I'm sending this now, 'cos I'm lame and forgot to send one out a couple of weeks ago when we did the dive, but I was reminded yesterday when we had a second attempt at diving the U-boat down in Rhode Island.

On our first attempt the weather forecast was 2 to 4 foot waves and 15 to 20 knot winds rising to 4 to 8 foot waves and 20 to 25 knot winds, so the dive got cancelled. Having been ready to do the U-boat I was all set with twin 120 cu ft tanks full of nitrox, so Darren and I went out and dove Folly Cove instead, which was flat as a pancake. I lent one of the tanks to Darren and we had a monster 75 minute dive with plenty of air to spare. We saw lots of anenomies and starfish above 25 foot and lots of fish down at 40 foot, but by far the best thing was the torpedo ray! We were swimming along and all of a sudden we noticed this 4 to 5 foot long ray just hanging out on the sandy bottom half covered in sand. I was trying to swim a little closer to have a good look, while Darren was trying to get out of its way. I only found out afterwards that torpedo rays can deliver a 200 volt shock and are one of the few marine creatures in New England that can be deadly to humans! Darren unlike myself had the virtue of having taken a fish I.D. course. Darren brought his trident and catch bag with him and managed to catch two flounder durign the dive. We also saw a school of pollock at depth and swam over 4 skates hiding in the sand one the way back. It wasn't the U-boat, but was well worth it anyway.

- Darrel Robertson

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Isles of Shoals (More Close Encounters of the Seal Kind)
Saturday, 25 August 2001
Author: Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu )

Divers:

In Keith's e-mail from last week, he described the close encounters he had with seals at the Isles of Shoals. Keith ended his e-mail by saying "I have to believe that that level of interaction is rare." Well, after the club outing today to the Isles of Shoals, I can definitely say that it is NOT rare, because the same thing happened on our dives. We did both dives on the west side of Duck Island, where most of the seals hang out (primarily because Luisa threatened the captain with mutiny if she didn't see a seal). Around the perimeter of the island we could see lots and lots of seals sunning themselves on this beautiful day. We split up into 3 dive pairs and headed out in separate directions. Carl and I headed straight for the shallows just off the island's edge. After sitting quietly on the bottom (at a depth of only 20 ft or less) we started seeing some harbor seals swimming around us, but at a distance (visibility was about 15 feet). After waiting a few more minutes, we decided to swim off in another direction. It was then that Carl felt something touching his fin. I had my head buried in some rocks looking for lobster, when Carl motioned that I should turn around. WOW! Right there with us was one of the seals! I was so astonished that I think I almost swallowed my regulator. I let him nibble on my fin, and he used his front flipper (paw?) to gently move my leg around. Note: they have pretty impressive claws on those paws. When that seal finally left us, Carl and I started heading back to the boat, and more seals continued to circle around us. Carl had a snout-to-mask staring contest with a large gray seal. (Carl claims he won.) We got back on the boat after nearly an hour-long dive, and exchanged stories with the other club members. Everyone had seen seals, and Tom and Hayley had also had face-to-face close encounters. After a very short surface interval we started our second dive at a slightly different location. The water temperature was about 53 F, and many of us noticed a distinct chill at the beginning of our second dive. We didn't see any seals underwater on this dive, but we did notice some pretty big lobsters in some of the traps. We also stumbled across this strange patch of near-zero visibility, due to some kind of milky white substance in the water and on the ground. The highlight of the second dive for me was observing a crab eating a lobster. (I have also seen a lobster eating a crab.)

We got back to the dock around 12:30, and all six of us celebrated our good fortune by having a leisurely lunch at an outdoor restaurant in downtown Portsmouth, followed by some delicious ice cream. Great dives, splendid weather, and good food. Maybe we should make this an annual club event.

- Robert Granetz

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Isles of Shoals (Close Encounters of the Seal Kind)
Sat/Sun, 18/19 August 2001
Author: Keith Thoresz (thorek@mit.edu )

Divers:

Kevin and I completed five dives over the weekend, three on Saturday and two on Sunday. All dives were on the south side of Duck Island. The seals were known to be at this location, and that is where we found them.

Dive 1:
35 minutes. Breathing EAN32, Kevin and I dived to 85 feet and were adjusting bouyancy when we were joined by a large, white seal. This beautiful animal with saucer eyes and an innocent looking face came within five feet of us. Kevin and I were astounded. The seal spent a minute staring at us, and we at it, before it swam off to a nearby rock. When we pursued the seal, it made for the surface. We saw no more seals the duration of the dive, but we did see a few humongous lobsters. Unfortunately, there is no lobster hunting allowed for divers in either New Hampshire or Maine. The underwater terrain was absolutely beautiful. The island has many nooks and crannies to explore.

Dive 2:
53 minutes. Hoping to get a closer look at the seals, we moved in toward the island to the area where we could see them playing. We picked a spot and stayed there, hoping the seals would eventually come to us. For the first 30 minutes we could see them circling around us from a distance of about 20 feet. They were curious but wary. Getting restless, we moved on and quickly stumbled onto one seal hanging out in a deep crevice. This seal was different than the rest. It let us get close, real close. It swam all around us, within reaching distance, making pirouettes and loops. It moved in on Kevin and nibbled on his fins! (Apparently this is a behavior they do with each other.) I had never realized that seals had such large mouths and big teeth. If this animal wanted to hurt you, it could very easily.

The seal settled down and began calmly chewing on strands of kelp. Kevin snapped off a piece and held it out. The seal seemed to consider it for a moment and then reached over and took the kelp in its mouth. It flipped over onto its back and began slowly shredding the kelp with its flipper. All of this activity went on for several minutes. I just hoped that it would continue until my air ran low. Needing its own air, the seal surfaced and came back down to join us. This time the seal began blowing bubbles out of its nose, perhaps in an attempt to mimick us. Whatever the reason, Kevin and I were impressed. While blowing bubbles, the seal was also making an audible exhalation noise. We did the same in return, hoping that we were communicating something positive, not stressful.

We played around like this for a few minutes longer. The seal disappeared to the surface again but this time did not return for several minutes. Thinking it was finished with us, and low on air, Kevin and I headed back to the boat. While I was kicking along I felt my fins hitting something. I thought I was kicking some rocks but that seemed strange because I was sure we had passed them already. When I looked back I saw the seal nibbling on my fins!!! It had followed us back! When it had gotten my attention, it went down to Kevin and did the same. We stayed for another minute but we were already low on air and made for the surface. The seal stayed in position and watched us leave. It almost seemed sad with those big saucer eyes.

The remaining dives were good but anticlimactic (except for the mammoth three foot lobster that we stumbled on during the last dive). We saw lots of seals, sometimes getting close to them. On the last dive we observed four or fives seals laying on the bottom in a group. We have no idea what they were doing, although it looked like they were resting. But I'll never forget that second dive. I have to believe that that level of interaction is rare. It is incredible that these undomesticated animals would trust us enough to let us play with them and touch them, not expecting food rewards, but just for their own amusement.

- Keith Thoresz

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U-853 Submarine, off RI coast
Saturday, 28 July 2001
Author: Keith Thoresz (thorek@mit.edu )

Divers:

Dive #1:
Max depth: 118 ft.
Time at depth: 15 minutes
Total time: 28 minutes
Tide: Low, surface calm
Visibility: 10'
Water temp: 70F on the surface, 58 at depth

Summary:
The U853--thought by some to be the baddest dive in New England. Don't know if it's true, but it is a dive that everyone should do at least once. The U853 has an interesting story that you can find everywhere on the Internet. The dive is all the more exciting knowing that there is an unexploded depth charge in the area!

We went prepared with EAN28 to get a longer bottom time. 28 is a lean mixture appropriate for the max depth of the sub at high tide (~135 ft.) It would be worth watching the tide and trying for a 30% mixture.

The sub has three moorings. Two are directly next to one another, and I think they lead down to the stern and the conning tower. The other leads down more towards the bow; we descended on this line. Vis being pretty poor, we didn't see the boat until we were almost right on top of it. Slowly the conning tower with its antiaircraft guns came into view. What an amazing sight! We settled onto the deck at 110 ft. and did a narcosis check. All clear, we proceeded over the side and worked our way around the hull, inspecting the many openings along the side.

Eight minutes at depth. On the opposite side of the sub we jumped back up to the deck and looked over the conning tower and torpedo tubes. A school of fish (sorry, didn't ID them) was hanging all over the conning tower, and a giant sea raven camouflaged itself in the rust. We spent the rest of our time inspecting the giant hole in the deck in front of the conning tower. This hole, no doubt made by the many depth charges that sunk her, reveals the bones of some of the 55 soldiers that died in the sub. Grisly.

Fifteen minutes at depth and time to head back. We descend the line and make a three minute stop at 50 ft. We proceed to 15 feet and make another 5 minute stop. Got plenty of air in our steel 100's and can afford to off-gas a little extra nitrogen.

The sub was such an awesome sight, the time was so limited and the water was so warm that we wanted to dive the sub again. Sadly, without another tank of nitrox this was not realistically possible. To return another time...

Dive #2:
Max depth: 70 ft.
Total time: 25 minutes
Other parameters the same.

Summary:
Pretty boring dive compared to the sub. We stopped at a red buoy for this random dive. The bottom was silty with few features. The highlight of the dive was the appearance of a small shark known as a dog fish. These beautiful animals move fast, and it disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.

- Keith Thoresz

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Nubble Light, York, Maine
Saturday, 21 July 2001
Author: Hayley Davison (hayley@mit.edu )

Divers:

It was a beautiful day to dive on Saturday-- an especially beautiful one for a diver's first New England dive ever (mine!). It was about 75 degrees F when we arrived at 9a and the water temperature was around 52 degrees F at 10a when we entered. There were 2 other large diving classes going on, but we managed to avoid them for the most part. Nubble Lighthouse dive is a relatively easy rocky entrance, but keep an eye out for high tide, which may suck your belongings out to sea. It was great visibility for the first dive-- about 25 feet-- and decent visibility for the second dive at 15-20 ft.

We saw a great headstone right off left of the entrance that read, "Larry Bowdish III, the best d*** diver I ever saw," which was pretty intriguing. For both of my dives, we headed off at 0 degrees. There were millions of tiny white starfish and many larger purple starfish along the rocks and plants. We saw 3-4 lobster traps full of hefty Maine lobsters and a few others scurrying around the bottom. Keith handed me a lobster for my first experience tugging on a real live lobster. Fortunately, it wasn't too feisty (actually, it might have been sick...). There were several large crabs to be seen as well as numerous little hermit crabs. We also saw 2 yellow Sea Ravens along the bottom and several large brown flounder. Robert and Keith said that they also saw many tiny flounder along the sandy areas, which were amazingly camouflaged to the sandy bottom. There were several schools of fish swimming by us as we swam from the entrance that didn't seem to be too bothered by the hordes of divers all over the place. By the time all was said and done, it was about 1:30p when we left and the temperature on the beach was about 80-85 degrees F. We rounded out the day with a visit to Brown's Ice Cream Parlor on Rt. 1A (grrreat ice cream!!!). Overall, it was a pretty great day.

- Hayley Davison

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Poling and Nina-T wrecks
Saturday, 07 July 2001
Author: Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)

Divers:

On Saturday afternoon, John Koser and I (Robert Granetz) went out with Cape Ann Divers to the wrecks of the Poling and Nina-T. These are both in deep water (100+ feet for our dives), just a mile or so beyond the Gloucester Harbor breakwater. We each used one of the club's dive computers (which club members can rent for $3, by the way), but with a surface interval of just one hour, our bottom time was still very limited. I also rented a pony bottle (small tank and reg, strapped to the main tank, for redundancy and emergencies). This is my 9th time on the Poling, and my 3rd time on the Nina-T, so I acted as tour guide for John, who was doing these wrecks for the first time. The Poling is a big steel tanker (actually, the stern two-thirds of it) which cracked apart and sank during a winter storm in January 1977. We went down the mooring line to the stern, and then I took John down the entire length to the broken end, and then back along the starboard side, returning to the stern area. There are several inviting hatches on the deck, and I went down into one. We didn't have the wreck reel (which you can also rent from the club), so I didn't penetrate beyond the hatch area. The visibility was very good, and you could see across the deck from one side to the other (40 feet). On the way up, we did a 3-minute safety stop on the hang bar, which Cape Ann Divers has recently implemented.

Back on deck, we quickly changed tanks, ate some snacks provided by the captain, enjoyed the beautiful weather, and watched the other divers. On these advanced wreck dives, you see divers with all sorts of technical gear: big double tanks, stage bottles, drysuit argon bottles, Navy SEAL-like BC's, huge lighting systems, and even an underwater propulsion unit. And everyone is very efficient and quick with gearing up. Nevertheless, John and I were the first ones down on both dives.

The Nina-T was an abandoned wooden fishing trawler that was towed out and sunk on purpose in September 1997. I dove it with Aleks Engel (past club president) just a few weeks after it was sunk, and I remember thinking that it wasn't going to last very long. But today we found that it has held up pretty well. Again, I took John for a tour completely around the boat, and then we explored the deck, which is slanted quite a bit, since the boat is leaning over to port. We both swam through the wheelhouse and then over to the mooring line, which was anchored to the large winch in front of the wheelhouse. The water temperature was 45 F at our depth of 104 feet, and in my wetsuit, I was definitely getting cold by the end of this second dive. John was using his leaky drysuit, but still managed to stay warm. Again we did a slow ascent and a safety stop on the bar. Boy, these were fun wreck dives!

We're thinking about doing this again with some more club members, and bringing along the club's video camera as well. John is a PADI-certified instructor, so any club member who wants to get advanced certification could dive with him on these wrecks, and have it count toward the course.

- Robert Granetz

P.S. Darren, I hear that the boat was full when you tried to reserve...I got the last spot!

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Cathedral Rocks
Sunday, 01 July 2001
Author: Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)

Divers:

On Sunday morning, Carl Stjernfeldt, Jorge Barrera, and myself (Robert Granetz) went diving at Cathedral Rocks, near the tip of Rockport. This is considered an advanced site, both because of its depth, and because a little bit of surf can make the entry and exit difficult, but it was calm and easy for our dives. Although the weather in Boston was hot and humid, it was really comfortable here. On the first dive, Carl and I submerged immediately off the rocks and headed out toward a bunch of lobster traps we had seen in the distance. The Cathedral site is a jumble of really huge boulders underwater, thickly covered with dense, lush vegetation swaying back and forth in the surge. We got down to 65 feet, and saw all the usual critters along the way. Despite the previous night's torrential thunderstorms, the visibility was still good, about 20 feet. We passed under lots of lobster trap lines, which gets to be a pain with the dive flag. Our navigation back to the entry point was perfect, and we relaxed on the rocks between dives and watched the dozen or so other divers coming and going. On the second dive, Jorge and I swam out a ways on the surface before descending, and we eventually got down to 80 feet (!), where the boulders end and the landscape turns to flat and sandy. Cathedral Rocks is known for its depth, and that's definitely the deepest I've ever been on a shore dive on Cape Ann. Jorge just got his lobster license last week, and he tried out his hunting skills for the first time, to no avail. But then again, this season I haven't been doing well at catching them either. The water is still quite cold for this time of year, a chilly 45 F. Rather surprising, considering the hot weather we've been having. Back on land, I finished up by having a leisurely lunch on the rocks and chatting with some of the other divers.

- Robert Granetz

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Lanes Cove
Sunday, 17 June 2001
Author: Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)

Divers:

A week ago Sunday, four club members, Darren Obrigkeit, John Koser, Jorge Barrera, and myself (Robert Granetz) went diving at Lanes Cove for Father's Day. Jorge and I arrived early and did our first dive before Darren and John showed up. I was hoping to bag some lobster, but didn't find any keepers. We know they were out there, though, because a departing diver showed off a pretty big one to us. You may remember that the skies last Sunday morning were very ominous, with constant rumbling thunder. Despite the threatening weather, the surface conditions were quite calm in the morning, and entry/exit was relaxing. Amazingly, we could hear the thunder very well underwater, even better than on land. As we exited, Darren and John were just arriving. Despite being a warm and humid day, John was diving in a drysuit. Personally, I find drysuits to be great in the winter, but in warm weather you basically have just a few minutes after donning the suit before you suffer heat prostration and vaporize. But John's done most of his diving in Florida, so maybe his thermostat is broken. Anyway, John found a way to cool off by conveniently springing a few leaks in his drysuit. Did I mention, by the way, that the water was still a rather cool 47 F ? When they returned, Jorge and I set out for our second dive. The thunder was getting louder now, and the winds were starting to pick up ahead of an intense cold front. I asked Jorge to take the flag for this dive. But early in the dive, I glanced over and noticed that the flag line was completely slack, and we discovered that the flag and float had broken away from the line. (The rubber surgical tubing link had snapped.) We surfaced carefully, and could just barely see the flag way off in the distance, being blown away by the storm winds. I decided to go after it, and it's a good thing I work out in the pool, because I think I was halfway to Greenland by the time I caught up with that flag. Boy, was that exhausting! (Ironically, Flag Day was last week too.) We got back to shore after rescuing the flag, when Jorge discovered that he had dropped the flag line spool somewhere near the shore! With Darren's help, we mounted a successful search and recovery of the flag line. Darren and John then did their second dive without further incident. They surfaced just as lightening was hitting the water in the distance. We were packing the last of our gear into the cars when the skies opened up with a torrential downpour. Pretty good timing, actually.

- Robert Granetz

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Back Beach (Fish ID class)
Saturday, 02 June 2001
Author: Darren Obrigkeit (obrigkeit@alum.mit.edu)

Divers:

This Saturday, June 2 a full crew of 10 divers from the Scuba Club went out for Fish ID course dives at Back Beach in Rockport, MA.

Conditions: Rainy, upper 50's air temp, lower 50's/upper 40's water temp.

Visibility: 25'

Dive site description: easy sandy entry, depths ranging from 15-30'

Dive summary: In spite of the rainy topside conditions, the dive offered great visibility and relatively balmy water temperatures. Dives times ranged up to 50-60 minutes and the variety of sea life was excellent, including sightings of skates, ocean pout, sea ravens, lumpfish, flounder, and schools of pollock. In short, we had a lot of opportunities to practice identifying sea life.

- Darren Obrigkeit

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Normans Woe
Saturday, 19 May 2001
Author: Thomas Pedersen (tsp22@columbia.edu)

Divers:

This past weekend, I was back visiting Boston and took the opportunity to go diving with Torkel Engeness at one of our favorite dive spots, Norman's Woe, Cape Ann. That turned out to be a great idea! The season has definitely started!

We arrived at Norman's Woe on Saturday at noon. The weather was ok, shifting between sunshine and threatening clouds - it stayed dry, luckily. There was some surf but entry and exit was not difficult. It turned out that there was considerable wave motion even at depth, and the visibility was good but not fantastic. Maybe 20 feet. The water temperature was not bad - we did not have an official water temp. reading but I would guess 50 Fahrenheit or so. We were reasonably comfortable in our wetsuits. Within a few minutes, we had spotted numerous lobsters, and encountered a relatively large lumpfish, which let us get very close to it. Soon thereafter, we came by several skates, also remarkably comfortable with our presence, allowing us to get right up to them - I even touched one without scaring it away. We also saw several other large fish which we still haven't identified. During the dive, we came across several more lumpfish, including one that was guarding a huge clump of eggs, which it refused to leave. I could push it off its spot, but it was not going to abandon its eggs. It is the male lumpfish that guards the eggs, for up to two months before the eggs hatch. Back on land, we were excited about all this sealife and started talking about the lumpfish. In Scandinavia, lumpfish roe is (rightly) considered a delicacy and is eaten fresh as a relatively affordable caviar, and the meat from the male lumpfish is considered a delicacy as well. We got very excited about the idea of catching one of these and eating it for dinner. We decided to bring a plastic shopping bag with us to see if we could catch one with our hands and put it in the bag. It seemed doable given their reluctance to move around.

So we went out on our second dive in search of lumpfish. As we entered the water, I spotted a two-foot striped bass circling around. After a couple of minutes we saw a lumpfish sitting on a rock. On the lumpfish, a pair of fins have evolved into a suction cup which it uses to attach itself to rocks (hence the 'lumpsucker', or in Danish 'stenbider' (rockbiter)). This one was firmly attached to a rock and it took me a moment or two to get it off. However, it was kind of small, and I felt bad about taking it. So we let it go and headed in the direction that we had spotted a larger one on our previous dive. Unfortunately, our navigation skills are not that impressive, and we never found it. We reached an area with sandy bottom - I had never been there before, but we saw a few more skates and other fish. We changed directions a bit, still heading away from the shore, but at 165 degrees on my compass rather than 225. A few more minutes into the dive, Torkel spotted a HUGE lumpsucker, hovering right above the bottom, no eggs in sight. I figured that this one would definitely get away from us, but I'd give it a try. I made a quick move and I was holding this giant in my hands. It barely tried to escape, and since it has a lumpy tough skin, it was easy to get a good grip on it. Torkel got out the shopping bag, and the fish was so large that it only barely fit into the bag. So for the rest of the dive, I was carrying a lumpfish in a shopping bag with me. Couldn't believe our luck. I kept reminding myself that once out of the water, it wouldn't look very large anymore. But when we got out of the water and looked at it, it was still a monster.

On the way back from the beach to the car, we were stopped by the environmental police, who seemed rather convinced that we were hiding lobsters from them somehow, so they even went with us to check the contents of our cooler, which was in the car. Luckily, there are no restrictions on lumpfish in Massachusetts, and we had not taken any lobsters, even though I gauged one that was legal - neither of us has a Massachusetts lobster license at the moment.

Back at Torkel's place we weighed and photographed our catch. The thing weighed a whopping 15 pounds, and when we gutted it, we found that it was a female with at least two pounds of roe. We did a quick search on the internet for some Danish recipes for lumpfish, and found several, including a recipe for how to prepare fresh lumpfish roe/caviar. We enjoyed the fresh roe on crackers with a glass of white wine, and baked the filets in a white wine/tomato sauce which turned out great. The filets had a strange jelly-like texture and were smaller than expected - apparently the male has much nicer meat, but the taste was still very good on this female. The skin is almost an inch thick. There was more than enough roe, and the filets were enough for 4 people. What a day! If you happen to catch a female with roe, this recipe worked out great:

     2 pounds of fresh lumpfish roe
     3 salad onions
     1 bunch of fresh dill
     juice from two lemons
     lots of salt

First thing to do is to put the roe in a bowl and add some water. Churn around the roe for example with an eggbeater, and get rid of the slimy roe sacks when they get stuck to the eggbeater. Sieve the roe repeatedly until the slime is gone. Just pour the water/roe mix through a normal kitchen strainer, add water again and repeat until the slime is gone. Drain thoroughly, and add the finely chopped (or grated) onions and the finely chopped dill. Add lemon juice and salt to taste. You need a lot of salt to get the taste right. Can be served immediately.

- Thomas (former MIT scuba club member) and Torkel (current member)

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Normans Woe
Sunday, 06 May 2001
Author: Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)

Divers:

47 F. That was the water temperature at Normans Woe in Gloucester today. That means lots of changes. For one thing, I switched back to a wetsuit for my second dive of the day, and I was comfortable even at the end of a 44 minute dive. The wetsuit is less buoyant than my DUI drysuit, so between dives I was able to chuck 4 lbs from the BC pockets, as well as the ankle weights. Even more important, I can finally pee in the water again! Another big change ... other divers! It's been a long time since I saw anyone else at a dive site. Unfortunately, no one else from the MIT Scuba Club could make it, so I was diving solo again. Normans Woe is not typically an easy entry/exit, but there was a pretty stiff wind today out of the east, so this site was better protected than most on Cape Ann. Normans also involves hauling your gear a fairly long ways through a wooded park, but today's sunshine, 60 F temperature, and strong breeze made for pleasant hiking. And the final big change: sea life! The fish are back, and so are the lobsters. I even gauged a few, but they were all a few millimetres short still. There were a number of flounder, some huge, some tiny juveniles. I also saw a sea raven hiding in the seaweed that carpeted part of the bottom, as well as a stunning sculpin (I think) with reddish-purple fins. I just hovered lazily and watched it for quite some time, during which, I must have been carried quite a ways off course by the current, since I surfaced far around on the other side of the cove. Kind of embarrassing for someone who prides himself on navigation skills! I started climbing up the rocks, thinking I could get back via land, but that proved to be impassible, so I had to dive back into the surf and swim underwater to my desired exit point. This was an excellent demonstration of why it pays to surface with an ample supply of air in your tank.

- Robert Granetz
(MIT Scuba Club secretary)

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Lanes Cove
Saturday, 21 April 2001
Author: Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)

Divers:

Wow, what a difference seven weeks makes! On my last dive, ice was cracking off my gear as I was taking it off. Today, however, was a completely different story. I hadn't planned on going diving today, even though I finally had some free time, because no one else in the scuba club was available this weekend. But as the morning progressed, the weather just got more and more springlike. By noontime, I couldn't resist it anymore. I hurriedly got my gear together and decided to dive at Lanes Cove in Gloucester. I chose this site because it's a rocky shore that's usually an easy entry/exit, which is an important consideration, given that I was diving solo again. Conditions at the site were ideal...sunny, near 70 F, no wind, and calm water! (In contrast to the past few months, for which "ideal" site conditions meant that the parking area had been plowed!) Of course, the surface conditions are very misleading, since underwater, spring has not arrived yet. So I donned my long underwear and my fleece, and got into my drysuit. The weather was just the right temperature to avoid overheating on land with all those layers on. The entry was a piece of cake, and the dive was very relaxing. Lanes Cove has a series of ledges running parallel to the shore line, which you swim up and over, dropping 5-10 feet in depth after each one. Visibility was a good 20-25 feet. Eventually I got down to 50 feet, where the bottom changes to flat and silty. There were huge anemone here, more than a foot tall. Also lots of big crabs, as well as starfish and plenty of those lacy tube worms. Only saw one lobster though, and it was kind of sickly looking. The water temperature at depth was 39 F, and my dive lasted 41 minutes. Once back on shore, there was finally no need for the winter coat, ski hat and gloves that had become part of my diving accoutrement. I had a leisurely snack on the rocks while basking in the sun. Yeah, I suppose I could get used to this weather again.

I hope the warmer temperatures inspire lots of club members to get back in the water soon.

- Robert Granetz
(MIT Scuba Club secretary)

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Niles Beach
Wednesday, 28 February 2001
Author: Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)

Divers:

Well, it certainly was cold enough to dive this morning. Air temperature was 22 F, with a wind chill in the single digits according to my car radio. This was the last day of February, and I had to get in a dive in order to finally achieve my goal of diving at least once every month for 12 consecutive months. I've been trying to do this ever since I got drysuit certified a couple of years ago, but never quite managed to pull it off until now. So I took the morning off and headed to Niles Beach in Gloucester. This is an easy dive site in any weather, so I feel comfortable diving here when I don't have a buddy (like today), or when I want to test out some new equipment. The underwater scenery here is never what you would call thrilling, but it's particularly stark at this time of year. Absolutely no mobile creatures...none...nada. I saw lots of tube worms in the sandy bottom (they had very slow reaction times), lots of translucent white cocoon-like things (anybody know what they are?), and some mollusks that looked like a cross between oysters and scallops. I took a few of these back to work for a lunchtime snack. Delicious! The water temperature was a nippy 35 F, which made for some VERY COLD fingers by the end of my 36 minute dive. And they certainly didn't warm up back at the surface, given the weather conditions. Once again, there was sea ice on my equipment by the time I got everything back into the car. In fact, I was most of the way back to MIT before my fingers and toes finally warmed up!

- Robert Granetz
(MIT Scuba Club secretary)

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Magnolia Rocks
Sunday, 28 January 2001
Author: Robert Granetz (granetz@mit.edu)

Divers:

Darren Obrigkeit and I (Robert Granetz) set out to enjoy some more winter diving this past Sunday, but things don't always work out the way you want them to. We initially chose to go to Cathedral Rocks, near the tip of Rockport. Even though it was a beautiful day, there was quite a stiff breeze along the coast, which was driving big breakers right into the rocks. Given the apparent wind direction, and past experience, we doubled back and went over to Magnolia Rocks. Surprisingly, a strong wind and fast current were generating pretty good surf here too, although from nearly the opposite direction as at Cathedral. (How is that possible?) Undaunted, we figured we could make an entry by waiting for the occasional calmer periods between the wave sets. It's not clear you can do that for the exits, of course, since it's difficult to see distant waves when you're bobbing at the surface. Entering rough surf is more difficult in the winter because you have to use your snorkel only; breathing through your reg at the surface often causes it to freeze open and free-flow until your tank empties out. (I've personally seen this happen to two other divers.) Anyway, we got in and then ran into two problems. First, I couldn't get much below 20 feet because I couldn't clear my ears. (It was the first and last time that I'll ever try diving with a bad cold.) And second, the visibility was just plain terrible, no doubt due to the rough surf. Let's just say that this was not one of our longer dives. After we got out (that's a little too dignified -- we looked more like pregnant walruses getting thrown onto the rocks), we drove all around Cape Ann scouting out the many dive sites, and found that in hindsight, the best choice would have been Loblolly Cove. Folly Cove also looked diveable, but there was enough surf that I think the vis would have been just as bad as at Magnolia. Funny thing, we didn't see any other divers on Cape Ann on Sunday (but lots of bird watchers). Oh well, there's always February.

- Robert Granetz
(MIT Scuba Club secretary)

P.S. How many places can you go snowboarding on Saturday and ocean diving on Sunday, all within an hour's drive of home?

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