive rudder.

Unfortunately it was time to head back. As I worked my way along the bottom to stay out of the current I was surprised how many lionfish were on the wreck. The bottom was literally crawling with these invasive critters. Eventually I arrived back at the grapnel and with a heavy heart pulled it free and began my long ascent. Deco was mostly relaxing since we were drifting with the current. The only excitement came when I heard the boat leaving and looked up to see my only worldly friend was an orange tuna ball. I was a little worried someone had a problem but later found out it was only "Drifting Bob" taking a tour of the mid Atlantic. Nearly a perfect day and I can't wait to get back!

My pictures don't nearly begin to do this wreck justice...

Amberjack in the engine room

The stern of the EM CLARK

A couple lionfish (they were all over)

Bidevind 17-Aug-2008

2008-08-18T21:55:00.003-04:00

Sunday found the Independence II tied into the stern section of the Bidevind, over 60 miles from Manasquan Inlet. This large freighter was a victim of U-752 in the second World War. Really the only word that comes to mind to describe this dive is awesome. This huge wreck sits in 190 fsw on a white sandy bottom, and generally has (as we did today) the warm clear Gulf Stream waters lingering overhead making for a relaxing decompression. This was my first time on this wreck and did a nice long swim. The temperature was 48F at depth with the visibility 50 feet or better but with lots of "snot" in the water that pretty much killed my pictures. That, plus the fact that I was too busy taking it all in to mess much with the camera.

The wreck sits on it's side and is mostly collapsed but has sections that rise 30 feet of more off the bottom. With the good visibility it truly was an impressive sight. I started my dive swimming forward along the keel and noted several openings offering penetration opportunities. I rounded the wreck at a break and found myself overlooking a huge debris field that I'm guessing was the remains of the superstructure. I spent some time poking around and it didn't take long to locate a compete porthole with intact glass. It was covered by a couple beams and would require more work than I was interested on this dive so I gave it a quick shake test, snapped a picture, noted it's location for a future trip and moved on.

As I began my trip back aft I could spot Capt Dan a good ways in the distance and watched him disappear into the wreck. I still had some bottom time left as I passed the anchor line and proceeded all the way aft to the prop which is partially buried in the sand but still a pretty sight. There was a lonely bollard sitting upright in the sand off the wreck and for some reason it seamed almost surreal to see this part of a once great ship completely out of place in a vast landscape of sand.

At the end of the day I did a bounce to pull the hook and what should have been a mundane 20 minute routine, turned into more excitement than I had anticipated. On the bottom, one of my cells was reading lower than the other and I suspected it was bad. Well, back at 20 feet I was playing with my handsets when I caught out of the corner of my eye a HUGE tail and about 8 feet ahead of that a HUGE dorsal fin swimming off into the distance. The big fish must have swam right past me when I was fooling around and was at least 15 feet long. I think it was a basking shark, but I didnt get a face shot to confirm. It was definitely an exciting way to end one of my best dive trips this season.

There were TONS of cunners swarming the top of the wreck

Do you see what I see ;-)

Not a very good picture but Capt Dan gives a good sense of scale of how big the wreck is and the visibility

Terry does his deco

So you want to be a deep sea diver?

2008-08-14T20:24:00.005-04:00

"Dive! Dive! Dive!"

After an all night boat ride and spending some time by the bottom finder carefully picking the mark, the command to dive seemed to come pretty quickly... considering the boys were dropping down to nearly 400 fsw!

Yesterday a team of New Jersey divers on the Independence II ventured nearly 100 miles off the coast in search of long lost shipwrecks resting in deep water, hidden from daylight and human eyes for years, decades, and perhaps centuries. The bottom divers, Richie Kohler, Evan Kovacs, and Frankie Pellegrino are no strangers to deep expedition level diving and were pooling together their combined decades of experience to turn the dial on Northeast diving to 11 (yes, one louder).

I was honored to be invited along as support diver and crew on what was an incredible team effort. This is my version of how I saw things.

It was clear from the start that this was not a group of cowboys only looking for the "extreme" factor. Every detail and contingency was planned in case of emergency, and the bailout gas alone took up half the boat. The plan was to shot the wreck and live boat the entire operation to minimize stress on the divers during decompression. Three safety divers (Steve "the scab" Lombardi, Dan Martinez, and myself) were available and ready to splash at any time to ferry tanks and assist the bottom divers. Bill Trent was acting as dive marshal and would be running the show.

Capt Dan Bartone had several sets of numbers to investigate in 350-400 fsw and we spent some time checking a couple out to determine the best site to splash on. There were interesting bottom features on both numbers but the excitement mounted when a big showing came 30 feet off the bottom on the second and it was decided to hit that. After deploying the shot and nearly 500 feet of line, and checking the current, the three bottom divers splashed into a deep blue sea of anticipation.

I will leave the details of the dive to the guys who did it (hint: look for an article in a upcoming Advanced Diver Magazine), but I will say that things went without a hitch and the guys did find a wreck and had a great dive. They reported relatively warm (51F) conditions on the bottom with water 70+ near the surface. Support divers were used to swap out bottles and check on divers starting at about 120 feet. A support diver was in the water with the decompressing divers at all times from ~40 feet to the surface to monitor for any signs of oxygen toxicity. The entire team was CCR with nearly every major manufacturer represented (Evolution, Prism, Ouroboris, 2 Megs, and an Optima)

For me this was a great learning experience, and to see how expedition dives of this magnitude can be conducted safely in a dynamic environment using a team approach was eye opening. I will say that we did not find what we hoped, which means it's still out there, along with countless other lost vessels waiting to be discovered. The adventure continues, and when working with friends like these guys, I can't wait!

Many thanks to Fourth Element, TDI, and OMS for supporting this effort.

Glory days (they'll pass you by)

2008-08-03T21:42:00.003-04:00

Twins

Got to dive the Glory wreck twice this weekend off the Tuna Seazure. This large steel wreck lies busted up in 70 feet of water 8 miles off Atlantic City and is still waiting proper identification but is thought to be the remains of the Kennebec or Lake Frampton. I was looking forward to getting some more practice with the camera and tripod on something shallow where I'd have plenty of time to mess around. Saturday morning seemed to roll in way too early and with the lack of caffeine I thought I had woke up on the Mars when my handset was reading PPO2s of 0.00 0.00 0.00, but oddly enough I seemed to be breathing just fine? I shook the cobwebs out of my brain and realized the battery that was reading low must have died and lost the calibration data. A quick swap (isn't that easy at 23 knots) and re-cal and I was ready to dive.

The vis on the wreck was 20 feet or so and I was having fun playing with my camera when all of a sudden it went from nice and bright (I didnt even have my light on) to dark as night. I thought "hmm that can't be good". Soon after, the rumble of engines clued in me into the fact that we might no longer be attached and sure enough the topside conditions had deteriorated as a squall moved through. The winds (I was later told) had quickly kicked up to 35-40 knots which brewed up some good 6 foot or better seas which had been enough to rip a large chunk of the wreck out. I worked my way back to the tie-in and sure enough a sizable portion of the Glory had gone missing (along with the anchor line). I cleaned up my toys and fired off a bag and managed to time my surfacing to be right after the storm passed. Just shows how quickly things can change in the North Atlantic.

Which leads us to Sunday... the plan was changed to head back to the Glory and recover some gear that got left behind. Vis was better than yesterday and closer to 30 feet. Long story short we got in some dives, recovered some of the gear, a lobster and a seabass, and left a little as an offering to Neptune, lest he smite us again.

Overall I'd rate the weekend at an A- with the only deduction being for the loss of my beloved Jotron strobe. I small price to pay for a good time. It had been way too long since I've been out with Kenny and Capt. Bill and I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

I think this is where good lift bags go when they die?

Shaft alley

Engine and boiler (this was taken during the storm and required a 20 sec exposure)

The "crack" in the starboard boiler is actually John Perozzi's light trail over a 6 second exposure and gives a a cool effect

YF-415

2008-07-14T20:23:00.005-04:00

Bill inspects the port propeller on the YF-415

Snuck away from my busy schedule for a short road trip with Bedford up to New England this past weekend. I had heard many good things about the Gauntlet which is run by Heather Knowles and Dave Caldwell out of Salem, Massachusetts and took the opportunity to hop on a charter to the USS YF-415. The YF-415 was a Navy lighter that sank when its cargo of ordnance exploded and sent her to the bottom of Massachusetts Bay, 230 feet below. The wreck has been found and identified relatively recently and you can read much more about the ship and discovery on the NADE website.

The ride out to the wreck was short by Jersey diving standards and we were on the wreck in under an hour which was pretty sweet. We splashed into a school of small dogfish who gave us some curious looks as we paused for a bubble check at 20 feet before heading down. The visibility in midwater was great and slowly faded from a bright emerald green to darker and darker shades before finally going lights out with only hints of ambient light remaining and about 15 feet or so of visibility but with a good amount of particulates which made me wonder if dragging the camera was a lost cause. The wreck isnt that big and we did a quick orientation which was easy since we were tied into the large towing bit on the aft deck. I fired up the camera which caused some confusion with my unsuspecting buddy. We dropped over the elliptical stern and checked out the twin props which rise 10-15 feet off the bottom. Coming back up the hull to deck level was a treat as the wreck is completely carpeted in beautiful anemones and little orange fishys. We headed forward and explored what remains of the superstructure. We had just dropped back down to the main deck forward of the superstructure when Bill gave me the light and signal that he was cold enough (it was 42 F from 230 up to 20 feet) and ready to roll a little earlier than our planned bottom time. Deco was uneventful until we met up with our dogfish friends again at the shallow stops who kept us company and made the long hang go quickly (for me at least).

The Gauntlet was a nice boat run by good people and it's safe to say we'll be back.

Side view of aft doorway into the superstructure and towing bit (right)

Dropping over the stern, you can just make out Bill's light

Port side propeller of the YF-415

Heading back up to the main deck level

Inside the deck house

Bedford got a little disoriented by the flashing lights

The remains of the periscope (just kidding this is where the smokestack was)

Looking inside the hole in the above image

Time to go

More info:

North Atlantic Dive Expeditions

Gary Gentile's newish Shipwrecks of Massachusetts: North

Chesapeake Bay

2008-07-12T00:03:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the non-dive post but people keep asking about where I am living now so here is the overdue shot before I split for the weekend...

My front yard :-)

Stolt Dagali

2008-07-06T22:29:00.003-04:00

Dan Martinez inside the engine room of the STOLT DAGALI

Made it out to the STOLT DAGALI today and got a chance to play with my strobes. Despite the flat seas we were forced to proceed at a reduced pace due to some heavy fog. The Independence II steamed on and we made it in decent enough time. The STOLT is one of the areas best dives and offers a little of something for everyone. Bill tied us in nice and high on the top of the wreck around 60 fsw. The first time Jersey divers on board were spoiled by the flat seas, lack of current, and great visibility which was at least 40 feet on top of the wreck but dropped down to around 15 feet or so near the bottom at 130 fsw. I headed down to the sand to play with my exposure settings before taking a tour along the sand. I gradually worked my way up and came across Danny who was entering the engine room area. Anxious to have a model and test the power of my strobes in the inky darkness of the cavernous engine room, I followed suit. I think Dan was annoyed with the blinding flashes because he didn't waste much time disappearing out of sight into a hatch going deeper into the recesses of the tanker. All too soon it was time to head outwards and upwards.

Top of the wreck looking forward

Entering the engine room

The engine

Heading up

Identification of the WWII tug KESHENA

2008-07-01T21:23:00.006-04:00

After diving the KESHENA last week in North Carolina I read in Gary Gentile's Wrecks of North Carolina South book on the boat ride in that the wreck had been first positively identified by New Jersey's own Gene Peterson who recovered the letters off the bow. I contacted Gene when I got back to try and find out more about this piece of wreck diving history and he was awesome enough to share the story of the recovery and a picture of the brass letters which now reside in the Atlantic Divers shop. Here's the story from Gene, hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

From Gene Peterson:

"I can't recall the year... it was a couple dozen years ago. So many wrecks we dived with fishing boats and then Truman Seaman, Roger Huffman, Eddie Jack and Arty Kirshner. I know it was speculated that the little tug was the Keshena when we dived it. It wasn't one of our choice destination, but I thought it was a real pretty dive. I guess because it was shallow the group figured it was picked over. All the divers came up wanting to go to another sight, saying there wasn't much to see. I was mating for Roger and I remember being exhausted from all the weeks tie ins, so I sat out. Arty didn't want to pull the hook so I made a quick bounce swim to the wreck, did a little tour and then went to pull the grapnel snagged in the bow. I did a double take of the chain which was rubbing the growth off the side of the bow. There attached in place were all the letters. I pulled out my knife and popped the loose brass KEHENA letters from port side and then swam to the other side and popped off the other letters which also spelled KEHENA. The S was missing on both sides. Some of the letters were made of lead and quite possibly the S may have been made of steel or just fell to the sand. I did look but I never found either. That dive lasted only about 10 minutes including recovering the letters and pulling the hook. Back on the boat six divers were waiting anticipating a one of my dull anchor pulling stories when I dumped my goody bag on the deck with 12 assorted brass letters. I kept one side of the letters and gave each of the group one letter. They were quite happy and wanted to return anticipating more discoveries. We did find a couple port holes but the wreck was so sanded in there wasn't really much more. I told Gary about the letters and we both speculated that the S must have been steel and corroded away, fallen to the sand or is still there or the name was put on the bow by an illiterate yard worker on a Friday. A few months later a lucky female diver recovered a large brass bell. It did have the name on it and it was spelled KESHENA. She positively identified the wreck's correct spelling. "

Shedding light on the PINTA

2008-06-30T20:32:00.004-04:00

Cargo of lumber spilling out of the PINTA broken holds

Stern of the PINTA

Sunday the NOAA guys were way off and we headed out to the PINTA on the Independence II in seas that were quite nice, proving once again that sometimes you just have to stick your nose out and sea. The PINTA was chosen as the first New Jersey dive for a group of wreck diving students who had traveled all the way from Kentucky and Louisiana to see what diving in the North Atlantic is all about. We were tied in quickly and divers were quick to splash in the off chance that the deteriorating weather forecast for the afternoon was correct. After everyone else was taken care of I hit the water with camera gear in hand to work on some new techniques. My goal is to get some wide angle shots of some deep shipwrecks using long exposures and this was my first time trying out a tripod. Descending down the line and expecting to find the bow I scratched my head as I landed in the sand next to the rudder (I guess NOAA aren't the only ones handing out bad reports). The visibility was a bright 20 feet or more. There was a decent surge on the bottom that made getting crisp focus a little tricky with longer exposures. The pictures aren't that great but I accomplished what I needed to. I was able to barely make out the lights from Richie's class doing drills in the distance and got a decent shot without them ever seeing me by using a 2 second exposure. In the image of the stern above I was out in the sand and could just make out a shadow of the wreck and had no idea the 2 divers you see had just come down so using a tripod definitely gets results that are not otherwise possible.

At the end of the day most people were able to sneak in 2 dives and we were hitting the inlet by the time the forecast caught up with reality. A great day of diving and some out of towners were wondering what was up with all the hype of deep, dark, and dangerous that is usually associated with New Jersey diving.

The now exposed engine room area

Close up of engine

Cargo

Cape Hatteras report

2008-06-24T18:56:00.007-04:00

June 20-22

This past weekend the gang headed down to Cape Hatteras for three days of diving on some great wrecks in the clear warm Gulf Stream waters with Capt JT on the Under Pressure. Friday we hit the Proteus. This 390' passenger freighter sank in 130 fsw in 1918. Hitting the water the visibility was incredible and continued down to the wreck. I was greeted by large numbers of sand tiger sharks and a sleepy green sea turtle who didn't seem too impressed by my intrusion. Large schools of baitfish swarmed the wreck making wide angle shots difficult and I found myself cursing at them repeatedly into my DSV throughout the dive. I headed off to the stern and found a huge school(?) of sand tigers congregating aft of the majestic rudder and propeller. I crossed paths with Danny who pointed out a porthole and although a little bent up had enough sand blasted shiny brass poking through the growth to seduce us into a second date. Back by the boilers schools of baitfish were swarming between them with schools of hungry jacks on their tails.

After some surface interval fishing Danny and I headed back in to try and get the porthole. It posed a tougher challenge than we originally thought but after 30 minutes of pounding we had it on a bag.

Saturday and Sunday the plan was to dive the E.M Clark. A tanker torpedoed in WWII and (allegedly) one of the best dives off the East coast. Alas as is often the case in Hatteras plans didn't play out as well as they did on paper. Saturday we had good seas and even hooked into the wreck but you could have heard a pin drop as JT announced it was undivable. To prove it to us he dropped a 15 lb weight over the side which was promptly waterskiing horizontally off the stern in the 3kt current. With heavy hearts we headed in to the paddlewheeler where we found the current "better" but still kicking at around 2kts. Eventually we ended up on the Keshena. This small wreck was an ocean going tug that sank during rescue of the torpedoed J.A. Mowinckel during WWII. As the wreck is in only 90 feet of water the open circuit guys weren't too thrilled about blowing an expensive Clark mix (a nice advantage of the rebreather), but JT and Bill were nice enough to lend some doubles so everyone could get a dive in.

The vis on the Keshena wasn't as good as the Proteus but still a nice 30 feet or so. The wreck is pretty broken down except for the bow which rises about 20 feet off the bottom. It is still continuous so navigation is easy. Sand tigers were also present here along with lots of trigger fish.

Sunday the wind was still blowing out of the south and with rougher seas we went with JT's judgment that the current over the Clark would probably still be kicking and decided not to risk being in an area with not many other options and headed for the USS Tarpon.

The Tarpon was a US submarine that sunk in 140 fsw while under tow to the scrapyard in 1957. The seas were a little bouncy on the ride out and we were given the option of stopping at the Dixie Arrow, but we opted to soldier on and give it a go. On site the conditions were again spectacular and most of the sub could be seen laid out before you around 70 feet. We were tied in near the conning tower which has fallen/been pulled into the sand. I wanted to give a go at making a panoramic composite image of the sub and spent most of my dive snapping shots down the hull. Many sand tigers surrounding the wreck along with lots of other life which made for an incredible dive.

We pulled hook and trolled over to the Dixie Arrow for dive 2. Must not have been my day because "I trolled for 2 hours and all I caught was this sunburn". Oh well, it was fun. On the Dixie Arrow the visibility was around 40 feet and i nearly crashed into a sand tiger descending the line which terminated between the boilers and huge engine. Danny and I swam forward towards the bow passing some large barracuda and BIG sand tigers. Most of the mid section is pretty flattened out until you get to the bow which still stands high off the bottom. A great dive and a great way to end out the trip. Can't wait to get back!

Proteus

Keshena

Tarpon

Dixie Arrow

Rhein - ocerous?

2008-06-19T00:02:00.005-04:00

Snuck in some time today while packing for Hatteras to clean up some of the stuff I got off the RHEIN a month ago. Here is a cage lamp and some light gimbles that were recovered from inside the foc'sle of the wreck. They came out pretty nice. The brass screws were missing from the one gimble for some reason which is why the rings are laying down, I will have to replace them.

RP Resor

2008-06-15T23:01:00.003-04:00

Made it out to the Resor on the Independence II today in glassy flat seas. The conditions were spectacular with over 50 feet of visibility near the surface and 30-40 feet on the wreck. We were tied in at the very stern adjacent to the deck gun which is still holding strong to its mount after 66 years of being submerged on its side. Temperature on the bottom at 120 fsw was 46F with the surface water much warmer in the neighborhood of 60 degrees. I splashed amidst a pile of scallop guts as Jim and crew were busy shucking away at their harvest from dive 1. I was trying out my new camera set up and was very pleased with the results for my first crack at it and with no strobes. At the end of the day it was smiles all around and the cooler was packed to the brim with scallops, lobsters, and a trigger fish that learned the hard way that lingering around the boat ladder is a bad idea.

I took this at my 50 foot stop

Capt Dan and Capt Frankie at 20 feet

New Toy

2008-06-14T14:20:00.005-04:00

Picked up my new toy last night... needless to say I am one happy camper :-)

Thanks Arch!

Pinta and Immaculata

2008-06-08T22:36:00.005-04:00

Mark Clark with a nice milk bottle on the Immaculata

Got out to the Pinta (85 fsw) Saturday and the Immaculata (100fsw) today. Great dives and weather both days from the Independence II. Visibility in the 30 foot range on both wrecks with bottom temps around 46F. Blew out my wrist seal on the Pinta so just dropped into the hold and played around with some ambient light shots before calling it short. This was my first time on the Immaculata and it's a great wreck. Bugs and bottles everywhere. Lots of both came up, including some other odds and ends like a nice antique beer stein.

All Pinta pictures are at this link --> Pinta Pics
All Immaculata pictures at this link --> Immaculata Pics

The Pinta was carrying a cargo of lumber when she went down

Arriving on the Immaculata

This bottle is still there

This one is not ;-)

Remember to clean up when you're done

Departing the Immaculata

My bottles

Dykes

2008-06-01T19:52:00.004-04:00

Today the Independence II sailed with the group from the Diverision Dive Club to the schooner barge Dykes. The torrential downpour and howling wind through the night at the marina convinced me there was no way we were making it out, but I awoke to sunny skies and light breeze just as NOAA predicted. With a slight swell running the ride was smooth and short. Danny got us tied in quickly to the tip of the bow and divers wasted no time hitting the water.

Inside the Dykes bow

Reports of 20-30 feet of visibility and 46^oF on the bottom came up along with some nice seabass and bags of mussels. With the encouraging report I grabbed my camera and headed in. This was my first time on this wreck so I spent some time poking about. The bow is pretty intact and comes about 20 feet off the white sandy bottom at 65 feet. The vis was indeed quite nice and bright with lots of ambient light but lots of particulate floating about which made my photography challenging (the surge didn’t help either). Towards the end of my dive I had some fun smashing mussels open for the bergalls and getting swarmed by them. Another great day of diving and Capt Dan was even kind enough to save me one of Helen’s famous pierogies, which was delicious as always.

Before

After

A couple more pics

Ayuruoca - May 25, 2008

2008-05-27T18:35:00.005-04:00

The pinch of gas prices was evident Sunday as the Independence II was the lone boat leaving the inlet in calm flat seas on a holiday weekend. This made a leisurely 14 mile cruise to the Mudhole where we hooked into the stern section of the Ayuruoca also known locally as the “Oil Wreck”. The Ayuruoca sits perfectly upright on the muddy bottom 170 feet below the Atlantic and if it weren’t for the prevailing poor conditions of the mudhole would be one (if not THE) best wrecks off the Jersey coast. The hook was thrown and Dave and Bill wasted no time getting us tied into a boom right next to the aft mast.

Hitting the water I was tempted to reach for my knife to help getting through the sludge on top which was thick as molasses and limited the visibility to a couple feet. Further down the visibility opened up and was quite clear which gave a nice view as I passed the top of the mast at 80 feet and the crow’s nest at 90 feet. Following the anemone carpeted mast down to the tie in at 140 feet about 10 feet off the main deck where the water was 45^oF. Down on the wreck the visibility dropped again depending on how close you got to the silty deck. High off the wreck it was probably a solid 20 feet but closer to the deck it was a very dark 10 feet. Still not bad for this wreck.

It took me a couple minutes to figure out we were at the aft mast and not the forward mast. I tied off my reel and headed off (turned out I was going forward) and found the dog house on deck and got oriented. I swam back along the port rail at around 150 feet to pay a visit to the beautiful helm at the aft steering station. As the rail started to round off at the fantail, I cut in to the steering station under the gun tub. I was confused for a minute thinking I went the wrong way somehow, but I finally realized I was indeed staring at the 7 foot teak and bronze helm. It has become nearly completely overgrown with colorful anemones with only hints of teak peaking through and the spokes barely discernable through the growth. I popped up to check out the deck gun and was pleased to find it still standing intact and picturesque as ever. I quickly swam over the decaying live shells and headed forward to the main break in the wreck. I took my time heading back and took some time poking my light into some rust holes that have opened up in the deck and noted some spots for future exploration. I got to play Jack and the bean stalk on the ascent as the anchor had wrapped around the mast which made for a cool way to end the dive. After a final goodbye to the lone bergall peeking out of the top of the mast at 80 feet I finished my deco in the pea soup which at least was ~10 degrees warmer than the bottom at a comfortable 55^oF.

The Oil Wreck

Ayuruoca pictures including the helm when it wasn't so covered

Dry Tortugas - Diving the Rhein and Araby Maid

2008-05-23T16:44:00.003-04:00

May 18-22

Just got back from an excursion to Florida where I had a great time diving the M. S. Rhein (see latest issue of Wreck Diving Magazine) and the Araby Maid.

This was the first time traveling with the Meg and all told it went very smoothly. My overloaded backpack containing the head did decide to bust at the seams revealing the "DANGER this device can render you unconscious without warning" sticker just as the TSA official was carrying it to the inspection table. But other then that and the subsequent sirens and "STAND DOWN!" orders when something in my bag set off the bomb sniffer... all my gear managed to arrive in Florida.

The obligatory shot

The farewell committee

The 3 day trip was aboard the 100' Ultimate Getaway out of Ft. Myers, FL. After loading everyone and their gear we left Sunday and made the 12 hour journey to the Dry Tortugas which lie 100+ miles away and ~70 miles from the closest point of land, Key West. The first wreck we hit was the German freighter Rhein lying in 240 feet of warm clear water. Although the wreck is collapsing in areas it is surprisingly well intact for being down over 60 years. We were tied in midships and seeing the wreck come into view around 130 feet is breathtaking. The anchor line tracked past the kingspost which is still standing as if the wreck is letting you know its defiant heart refuses to fully give up the ghost. The goliath grouper sitting on top at 150 feet only adds to eye candy as we descend to the main deck still 60 feet below. We spent 3 dives exploring this incredible wreck and never made it aft of the engine room. The first two dives we spent exploring the intact bow which rises off the bottom 50+ feet. Around a winch and into the shadows passes a massive tail of a grouper that looks like something Paul Bunyon would have used for a broom letting you know you are not alone. The visibility makes you feel like you are flying along the 5th story of a 10 story building as you round the tip of the bow. We recovered one complete porthole that was laying loose from the interior of the focsle along with a camp lamp and some other brass light fixtures. Other portholes still remained in place on the walls with the storm covers clamped tight. On the last dive I ventured into the cavernous engine room which is now torn open due to the collapsing of the wreck. Water on the bottom was in the low 70s and deco seemed to fly by as we had all kinds of visitors in the 80 degree water near the surface including playful pods of dolphins that we could hear squeaking on nearly every dive, huge schools of barracudas, and on one dive a very interested 8 foot shark of unknown race. 3 dives was merely a teaser and not nearly enough time to fully appreciate the wreck of the Rhein.

Jim and Chris mix gas over the Rhein

Tuesday evening we bid auf wiedersehen to the Rhein and motored the 14 miles to the resting place of the steel hulled bark Araby Maid. The Maid was a change of pace as it was a much smaller and older wreck but spectacular in her own respect. We were greeted with the bow of this old girl and several "small" goliath grouper leaving the wreck in the wake of the bubble blowers. I spent a fair amount of time working my way from bow to stern in between decks. Rows of portholes line the wreck and require a fair amount of work to get which is why at 210 feet the closed ports are still denying the interior residents a cool breeze. I thought for a second I was the first person to get narked on 10/90 when out by the fallen forward mast I thought the wreck was trying to swim away. It turned out to be the biggest turtle I have ever seen giving me dirty looks over his shoulder for waking him up as he slowly picked up speed and disappeared in the distance. On the second dive I was planning on digging around inside. I quickly changed my mind when I saw there was a massive Goliath grouper in the way (along with a couple other "smaller" in his/her entourage). This was literally the biggest fish I have ever seen and decided not to find out the hard way if we could indeed share the somewhat cramped interior of the Araby Maid in harmony.

This was a great trip with great people. The Capt and crew of the Ultimate Getaway run a world class operation. Safety is number one with them and spare bottles were placed on the bottom, at 70 feet, and O2 at 20 feet. They had safety divers in the water to monitor divers and to recover unneeded bottles/gear and were just all around professional guys. Thanks to Jim at Fantasea Scuba for handling logistics of the trip including supplying bailout bottles and onboard gas. And of course thanks to Richie Kohler for running a great trip.

Next time I'll have some underwater shots as it looks like a new toy will be mine very shortly :-)

Gear review: Aqualung technisub micromask

2008-04-29T18:03:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-04-27T21:12:00.006-04:00

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

2008-04-27T20:04:00.002-04:00

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?

2008-04-20T20:52:00.002-04:00

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?

2008-04-14T19:17:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-11T20:15:00.002-04:00

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

2008-02-10T19:15:00.000-05:00

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

2008-02-06T16:43:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-12T17:39:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-05T23:32:00.000-05:00

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.

San Jose 12-30-2007

2007-12-30T17:08:00.000-05:00

Today the Tuna Seazure sailed with a full boat to one of my favorite southern Jersey wrecks the San Jose. This 330’ passenger freighter sank in a collision with the Santa Elisa in January 1942 in the very early days of “Operation Drumbeat”. Today she sits in 110 fsw off Atlantic City. The wreck has been blown up and dragged and although the term “steel junkyard” definitely applies, the outline of this old banana boat can still be found and followed by the careful eye. Also there are some spots that survived intact allowing some minor penetrations. My favorite spot on this big wreck site is the huge steering quadrant in the stern, which is picturesque even on the poorest days. You can get underneath and looking up at the silhouetted “wheel” with fish swarming it is really cool. Unfortunately it can be hard to get divers to fill a trip to this wreck as the bottom in this area is silty mud which gives this wreck a bad rap based on the potential for lousy bottom conditions.

The day started off brisk and required nimble footing on the frosty dock but we got loaded up a little early (or late depending on who you ask…) to try and beat feet to the weather that was supposed to pick up later, and headed out just as the sun was rising.

Meg vs. Optima

The Atlantic cooperated and was nearly flat as we cleared the inlet and only picked up slightly as we got further out. Dan Martinez got us tied in pretty quickly and we wasted no time heading in. I was excited as this was the first taste of salt for my new Meg. Conditions on the bottom were dark but the visibility was decent in the 10’ range and I could make out other divers lights from much further away. Water was about 44^oF from top to bottom. We were tied into a high spot on the starboard side of the wreck. I followed the hull forward for a bit and examined a row of empty portholes hoping one had been missed by previous divers to no avail. I turned back to the tie in when I reached the end of the section and tied off my reel before heading aft. I managed to find the steering quadrant which never seems to get old. There are also some rooms you can penetrate in this area. Proving the old “different day, different wreck” adage, I rounded a corner and in the dark conditions found what I thought was a large opening into the wreck which turned out to be a very cool swim through between the rudder and hull that I had never noticed/done before. I took my time poking around back to the anchor and headed up at the 60 minute mark for a chilly deco. Everyone opted for 1 dive which made the sweetest part of the trip… back at the dock by 12:30!

Not a bad day

More info on the San Jose

Operation Drumbeat (copies currently $0.34!!)

Let there be light

2007-11-22T22:53:00.000-05:00

Finally getting around to cleaning up some artifacts from this season... so here are a couple quick shots of the cleanup progress of one of the cage lamps I got off the India Arrow earlier this season. It came out pretty nice and when I get time I'll probably put a new light fixture in and restore it to working order. This particular lamp had a hook so it was actually a work lamp rather than a fixed lamp for lighting (makes sense since I found it in the engine room).

Before

The lamp actually comes apart into 3 pieces...

The base

The cage

The globe

Put them all together and voila...

I guess the cat's out of the bag (or loop?)

2007-11-18T19:51:00.000-05:00

Coming soon to a blog near you...

Pinta 11-11-07

2007-11-12T17:31:00.000-05:00

Sunday the Independence headed out with full complement of 10 customers + crew. Most of the usual suspects along with some new faces were onboard making it a fun day out on the ocean which was much more inviting than NOAA would have us believe. There was a gentle swell as we headed out the inlet which turned into a 3 foot chop as we got further out. With the horizon looking like the teeth of the devil we stayed closer to shore and hooked into the Pinta. There was some surge on the top of the wreck but if you got down in the shadow of the wreck the conditions were pretty nice. The visibility was variable depending where on the wreck you were and I would say ranged anywhere from 10-20 feet, so not bad at all. With the water temperature still in the mid 50 it was a very nice dive.

My only dive on the Pinta prior to this was a few years ago when I signed up for a night dive to test dive my brand new canister light. In my excitement to try it out, I neglected to charge it and left my reel on the boat. Needless to say I didn’t see much of the Pinta that day, so even though a lot of people will groan at the mention of “Pinta” I was happy to be back for a proper tour. Today the Pinta is a much different wreck then it was (as I’ve been told) just a year ago. She has broken down significantly and many new areas are open for exploration including the engine spaces. I spent about half of my 60 minute bottom time breaking in Capt. Dan’s new pole spear (I only got 1 sea bass) and the other half poking around the wreck. I think only 1 lobster came on board, but I think it’s safe to say everyone was just happy to be out and sneak in a late season dive in the ocean.

More info on the Pinta

U-869

2007-10-31T13:18:00.000-04:00

10-30-2007

With the democratic presidential debate taking place at Drexel I decided it would be in my best interests to avoid the zoo and take a break (plus my parking lot was closed) and take the opportunity to sneak out on a late season trip to the U-869 on the Independence with some friends.

I'm sure most wreck divers are familiar with the story of U-869 which lies in 230 fsw off the coast of New Jersey, but in case you have been stuck in space for the past 10 years be sure to check out the links below. Bill Trent and I were tasked with tying in which was a snap since Capt Dan dropped the shot literally right next to the gun mount which is just aft of the blast damage at the control room. The conditions on the wreck were pretty nice with at least 20-25 feet of dark visibility. We headed forward and poked around looking for some of the monster lobsters known to reside on this wreck. I watched as Bill reached for a lobster practically in the open next to a life boat canister when I realized he was about to grab a decent sized monkfish by the tail. For a second I almost let him land on it because I’m sure it would have been entertaining, but I had a change of heart and flashed him with my light, and he was able to take an alternate route to the bug and bag it. I moved forward and grabbed 2 “smaller” bugs in the 3-4 lb range. Coming back I spotted a huge claw through a hole in the top of a pipe. I managed to get my hand on the beast. I thought I had it by the carapace but it turned out it was its knuckle! After an epic battle, I extracted the 8.5 pound sea monster from the pipe and into the bag it went with the other 2. Now that I had dinner (for a while) covered I poked around the conning tower and control room area (which appears to have collapsed a bit since last year) before heading up. I really need to upgrade my camera system so I can take it on these deeper wrecks because there are some really spectacular shots to be had.

U-869.com

Hitler's Lost Sub (highly recommended)

Shadow Divers

The Last Dive

Stolt Dagali 10-21-2007

2007-10-22T12:18:00.000-04:00

The Independence headed to the Stolt Sunday for some sweet late season dives. When the weather cooperates, this really is my favorite time of year to dive. We had a full boat of 10 customers +crew, including some folks that came down from Boston. The original destination was the Lillian, but with 6 foot ground swells the day before and this wreck’s proximity to the Mud Hole, Capt Dan opted for the Stolt which has enough relief to get up out of the bottom haze. There was some pea soup on the surface but below 40 or 50 feet it opened up to a solid 25 feet on top of the wreck where we were tied in at about 60 feet. The warm 65^o surface water was on the top of the wreck and down as far as 80 feet where the 55^oF bottom water kicked in. I heard reports of 5-10 feet of vis on the bottom, so we were glad we opted out of going to the Lillian.

In between dives Charlie relayed his story about the “biggest lobster he’s ever seen” and formulated an attack plan to go back for the bug with claws “bigger than his head”. With an assembled crew and a new “tickle stick” he went back down for it but was unsuccessful in bagging the beast. He did however get a nice 4-5 pounder and a few other bugs came up.

For as often as the Stolt gets hit I think I have only managed to get on her once before so I was looking forward to doing some more exploration. For my dive I dropped down into the engine room which is pretty wide open from the continued deterioration of the wreck. I erred on the side of caution and tied my line off since this would be my first time in this area. I took my time scanning the machinery and engine spaces for goodies and it wasn’t long before a came across a nice stainless and brass gauge with the glass face still intact but cracked. After some mild coaxing I managed to break the copper pipe it was attached to and into my goodie bag it went. I continued my journey in and down and hit about 120 fsw before turning and heading back. Back outside the wreck I spent some time poking around some of the opened up areas up top and was surprised at the number of brass backing plates still present. Just goes to show even the popular wrecks that get hit weekly during the summer still have goodies for the taking.

Weekend in Virginia Beach

2007-10-08T18:58:00.000-04:00

Virginia Beach, VA – Oct 6-7 2007

Bedford and I left Friday afternoon to head down to Virginia Beach with the plan to check out a new wreck in 250fsw that Capt. JT had checked out with some fisherman earlier in the spring. We were quite excited to have the opportunity to dive a virgin wreck and the oppressive traffic on 95 did nothing but add to the anticipation of the trip. After everything was loaded and set up we left the dock on the Under Pressure around midnight for the ~6 hour trip out to the wreck site. I managed to catch a few z’s on the way out and woke up around sunrise just as we were pulling up on the target. JT had some concern that the “new” wreck might actually be the UB-148 which was part of the Billy Mitchell fleet sunk in aerial bombing tests in the summer of 1921. He had another set of numbers believed to be the UB-148 so we motored over to check it out to confirm if the new set of numbers was in fact a new wreck. The numbers he had for the UB-148 turned up nothing so it became apparent that we might end up diving the sub instead of a new wreck. We headed back to the mark and JT snagged it pretty quickly. The plan was for the tie in team to check what we were on, then let Bill and I know on our way down whether or not to pull the hook if we were on the sub so we could head somewhere else.

UC-97, UB-148, and UB-88

The seas had laid down a bit, but there were some good sized swells rolling through as we geared up in overcast conditions. We splashed and met up with Mark and Andrew who were already hanging and giving us the “cut it” signal meaning we were in fact on the UB-148. Heading down the line, the water made a sharp transition from blue 75^oF water to cooler darker water at about 80 feet as we passed through the thermocline. Approaching the wreck there was an unidentified structure sticking up 20 feet or so off the wreck that resembled a mast but it quickly became obvious that this was definitely a submarine. The top of the curved hull was ~230fsw and the bottom at about 255 fsw (I only dropped to 245 and there was at least 10 feet to the sand). The visibility was a dark 30-40 feet and the temperature 48^oF. I’m not sure where we were on the wreck but I followed the hull for a few minutes before following the top of the hull back towards the tie in. I noted several hatches still sealed tight and covered with long pink “grass” that was some kind of growth. In this grass and all over the wreck were chain dogfish sharks that you only see on these deeper wrecks. We cut our dive kind of short since we were going to be moving to another wreck for the afternoon dive and after pulling the hook out of a net/rope we began our ascent.

For the second dive we decided to dive the other new wreck that Capt JT first dive last year and dove again a few weeks ago thought to be the O.B Jennings torpedoed in WWI (Incidentally the Jennings was sunk by the U-140 which was also sunk with the Billy Mitchell fleet and now rests nearby). With reports of an intact tanker sitting upright on the bottom in 280fsw it didn’t take much arm twisting to convince us to check it out. We only had gas for 250’ but we were promised the wreck came as high as 235fsw. I had a nice afternoon nap as we motored over, and awoke as JT was getting back on board after attempting to tie in. Unfortunately the hook had fallen into one of the forward holds and he was unable to get it out as he didn’t have the gas to go to the ~300’ where the hook was. He promised we could see the high part from the line as the conditions were unbelievable with ~100’ of visibility. Mark and Andrew splashed first and were nice enough to pull the hook up to the starboard (high) side of the wreck at 250fsw for us. Heading down the line we were greeted by an unbelievable sight. At about 200’ I could see Mark and Andrew’s lights a good ways in the distance approaching us (they had scootered the whole wreck) and at 210’ the wreck came into view. The image of that huge ship listing to its port side and stretching into the distance as far as I could see will be burned into my mind for some time. The house on the bow was easily identifiable and there were service large holds heading aft. After admiring the view for a minute or two we touched down on the starboard railing at 250’. We headed forward and explored around the bow superstructure and counted several intact portholes. There was also a fire hose lying on the deck just aft of the house. The side door of the house looked inviting but it meant going deeper, and I had to reluctantly keep reminding myself that 250 was my limit on this dive. I took a couple minutes to inspect the hull on the bow looking for a name but didn’t see anything. Heading aft again, we following the starboard rail past the first hold and turned back as we got to the second hold. I spent some more time poking around the bow and noted some machinery on the deck. Time went by way too fast and we headed up at the 25 minute mark after pulling the hook. Deco was uneventful until the 20 foot stop. I was just relaxing on my long hang when I saw something coming up out of the deep blue. Before I knew it a pod of about 8 or so dolphins came buzzing right by me to add a little excitement. The icing on the cake was popping my head above the surface just in time to catch the sun dipping below the horizon and a beautiful sunset. This wreck really is in pristine condition and has only been dove a couple times, and probably one of the best wrecks I have ever dove. Definitely time for a rebreather!

Capt. Jay hooked up

Got it on board just as the other guys were finishing decompressing

90 pound tuna

Overnight Capt JT headed a bit inshore and hooked us into the wreck of the Ocean Venture which we dove in the morning. This freighter was torpedoed in WWII and is now in 160fsw. The visibility on the bottom was excellent and in the 50-60’ range. The first thing I saw when I got to the bottom was dog of a porthole sticking out of the sand. Not a bad start. A little digging revealed a pretty mangled porthole and without any tools I moved on. I had a nice relaxing dive poking around the busted up wreckage. I managed to find the “cathedral” that Capt JT had described to us. This huge box like structure rises probably at least 30 feet off the bottom and light comes through the top and sides giving it a cathedral like feeling and was indeed very cool.

After what felt like a quick hang we were on our way back to port. The seas had only improved as the weekend progressed and it was a relaxing trip home. You can’t ask for more when you can get in 3 great offshore dives in October.

Ocean Venture

CHECK OUT

Gary Gentile's Shipwrecks of Virginia

Capt JT's website

Lillian report

2007-09-10T13:08:00.000-04:00

Independence II trip to the Lillian 9-9-2007

All week the weather was looking like I would miss my second try at getting on the Lillian this year. Capt Dan decided to call it at the dock and we were all glad he did because the seas were nearly flat with only some 2-3 foot long period swells for most of the day.

The visibility below the thermocline at 85 feet was about 25-30 feet and gave me the chance to spot the boilers and engines on the way down the line and get a little orientation. The wreck was wire dragged so the wreckage is very broken down and spread out over a huge area which is what makes this a great lobster wreck. The temp was 47 on the bottom where I hit a max depth of 152fsw. I headed over to the boilers and the huge engine which must come 30 feet off the bottom. There were some semi intact pieces that gave some relief to the otherwise low lying collapsed hull plates. In one of these little cubby holes I found what I think was a porthole (it was brass and round?). I had to take off my deco bottles and other gear to squeeze in but it wasn’t budging easily. I think it was the backside of the backing plate, so it must have still been attached and with not much room to work I pressed on. I found the edge of wreckage and swam up and down checking out the wreck and picking up the scallops that were in the sand. There were large winter flounder everywhere and they were literally bouncing off me as I landed on them while I was picking up scallops. I took a leisurely return route and spent some time poking around the engine and boilers again before heading up at the 40 minute mark.

I caught up with “go long” Rob at 20 feet and spent my hang admiring his catch. He had 2 goodie bags bulging with scallops and some good sized lobsters. Back on the boat it was time for lunch! While the other divers were enjoying their second dive I was enjoying fresh sushi. I am convinced there is nothing better than fresh caught scallops. I took a couple of fresh slices of pineapple and squeezed it into a zip-lock bag with the scallops and let it marinate on ice for some delicious pineapple scallop ceviche.

In addition to the pile of lobsters and scallops that came up Charlie found a nice brass cage lamp. The Lillian is another great NJ wreck and didn’t fail to produce.

Thanks to Mark Clark for all pictures.

SS Carolina trip report

2007-09-03T21:54:00.000-04:00

SS Carolina trip report: Sept. 2-3 2007

The lifeboats were crowded, and a great wailing of women’s voices rose. There was praying and pleading. The negroes thought we were going to use them for target practice. –Dr. Frederick Körner boarding officer on the U-151 on the sinking of the SS Carolina

The SS Carolina was a 380’ passenger-freighter and the last of six ships sunk on “Black Sunday” by the U-151. The 3 steam vessels and 3 schooners sunk on June 2^nd, 1918 accounted for 14,518 tons of shipping lost. Today the Carolina is one of the best wreck dives off the New Jersey coast where she rests in 240 fsw. I first dove this wreck last year and have been dying to get back.

The weather pushed our departure time on the Independence II back to 0600 on Sunday morning and we cast off the dock just as the sun was peaking over the horizon. Once over the wreck it was nice to see blue water as Billy G. headed down the shot to tie in. He had us in no time and we quickly geared up to go diving. Capt. Dan had found a stash of china last year and was hoping to get back to his hotspot. I headed in with Dan Martinez and it was like we had just jumped into the Caribbean. Descending further we passed through a cloudy haze at the thermocline around 100’ but the visibility opened up again below about 120’. On the bottom we found we had been tied into the starboard side of the wreck in between the boilers and the stern. Touching down on the bottom (44^oF) we did a quick orientation before heading on our mission to try for a porthole we had found last year that we thought was loose. With the vis in the 50 foot range it didn’t take long to find it. I swam over a HUGE monkfish and instinctively went for my knife before deciding that KEEP SWIMMING was the appropriate action. We found the spot we were looking for and quickly went to work clearing debris out from the beautiful artifact and Danny whipped out his hammer but we soon found the backing plate was still in fact solidly attached to a hull plate. Not wanting to waste precious time I headed forward towards the boilers noting some china shards and brass pieces all over the place. I got to the engine and found a huge lobster that was easily 10-12 pounds tangled in fishing line. I grabbed it (I could barely hold it because my hand hardly went around the carapace) without really thinking but I decided to go for karma points and cut it free before turning back towards the anchor line. I managed to inadvertently find Capt Dan’s china hole without realizing it at the time. I still had a few minutes left so I decided to take off my stage bottles and give a shot of squeezing in. No dice. It was a very tight fit and I later found out that the wreck collapsing this year left a hull plate blocking most of the opening that was more open last year. It was still very impressive to see such a large pile of china. The deco was very pleasant above 70’ in the warm clear conditions and the time actually went quickly watching the schools of small skipjack tuna swimming around us.

Afterwards we discussed strategies for getting the china out. Billy, who was diving a sidemounted Prism (very cool rig) said he would give it a shot at getting stuck in there. Not only did he succeed in getting in the hole and bagging up a few intact dishes (he said most of them were broken) he also found a nice deadlight panel that he shot to the surface. He was also gracious enough to share his booty with the rest of us. The china from the hole was first class china with nice gold trim but does not have the New York and Porto Rico Steamship Company crest. John Bridge did find a broken vegetable dish with the crest.

The second dive was Monday morning and most divers were again productive. Danny brought up another plate (mostly intact) and a nice brass doorlock along with some tiles. Mark Dolphin got a piece of a porcelain sink that has a very cool nautical pattern on it. For my dive I went forward again and explored around the boilers which are an impressive sight in themselves (there are four). I cut my dive short so we could get out of dodge and tuck tail to the incoming weather. The line had been let slack so I could pull and it now had good scope that as luck would have it went forward down the centerline of the wreck. So as I ascended I got to see a good portion of the wreck which was very cool and a perfect end to another great trip.

Check out:

Black Sunday

Christina Young's pictures of the Carolina and more

Raiders of the Deep

Fishing for deadlights on the Carolina

Doria trip Pictures

2007-08-01T13:34:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Mark Clark for all these pictures...

Dave O showed up late Saturday and slept on the roof...

Capt. Dan takes us to the wreck

Mark and Terry ready to tie in

After dive 1

Capt. Terry hard at work

Danny going to get his window

Mark and Terry with brass window

Back in Montauk after a fun and safe Doria trip

Andrea Doria

2007-08-01T12:19:00.000-04:00

Andrea Doria on the Independence II July 29-30 2007

This past weekend I made the trek out to Montauk, NY with my dive buddy Dan Martinez to meet up with the Independence and dive the Andrea Doria for the first time. The Doria sits on her starboard side in ~250 fsw 100+ miles offshore. We departed in the early hours Sunday and arrived on the wreck around 0800. I woke up about 3 miles from the wreck and headed for the nearest rail. The seas were flat and it was a beautiful morning but in hindsight the fried jumbo softshell crab sandwich wasn’t the best choice for a late dinner. I didn’t let this deter my excitement and quickly pounded some Gatorade and water and got dressed to dive. When we splashed there was a slight current on the surface so we took it nice and easy getting down. We first spotted the strobe the tie-in team left on the anchor chain at ~130’ and hit the top (actually the port side) of the wreck at 195’. The visibility was quite nice (30’?) and it was an incredible sight seeing rows of intact portholes and large square windows with the glass intact stretching as far as my light would shine. All the reading about it can’t prepare you for how huge this wreck truly is. We clipped a strobe, did a quick systems check and dropped over the side of the wreck to explore.

Heading deeper it was evident how much the decks are collapsing. The promenade deck has collapsed leaving a “valley” between surrounding teak decking which lays in some areas like pick up sticks. Even with the deterioration of the wreck you can still get an idea of where you are and pick out identifying features. We dropped down (really up) another deck level and followed the “valley” down following the trail of brass window frames that are now lying loose in the debris. Danny picked up a chunk of tiles from the pool and we spent a little time reconnoitering some targets for a future dive and turned the dive after passing some life boat davits. Cruising back with the deck to our side like a huge wall it was possible to look up and see the top of the “Grand Dame” silhouetted in the emerald green hue of the ambient light from above. Back near the tie-in a came across a porthole that I thought was nearly loose and after giving it a couple good shakes decided it would be worth a shot on the second dive. One last look to note its location and it was time to go up after a great 1^st dive on the Andrea Doria.

For the second dive we weren’t playing around and I headed in armed with a bag of tools and Fat Max (thanks Mark) and Danny was following with the video camera in tow. I hit the wreck unclipped Fat Max and dropped over the side to my target. After messing around for a couple minutes I ascertained that this porthole wasn’t as ready to leave as I hoped. Also the way it was sitting I couldn’t get any good leverage on it (plus dropping my hammer into the wreck didn’t help). Not wanting to waste a good dive, I cut my losses and headed off to the glow of video lights to see what Danny was up to. On the way back I circled back to pick up Fat Max (I left him at the job site). Ascending up the deck I looked down and spotted my hammer in a crack and I thought I could reach it. I got my shoulder down and was reaching and realized it was just out of reach. I went to back out and nothing. I was stuck on something but couldn’t tell what. I signaled Danny to come over and check it out but he didn’t realize I was stuck so he just videotaped my misfortune. Finally I just pushed myself straight down and twisted and freed myself. My manifold must have just got lodged in a corner funny somehow. We headed up to an uneventful deco with no current.

After the second dive the mal de mer returned with a vengeance and I tried to get some rest up before the last dive in the morning. Alas it was not to be. If my impressive chum slick was any indication of my hydration level I figured it best to sit the last one out. However everyone else did the dive in perfect conditions and Danny was successful in returning for his brass window, as was Terry. Dan also said he spotted a wine bottle an intact glass out of reach inside a crack in the wreck near the tie in.

The conditions on this trip really were incredible. Both days the seas were flat and the current was minimal to none along with the good visibility on the wreck it was definitely a trip of a lifetime. Although more experienced Doria divers will say how much the wreck has changed and collapsed it is, but being a first timer and not knowing the difference it is still very impressive. The Andrea Doria might not be the “Mt Everest of shipwreck diving” anymore but I would say it is still a milestone dive for those willing to put in the effort to dive her.

Pictures to come...

For more info and pictures check out AUE's impressive virtual Doria museum

U-505

2007-07-22T21:35:00.000-04:00

7-19-2007

This past week I was in Chicago for work and got a little free time to visit the U-505 at the Museum of Science and Industry. The U-505 was captured by the US Navy off the coast of Africa on June 4th, 1944. Besides the obvious historical attraction of being the only WWII German submarine on US soil, the U-505 has a special connection to East Coast wreck diving. Being a Type IX-C u-boat, the U-505 is the same build as the U-853 and the U-869 which are both accessible to divers on the East Coast of the US. Having dove the U-869 I have been trying to work in a trip to Chicago to visit this sub for a while.

To those not familiar with Chicago I must first say that Chicago's public transportation system is pretty well organized and even has an online trip planner which is kind of like Mapquest for public transportation (I hope SEPTA is taking notes). If you are traveling to Chicago: http://tripsweb.rtachicago.com/

This made getting to the Museum from O'Hare airport a snap, and a train and bus later I was excitedly buying my ticket.

I only had a couple hours to kill so I made a b-line directly to the sub. The Museum did look like it has a lot to offer although mainly to the younger crowd. They did have a very interesting flight exhibit complete with planes.

The route to the sub starts with a hallway of WWII era military (mostly Navy) recruiting posters and sets the mood to remind us that 60 years ago the Germans were attacking us right off our own shores.

I have been to the Becuna exhibit at Penn's Landing but being in the water (and right next to the Olympic) it does not really prepare you for the first time you walk into the exhibit hall housing the U-505. The entire submarine is on display in a huge room and really gives you a feeling to the size of these "iron coffins". The rest of the exhibit is done very nicely and includes videos and displays that chronical the capture and return of the U-505 to US soil for study. I found it particularly interesting that since it was so crucial that the Germans not know the US had captured the sub (so they did not know we had cracked their codes), each crew member involved was signed to secrecy under the penalty of death, and the German POW's were not allowed to write family members of their whereabouts which was in violation of the Geneva Convention.

U-505 (the pictures don't do it justice)

Also on display are numerous artifacts from the sub including personal effects from the German and US sailors, as well as the infamous Enigma machine. In addition there is a hands on replica periscope, a dive simulator, and a dissected T-5 acoustic torpedo.

The finale was an inside tour of the submarine. This was what I was most looking forward to, and I hate to say it but it was also the most disappointing part of the exhibit. First they would not allow photography inside the sub, and second there were also some "modifications" they have made which are no doubt the result of the litigious society we live in. The most noticeable of which is that they have cut out all the hatches to allow easy walking through the short tour, which I think does an great injustice to getting a true idea of how cramped these sailors were on their long journeys. It was still a great experience, albeit I could have spent all day inside checking out details instead of the 15 minutes you are alloted. Overall I thought the exhibit was very impressive and well worth the time and effort to get there. The other nice thing is that the Museum is right by Lake Michigan and provides a great view of the Chicago skyline.

Northern Pacific 7-15-2007

2007-07-16T11:45:00.001-04:00

Independence II trip out of Cape May to the liner Northern Pacific

The Northern Pacific was a 509' passenger liner that caught fire and sank while being towed for a retrofit in 1922. Today she lies upside down in 145 fsw ~30 miles off of Cape May, NJ. We were tied into the wreck at the main break which is I believe about midships. The sand is about 140' and it is possible to get a little deeper inside the wreck. The visibility was a very nice 40' or so, and gave a great overview of the layout of this huge wreck. The bottom temp was about 50 degrees. The wreck rises 20-30' off the bottom and access is easy at the break. I ran my reel inside and was able to penetrate ~150 feet into the wide open interior. I was scanning the bottom (formerly the ceiling) for artifacts but it was quite silty including several large mounds of mud. Caution was necessary to avoid siltout and my line even became buried at one point.

Outside the wreck again I did a little tour of debris field that is off one side of the wreck. I noticed a couple scallops and several big blackfish. I came across a nice fluke and as I reached for my knife I quickly remember I didn't bring the big one. I remembered hearing that if you hold your open bag in front of the fish's face and slap its tail it will swim into your bag. Well this big flattie must have seen that trick because he had no trouble sidestepping into open water, and my heart sank as I watched my dinner swimming away. My half hour was soon up and was not nearly enough time to see much of this huge wreck.

The seas held out and most everyone did 2 nice dives. Just goes to show you can't listen to NOAA. Other divers were more successful in gathering dinner and a bunch of scallops and several lobsters were boated. I would have to say the Northern Pacific is another "don't miss" wreck!

Moonstone 7/11 on the Independence II

2007-07-12T11:17:00.000-04:00

The USS St Augustine and the USS Moonstone share an eerily similar history. Both were former luxury yachts, both built in 1929, and both later purchased and commissioned into the US Navy to help patrol the Eastern Sea Frontier in WWII. The similarities don’t stop with their fruitful careers (the Auggie was instrumental in an attack on the U-701), but also in their demise. Both ships sunk serving as convoy escorts off the coast of Cape May/DE. The St. Augustine was run down by the tanker Camas Meadows (who was not in the convoy she was escorting), while the Moonstone was dealt her death blow by the USS Greer in a dense fog.

This week we were originally scheduled to do an overnight expedition to the St. Augustine which lies in 250fsw approximately 60 miles from Cape May. The weather was looking less than promising from the beginning of the week and I was expecting a total blow out. Capt Dan thought Wednesday would still be good and we would try for a 1 and run on the St Augustine instead of the original overnight plan. This was ok by me, as I have been dying to get to this wreck and one dive is better than none any day. Wednesday morning rolled around and with it the FOG. So although the wind and seas cooperated the visibility was non existent. Instead of taking 6 hours in questionable coniditons to get to the Auggie we opted to do something closer and headed to the Moonstone in 130fsw. The fog was still pretty thick close to shore and it was slow going but once further from shore it became patchier and lifted in spots making the journey a little quicker.

On site Dave O tied into the top of the port side depth charge rack in the stern. Visibility on the bottom was 30-40 feet and coming down on the stern facing forward the navigation was a snap. I passed Dave and Mark who were inspecting a piece of the stern and headed forward to check out the wreck. The Moonstone was only 171’x26’ which is small enough to see the whole wreck, but large enough that there are plenty of features and nooks to explore… in a summary a perfect wreck. Rounding the bow and coming to the impressive forward 3” deck gun I began to wish I had packed my camera as this is quite a picturesque wreck. I took my time poking around and by the time I got back to the stern I wished I had more time. I took a last look at the full depth charge rack (they held 8 depth charges) and noticed at least one depth charge lying in the sand off the wreck before heading up. A great dive on a great wreck!

Porthole restoration

2007-07-09T21:28:00.000-04:00

Well I got my porthole from the Ayuruoca (see report from 6/24 below) cleaned up. It didn't look so great when it was "fresh", but a little soak in acid, some grinding and buffing and she shined up quite nicely. If anyone has swing plate #10 from the Oil Wreck maybe we can work out a deal... ;-)

Before

#10

Kendall's Open Water class

2007-07-08T19:13:00.000-04:00

Kendall Bedford has long been a valuable asset to our dive team. Although until now she has been too young to actually dive she has been a real trooper in providing surface support... not many other 11 year old girls would carry stage bottles through snow and ice to the water for us on training dives in January... Well now she is 12 and her diving career has begun. I was fortunate to attend her first day of open water checkout dives on July 7, 2007. Until I get her report, I'll let the pictures do the talking...

1st descent

Landing on the platform

Danny demos reg recovery

Kendall does reg recovery

Mask clearing

2 generations of Bedford divers

Dutch Springs new firetruck driver

Bill feeds the fish

Kendall and Danny look for crayfish

Kendall checks out the van

Some weightbelt issues

Ascent after a successful first dive

Stolt and Lana Carol

2007-07-02T12:05:00.000-04:00

Independence II – 07-02-2007 – Stolt Dagali and Lana Carol

I got to join a group of 12 divers from the Diversion Dive Club on a trip today. I arrived at the Independence late Saturday evening and between the wind blowing at a pretty good clip and the group of drunken fishermen on the dock discussing alternate plans for the next day, I have to say my hopes were not too high for getting out in the morning. The group wanted to dive the Stolt (130 fsw) so off we went in about 4 foot seas. Capt Jay gave the group the option of bailing but this hardy bunch wanted to press on. On site Dave O got us tied into the top of the wreck at about 60 feet. Some mussels and a few lobsters came up and it was decided to head inshore for the second dive. I bounced down to pull the hook and it was nice to see about 25 feet of vis and warm water on top of the wreck.

For the second dive we headed in to the Lana Carol. This was my first time on this wreck which is a scallop boat that foundered in 1976, now sitting in 85 fsw. The visibility was 15-20’ and there was a sharp thermocline at about 50’. I did a tour around the perimeter of the wreck looking for lobsters and only spotted a few smaller bugs in harder to reach spots. There were quite a few nice sized seabass hiding in the washout under the stern. I came back up on the deck of the wreck in the stern and I peaked in a hatch in the deck and inside was a huge lobster. It must have been pushing 10 lbs if not bigger. I don’t usually try too hard for bugs but because it’s a small wreck and I still had plenty of time I decided to give it shot. I got up to my waist in the hatch and it was quickly apparent why this lobster is as big as it is. After a tour out in the sand looking for fluke or my favorite, monkfish, I headed up the line empty handed. In all the other divers did much better than I and about 7 lobsters, some seabass, some tog, and a bag of mussels were boated for the day.

Oil Wreck (porthole)

2007-06-25T12:40:00.001-04:00

Independence II –6-24-07 - Ayuruoca (Bridge) dive report

Today I joined a group of 10 divers from Diver’s Den on a trip to one of New Jersey’s best wrecks. The more we dive the Oil Wreck this year the more apparent it is how much she has changed since last year. After seeing how much the stern section has broken down and opened up it was decided to hit the bow section of the wreck and see if the bridge superstructure had also undergone a facelift. We were soon tied into the top of the bridge at ~135 feet courtesy of Capt. Terry Martzall and the divers were off. Coming down the line on my dive I was surprised to see the wreck materializing below me at about 115’. The visibility on top of the wreck was quite nice and probably pushing 20’ with lots of ambient light. Arriving at the railing it didn’t long to see that the bridge has been altered just as much as the stern. The top deck which used to be perfectly level is now lying at about a 45 degree angle. I dropped down one deck level and looked for someplace to enter the wreck but due to the collapse most of the corridors that used to be wide open now fade down to low ceilings. I decided to drop down another deck level and look for something a little more accessible. Dropping down to about 150 feet the visibility also dropped down to maybe 10 feet or less. Here the decks were not collapsed as much so I tied off my reel and I was able to easily swim into the wreck even with two stage bottles. Looking around inside it looks like walls have been collapsing as you could easily cut in between rooms this way and that. About 30 feet inside I came across a large porthole backing plate just like the one Capt Dan recovered a few weeks ago. It was lying loose on a piece of the steel wall. There are still many backing plates on the Oil Wreck because they were sealed with lead and very difficult to recover. Until now.

With the deteriorating condition of the wreck they are now falling off the walls and easier to get. After some miscommunication via light signals with my buddy (I might as well have tried to build a fire and send smoke signals) to come help me lug it outside the wreck so I could shoot it to the surface I put my bag on it inside to lift it. I was a little stupid here as I didn’t tie my choker on that well and had a length of rope that was too long and let the bag hit the ceiling of the wreck. So I had to alternate between pushing the bag down to get past obstructions on the ceiling and dragging the porthole and plate all while trying not to lose sight of my line. Finally I got it out and wished it well on its way to the surface.

What a great weekend of diving!

India Arrow

2007-06-25T10:56:00.000-04:00

2/4/1942

“So hot was the explosion that Winter ordered the U-103 backed away. Several of his men were allowed topside to see the results. What they saw must have sickened them. The India Arrow was engulfed with flames and the men were burning.” - From Torpedo Junction

6/23/2007

The India Arrow was a tanker (sister ship of Dixie Arrow sunk off Hatteras) sunk in WWII and today rests nearly turtled in 190 fsw about 60 miles off Cape May. My buddy Bill Bedford and I were looking forward to diving this wreck, which has been described as “have to see” by Gary Gentile, for a long time. We finally got the chance to dive her on Saturday off Harold Moyer’s boat the Big Mac. Tom Packer and Steve Gatto tied us in pretty quickly and let us know via a com’s unit “holy shit that’s a huge propeller” that we were tied in near the stern. Coming down the line the visibility was crystal clear on the surface. The wreck came into view at about 130’ and we hit the top of the wreck (the keel) at about 165’. The visibility was great on the bottom and probably 40-50’. We did a quick orientation and systems check before heading over to check out the massive single propeller. This prop cannot be described as anything but huge. It rises 20-30 feet off the bottom and the equally huge rudder has broken off and lies just aft resting on the fantail.

Coming back across the hull my light caught a reflection off something in the hull and sure enough one of those round things. I brushed some of the sand and growth off to reveal a perfect porthole.

We got back near the tie in and it was easy enough to swim right inside the wreck past a huge set of bollards that loomed on the deck overhead. I did a quick look to see if I could get to that porthole but there was a bulkhead preventing access but low and behold there was another porthole just before it with the swing plate hanging down. The glass was missing and the backing plate was brass but solidly enough attached that it was more work than I was interested in.

Heading forward it didn’t take long to come across several brass cage lamps, one with the glass globe still intact. At this point I am now zipping about like a kid in a candy store with a huge smile on my face. I through the lamps in my bag and put them by the tie in so I wasn’t dragging them through the wreck. Back inside and forward and I came to the engine and boilers which were truly impressive. Being inside this wreck was just incredible. It was so wide open and the ceiling (keel) so high that it was like being in a huge dark cathedral. Here and there rust holes allowed emerald green light to filter through and at points along the center line you could look port and starboard and see out both sides of the wreck. After passing the boilers the wreck is broken and I came out here and reluctantly headed back to the anchor line on the outside of the wreck and had to keep reminding myself to leave the scallops littering the white sandy bottom alone.

On my second dive I took my camera but it was giving me too many problems. That’s why the pictures you see are pretty terrible. So I headed forward toward the break again. I found a couple more portholes with the glass in them but again they need work. It was another awesome dive on this awesome wreck. I can’t wait to go back to the India Arrow.

Random old image

2007-06-19T11:24:00.000-04:00

Here is a picture I shot in 2005 of the conning tower of the US submarine S-5. I had just got my camera (you can tell), and was before I got my strobe. I shot this without any flash because there was so much particulate in the water.

If you are not familiar with the incredible story of the S-5 do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Under Pressure

This coming weekend...

2007-06-18T16:51:00.000-04:00

Fri/Sat: India Arrow - 190fsw
Sun: back to Ayuruoca! - 175fsw

Gear: Neoprene neck seal review

2007-06-18T15:46:00.000-04:00

Ok so I got a new drysuit this past winter and have been slowly but surely "pimping my ride". First thing I did was put in a p-valve (best invention EVER). Not so recently however has been my battle with latex neck seals... I dont know if I have an allergy or not which seems to be relatively common but latex seals have always torn my neck up (doesn't bother my wrists though). I would get a very bad rash after dives and it would even become uncomfortable/painful in the water during longer dives. Diving is supposed to be fun so I have resolved to make it as comfortable an experience as possible (plus I can't tell my boss I was working when I was diving if my neck looks like a tried to hang myself), so upon the suggestion of a fairly prominent wreck diver I decided to give a neoprene neck seal a shout. The only problem with this is that I would have to send my suit out to get the work done. So after returning to my trusty old suit (you can always trust it to leak) for a weekend and shelling out extra for rush service and delivery I was happy to have my new suit back with a spanking new neoprene neck seal.

I hadn't used one of these before and had heard mixed reviews so I was a bit hesitant to try it for the first time this past weekend on the Oil Wreck, but I decided to dive right in (bad pun) and give it a go anyway (I didnt want to go another week without my p-valve). I did give it a test pullover the night before and after nearly suffocating myself I wasn't feeling very warm and fuzzy about it and almost took my old suit "just in case". Neverless, dressing on the boat I got it on a little easier and I was glad Charlie Firtion was there to square me away with the folding it under routine.

The verdict: it was better than I could have hoped! Hanging at 20 feet I didn't get the feeling like circulation was being cut off to my brain and I could turn my head without cringing in pain like with the latex seal. It didn't leak at all and it was probably the driest I have ever dove. With my latex seal I had it trimmed so loose to try and prevent it cutting into my skin that it would often burp quite a bit. Another added benefit is that the neoprene keeps your neck a little warmer. All in all one it was definitely money well spent.

Morehead City, NC trip report

2007-06-18T15:31:00.000-04:00

Morehead City, NC trip report – 6/1-3 2007

I joined John Cogan and Paul Galligan from NESS on Thursday morning to make the leisurely 8 hour road trip down to Morehead City, NC. We met up with the rest of our crew of 7 at Olympus and prepared for the next few days of diving. A front was moving in so we decided to get the best dives in while we still had good weather. The decision was made to go to the Hutton (formerly known as the Papoose but recently er… re-identified? WDM article). This wreck is outstanding and is one of my favorites of anywhere. It was large tanker that fell victim to German torpedo attack in WWII and now rests nearly turtled in 120 fsw. Dropping down the line with camera in hand I quickly realized this was going to be a great dive as I could see the top of the wreck which comes up to about 90 fsw from the granny line at 20 feet. Hitting the sand I got my camera ready as I waited for Cogan who was right behind me with his new video setup. It was great to just kneel in the sand and look around and really get a feel for the wreck in the 80 feet of visibility that we had. In the distance off the wreck several sand tiger sharks were circling while up ahead I spotted a very large silhouette of what appeared to be a huge grouper. Later on the boat the mate said that this was in fact a goliath grouper that has set up shop on the wreck. Our plan was to head aft and enter the engine room. As we swam along we spotted several lionfish and schools of amberjacks accompanied us. Arriving at the rudder I snapped a couple shots before heading into the wreck.

I ended up going into a different hole than I intended and the entrance was a little tighter than I remembered. Passing a beam I looked up and saw the larger opening I had meant to find. Unknown to me Cogan had had a minor entanglement coming in the smaller opening and we got separated, mostly due to the huge clouds of baitfish inside the wreck. Further in at the boilers I had a perfect shot of sunlight coming into the cathedral like engine room from above and lighting the side of one of the huge boilers but every time the camera was ready the baitfish would come in and block me. The flash my light and try to quickly set up before the bait came back routine was pushing me to the point of screaming through my reg when I starting wondering where the hell Cogan was to chase them away.

I finally decided I was fighting a losing battle and headed out. I met up with Cogan outside the wreck and we turned back towards the tie in but heading out into the sand away from the wreck to photograph the sharks along the way. We also came across a huge stingray pretty far off the wreck just chilling. As we began our ascent I paused at the top of the wreck and get some silhouette shots of the divers above us when I realized you could see the boat 100’ away. Truly an awesome dive, and what an introduction to North Carolina wreck diving for those first timers on board!

For our second dive we headed to the Aeolus, which was a cable layer sunk as an artificial reef. While artificial reef wrecks aren’t really my thing, this turned out to be a pretty cool dive. The visibility was less here and around 40 feet. Again the sand tigers were in full effect. Unfortunately my camera was on the fritz and didn’t really get any good pictures on this dive and spent most of my time fiddling and cursing at the thing. There is a large circular opening in the top of the wreck and into the next deck below where the cable was spooled out of. If you go at the side of the lower deck where the wreck is torn open and look through you can see the light shining down and it looks like a huge cylindrical aquarium with the fish swimming through.

On Saturday the seas had already started to pick from Friday but we still managed to get out to the U-352. This is one of the most popular dives out of Morehead City as there aren’t many places to dive a German U-boat in recreational depths. Hitting the wreck, which sits in 115 fsw, we again had great visibility which was probably at least 60 feet if not more.

For the second dive we were going to hit the Spar which is another artificial reef and only sunk a couple years ago. I have to admit I gave a bit of a sigh of relief as there were 2 other boats already there when we got there and we would have to go somewhere else. Capt Bobby was planning on heading inshore as the weather was picking up and hit the Indra another reef wreck but was happy to oblige our request to dive the Ario (formerly called the Hutton). The Ario is another tanker sunk by U-boat in WWII, but unlike the real Hutton, has been blasted/wire dragged/ and otherwise reduced to a rubble pile. Being inshore the visibility was less at 20 feet and the water temp a little cooler at 73 compared to the 77 on the offshore wrecks. The wreck has a max depth of about 80fsw and I had a blast exploring around this huge wreck and it felt more like being at home on a Jersey wreck. We were tied into the prop shaft near the boilers and seeing the big sand tigers come around the boilers was really a cool sight. Also they would get much closer here since the vis was not as good as the other wrecks. It was a great dive to end the trip!

Here are some more pictures from this trip

Overdue Hatteras report

2007-06-17T22:24:00.000-04:00

11-May-2007

We booked a couple days of diving a couple months in advance to get a couple familiarization dives in with Capt JT Barker and his boat the Under Pressure out of Cape Hatteras, NC. Originally we were booked to do the Manuela (160fsw) followed by an overnight trip of strictly recreational type dives. Well the weather had other plans (this is Hatteras in May we are talking about). Early in the week we were supposed to head down 25' swells were rolling through and the area was getting hammered by a big storm so it looked like the trip would be a wash. We talked with Capt JT who was very accommodating in trying to get us early word of a blow out to save us the 8 hour drive if he could. Finally the decision was made to cancel Thursday but still dive the Manuela on Friday so that at least if we drove down for one day we would get the main wreck we wanted to dive.

We made the leisurely drive down on Thursday and arrived with plenty of time to BS with the Capt and get familiarized with the boat (which is set up very nicely), cut some tables, and also take note of the fact that it was a beautiful day and we could have gone diving. After a good nights rest we woke up ready to dive and headed out to the Manuela a freighter torpedoed by the U-404 on 6/25/1942.

Dolphin and Danny cut tables

Bedford and Dolphin cut tables

We arrived on the site and it was immediately obvious that the current was ripping along at about 1.5kts. Also since the plan was changed to dive the Manuela there was a change up in the crew and Danny and I were asked to tie in which we agreed to do. It was questionable whether we would be able to dive at this site, but it was decided that we would try it and if we could get down it was a go, otherwise don't be a hero and if the current is too rough call it. Danny jumped in and could not get past 20' because of some allergy related sinus issues, but said the current was manageable. He was going to give it another shot getting down and I splashed right behind him. I hauled my way up the granny line to the anchor line where I met up with Danny. He said his ears were still a no go and he was heading up so I was going to go down and tie in by myself. I was fighting to get down but it wasn't that bad. I got to 50-60' and the current still wasn't letting up and I was about to turn when a school of BIG amberjacks came flying up from the bottom and gave me some reassurance that the wreck was near. Visibility was about 40' and the wreck came into view just past 100' and I saw a great upturned steel hull. The hook had snagged the very lip near the sand of the turtled hull and when I got to it there wasn't much to wrap the chain around. With the current pulling hard against it I got a little wrap around a plate and figured it wasn't going anywhere.

Swimming down the edge of the hull you could see up and in the wreck, and I was surrounded by some very large amberjacks as well as some barracuda. I got to the end of the section we were on and it was a break in the ship and it was very easy to get inside. I didn't want to go to far since I was planning on cutting my dive short so I wasn't hanging in the current, but I took a quick peek inside. I saw back in the dark some white "tentacles" waving at me and I thought they were lobsters but upon closer inspection I found 2 large lionfish huddled together in a deep recess of the wreck.

For dive 2 we were going to hit the Proteus but another boat was already there and lying on the wreck such a way that we couldn't hook it. We did snag something and Dolphin went in to dive but found we were on a small piece of junk away from the wreck. The decision was made to head in to the Dixie Arrow. I has happy to hit this wreck since I hope to be diving her sister ship the India Arrow at the end of June. The Dixie Arrow was another U-boat casualty of the second great war. Capt JT was gracious enough to divulge some intel with on on the whereabouts of 2 portholes. I went in armed for the mission and found the grapple secured to one of the massive links of the ships anchor chain which made my orientation with the wreck easy. We were at the very bow, which is partially intact and rises a good bit off the bottom. I had no trouble locating the first porthole but it wasn't near as ready to come off as I hoped. I instead opted to check out this wreck which is pretty outstanding. I saw more amberjacks (which if you haven't figured out I really like) and even shared some time with a large turtle. I got back to the bow ahead of time and decided to whack on the porthole a little bit. No dice. Getting back to the tie-in (I had run my reel) I was a bit dumbfounded to find the anchor line missing. I was already running a bit late at this point and didn't want to waste any time. I took a quick spin around the area to see if I somehow missed it, then shot my SMB and tied it off. I did my ascent and got on the boat and everyone was looking at me funny and asking if I was ok. I thought they must have known the boat pulled out but they said it didn't. ??? So long story short it turns out there was a very "helpful" diver on the boat who thought he would get in the Capt's good graces by saving us all some time and pulling the hook at the end of his dive. WTF?!?! Anyway it all worked out and I had 2 really good dives.

Seas were beautiful

Capt JT does have the Under Pressure set up real nice. It is only a 6 pack and there is plenty of space. He even has individual headsets for each bunk and grills during the surface interval.

http://www.capt-jt.com/

First China

2007-06-17T19:23:00.000-04:00

6/17/2006 – Independence II trip to the Oil Wreck

I said it last week, I’ll say it again this week… the Oil wreck (Ayuruoca) is absolutely one of my favorite wrecks! Today I joined Capt’s Bartone and Tempe on another cruise to this massive intact Brazillian freighter in the Mud Hole of New Jersey. We had beautiful weather and calm seas making for an enjoyable (almost too short) ride out to the wreck. Arriving on site I splashed with Capt Jay and Christina Young to tie-in. We found the shot in the mud (172fsw) right next to the wreck at the break of the stern section and I was able to scout out openings in the decks I could enter on the way down. We quickly retrieved the chain and brought it up to 135’ in the same general location we were last week. Once my working portion of the dive was complete I set off to explore. The visibility was a decent 15 feet or so at the main deck level but I tied off my reel and headed inside. I headed a good ways down a corridor which had many doors tempting my way off here and there but this being my first time in this section of the wreck I decided to keep it simple and stay straight. On the way out my light reflected bright white off the edge of something under what appeared to be a fallen table. I carefully reached down and plucked it from the muck and managed to keep the black cloud to a minimum. I inspected my find and sure enough my first piece of china! It was just a broken saucer but it still had most of the Rio de Janeiro stamp on the back so I gingerly placed it in my bag. I thought maybe there would be more and hopefully intact pieces in the area so I did some minor excavation of some tables and after plunging my hand into the muck and feeling around all I accomplished was a completely blacked out room and some pissed off eel pouts. After my 30 minutes was up I reluctantly headed up but had a pleasant deco reflecting on another awesome Oil Wreck dive.

Not much, but its mine ;-)

6/10/07 - Ayuruoca (Oil Wreck)

2007-06-17T19:13:00.000-04:00

6/10/2007 - Independence II trip to the Oil Wreck (Ayuruoca)

Today I joined the group from Village Divers on a trip to what is probably one of my favorite wrecks – the Oil Wreck. The Ayuruoca is a large freighter sitting upright and intact in 2 separate pieces in the Mud Hole of New Jersey. The mud bottom is at about 175fsw but the main deck is at ~150 and in areas the superstructure comes up to as high as 120fsw. The best part is that even though it is in deeper water it is still a short boat ride and we were on site well under an hour even with some slightly bouncy seas.

I splashed in with John Yurga to tie in. Coming down the shot line (which landed in the mud) we passed right down the side of the wreck which is covered in anemones, and it was like descending down a beautifully carpeted 30’ wall. The visibility was a dark 10’, which isn’t too bad for this wreck. We secured the tie at about 135’ near a railing which made navigation pretty easy. Cruising down slightly off deck level I noticed that the railing was bent in more, almost like the wreck caved in towards the middle some and that some of the deck appeared to have opened up. My heart skipped a beat when I saw through one rust hole a large piece of porcelain that looked like a nice bowl, but as soon as I grabbed I realized it was just a broken off toilet still attached to the tiled floor . I got as far as one of the trucks sitting on the deck (part of the cargo when she went down) and decided to head back before I got myself thoroughly lost. Back near the tie I found an entrance to a room and took a quick peak inside. There was a brass backing plate from a porthole still in place but it probably wont be going anywhere for quite some time. There is so much to see on this wreck that is really unbelievable.

Back on board we compared notes and decided we were on the bow section near the bridge, which may have collapsed some over the winter. One buddy team surfaced with one of the buddies having a large rust spot on his hood and reported getting clonked in the head by falling debris. This seemed to give supporting evidence to the collapse theory until they said they were OUTSIDE the wreck when the debris came raining down on them. This mystery was solved when Frankie reported finding a “loose” porthole backing plate still on a small beam that required some “man-handling”, but he was unable to float it with his bag. With a set of directions Capt Dan and Mark Clark were able to go in and finish the job and within minutes a lift bag popped up with a nice backing plate that still had one dog on it. All in all it was another great weekend out and under the Atlantic.

Capt's Clark and Bartone with porthole

Capt's Clark and Pellegrino with porthole

(photos courtesy M. Clark)