Dives 2009
Dives 2008
Dives 2007
Dives 2006
Dives 2005
Dives 2004
Dives 2003
Dives 2002:
Folly Cove 12/21
Magnolia Rocks 11/04
Belize dive trip 10/?
Niles Beach 10/14
Isles of Shoals 09/29
Nahant 09/20
Normans Woe 09/14
Back Beach 09/07
Old Garden Beach 09/07
Isles of Shoals 08/25
Isles of Shoals 08/24
Folly Cove 08/10
Cathedral Rocks 08/03
Club dive to Nubble Lighthouse 07/27
Club dive to Gloucester shipwrecks 07/20
Magnolia Rocks 06/29
Catalina Island 05/?
Folly Cove 06/15
San Diego Wrecks and Kelp 06/13
U-853 06/04
Old Garden Beach 05/26
Normans Woe 05/19
Haight and Bass Rocks 05/05
Old Garden Beach 05/05
Halfway Rock & Nina-T 04/21
Folly Cove 03/09
Gloucester shipwrecks 03/02
Folly Cove 02/10
Magnolia Rocks 01/12
Magnolia Rocks 01/05
Dives 2001
Dives 2000
Dives 1999
Folly Cove
Winter officially started on Saturday, but that wasn't obvious from the
weather at Folly Cove. Temperatures were in the 40's F and skies were
mostly sunny, although several brief rain showers passed by while I was
there. There were strong winds from the west, but Folly is very well
protected from that direction. Looking down into the water from the
parking lot I could tell the visibility was very good. As I was suiting
up, several departing divers told me that they hadn't seen very much life
at all. But during a long relaxing dive along the left wall, I found
plenty of critters still around, including even a couple of lobsters. In
fact, the bottom was literally swarming with zillions of those micro hermit
crabs. Plenty of tube worms too, still lightning fast to close up. Lots
of large anemones fully open, urchins, crabs digging in for the winter,
loads of starfish, and one skate. The water temp was 41 F, and the
visibility was indeed very good...I was able to look up from 40 ft and
follow the flag line all the way up to the float. My memorable sighting of
the day was finding a starfish that was trying to eat a snail. Often you
see starfish clamped onto clams or mussels. They tire the bivalve out by
long-duration pulling on the shell halves, and then extrude their stomach
sack into the opening and directly absorb the clam/mussel. But this
particular starfish must have been really desperate for a meal, because a
snail's shell doesn't open up like a bivalve's. But I didn't want to stick
around for several days to find out if the starfish was successful.
I did have a minor equipment problem at the beginning of my dive. My
primary reg was breathing very wet...I was tasting salt water on
every inhalation. So I switched to the alternate reg for the day. My
guess is there's a tiny fleck of dried seaweed stuck in the primary's
exhaust valve, which should be easy to clean out at home.
Who's up for a January dive?
- Robert Granetz
Magnolia Rocks
Divers:
Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day for diving, and Elron Yellin and I
took full advantage. Since the weather was on the cool side (30's F), I
decided that if I wanted to do two dives, I should probably dig out the old
drysuit (about two weeks earlier than usual). Elron, who was freediving,
was in a wetsuit.
I arrived at Magnolia Rocks at 10 am and found picture perfect conditions
(except for the dead seagull lying on my favorite spot). Since Elron
wasn't going to arrive until late morning, I did my first dive solo. It
took a few minutes to get used to the drysuit again. They're bulkier, more
restrictive, and require more lead weight than wetsuits, but between dives
they keep you from freezing back on shore. The water temperature at depth
was 48 F, and the visibility was at least 30 feet. I saw a couple of 10-15
cm long eel-like things which I think are rock gunnels (bluish-gray in
color), as well as some other small colorful fish that blended in perfectly
with the growth on the rocks. There were also lots and lots of crabs and
small lobsters. After getting pretty far out from shore, I found some
bigger lobsters and managed to catch two keepers. After a 42-minute dive,
I surfaced to find that Elron had arrived and was setting up his gear.
I was intrigued by his desire to go freediving...a desire that I definitely
don't share, since I can't hold my breath worth squat unless I'm totally at
rest. (Thank goodness for compressed air!) Elron explained to me how it
takes some warming up (no pun intended) to get one's metabolism adjusted to
it. So I switched my tanks and went for a 2nd dive so that I
could observe him. I hovered near the bottom at 20-25 feet, and given the
good visibility, I could easily see him on the surface, and watch him
plunge down every once in a while, swim some distance, and then re-surface.
I know that if I tried to surface repeatedly like that, I wouldn't be able
to equalize my ears, even on scuba. (By the way, you may want to read the
dive report
from a few years ago describing how Thomas Pedersen, a scuba club alum,
actually caught a lobster while freediving around here.)
I watched Elron for a while, and then headed off to deeper water. I
stumbled across two crabs happily munching away on a dead, overturned
lobster. The center parts of the lobster's guts were gone, and one of the
crabs was busy reaching his claw way down into the tail and tearing out and
devouring small bits of meat. Shortly after leaving this morbid scene, I
managed to catch my 3rd keeper of the day. I returned to find Elron, and
we exited after more than a half-hour in the water.
Due to a busy schedule, I won't have another chance to dive again around
here until latter December. If anyone else would like to join me then,
please let me know.
- Robert G
Belize dive trip
Divers:
thanks to all of you who give me advice on diving and traveling to belize. i
just wanted to give a quick diving report from my trip--hope it's helpful.
============
Belize Diving Trip
Date: late october, 2002
we flew into belize city and took a short flight to ambergris caye. we
stayed in a relatively cheap ($20/night) lodging with maid service and
close to the beach. we dove with Amigos del Mar dive shop--out of the many
on the caye to choose from, this one came with lots of recommendations, and
i can vouch for their professionalism and knowledge of the local dive sites.
we dove for three days: 2 days of 2-tank local dives near the reef
on ambergris caye, and 1 day of 3-tank diving traveling about 2 hours to
turneffe island near a deep shelf. i wore a dive skin, and my 2 diving
partners wore just swimsuits and didn't get cold. the visibility was
100-150 ft. for the local dives, and reduced to around 100 ft. for the
turneffe dive due to storms.
the local dives were fantastic: typical depths of 90 ft., canyons, lots
of beautiful fish, corals, green moray eels, eagle rays, and playful nurse
sharks. diving with a computer isn't necessary, but i did find it useful
in controlling my ascents when in the open water. between dives, we went
back to shore to load up on coconuts, pineapples, and other fruits--very nice
touch and typical for many of the dive operators. diving near the reef
entailed lots of swells (typically 6-8 ft.) and choppy water, and i found
myself getting seasick at the end of every dive--but not a problem.
the turneffe dive is a wall dive and heralded as one of the best dives in
the area, with expectations of seeing hammerhead sharks, flocks of eagle
rays, dolphins, and other stuff not seen near the reef. also, the wall
extends down to thousands of ft...would be a spectacular site to see, except
that the visibility was limited the day we dove it. the currents here were
quite strong in places near the edge of the shelf and required one's paying
attention to orientation. a fantastic dive--i had the feeling of swimming
off the edge of a mountain, with a wall to one side and nothing at the
bottom--a great feeling of freedom.
we also spent two half-days of snorkeling inside the reef. the depth was only
10-35 ft., and ideal for snorkeling. the coral and fish life were abundant,
and getting to the good sites only took a few minutes by boat--i would highly
recommend doing snorkeling while staying on ambergris. at one of the
snorkeling sites called hol chan and shark alley, there is a shallow break
in the reef and is a place where rays and nurse sharks are commonly and
easily founds. one of the attractions of the area is that you can play
with the rays and nurse sharks--they are very gentle and curious. it was
a lot of fun.
we moved to the more quaint caye caulker for a day of snorkeling and found the
smaller, more island-like relaxed pace better for us than ambergris--lots of
info about the two cayes online. if i return, i'll probably stay on caye
caulker. one of the good things about caulker is that there is good snorkeling
right off the edge of the caye in a number of locations.
anyways, a great diving vacation. we had originally planned on hiking for a
few days in the interior to explore the jungles and mayan ruins, but reports
of heavy mosquito cover kept us away. the diving in belize is more expensive
than cancun: a local dive near the reef is typ. $60, (plus another $10-15 for
gear rental) and the 3-tank wall dive near turneffe was $140. we saved %10
by diving and snorkeling with the same dive shop. in comparison, local diving
in cancun is typ. $50 including gear rental, and the local dives also include
deep wall dives.
cheers.
- Matt
Niles Beach, Gloucester harbor
I took advantage of the holiday yesterday to get in an October dive. This
was after spending several rainy days camping with my boys in the White
Mtns, so the crisp sunny weather on Monday was great in comparison. But
along the coast it was really, really windy. I stopped at a number of dive
sights all around Cape Ann, from Magnolia Rocks to Folly Cove, and all of
them were showing the effects of the wind, with whitecaps, foamy water, and
unrelenting breakers. So I resigned myself to diving at Niles Beach, which
is inside the Gloucester Harbor breakwater and usually very protected.
Even here though, there were whitecaps and strong surface currents just off
the beach. While getting into my wetsuit, I was entertained by a whole
fleet of windsurfers launching themselves over the waves. The water temp
was still a very comfortable 53 F, but the strong wind had reduced
visibility to a measly 5 feet. The harbor bottom is basically sandy, with
a thin cover of beach grass, and the occasional boulder popping up here and
there. There were actually a good number of lobster (all well below the
size limit) and some huge crabs. The lobsters here in the harbor are
covered with silt and look like they could really use a bath...kind of like
my two boys after this weekend's camping trip. Every time I dive, I try to
find something new that I haven't seen before, and I succeeded even though
I was only diving in the harbor. First, there were these really tiny baby
flounder...no more than 3-4 cm long, and well camouflaged in the sand. I
know that these fish are born with eyes on both sides of their heads, and
they migrate over to one side in juveniles. These little flounder already
had both eyes on the same side, so this eye migration must take place when
they're even smaller. The other new thing I saw was a crab with it's claw
jammed between the shell halves of a mussel. At first, I didn't know
whether it was trying to work open the mussel, or whether his claw was
stuck when the mussel had clamped down hard. But when I came in for a
close look, the crab withdrew his claw from the mussel and scampered off,
so I guess it was the former. I also saw some typical harbor things, like
a tire or two, and the toe of an old boot sticking up out of the sand. (I
hope it was just a boot!)
Back on shore, the weather is getting noticeably cooler. This morning, I
looked out the window onto our deck and noticed that my rinsed-off gear was
covered in frost!
Until next time (probably November, and perhaps in a drysuit),
- Robert G
Isles of Shoals outing #3 (off of NH/ME coast)
Divers:
On this beautiful sunny day, seven divers, two from the MIT Scuba Club and
one from the MIT Sloan Scuba Club, headed out on a boat to the Isles of
Shoals to make contact with the playful resident harbor seals. We were not
disappointed.
But it almost never happened. After several weeks in the planning, we
almost lost our opportunity due to a last-minute cancellation by Buccaneer
Charters. (The captain wanted to go lobstering.) However, the cancellation
worked out to be an opportunity for everyone. Barry contacted Tom Cots, one
of the captains of Northwind Charters. His 42-foot boat has plenty of space
for seven divers, and the removable stern plate allows for an easy
giant-stride entry into the pool. Tom is planning on adding a dive ladder
soon, and he even solicited our advice about the ladder design. (The one
that you can ascend with fins, we told him.) Northwind Charters sticks to
fishing and dive charters, making last minute cancellations less likely.
They can be reached at http://www.northwindcharters.com.
Dive 1:
The first dive was near the historic Oceanic Hotel on Star Island. Also
referred to as the "power plant", this dive site apparently hosts an
underwater memorial to a late diver. (None of us located it.) Like many of
the islands and shoals in the area the sea floor drops off steeply from the
shore. We descended into 25 ft. of water and headed away from shore,
ultimately reaching a maximum depth of 67 ft. The 10-15 ft. visibility was
good for viewing the beautiful underwater terrain. Large rocks at the
starting point gave way to large patches of sand and then finally to a huge
bed of seaweed. Lobsters were everywhere: under rocks, out in the open
sand, and in the ubiquitous lobster traps. The dive lasted about 35 minutes
and was cut slightly short when Reyco got low on air due to a free-flowing
regulator. There was also a small uncontrolled ascent when the main purge
on one diver's BC failed to work. A small bit of assistance with an
alternate purge straightened out the situation. In all, it was a good
dive. Back on the boat, we checked tables, ate some lunch and geared up for
the next dive.
Dive 2:
The second dive was near Duck Island, the well-known hangout for a colony
of friendly harbor seals. As the boat approached the site, we saw the seals
breaking the surface and checking us out. They even approached the boat to
get a better look, displaying their natural curiosity. Needless to say, we
were all super excited about getting in the water.
After giant stride and a 50-yard dash to the island, we waited in no more
than 7 feet of water for the seals to find us. From my experience, the
seals like to make the approaches rather than being chased. Within minutes,
a seal came to check us out. Curious but cautious, it made a few flybys
before venturing in closer. We played it cool, making lots of eye contact
and sometimes even swimming away from the seal in an effort to make it
chase us--which it did. Turning around, you would often discover that the
seal had come right up behind you, and you would find yourseelf
face-to-face with it. Knowing that they like divers' fins, we got on our
backs and tempted the seal with our plastic appendages. The seal took this
as an invitation, coming right up to us and rubbing its face and neck on
our fins. Very gently the seal would then nip the fins with two large rows
of teeth.
This went on for several minutes, the seal making its way around the
group. Then it took off and returned almost within minutes with another
seal! The two seals simultaneously interacted with us, rubbing and nipping
our fins. However, the seals seemed wary of any contact with our hands,
although they were close enough on several occasions to reach out and touch
them. Attempting to pet them caused them to quickly move away, only to swim
back around for more fins.
The second dive lasted 49 minutes, most of which was spent playing with the
seals. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to interact with wild
animals in this way. Even though many of the seals at Duck Island are
comfortable with divers, they have not been fed by divers, and are mostly
undomesticated. Their interactions with divers are motivated, I assume, by
curiosity and playfulness. But there is also a strong element of trust
required on their part, and to be given that trust was what I found most
satisfying. I hope that this opportunity will be available for a long time
to come and that the reader will have the chance to experience it.
- Keith Thoresz
Canoe Beach, Nahant, MA
Divers:
We drove down to Nahant, an affluent peninsula north of Boston to do two
night dives. Rich people have their own rules, and it is important to know
that at all times it is not allowed to park your car at the dive site.
However, if one pays a visit to the Nahant police station, normally they
allow you to park your car at the dive site. (They will write down your
license plate, and you have to stop by again when you leave.)
Unfortunately, the week before, on a Saturday night around 9pm, we were not
that lucky. There were already a number of fishermen out there, and the
police did not permit us to park the car (and we did not want to pay a
fine. Supposedly, they check on the parking place every 20 min or so).
This prompted us to drive down a bit earlier this Friday night, and we were
the first to arrive at the dive site. The parking lot borders the beach,
so it is easy to don your gear and then walk into the water. This is
further facilitated by the bright light from the street lights, which also
serves as a beacon to swim back to the shore. We did two dives, both at
about 35 ft, for 50 min, with about 10 ft visibility. The site was not
that interesting, a few boulders, many lobsters, some weird fish (I am
still trying to figure out what we actually saw). I am not sure whether I
would go there for a dive during the day. The second dive we decided not
to use our dive lights (of course not the safest course of action), but the
full moon was so bright that at 35ft we had sufficient light that we could
easily navigate over the rocky bottom, and it was very easy to keep track
of each other. We were surrounded by phosphorescent algae, and once in a
while we would swim on our back, and look at the moon shining through the
water. A very relaxed dive!
- Thomas
Normans Woe, Magnolia (in Gloucester), MA
Divers:
Initially, this dive was planned for Sunday, but because the weather
forecast predicted thunderstorms and other nastiness for that day, we
decided to re-schedule the dive to Saturday. We met at Norman's Woe in the
little town of Magnolia. The dive site is a quarter of a mile from the
small parking lot, which forced us to walk through a forest with tanks,
BCs, etc on our back, quite an amusing picture. At the end, the forest
trail splits. The left trail leads to the famous rock where one can do a
giant stride entry from a big rock (which according to United Divers in
Somerville can also be done at low tide). However, since Bilge and Hur had
not done any dives since they got certified last year, we decided to take
the right trail, which brought us to an entry site that is easier. It was a
beautiful day, warm, and the sea was very calm, which made the entry, on
our hands and knees, not that difficult. The visibility was about 15 ft,
and it is about 25-35 ft deep water.
We had a small discussion how we would divide the group. We only had two
dive flags (maybe not a bad idea to bring more flags next time, for sure
one can rent them at Cape Ann Divers. I am not sure about United Divers.
They can also be rented from the MIT Scuba Club.) which forced us to dive
in either groups of 4 and dive all at once, or groups of 2, and do
alternate dives. Democracy ruled, and we decided to split up in two teams
of four.
Our group, Elron, Thomas, Shawn, and Sylvie, chose to dive on the west side
of the bay, on a bearing of 210 degrees. This was a very nice spot, with
many boulders, big and small, where a lot of sea life can be found: many
sea stars, lobsters, crabs, a few skates, some other undefined fish, and
much to our delight a Sea Raven.
They are not that easy to spot, since they perfectly blend in the rocky
ocean floor. Furthermore, I saw what I thought was a wolfish, hiding under
a few big boulders: big teeth pointing out the mouth and a dark grey color.
The other group was less lucky, no Sea Ravens for them. Bilge had some
troubles with her rental mask, and could not get a good seal. She was thus
forced to return to shore for the first dive, but fortunately was able to
do the second dive with an alternate mask that she had brought along.
David, Bilge, and Hur teamed up with Robert to see him doing lobster
hunting. Looking at his catch, there must have been much rejoicing in the
Granetz family at dinner time. Robert's younger son Matt (age 7) also had
a good time. While too young for diving, he found many small and big crabs
in the tide pools and showed them with enthusiasm to the rest of
us. (Robert later rewarded him with a lunch of nachos and some candy.)
The next dive we reshuffled the groups a bit. Our group, now consisting of
Elron, Thomas, and Sylvie, chose to dive at the same spot as the first, and
we were lucky to see in total three Sea Ravens. Sylvie literally bumped
into one head to head, but neither Sylvie nor the sea raven panicked and
they had a good time together. In fact, no matter what we did, it did not
move and stayed put where it was, on that rock.
After our dives, we had to carry all our gear again though the little
forest, and here Bilge showed that she was the smartest of us all. She had
two friends with her, who did not dive, but carried all of her stuff back
to the car!
- Thomas
Back Beach, Rockport, MA
Divers:
On 9/7/02 the following divers (all club members) went diving at Back
Beach, Rockport:
En route to this dive we stopped at Cape Ann Divers to rent a flag. Alas,
they only sold flags and we had to buy one or risk breaking the law. We
decided to buy and proceeded to the site, were we did two dives.
Lesson : Do not rely on Cape Ann Divers as a reliable source for renting
flags!
Dives at a glance:
For the first dive we decided to snorkel to the rocks on the left of the
bay (facing the sea) and submerge. Visibility here was about 15' and we
saw some sealife, including a huge flounder on the rocky slope. There were
also some lobster pots. During this dive both Gianpaolo and Reyco had
their tanks come loose and some adjustments had to be done. We surfaced
far from the beach and had quite a swim back. The rocks we explored on
this side of the bay were not that exciting compared to some other spots
in the area.
The second dive was more interesting. We snorkeled out to the right hand
side of the bay and submerged. We managed to find the large boulders on
this side of the bay (They are partially exposed during low tide). There
was much more sealife here, but it was very shallow (we broke the surface
at times) and buoyancy control was bit of a nuisance. The visibility was
also poor and dropped to below 10'. Despite this we saw several large
seabass (none were seen at the first dive), large starfish, at least 2
keeper lobsters (too bad we didn't have a permit), a baby flounder and a
small rock fish. A lobster tried to nibble Reyco's fin when it passed by
him. We surfaced from a bathyscaphe-crushing depth of 5' and had a much
easier swim back.
We spent exactly 4 hours, 46 minutes at the dive site according to the
parking meter. We also saw a few of Rockport's Finest patrolling the
street for parking violators.
- Rayco Henning
Old Garden Beach, Rockport, MA
Divers:
Visibility: 20-25 ft. 1st dive
What a beautiful day for a dive. we arrived at the dive site around noon,
exactly at the time for high tide. The entry is an easy walk into the water
from a gently sloping beach--although care must be exercised in avoiding
stepping on one of the many sunbathers and kids running around. Following
the recommendation of the cape ann divers salesperson, we headed out straight
following the trajectory of the ramp leading to the beach (NNE) where the
sandy bottom leads into a nice collection of boulders and rocks. the sandy
part should not be crossed too quickly, as we saw a number of slugs (technical
term?) and beautiful skates, white with stripes of grey. the depth of the
boulders marked the deepest part of the dive--a modest 40'. we tried staying
the one large group of four, but that proved to be difficult, mainly because
thomas was shouldered with the responsibility of both the dive flag and
navigation, and his goggles were fogging up to obscure his vision. i wasn't
much help, as i didn't have a compass on my console and elected to just follow.
we took a box-like route, with our initial straight line out to sea being the
left-hand wall for our box route. we took a right turn heading EEN where
the boulders became more plentiful. a lot of lobsters wedged in the rocks and
scurrying crabs could be seen, as well as the occasional striper fish. this
was tera's first dive in cold water (and first dive in three years) and soon
got herself under control nicely. the four of us got turned around quite a
bit and occasionally lost contact with each other...having a planned
trajectory definitely helped in keeping everyone together. on the way back, i
saw a number of small, translucent and almost waif-like jellyfish...quite
beautiful creatures. while three of us had under 500 psi left in our tanks,
sylvie still had over 1200 psi left in her tank--but she was a good sport and
surfaced with us.
before our second dive, we took a long surface interval and had a leisurely
lunch, only to discover that sylvie's 2nd tank was empty. We took it to cape
ann divers and filled it, so it was almost 4 pm for our second dive. the tide
was well on its way out, and visibility had dropped to 10-15 ft. to make it
simple, we decided to head out N and return S, and we also split into 2
groups of 2...this was fortunate, because as soon as the four of us decended,
we immediately lost contact with each other. i volunteered to take the dive
flag for our group and pleasantly discovered that it was not as cumbersome as
i thought it would be. this was definitely the latest time of day that i had
been diving, and i noted a few things i hadn't before: the lobsters were very
aggressive and out in the open, with claws clenched and ready to swipe instead
of their usual run-and-hide tactics that we had seen earlier. same was true
for the crabs--maybe that's when they feed. anyways, on the way out my weight
belt started slipping off. i handed the flag to tera and tried signaling to
her that i needed some help resecuring my weight belt--the belt had been cut
very short and i had trouble pulling it through the clasp. she mistakenly
thought that i was just trying to demonstrate how to remove the weight belt
in case of an emergency ascent (something we had discussed after the first
dive), so she didn't initially understand that i wanted her to help me. she
eventually understood and gave me a hand. with her help i was able to get my
weights all straightend out and secured my belt, but in the process we
accidentally dropped the flag and had to surface to retrieve it (we had good
laugh about it after the dive was over!). we had plenty of air and decided
to decend and make our way back to shore heading due S. because of the weight
belt incident, we had burned 300 psi more than we had planned, so we had to
surface prematurely and swim back to shore for at least 50 meters. but given
that there was virtually no surface current, it wasn't difficult.
two great dives overall.
- Matt
Isles of Shoals club dive #2 (off of NH/ME coast)
Divers:
This Sunday the 25th of August we went on our second annual club dive to
the Isles of Shoals, a group of small islands off the coast of New
Hampshire/Maine. Robert Granetz contacted Capt. John Borden (great
Captain!!), with the Buccaneer Charters, to take us there, which is about
40 minutes boat trip from Kittery, ME (about 1hour and 30minutes from
Boston). It was just a perfect sunny and warm day and the calmest water I
have ever seen. However, Effie felt sea sick and I felt really sorry for
her because if I had not taken my dramamine pill I would be feeling the
same, lake water or not... but nevertheless she was really brave and went
in the water! There were plenty of seals waiting for us laying on the
rocks, basking in the sun, and playing in the water.
We split into 4 groups and we all took off in different directions and dove
in areas ranging from 15 to about 40 feet. The visibility was about 8-10
feet at about 20 feet and a little more than 10 feet at depth (there were
lots of plankton, seaweed fragments, and stuff floating in the water) and
the water temperature was between 56F (at depth) and 62F(at about 15
feet). Everybody had encounters with seals this time and all of us got our
fins nibbled! Carl and Effie saw lots of seals and got to see one of the
seals eating a crab, and in their second dive Carl was being teased by a
seal; the seal was making air bubbles to imitate Carl's breathing! Carl
started spinning around and was imitated by the seal again! I so excited
to have the cutest harbor seal nibbling on my fins that I extended both my
fins to the seal; what had started as a gentle nibble soon became a more
serious fight to take one of my fins off - I won the fight and kept my fin
but now I have fins that are "Seal approved" with at least two bite marks!
Ana-Claire saw a seal pup, and had also some close encounters with this
particular seal which was so curious that came to visit us 4
times! Ana-Claire started to spin and the seal spun with her also! I
never saw the gray seals that Captain John mentioned being in large numbers
and sizes (the male gray seal is as big as a sea lion). Of course that
with all this activity, the sunlight shining on the yellow and orange
sponges attached to the rocks, the green and purple, small and medium size
crabs, the one lobster eating a crab (sighted by Ana-Claire), and a few
small fish that I could not identify do not seem worth to mention.
After two dives of about 1 hour each, we had a very relaxing boat ride back
to Kittery and around 1.30pm or so enjoyed a very nice and relaxing lunch
at the Restaurant by the dock.
- Luisa Marcelino
Isles of Shoals club dive #1 (off of NH/ME coast)
Divers:
I just wanted to check in
to say that the seal dive on Saturday
went great
.
For both dives, we remained in the cove. On the first dive, we saw a large
number of seals--our best luck was near the rocks in about 15-20 ft. of
water. Remaining very still, they came up rather close to use (5-10 feet)
to investigate. On the second dive, we didn't see any on the rocks or in
the water, so we headed W-SW along a wide channel near 35 ft. deep and
explored some overhangs and walls. On the way back to the boat, Thomas and
I were together and Elron was 20-25 feet ahead of us. A seal crept up just
behind Elron to follow him (and right in front of us). Elron hadn't seen any
seals on his first dive (he was exploring another part of the cove), and every
time he looked behind him, the seal slipped out of visibility--very stealthy.
He was rather amused when we told him about the stalking seal when we got on
the boat--and he still didn't see any underwater seals!
A great dive overall.
- Matt
Folly Cove, Gloucester/Rockport
Divers:
We divided into 2 groups (Robert, Tiffany and Reyco in group 1, the rest
in group 2) Both groups did 2 dives.
Group 1 swam towards the point on the left side of the cove before
descending for their first dive.
Tiffany was too buoyant and Robert remedied the situation with a large
rock in her BC. Once underwater we saw plenty of starfish, lobsters
(small) and crabs. A few flounder and rays were also to be seen. We found
a lobster pot with a lobster in it. Reyco's weight belt came loose and
Robert once again came to the rescue to tighten it before Reyco shot to
the surface. Returning across the sandy floor of the cove Robert found a
moon snail but could not coax it out of it's shell to expose it impressive
foot. Tiffany still had buoyancy trouble and had to swim on the surface
for most of the way back to the beach.
On our return, Marco reported that he had sighted a large torpedo ray on
his dive.
Before the second dive, Reyco reduced his weight and gave an extra 5lb. to
Tiffany, alleviating her buoyancy problems.
For their second dive, group 1 swam out to right of the cove for about
100' before descending.
Robert wanted to look for a lobster this time, so we kept our eyes peeled.
Tiffany's buoyancy troubles appeared to have been solved as well. The
first few candidate lobsters were too small, but eventually Reyco spotted
a big un' that Robert deftly caught. The lobster had just molted and was
very soft. Robert managed to expertly navigate us back underwater with his
compass in one hand and lobster in the other. He even held the flag for
the last stretch.
Both groups completed their dives and left Folly Cove around noon.
- Reyco
Cathedral Rocks, Rockport
Divers:
Last Saturday we had a great time at
Cathedral
Rocks in Rockport. It was a
perfect summer day - sunny and in the 80's. This is a picturesque, rocky
site that can sometimes have difficult entries and exits, but this day it
was not bad at all. We headed due east on the first dive. Luisa found
that she couldn't clear her ears, so she returned to shore. Meanwhile,
Saul's tank was very loose. He removed his BC underwater to tighten the
strap himself, but the strap had been improperly threaded through the
buckle, so we gave up and Saul did the dive with a loose tank, which slowed
him down a bit. We eventually got down to 65 feet, where the water
temperature was 50 F and the visibility was about 15 feet. On the way
back, Ana-Claire and I paused at every lobster line so that I could get the
flag line over them, and to let Saul catch up. Just before we came in to
the shallows, we lost sight of Saul, so we waited again, but this time
there was no Saul. I kept staring up at my flag on the surface, expecting
to see Saul near it, but still no Saul. We retraced our path a short ways,
didn't find him, and so we surfaced. We thought we saw him already
climbing out on the rocks, but upon exiting, Luisa came over and asked us,
"Where's Saul?". So I turned around and swam back out on the surface,
following our dive path while scanning the bottom. When I got to the limit
of visibility, I dropped down to the bottom and continued to follow our
path until I got down to 45 ft, which was way beyond our last Saul
sighting. Not finding anything, I swam back, and found Saul getting ready
to exit the water. He had split off from us and had gone his own way, but
didn't let us know. Not cool...
For the second dive (my 3rd dive), I buddied up with Luisa, with the
explicit goal of going slow enough to allow her to get her ears to
equalize, no matter how long it took. Luckily she had no problem this
time, so we headed off in a SE direction. I didn't bring my catch bag or
tickle stick with me, based on the negative reports of other divers at the
site. Of course, this guaranteed that I would see some keepers. I caught
a pretty good-size one and carried it in my hand for the whole dive. Along
the way, Luisa and I spotted some northern red anemone deep between some
boulders. (One of them is pictured on the cover of
Martinez's book on New England sea life.)
Exiting at Cathedral Rocks can sometimes be a little
rough, especially while holding onto a lobster. As I was being crashed up
onto a rock, the darn thing slipped out of my hand. I couldn't believe
that I had carried it throughout the entire dive, only to lose it at the
last moment. I put my head down into the foot-deep foamy water, spotted
the lobster zooming past me, and grabbed it on the fly!
The water temperature at the surface was near 60 F, and so after getting
out of our wetsuits, we all went back in for a refreshing swim.
After the dives, we drove over to the Shish and Fish Restaurant, which
overlooks Folly Cove, for some chowda. I had the lobster in a small
insulated cooler bag, but the inside wasn't cold and the lobster was
getting very lethargic. So we asked the waiter for a pitcher of ice water,
then furtively dumped the ice into the cooler, and asked for more and more
ice water. The waiter made a comment about how thirsty we seemed to be,
but I think he eventually caught on.
- Robert Granetz
Club dive to Nubble Lighthouse in York, Maine
Divers:
Weather: Overcast, warm.
The club got together on Saturday for a couple of
dives at this beautiful site in southern Maine. This
dive spot has relatively easy access over rocks. At
high tide however (second dive), entry/exit became a
bit more difficult, though still fairly easy.
There were more groups then I could keep track of, but
I'll give some highlights. Robert and Saul went in
first and had a couple of interesting finds. While
working their way to the right around the lighthouse
island, Saul saw a large "leaf" with a stem floating
slightly above him. However, it quickly became clear
that the leaf was actually a torpedo ray of about 6
fout diameter, with it's tail hanging down. Robert
completely missed it, as it followed Saul for about 10
feet. After later turning around, Saul and Robert
came across the ray again, this time lying in the
sand. It looked like a boulder protruding from the
ground, and Robert couldn't figure out why Saul was
staring so intently at a rock, until he saw a tail
sticking out of the "rock". It was later determined
that torpedo rays produce a 200 volt shock to stun
fish and then eat them. In addition, the
approximately 6-foot torpedo ray we saw is about as
large as they get. Local divers reported that the ray
hangs around the lighthouse for a couple of months
every summer. Robert later saw a small (maybe 6-inch)
snake like creature called a rock eel.
Throughout the day there seemed to be equipment
problems. Indeed at least two dives (one each for
Sylvie and Effie) were scrapped after they discovered
they didn't have enough weight to descend. In
addition, Sylvie discovered one of her rental tanks
was empty, and Thomas Nieland had a malfunctioning
rented first stage (both later got free rentals from
United Divers).
At this site, there is a plaque at about 15 feet which
says something like "To [Some Guy] the best diver we
know." Reportedly this is a memorial to Some Guy who
got himself killed by oxygen toxicity trying to set a
depth record on air.
Basically, this is an easy and pretty place to dive
with a good number of lobster, some flounder, a few
fish, and a few other attractions. Of course, it's
also popular, as we probably saw nearly as many divers
in the water as fish.
- Saul Rosser
Club dive to Gloucester shipwrecks
Divers:
There were five of us that showed up for the Club's first boat dive this
year. Robert, Keith, Darren, Daniela, and myself were all excited to
dive the Nina-T followed by the Chester Poling. The first dive was to be
Nina-T, with a max depth of around 105 feet. Hence most people on the
boat used Nitrox mixes around 32%. Since the second dive (on the
Poling) would be a bit less deep (around 90), most divers went for a
34-36% mix on that dive. Needless to say Keith started out by gearing up
using his 35% (which at 105 feet would have yielded around 1.5 PO2).
After my subtle correction, he switched to the 32% tank and we were
ready to go (Keith - you still owe me a beer for that one!). On the boat
we were a total of 14 people, and Darren was eyeing the dry suit gloves
that some people were using. Keith on the other hand was busy drooling
over a tandem rig...
For the Nina-T, Keith and I were joined by a third diver, Dan, who was
using air. Meanwhile Robert joined Darren and Daniela. During the
decent we all realized two things. First, the visibility was not that
great, quite a lot of silt floating through the water. Second, it was a
but nippy, around 47 degrees at the bottom. Keith and I had decided to
save some deco time for the second dive since the Poling is a much
larger and more interesting wreck than Nina-T, so after a short swim
around we started our ascent. The most notable change to the wreck is
that the stern is now missing, it must have fallen off over the winter.
Our maximum depth was 102 feet and I maxed out at 1.3 PO2 (well below
the 1.4 limit). After a safety stop we went back to the boat and heard
that Robert, in his eternal quest for knowledge, dragged his computer in
the sand to reach a 105 feet reading (or 31.9 m).
Back on the boat we realized that low 70s, cloudy and windy is not the
best environment to warm up, but the fruit and snacks provided by the
boat captain helped. After a 1 hour and 20 minute surface interval we
went to the Poling, which is a much more interesting dive. Around 170
feet long and with a berth of 40 feet. She has an interesting
opportunity to look into the part where it was broken in half (for a
more in-depth description of the wreck and the ship, see
http://www.state.ma.us/czm/ua-cap.htm).
The dive was very nice, with
much better visibility, around 20 feet and plenty of fish and very
beautiful anemones. It's easy to imagine the crew running for their lives
on the walkway that is still very much intact. After 22 minutes on the
wreck, we started our ascent and ended up doing a long and nice safety
stop at the 20 feet bar hanging from the boat. Maximum depth was 92 feet
and the max PO2 I reached was 1.32. The limit on this dive was clearly
the water temperature, not deco time or O2 loading.
By the way, if you are looking for a Nitrox calculator, check out
http://www.techdiving.org/divecalculators.html, outstanding website.
Looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible on the seal dive,
August 24th.
- Carl
Magnolia Rocks, Gloucester/Manchester
Divers:
Last Saturday (6/29) we went diving in Magnolia Rocks. It was a very nice
day for diving and apparently that dive was very popular-we were in total
11 people! We arrived at around 10:00am at the dive spot where we found
Robert guarding the ocean and all ready to go. We were divided in 3 groups
and the dive started at around 10:43am. The entrance was quite complicated:
the waves and the slippery rocks made it difficult. These problems were
overcome by crawling and waiting for the right moment when the waves had
broken and were actually pushing us into the sea rather than back onto the
rocks. After a short time we had submerged Mike realized that his tank was
loosely tied and was slipping away. So he completely removed his BC and
after fighting for a short while against all adversities he was able to fix
the problem! Robert and I that were lucky to witness this incredible
effort, were clapping underwater! The dive was very nice although the
visibility was not good. We saw some big and some tiny sea stars, two
lumpfish, a skate, a flounder, a pollock, crabs and of course lobsters. I
mostly liked the orange and scarlet seaweeds that looked like silk scarfs
and the baby lobster that Robert handed me. While we were wandering around
and Robert was busy catching his lobsters all of the sudden I became
buoyant.I struggled to go back but to no avail. Fortunately, Mike and
Robert saw me and both gave me a helping hand. Actually, Robert made sure
that I came to an anchor by puting a huge stone in the pocket of my BC.
After diving for almost half an hour we made a short break and then went
back for the second dive. During the second dive everything went well but
most people felt colder than before.There was a very strong westerly
current that made swim back and exit difficult. As a result, some people
exited a little bit further from the entrance so they had to "hike" back
but we were lucky to have Robert as a guide who brought us exactly where we
entered.
Here were the conditions:
First dive:
Second dive:
- Effie Kitsou
Catalina Island, CA
i just wanted to thank many of you who emailed to suggest "Catalina Island"
as a great place to dive near los angeles.
just for reference, i'm including some brief information below about my trip:
Catalina Island is about 15 miles off the LA coast. it was bought by the
Wrigley family (yes, the magnate of gum chewing) and the family established
%88 percent of the island as a nature preserve, where they brought animals
that had been on the endangered species list to live. it is common to find
american bison--or buffalo--roaming about the hills.
i took the ferry from long beach (about 10 miles from downtown LA) to
catalina island ($40 round trip, about 1 hour, Catalina Express; it also
leaves from a few other ports in the LA area) to the only established town on
the island, Avalon. I stayed at the catalina hotel...a bit pricey, but it
was one of the few hotels that had vacancy. there are two main dive shops on
the landing pier--SCUBA LUV and Catalina Diver's Supply (i chose the latter);
there are a number of others that are also on the island and do chartered
trips (Thomas Pedersen used a company called Sport Chalet--they also picked
up customers directly from the los angeles coast). I did all of my dives (4
tank dives) from shore entry at a place called Casino Point. It is also
convenient because if you already have your own gear, there is a tank
refilling station and scuba rental place right next to it. This is a very
popular dive spot, featuring long columns of kelp and seaweed that attracts
a variety of sealife (inluding large schools of jack mackerel, flourescent
garibaldi, kepl fish, and spiny lobsters). There are reportedly a number of
black sea bass in the area as well, growing to over 300 pounds and reportedly
living for over 70 yrs (although i didn't see any). The long columns of
kelp creates an interesting interplay of light and shadow that makes the dive
interesting, and a few shipwrecks near 70 feet are ok (but not spectacular).
I did get occasionally tangled in the kelp, but a hard tug was enough to get
free (good thing, since i wasn't carrying a knife). The water temp. was near
60 degrees, with visibility varying from 30-50 feet--typical for late may.
I've read that the best dives are the wall dives that, not surprisingly,
require a chartered boat. as i was doing my referral dives, i wasn't able to
do those more interesing ones. i'm planning on returning again this summer--if
so, i'll be sure to report on it as well.
- cheers. matt
Folly Cove
Divers:
Time: Down at 10:33 am, dive time 25 mins
Summary:
After an easy entry through mild surf, we headed due south to rocks
covered in starfish and mussels, interspersed with the occasional
lobster trap. There were teams of area divers getting certified all
around us despite the weather, populating the ocean surface with
slow-moving red and white flags. The poor visibility made for frequent
group breakups and gopher-scanning at the surface, and we broke into
smaller groups of two and three when it became time to head back to
shore. The surf got rough on exit; I broke a fin buckle while getting a
fin off in the waves. Later Keith broke a fin buckle putting a fin on
for a not-to-be second dive. Does this say something about the Cressi
Frog fins we both used? (John?) The newly certified Adrienne and Patrick
demonstrated their hardcoreness by opting for the second dive attempt
despite the water and cold weather, while I demonstrated my razor-sharp
maternal instincts by bringing a gallon of hot cocoa. Thanks also to
Elron for his warm-water bag, Patrick for the gummi-bears/worms and
"bretzels," and Keith for organizing and leading the trip!
- Matt
San Diego Wrecks and Kelp Forest
While on business in San Diego this past week, I managed to fit in one day
of wreck and kelp dives. I went out on a charter operated by the Blue
Escape dive shop, located in Mission Bay. This trip consisted of 3 dives,
the first two on the wrecks of the HMCS Yukon and the USCG Ruby E, followed
by a kelp forest dive off of Point Loma. I first dove the Yukon, a
Canadian destroyer escort, last November. Because of its huge size (366 ft
long), I was only able to view the bow portion of the ship at that time.
(See my dive report from November 2001 for more details and useful links:
http://web.mit.edu/scuba-club/www/Dives_2001.html)
This time, we came down
the mooring line near the midships onto some kind of boom structure. The
visibility was 15-20 feet (somewhat less than usual) and it took me a
moment to get my orientation and to figure out exactly where we were, so
that I could be sure of returning to the mooring line for our ascent. We
headed toward the stern, immediately passing by the impressive pair of aft
guns, which point straight down toward the sand, since the ship lies all
the way over on its port side. We traveled along the sand (max depth of
30.8 m/101 ft) along the full length of the aft deck until we came to the
stern, then around to the underside of the hull to view the massive twin
propellers, drive shafts, and rudders. The ship has purposely been
"Swiss-cheesed" with lots of entry points among its many decks, and I think
I'm familiar enough with the ship's general layout now so that the next
time I get a chance to dive it, I'll plan to penetrate to see some of the
internal attractions, such as the engine room and "Keeline Cove"
(supposedly the world's first underwater art gallery).
Our second dive was on the Coast Guard cutter "Ruby E", at a max depth of
25.7 m/84 ft. Due to the depth of these dives, and the fact that we were
doing a total of 3 dives with relatively short surface intervals, I used
35% and 36% nitrox for the 2 wreck dives. The hull of the Ruby E is
completely covered by white and pink anemone, reminiscent of a parade
float. We penetrated through several of the compartments in the bridge
area, and then headed for the large rudders in the stern, in a fruitless
search for a large resident lobster. While returning to the bow, I found
several bright blue nudibranchs with bright yellow feathery structures
(their "lungs") along their backs, which our captain had told us about.
The water temperature on both of the wreck dives was 11 C (52 F).
We then motored for about 30 minutes to get to the kelp beds off of Point
Loma. This is my first experience diving in really dense kelp, and I must
say, it's a bit unnerving trying to swim through the thick "canopy" at the
surface; the kelp seems to wrap itself around your legs and fins, as if
it's trying to keep you from getting over to the mooring line. And during
the first few moments of my descent, the plants completely covered over my
mask and tended to pull the regulator out of my mouth. Have you ever seen
those sci-fi horror flicks where the giant plants grab onto people? Now I
know where that plot idea came from. Anyway, once we descended through the
top layer, it got much easier to maneuver around. We went down to a rocky
outcropping (20.7 m/68 ft) where the kelp was anchored, and immediately ran
into an absolutely monstrous thing called a sun star. It's kind of like a
starfish, except it has 24 arms and must have been 3 ft in diameter! And
this one was blue. Talk about an idea for another horror flick. Later in
the dive we spotted another one of these things, but with more of a beige
color which blended in with the bottom much better. The visibility in the
kelp forest was only 15 feet at best, but there were plenty of unfamiliar
fish to see, including bright orange garibaldi (state fish of California).
I sure could have used one of those plastic-laminated fish guides for the
west coast. After we surfaced and got back on the boat, we caught a
glimpse of a California sea lion off in the distance. Wouldn't that have
been something to see underwater!
After three exciting dives in one day, you can be sure that I slept very
soundly that night.
- Robert Granetz
U-853 German submarine
Divers:
This past Tuesday, Barry Daniel and myself went out on the Cape Ann Divers
boat to the U-853, a German U-boat submarine that was sunk off the coast of
Rhode Island by the US Navy near the end of WWII. The sub sits upright at
a depth of almost 130 ft, and still contains the remains of its 55-member
crew. The wreck is in surprisingly good condition, despite the fearsome
bombardment of depth charges that sent it to the bottom. A short
account of its sinking can be found at:
http://www.nedive.com/thedives.htm.
Because of the depth, and the fact that we were doing two dives with only a
short surface interval, both of us used nitrox (mine was 30% O2). I also
had a pony bottle and reg, nitrox computer, two dive lights, and a wreck
reel. As we went down the mooring line the first time, I noticed that as
we descended below 100 ft, it was getting harder and harder to get air from
my regulator. It's an old, 2nd-hand, ex-rental reg that I've used for a
number of years now, but never at these depths. Anyway, I had to pause on
the way down the mooring line to catch my breath and to get accustomed to
sucking real hard for each breath. This certainly wasn't helping my
anxiety level any. We came down to the conning tower in the center of the
sub, which is 232 ft long. The visibility was about 15 ft...good enough to
follow along the deck of the ship all the way to the bow without really
needing our lights. Along the way, we came across a large hole in the hull
caused by one of the depth charges, as well as several other smaller ports,
including the torpedo-loading port near the bow.
On our second dive, we headed in the opposite direction, toward the stern.
Having become accustomed to my regulator by now, I was much more relaxed
this time. There's another large blast hole about halfway toward the
stern, and Barry and I both entered and penetrated a short distance into
the sub. I looked down its length and could see light coming through some
of the ports in the distance. Using our lights, we scanned the interior
but didn't see any bones or skulls exposed in the silt. Being inside this
wreck was much less claustrophobic for me than being inside the Poling. We
just didn't seem to stir up a lot of silt. After exiting, we continued all
the way to the stern, passing by another torpedo-loading port, and
eventually found one of the aft stabilizer fins lying in the sand on the
port side. By the time we returned to the conning tower, my computer was
down to just 2 minutes of no-decompression time. As we departed, I noticed
the periscope shroud, which still looks polished and shiny after all these
years. We did slow ascents and 3-minute safety stops on each dive. Both
of us were diving in wetsuits, and with a water temperature of 9 C (48 F),
I was fairly comfortable.
The next time I dive this, I'd like to try swimming through the interior
for an extended distance, and maybe finding the torpedo that's still in one
of the bow tubes! It really takes quite an effort to do this dive, given
the round-trip drive from Boston, the 10 mile boat trip each way, and the
extra equipment, gases, and planning one needs for a safe dive. But it's
definitely worth it.
- Robert Granetz
Old Garden Beach, Rockport, MA
Divers:
Nitrox Course Dives
The Numbers (as observed by DO, for pressure groups please reference the
PADI dive tables:
http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~playboy/diving/diving.html)
Dive #1
Dive #2
Water temp: 48F
Summary
After a leisurely surface interval including some tank switching and
Daniela digesting her seawater, the group headed out for dive #2 which
started out dark as a few showers passed overhead but became increasingly
brighter as the sun poked back out and lit up the mixed sandy/rocky
bottom. Eric and James continued practicing skills; near the end of the
dive, Daniela and Eric briefly practiced buddy breathing. Sea life
sightings included skates and numerous flounder along with the ubiquitous
lobster. After the dive, Eric and James returned for another skills session.
- Darren Obrigkeit
Normans Woe
Divers:
Robert Granetz (hyperactive scuba club member) and I (a less active
former scuba club member) went out to Norman's Woe this morning for a
single dive. We met at 9 am and were the first people there. It was
sunny, rather cool (maybe mid forties) with a light breeze and relative
calm water. A good day for diving.
- Thomas (former scubaclub member)
Wreck of the Charles Haight (Rockport), and Bass Rocks (Gloucester)
Divers:
Dives:
Temp: surface- could see your breath, water- 43F water.
Summary:
Tech stuff: Ana-Claire's weight belt fell off in the middle of the dive and
she floated to the surface madly trying to let the air out of her BCD, but to
no avail. Per Robert, when this happens you should shape your body like an X
(like the free fall people) as you float up...the drag slows you down a bit.
Luckily we had started our dive upcurrent so all she had to do was float back
to the boat. Robert saved the weight belt by taking it back to the anchor
line and tieing it there, so that some nice person would bring it up. That
nice person was Robert (who has quite a bit of lift in his BCD) who also
brought up a lobster, which alas was not quite big enough!
2) Bass Rocks: 25 ft, 27 minutes
Temp: surface- sunny and warmer, water- 45F
Summary:
- Ana-Claire
Old Garden Beach, Rockport, MA
Divers:
Dives:
Temp: 68 F surface, 47 F water.
Summary:
- Darren Obrigkeit
Halfway Rock & Nina-T
This past Sunday afternoon I went out with Cape Ann Divers to Halfway Rock,
and then to the wreck of the Nina-T. I had never dove on Halfway Rock
before, so this was a real treat. It's situated about 5 miles off of
Beverly (halfway between Boston and Gloucester, hence its moniker), and it
took us about 50 minutes to get there on their big boat. Surface
conditions were windy and cool (mid 40's F). There were seven divers on
the boat, all in drysuits, some with double tanks. Underwater, the rock
pinnacle has a shallow side and a deep side, the latter consisting of a
series of steep dropoffs punctuated by narrow ledges at some depths, and
large blocks of granite at other depths. It was quite dark at the bottom,
which was at 31.0 m (102 ft), so I began a slow ascent from there all the
way up the rock wall, where the visibility opened up to about 20 ft. There
were schools of fish swimming around me, and tons of anemones and urchins.
Hiding between two boulders was a huge tautog (I think), as well as several
very bright red anemone (northern reds?). The water was really warm for
this time of year (10 C, 50 F !) so I was very comfortable despite the
water trickling in around my neck seal.
Back on the boat, we had a 40-minute trip to get to the wreck of the
Nina-T, which afforded plenty of time to change over my tanks (I was also
using a pony bottle), and freeze from the wind and spray. All the other
divers went into the (over)heated cabin, but I didn't want to challenge my
seasickness medication.
The Nina-T is a wooden fishing trawler, purposely sunk 5 years ago. I've
now done this wreck a number of times, including last summer and again just
7 weeks ago, so it's getting to look very familiar. Along the port side
there was a trap with two large lobsters and a sculpin inside. The water
was noticeably colder here (7 C, 45 F). (Could the warm temperature at
Halfway Rock be due to the new outflow pipe?) My max depth was 30.3 m (99 ft),
and I had to watch my NDL reading on the computer (minutes remaining before
having to do required decompression). I guess I cut it a little close,
because the computer did switch to deco mode just as I was leaving the
deck. First time that's ever happened to me. But it didn't require any
more than a normal ascent and safety stop.
- Robert Granetz
Folly Cove
Divers:
Folly Cove Dive Report: Signs of Spring
Robert Granetz and I (Darren Obrigkeit) went out to Folly Cove for a couple
of dives this Saturday. The parking area was packed and I managed to just
squeeze out a spot and their were a couple of groups of 4-6 divers out
enjoying the nice balmy weather.
Surf conditions were ideal with a flat surface and good but not exceptional
underwater visibility. Water temperatures were at a steady 40 F, allowing
for extended 40 minute dive times with a drysuit (one of the divers in
another group did dive wet).
Sea life has already starting to come back - rocks are covered with tiny
(<1 cm) mussels and large schools of very tiny fish (<1 cm) actually appear
to "cloud" the water in low spots and cracks between rocks.
Dive #1:
Dive #2:
Heading - out along left side of cove starting well out from the gazebo.
Probably approached the point given depth and extremely low tide.
Sea life:
Equipment notes: Robert's fin strap broke just before the first dive, so
his save-a-dive kit lived up to its name.
- Darren Obrigkeit
Gloucester shipwrecks
On Saturday I went out with Cape Ann Divers to see the wrecks of the Nina-T
and the Chester Poling, which are just a mile or two outside of the
Gloucester harbor breakwater. Many of you may have heard of these wrecks
already, so I'll just briefly say that the Nina-T was a 70 ft wooden
fishing trawler which was purposely sunk in the autumn of 1997, and the
Poling was a steel coastal oil tanker which sank in January 1977 during a
winter storm. Both are still mostly intact, and I personally think these
are the best wreck dives in the area for recreational divers.
We left the dock at 10:00 with a total of seven divers on the big boat
(which can hold up to 14), so it was rather spacious for once. It was
chilly in the morning, and while we were donning drysuits, the first mate
was busy chopping ice off the deck so that we wouldn't slip off the stern.
I was looking to buddy up with someone, and in an incredible stroke of
chance, I recognized another diver on the boat with whom I had buddied with
on some wreck dives in San Diego last November, so we buddied up again.
After a very short boat ride, we moored at the Nina-T and followed the line
down to the big winch just in front of the wheelhouse. Unlike my other
dives this winter, the visibility on this dive was only 10-15 feet. I was
using the club's brand new nitrox-compatible computer (which club members
can rent for $3, by the way), and although I had initially thought it was
going to be too conservative, it actually ended up giving me much more
bottom time than the tables would have. This computer is also easily
switchable to metric units, so I can tell you that my maximum depth on both
dives was 30.7 m (101 ft), and the water temperature was 5 C (41 F), which
is a couple of degrees warmer than last month. There still wasn't much sea
life around though.
During the relatively short surface interval (70 minutes), I took note of
some of the other divers' equipment, which is always fun to do on these
advanced dives. One guy had dual 120 cu. ft. steel cylinders, and he
really could have used a crane to hoist himself in and out of the water.
Another had a very impressive photography setup with multiple strobe lights
and a huge lens. And one diver carried a tank of argon, which some people
use to fill their drysuits, since argon has a lower thermal conductivity
than air.
For our second dive, we descended on the mooring line to the broken end of
the Poling. We were greeted by a big sluggish lumpfish (I think) nearby on
the deck. The visibility was noticeably better on this wreck, even though
it's only a very short distance from the Nina-T. The computer gave me a
no-decompression bottom time of nearly 20 minutes, which was great, since
the dive tables wouldn't even have allowed this second dive. It would be
great to get some videotape of us on this wreck and put it on our website.
Oh yes, my dives today mean that I have again succeeded in diving at least
once a month for 12 consecutive months (and 24 out of the last 25 months).
Now that the water has started warming up, I hope to see more MIT divers in
the water.
- Robert Granetz
Folly Cove
I went diving at Folly Cove this Sunday morning. I didn't get any takers
to my recent e-mail request, so I went solo again. I expected to have the
cove to myself, but when I arrived, the place was hopping, and I had to
squeeze into the last parking spot. (Most of the other divers were from
the South Shore Neptune Club.) Maybe I shouldn't have been too surprised,
since the stiff SW wind probably made other sites kind of rough. But Folly
Cove was nice and calm, and even from the parking area you could see down
to the bottom, attesting to the good viz. The weather was mostly overcast,
with air temperature in the upper 30's F, and a little snow still dotting
the shoreline. February is usually when sea life around here is at it's
minimum, so I was really surprised to see LOTS of small and medium-sized
lobsters along the right side of the cove, particularly since I didn't see
any on my last dive four weeks ago. There weren't any keepers yet, but I
predict it's going to be a very good summer lobstering season. Most of the
crabs were still rather comatose, and I also took note of quite a number of
starfish hanging from rock ledges by just one or two arms. I also spied a
lot of teeny-weeny (~1 cm) nearly-transparent shrimp-like things swimming
all over the place, which I've never noticed before. I didn't think we had
shrimp around here. If anybody knows more about these, please let me know.
Near the end of my dive I came across a huge dead fish head and partial
skeleton. I thought about bringing it back to gross out my kids, but
decided not to, on the off chance that it might be a trap set by a clever
great white shark. The water temp was 37 F, and I got a little chilled
part way through my dive, but some vigorous finning warmed me back up
again, and I ended up having a 51-minute dive. When I exited, I found that
the mysterious little leak in my drysuit seems to be getting a lot worse --
no wonder I got a little chilled. If I manage to do a dive next month, I
will have completed 12 months with at least one dive in each month (again),
so those of you who want to get wet in March, you know who to call.
P.S. I was planning on getting my ice diving certification this month, but
both courses that I looked into had to cancel due to lack of thick enough
ice. Bummer!
- Robert Granetz
Magnolia Rocks
Last Saturday was the first chance since the holidays that I've had to go
diving. None of the club's hardcore diehards could make it (John, Darren,
Keith, etc.), so I went solo diving at Magnolia Rocks. The weather was
kind of overcast, with stiff winds from the SW, but the waves were only 1-2
ft. Both the air and water temperatures were 39 F. As John reported
recently, the visibility was incredible -- from the bottom at 40 feet I
could follow the flag line up and see my float, and even my flag above the
surface. Of course, that was about the only thing there was to see...not
much animal life. I spotted one lonely crab hanging around an empty
lobster trap, and a few anemone that were still responsive to my touch.
There was a surprisingly strong current along the bottom, and getting back
to shore proved to be exhausting. Dive duration was 42 minutes, and I
didn't get cold. But I'm still puzzling over how a little bit of water is
consistently getting into my drysuit.
The following day (Sunday), I took my kids skiing. Being able to go diving
and skiing in the same weekend is one of the things I like about living in
the Boston area!
- Robert Granetz
Magnolia Rocks
Divers:
Here is a quicky report for an early am dive today.
Visibility: 40 ft!
Eric and I entered the water around 8am at Magnolia. The entry was a
bit tricky as it was low tide in addition to some very slippery
rocks... There was a strong surface surge so we descended quickly and
continued out on a dew south course for approx 22 minutes. The
visibilty was incredible and the water temperature actually went up a
few degrees as we got deeper and father from the shore. Not many
critters to see but it was a very peaceful dive. We turned back after
23 minutes and headed for shore. The exit was more difficult as the
surge had picked up. Total bottom time was around 46 minutes with a max
depth of 30 ft.
I made a bunch of equipment changes which made the dive a bit
interesting. The first major change was the installation of a "relief"
valve in my drysuit (sorry ladies.. only available for men at this
time). What a "relief" to be able to drink plenty of fluids before the
dive and not have to worry about what to do when the inevitable time
comes.. especially when diving in sub-40 degree water. The second
change was a changeover to the SiTech (sp?) dry-glove system (quick
release version or whatever they are called). I remembered to put a
straws under my wrist seal so the pressure would equalize... in
retrospect, this was a bad idea as the left glove flooded almost
immediately causing my left are to flood as well.. would have been ok
except the water temp was a bit too cold causing my left hand to go numb
and become useless throughout the dive.. oh well.. Looks like the
dry-glove system will be going back on ebay soon. The third change was
a new set of fins.. I picked up a set of the Scubapro TwinJets which I
was skeptical about at first.. they seemed like more of a hazard (snag,
etc) that they were worth. Reviews on the tech lists have been mixed
about them. From the second I got into the water, I was amazed by how
effective they are! They feel like you are cutting through butter with
a warm knife. Absolutely amazing.. they even provide a substantial
amount of thrust (although they don't feel like they are providing
any). Definitely a big plus in avoiding leg cramps.. And last but not
least was a new set of regs.. I picked up two sets of used Apeks TX50s
to use as my deco regs but wanted to try them out first... they were
previously owned by a cave diver in florida and heavily used (and was
told they were long overdue for an overhaul).. Incredible regs for the
price.. no question what I will be replacing my backgas regs with in
the future.. No chugging, almost no noticable breathing resistance,
very consistent and smooth gas flow..
So despite the flooded glove, the dive went great. Hopefully I will be
going out again next week if anybody is interested in coming.
- John Koser
Last updated by Robert Granetz on 27 Dec 2002.
Saturday, 21 December 2002
Author: Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)
Sunday, 03 November 2002
Author: Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)
Late October, 2002
Author: Matthew Grein (megrein@mit.edu)
Divers: matt grein, mark grein, tera heintz
Water Temp: 70-75 deg. C
Air Temp: 80-90 deg. C
Surface: choppy
Vis: 100-150 ft.
Monday, 14 October 2002
Author: Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)
Sunday, 29 September 2002
Author: Keith Thoresz (thorek@mit.edu)
Friday, 20 Sept 2002
Author:
Thomas Nieland (nieland@cbr.med.harvard.edu)
Saturday, 14 Sept 2002
Author:
Thomas Nieland (nieland@cbr.med.harvard.edu)
Saturday, 07 Sept 2002
Author:
Rayco Henning (rhenning@mit.edu)
Air Temp: 75-80oF
Weather: Very nice. Partly Cloudy.
Water Temp: 60oF
First Dive was at about 9am, second at noon.
Visibility : Varied from less than 10' to 15'
Depth: No more than 30' on both dives
Times: First dive was 30min, second 40min.
Tide: Fairly high at first dive. Going out for second
Saturday, 07 Sept 2002
Author:
Matt Grein (megrein@mit.edu)
10-15 ft. 2nd dive
Surface conditions: calm; air temp. 80-85 F
Tides: high tide, 1st dive
Max Depth: 40'
Sunday, 25 August 2002
Author: Luisa Marcelino (luisam@mit.edu)
Saturday, 24 August 2002
Author: Matt Grein (megrein@mit.edu)
(excerpted from e-mail to R. Granetz)
Saturday, 10 August 2002
Author: Reyco Henning (rhenning@mit.edu)
Vital stats of group 1's dive 1:
Tide: Low, coming in
Hour : about 9:30am
Visibility : 10'-15'
Max depth : 25'
Time : 31 min.
Water temp : About 60 F
Vital stats for group 1's dive 2
Tide : Almost high
Hour : about 11am.
Visibility : 10-15'
Temp : 60 F Max.
Depth : 35'
Time : 33min.
Saturday, 03 August 2002
Author: Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)
Saturday, 27 July 2002
Author: Saul Rosser (saul.rosser@aya.yale.edu)
(also joined by Nic ??? From RPI)
Water Temp: Over 50 at surface.
Mid to high 40s at 50 feet
Vis: 10-20 feet
Saturday, 20 July 2002
Author: Carl Stjernfeldt (carl@battery.com)
And now ladies and gentlemen, I saw the proof that the human kind is
slowly adopting technology, walking out of the cave, leaving the club
and spear at home. Robert had a computer! For anyone who has dove with
Robert, you understand the significance of him wearing this device....
Saturday, 29 June 2002
Author: Effie Kitsou (effiekitsou@yahoo.com)
10:43am
Max depth: 34 feet
Dive time: 29 minutes
Water: 52 degrees
Visibilty: 10 feet
12:34pm
Max depth,:34 feet
Dive time: 26 minutes
Late May 2002
Author:
Matthew Grein (megrein@mit.edu)
Saturday, 15 June 2002
Author:
Matt Grimes (mkg@media.mit.edu)
Temp: surface- 55F, water- 50F
Visibility: 5' ~ 10'
Weather: Cloudy, some wind with heavy drizzle, calm surf on entry,
picking up on exit.
Current: Moderate surge
Thursday, 13 June 2002
Author:
Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)
Tuesday, 04 June 2002
Author:
Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)
Sunday, 26 May 2002
Author:
Darren Obrigkeit (obrigkeit@alum.mit.edu)
-------------------
Mix: 33.5% O2
Maximum operating depth (@1.4 atm O2): 105'
Actual maximum depth: 40'
Equivalent air depth: 28'
Maximum bottom time: 205 minutes
Actual bottom time: 0:33
Pressure group after dive: F
Surface Interval: 2:34
Beginning Pressure Group: A
Mix: 35.6% O2
Maximum operating depth (@1.4 atm O2): 97'
Actual maximum depth: 25'
Equivalent air depth: 14'
Residual Nitrogen Time: 0:10
Maximum bottom time: 195 minutes
Actual bottom time: 0:27
Adjusted bottom time (including residual nitrogen time): 0:37
Pressure group after dive: G
Air temp: upper 60's
Seas: Calm
Tide: High (~11:30 am)
Visibility: excellent (20-25')
Equipment:
Daniela: Wetsuit, steel 72 (Dive 1), steel 72 w/30 cu. ft. pony (Dive 2).
Darren: Drysuit (dry), steel 98 (Dive 1), steel 72 (Dive 2)
James: Drysuit, canister light, double aluminum 80s, 2+ 40 cu. ft. deco bottles,
dry gloves (soaked), D-battery heated socks
Eric: Drysuit (soaked), canister light, doubles (Dive 1), steel 80 (Dive 2), D-battery
heated socks
--------------
On the first dive Daniela, Darren and Eric practiced mask removal and
clearing, then went for a 400 ft. swim along a line laid down by James in
order to count fin kicks (I accomplished this in roughly 113 frog kicks)
and monitor air consumption. After finishing the swim, Eric and James
started to practice skills switching air sources in their tech
rigs; shortly thereafter we turned back down the line because Daniela was
down to 60 bar (870 psi). After ascending at the flag line with a safety
stop everyone regrouped. As Daniela had only 20 bar (290 psi) left; Eric
suggested to share air with her for a submerged return to shore. Everyone
submerged and returned a group; James later handed off a deco bottle to
Eric, who encountered bouyancy problems during the transfer and surfaced
with Daniela. After losing the air-sharing divers, Darren and James
surfaced for a leisurely swim back to shore. Meanwhile Eric and Daniela
descended. While Daniela encountered ear-clearing problems and stopped
Eric continued descending. After taking a gulp of air in lieu of the next
breath as Eric's second stage continued to descend with him, Daniela opted
for an ascent to the nearby surface only to be interrupted by a tangle with
the flag line. A couple of swift, urgent kicks released the snag. The
air-sharing divers regrouped on the surface, resubmerged and returned to shore.
Sunday, 19 May 2002
Author:
Thomas Pedersen (tsp22@columbia.edu)
Stats:
Water temperature 45 degrees, vis. about 20 feet, 41 minutes dive, max
depth 30 ft. We were in wetsuits. It was cold but not to the extent that
it interfered with enjoying the dive.
Description:
My main motivation for going was to repeat last year's excellent
lumpfish catching dive(s) (see dive report from exact same date and
place last year..!
http://www.mit.edu/activities/scuba-club/Dives_2001.html#NormansWoe_05_19).
Not a single lumpfish in sight this time. Very odd. They are obviously
not using the standard calendar. But with good visibility, the sunshine
providing lots of underwater color in the seaweed, sightings of numerous
lobsters, a few skates and flounder, it was a really good dive. And we
didn't have to leave empty handed. Robert bagged two legal size
lobsters. I still would have liked to catch a 15 pound lumpfish, but I
guess I'll have to wait until May 19, 2003.
Sunday, 05 May 2002
Author:
Ana-Claire Meyer (ana-claire_meyer@student.hms.harvard.edu)
1) The Wreck of the Charles S. Haight: 35 ft, 13-30 minutes
Visiblity: 15'
Sea was calm, strong current even at depth
The wreck is an old liberty ship which ran aground. It was later dynamited as
it posed a navigation hazard. The bow is more or less intact and the wreckage
spills along for about 300ft. We stayed mostly around the bow. There was a
fun swim through that was eerie given the visibility and partly cloudy
morning. Beautiful feather duster worms, starfishes, no big sea life. Doing
this in a wetsuit was chilling!
[clarification from RSG: I did not add any air to my BC. Doing so would be
unsafe.]
Visibilty: 25'
Sea calm, no current
Bass rocks is a pretty boulder field full of sea life. Lots of crustaceans,
we saw a nice skate where the boat was anchored, some little fish that hide in
the seaweed whose name i have forgotten. Nice mellow dive. We even forgot
how cold we were!
Sunday, 05 May 2002
Author:
Darren Obrigkeit
(obrigkeit@alum.mit.edu)
#1: 21 ft, 26 minutes
#2: 13 ft, 25 minutes
Visibility: 15-25'
Surf: none
Old Garden beach is a great spot for easy entry yet offers a variety of
bottom compositions ranging from sandy to seaweed beds to boulder-strewn
and a corresponding variety of sea life. During the two dives, we saw a
lumpfish, flounder, rock gunnel, a toad crab and numerous rock crabs as
well as a couple of lobster hiding under rocks. On both dives, we headed
out along the rocky bottom on the right side of the cove. Visibility was
excellent with an offshore breeze and no surf; both dives were on the
shallow side due to the low tide.
Sunday, 21 April 2002
Author:
Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)
Saturday, 09 March 2002
Author:
Darren Obrigkeit (obrigkeit@alum.mit.edu)
Time: 40 mins.
Depth: 23 feet
Visibility: 10-15 feet
Heading - out along right side of cove (looking out at ocean)
Tide - ebb, about halfway to low tide
Time: 40 mins.
Depth: 37 feet
Visibility: 15-20 feet
Moon snails, large flounder (couldn't get close enough to
identify specific species), sea raven, juvenile lobster and many tiny
little fish fry (unable to identify due to size and difference between fry
and adult appearances).
Saturday, 02 March 2002
Author:
Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)
Sunday, 10 February 2002
Author:
Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)
Saturday, 12 January 2002
Author:
Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)
Saturday, 05 January 2002
Author:
John Koser (jkoser@mit.edu)
H2O Temp: 37-41 deg F
Air Temp: 31-34 deg F
Current: Moderate to the east
accesses since January 23, 2002 with
per day.
