Oppurtunity knocks twice?

4-13-08

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

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

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

Salt for your wounds

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

The Quarrior Strikes Back

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

Diving Bainbridge is no joke

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




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

Discovery!

(This is not a barn)

Museum of New Jersey Maritime History

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

Bell from the Bidevind


Gun sight from the Ayuruoca (Oil wreck)

Engine room telegraph from the Resor

It's been a summer

1-12-2008

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

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

Theme music

Sucker for winter sunrises

01-05-2008

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

Best wishes for 2008.

San Jose 12-30-2007

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

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?)

Coming soon to a blog near you...

Pinta 11-11-07

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