Weekend Dive Report 04/26/08

Alarm clock went off at 2.53AM. Sat up and said to myself, “Self you need to pick a sport that does not require waking up at these horrible hours”.

I was on the road by 3.20A and made it to the Docks by 5.50 w/ a stop at Wawa too. Capt Bill was already on the boat. We had the customary Hellos and I proceeded to load my gear at my favorite place on the boat, Port side forward.

The Mates and other sports all showed, at about 6.45A Capt Bill fired the Horse power and we had noise and stink from the Diesels. This is always the time I get a few butterflies.

We were out of the marina by 7.00A Ran at about 22kt to the Wreck. We had been planning to dive the John Marvin, but took a vote on the boat and we all agreed to dive the Glory. She is generally a good lobster wreck, big enough to spread out a load of 6 divers.

Capt Bill laid the hook pretty much dead center, Mate Ken tied us in and it was time to get wet.

Conditions were 2-3 footers and overcast. It was going to be dark, but not terrible; the Glory sits at about 70FSW on a sand bottom.

Rolled over and the 1st blast of cold see water hit me, blew the air started down. I always like to go slow along the Carolina rigging, as I listen for any free flow, get rid of the cold water sinus head ache Etc.

I started my decent down the anchor line, letting pressure and weight carry me down the line. This is always one my favorite parts of the dive you often can not see anything during decent as you clear your ears and bleed some air into the dry suit. Then out of the green gloom you start to see the strobe lights flashing and you add some more air to the dry suit and slowly settle yourself on the bottom. I just love it!!

Visibility was around 10-15 I guess. I’m never really good a judging the visability. Proceeded to tie in my wreck line and it was off to start hunting Bugs, Pretty soon I found a small male, give him a little kiss and put him back into his hole, continued looking and eventually found one that looked like it would be legal by the size of the claws, managed to get hold of her and she gave me a good little pinch on the finger. At least I knew I was not going to lose this one. Stuck her in the bag and keep looking, saw a few more dinks and left them alone. These little fellows have balls, they hang out side their holes w/ claws up looking to scrap. Makes me chuckle.

About this time had a bit of a chill and gas was starting below 1,000 Psi, headed up the line, good hang for 2 min at 35 foot and a good 5min at 15 or so. Figured I would hang it a little longer due to being cold.

On the surface interval it is always exciting to see the other sports come over the rail looking to see how they made out. We had a couple keeper bugs and one cool old bottle off the wreck. We also had an increasing east wind and building swell.

Proceeded to eat some lunch, shoot the BS and change over tanks. Decided I was going to get a second dive in and hoped the swells stayed down while I was on the bottom.

Second dive was quite nice; I went forward on the wreck and found a couple more lobsters to mess w/. These two proved to be to fast to get. I had hold of one of them, but in the process of trying to get my arm farther into the hole, I proceeded to knock my mask half off my face and the regulator half out of my mouth. Got myself back in order and saw I had about 5-6 minutes before I turned this in to a decompression dive. Picked up a sand dollar and a star fish for my little girl at home and worked my way back to the line.

On the surface winds were up and seas were a solid 3-5. Got hold of the ladder and hung on. I was glad to be back on my seat, tired but happy.

We got all back on board and were back at the Dock by Noon.

With a full boat Saturday and Sunday I was really looking forward to the week end it’s so nice to get out on the water finally. Well mother nature was not going to help me enjoy the week end. Saturday was looking alright as the weather GOD said the wind wouldn’t rip till the afternoon. We tore out the inlet and although we were to go to the John Marvin a vote was taken and it was off the Gloria. Two to three ft. seas and nice vis for this time of year (15 ft. ). The lobsters although smaller were on the wreck and three or four keepers came up. The fish life has started to hang out on the wreck and a good time was had by all. Sanford and son even found a “new” cache of scrap for future recovery. By 10 the wind had started to rip between 15 and 20 kts. out of the east so it started to get bumpy an early warning of what to expect for Sunday. By the time Gillman had rigged the hook and gotten back on the boat it was a steady 3 to 5. The good news for us is it was on the stern on the way in so as always the Tunaseazure just blasted back. Well we did lose Sunday but Saturday did prove just how nice diving is on the Atlantic. Now we had our usual “surface interval” discussion, some of which I won’t bore you folks with. The meat of the discussion centered on why we love this. Many things are the reasons but one of them is the fun we all have on the boat. It doesn’t matter how much or how little you have. We’re all here for the same reason to enjoy the ocean and what the bottom has to offer. When your on the bottom everything else just melts away. You mind and body melts into the moment as you visit the wreck. Work, homelife, money all your concerns just melt away. No phones no worry and no hangover. It’s very hard for someone that doesn’t do this to understand just how special this time is. Even when I don’t get to dive I feel it and this is why so many of us do this. I mean it’s not easy, up at the crack of dawn, carrying heavy gear, the expense, but like they say on T.V. “PRICELESS". I’ll be running any day, weather permitting, we can get at least four people. Thanks so much for letting me be part of this special time. Capt. Bill and the crew of the Tunaseazure. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Alright I know everyone’s going to think I’m stretching the truth but what a day we had Saturday. We left the dock by 7 am with 5 divers (had 1 cancel should have been 6) all of us amazed by the lack of wind. This year it seems that’s all we get. Capt. in training Chris took over the helm after we cleared the inlet as Gillman and I sat back and enjoyed the ride. Chris piloted the boat right on to the wreck then went up to throw the grapply thing into the wreck. The mighty Gillman did his usual quite reliable tie in and away the divers went to see what the double east looked like this season. They came back as Chris and I got suited up to do some diving ourselves. Reports were 5 ft of vis. Who cares I’m going diving and of course who needs to see when mussels are everywhere. Well by the time Chris and I got to the bottom we had a solid 15 to 20 ft. so I suppose it cleared up or maybe the “barduce” needs glasses. Anyway the wreck has once again changed, there’s a lot more debris exposed around the slabs. I had a great dive It was all but 50 degrees and decent vis, calm seas and sunny, PRICELESS. After we all got our dives in we all agreed what a perfect day and what a great bunch of dives. A bunch of mussels came up. I saw some very nice seabass of course fillet and release Chris couldn’t get any thing decent although he did try to sell us on the biggy that got away. Some lobster were spotted but except for a female with eggs they just gave us the claw sign. As usual the gillman rigged the hook we popped out and started home dragging our mussels. I really hated to leave such a great dive site and a wonderful day drew to a close. Of course the wind came back Sunday and the tunaseazure sat at the dock, but after Saturday it hardly bothered me. We’ll be diving any day we can get at least four divers and have decent seas. We have had to raise the price to 90 dollars and hopefully we’ll be able to keep it there. Captain Bill and the crew of the tunaseazure arrrrrrrrrrrrr.

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 46oF which seems warm for this time
of year but who’s complaining. One toddler lobster was boated and returned
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.

-b

This weekend NESS divers Brandon McWilliams, John Cogan, Chris Odonell,
and myself headed up to Bainbridge to get our weekly diving fix. There were
a handfull of hardy Winter divers already gearing up when we arrived. I
even saw one diver in a wetsuit! As we were setting up we also ran into
Mark Nix and Dave Sutton. They were there testing out different gear
configurations on their rebreathers. There was a nice mix of rebreathers
there with our two Optima’s, Brandon’s Meg, Mark’s Hammerhead and Dave’s
Revo. We almost outnumbered the open circuit divers today.

In the water visibility was about 30ft in most areas. The water temp
was a bit chilly. We had 38-40 degrees on the bottom depending on who’s
computer you looked at. There was a thermocline of 2 degrees at about 30ft.
Two degrees doesn’t sound like a lot, but it felt really good after almost
an hour on the bottom.

Despite the water temp we had a great dive. Afterwards we had some
time to BS with Dave who runs the dive boat Explorer about the upcoming dive
season. Bill is putting the Tuna Seazure back in the water this week so we
will be ready to run the next weekend we have good weather. After all these
fresh water dives I can’t wait to get back into the ocean.

–Dan Martinez