August 23rd 2008

Last Saturday the Tuna Seazure was host to several new divers out for their first ocean dive along with a few veterans and regulars. I love seeing the smile on the face of a new diver when they get back from their first ocean dive. It reminds me of how mysterious and alien the underwater world appeared when I first took up scuba diving years ago.

We ran two charters today and since most of the divers were new (and the conditions were so good) we decided to run to the Glory for both. We had calm seas today. Visibility on the surface was murky for the first 20ft then it opened up and we had a good 20+ft of visibility all the way down to the wreck. On the bottom there were plenty of fish on the wreck today. I don’t know how the fishermen did in the fluke tournament, but there were plenty to go around on the Glory. The wreck was also loaded with Sea Bass and Tautog as well. Most of the lobsters were on the smaller side, but a few keepers did come up.

New divers back from their first ocean dive!

The glory is a good example of a typical Jersey wreck. Her identity remains elusive (Kennebec, Lake Frampton,???) so she there some mystery to this wreck. She has been wire dragged so the wreckage is low lying in many places but continuous so that you can follow her outline. The highest points of relief are the bow (20ft), boilers and the rudder and steering quadrant (my favorite part of this wreck). The prop is still in place and there is even a spare prop lying on its side between the boilers and the bow. There is a lot of machinery including the large deck winches in the bow as well as the engine. Large bollards can be found throughout the wreck as well as hatch covers and other recognizable items. There are a few placed that you can penetrate in the bow and if you are skinny you can swim into the shaft ally and scare out some of the bigger fish that reside there. We ran a line from the bow to the boilers. This allowed us to run the entire length of the wreck with out worrying about getting lost.

We had our usual fun during the surface interval as well. While the Chinese were winning medals in the diving finals in Beijing, Kenny and Annette were demonstrating their own unique form off of the Tuna Seazure. Thanks to dive master John Cogan for helping keep an eye on the new divers today. Kenny “the gill man” Lownes and Capt. Bill kept us entertained as usual. Congratulations to all of the new “Jersey Wreck Divers”

Kenny Enjoying the View….of the ocean that is

Not everything went as planned today!