Dives 2008:
Boat dives off Rockport 06/29
Tech training
Disney Epcot dives
Triple wreck dives 05/24
Normans Woe 04/21
Wreck of the Poling 04/13
Magnolia Rocks 03/23
Dives 2007
Dives 2006
Dives 2005
Dives 2004
Dives 2003
Dives 2002
Dives 2001
Dives 2000
Dives 1999
Boat dives off Rockport
MIT divers:
Four of us from MIT went out on Sunday morning with Cape Ann Divers and
dove on the wreck of the Chelsea and a rock formation called the pinnacle.
The skies were solidly overcast and dark, and the Cape Ann coast was
shrouded in dense fog. Even when we were right off of Thatcher Island,
with its two big lighthouses, we couldn't tell it at all. This made for
some dim, murky conditions down below, so a dive light helped a lot. In
addition, there was a pretty strong current. The combination of limited
visibility, strong current, and dense fog meant that we all had to be extra
careful to find the mooring line at the end of our dives in order to get
back to the boat. If you couldn't find the line, and you did a free
ascent, the current would sweep you away, and the fog would make it
impossible for anyone on the boat to see you. Sayonara baby. So most of
us got plenty of practice with our wreck reels.
The first dive was on the wreck of the Chelsea, which was a coastal tanker
that sank just off of Rockport about 50 years ago and had to be dynamited
because it was a hazard to navigation. Peter and I (and Chris Hirsch) just
did this wreck a month earlier in much better conditions. The bow is
sort of still recognizable, and there are plenty of hull plates scattered
about. There's a companionway entrance which is a little too tight for me
to squeeze through, but I did grab a lobster from in there (wasn't a keeper
though). Water temperature: 10 C.
Our 2nd dive was supposed to be just a short distance away on the wreck of
the Haight, which is right next to the Rockport breakwater. But when we
got there, the fog was still so thick that there was no sign of the
breakwater, and the currents were really ripping, so the zillions of
lobster buoys in the area were all completely submerged underwater because
of it. So Captain Steve nixed that one and headed to an underwater
pinnacle rock formation somewhere to the south of Thatcher Island. Did I
also mention that although the forecast had called for temperatures in the
mid-80's F, it was actually so chilly on the boat that we could see our
breath! Hard to believe it was the last weekend in June. Anyway, Peter
made good use of this dive by collecting a catch bag full of scallops. To
quote Peter directly:
Meanwhile, I went over the side of the pinnacle and mostly explored around
in the deeper channels. The water temp down there was a chillier 8 C. On
the way back up the mooring line, the water got noticeably warmer, and I
remember feeling nice and toasty, but Peter claimed that I was shivering so
much I was shaking the entire line.
During the 2nd dive the fog began to burn off, and by the time we got back
to the dock, it was finally turning into a nice day. (FYI: CAD now docks
at a completely new location right near the end of Rt 128.) The four of us
went for a leisurely late lunch at the place across from the old marina.
Our conversation over the meal revolved around lobsters, and it concluded
with the observation that Carl's struggles to get out of his semi-dry suit
looked a lot like a lobster molting out of its shell.
- Robert
GUE Tech 1, 300th Dive, and Leaving MA
MIT Divers:
The week before last, I spent eight days (seven days of class, one day
of fun diving) up in the 1000 Islands area of New York on the St
Lawrence river taking the GUE Tech 1 course with the GUE training
director, Bob Sherwood. What an amazing experience. Grueling by any
standard (every day up at 6am, after which I'd go for a 4.5-7 mile
run, meet up at 7:30am to analyze gas, then lecture usually from
8-11am, then diving till 4pm, followed by two hours of video review,
then lecture till 10pm, followed by an hour or so of mixing gas for
the next day; all told 15-16 hours of class per day), there was never
a dull moment. Days consisted of lectures on decompression, possible
failures, gas management, trimix, physiology, and lots of diving. In
water, we focused on team diving, equipment management, valve failures
(all simulated with an air gun), OOG, timed ascents/descents, bottle
switching, bag blowing, and safe decompression on the fly, known as
ratio deco (we don't use dive computers for any diving). In the end,
I managed to pass. Certification is to 170', up to 45% He, and a
single deco bottle of either 50% or 100% O2. My buddy Joel and I
spent our last (eighth) day on the St Lawrence doing some fun
recreational dives on the wreck of the Keystorm.
This past week, I decided to go out and put some of the new skills to
use. On Tuesday, my buddies Bill (MIT Scuba Club President) and Bert
(not from MIT) did a few dives on the Poling. On Thursday, Bill and I
headed to SNL to do one longer decompression dive. The dive was done
on 30/30 (30% O2, 30% He, 40% N2), with a 40 minute BT, and deco on
50% (50% O2, 50% N2). For giggles, Bill brought along his
decompression computer (a Nitek He), just to see how its schedule
compared to what we'd calculated ahead of time. Let's just say, from
now on, he'll hopefully just leave it in gauge mode. The dive itself
was spectacular. We had between 20-30' of visibility depending on
location. Here's a quick list of the marine highlights from the
dive: Lobsters, Crabs, many large Northern Red Anemones, Silver
Spotted Anemones, Ghost Anemones, Northern Cerianthids, a Red-Gilled
Nudibranch, Northern Sea Stars, Winged Sea Stars, Smooth Sunstars,
Blood Sea Stars, Badge Stars, a Flounder, Cunner, including two
nurseries, Sea Ravens, and dozens of Sea Urchins (why I decided to
capitalize all the marine organisms, I've no idea). We spent about 20
minutes heading down the main chasm, to about 120', where we hung out
for about five minutes, before heading back on the left side of the
chasm (the mooring is in about 100' of water). Hung out around the
mooring line till the timers hit 40 minutes, after which we made an
easy ascent, switching to 50% at 70'. The conditions topside were
just as excellent.
The dive to SNL will be my last in the New England area (at least for
the forceable future). I'm leaving Boston next week to go join my
wife in Los Angeles. While packing today, I found my original logbook
(I now log everything electronically). Turns out, the dive at SNL was
my 300th dive. And today, June 28th, marks exactly two years to the
date of my OW scuba certification. I'd estimate that 90% of my dives
have been made in the North Atlantic. I'm leaving these cold waters
to become a pretty fishies diver on the West Coast. I'll miss the
local shore dives and wrecks. More so, however, I'll miss the local
divers, including of course those in the MIT Scuba Club. You're a
wonderful bunch, above and below water. Thanks for the good memories.
Best,
Disney Epcot Center
Divers:
Hi guys, so I just had the most amazing dive. I been going to Disney
World all my life and I never knew that you could do this. So at
Epcot there is this "Living Seas" pavilion (now something to do with
finding nemo), and the main attraction is basically a 6 million
gallon aquarium tank, 203 feet diameter. That tank is packed with
tiger sharks, sea turtles, rays and tons of other fish. The tour was
basically a behind the scenes tour of their facilities, followed by
the most accommodated dive ever. By the time you get briefed, a
shorty wetsuit and boots are in a personal locker for you. While
your taking a tour, they are setting up and weighting your bc's. by
the time you get to the water, you just slide into the bc and
you're swimming. First they do a quick tour of the tank with the
divemaster and then you buddy up and have freedom to explore the tank
(and wave at all the people through the windows). The total dive
time is 40 mins. swimming with sharks was amazing and the turtles
will just soar right next to you. it was just packed with cool
fish. An amazing dive. The biggest thing that surprised me was how
affordable it was. only $150 for the dive (don't need to have park
admission either) and that included everything. and even better was
a discount for ssi divers of $15. I really hate to sound like
a commercial, but this was one of the coolest, most unique, and most
packed with fish dives ever. So if you are ever visiting Orlando
don't miss it.
- D
Triple wreck dive outing
Divers:
On Saturday of the Memorial holiday weekend, MIT divers Chris Hirsch, Peter
Kerrebrock, and Robert Granetz, along with three more of Chris's dive
buddies, went out on Fran Marcoux's boat to do three wreck dives, with the
third one being at night. Chris and his buddies are all certified
technical divers, while Peter and I are recreational divers. The seas on
Saturday were unusually calm, and eventually became dead flat, which made
the long boat trips between dives very enjoyable. We left the dock around
13:00 and motored for about 90 minutes in Boston harbor to get to the first
site, the Pug wreck (recently identified as the steam lighter New York
Central No. 14 II; see
http://www.northernatlanticdive.com/shipwrecks/NYC14-II/NYC14-II.htm).
This is a fairly deep wreck and you have to monitor your bottom time
carefully to avoid building up deco time. Peter and I were first on the
wreck, taking advantage of the fact that technical divers take forever to
gear up and get in the water. While I tied in a wreck reel near the
mooring line, Peter dropped down to the sand to grab some scallops. We met
back up on the deck and then dropped over the starboard side and headed all
the way back to the stern to see the large rudder half buried in the sand.
Here I recorded my maximum depth of 38 meters (124) ft, and a water
temperature of 4 C (39 F). After returning to the mooring line, I was
really tempted to drop down through the inviting hatch into the interior,
but Peter pointed out that we were just about out of bottom time. Our
ascent was uneventful, but a few minutes later we noticed bubbles from the
other divers that were well off the wreck. Eventually a lift bag appeared.
It turns out that the mooring line had snapped from the wreck, and Chris's
three buddies ended up doing a fast ascent because they were buoyant.
Chris, however, had maintained neutral buoyancy and was able to shoot a bag
and complete his deco stop safely. Seas were calm, so his swim back to the
boat was easy. Chris had practiced deploying a lift bag previously, and it
definitely paid off today. The other divers had to go back down and
complete their deco stops.
While we motored another 90 minutes to the 2nd dive site, the captain and
first mate made huge sandwiches to order, along with fresh melon pieces,
potato salad, macaroni salad, cookies, and beverages. I was really glad
that the seas were calm, or else I would have had to pass on the food, to
say the least. The 2nd dive was on the wreck of the Chelsea
(
http://www.wreckhunter.net/DataPages/chelsea-dat.htm), which was a coastal
tanker that ran aground near Thatcher Island off Rockport about 50 years
ago. The bow is still recognizable, and the bottom is rocky, with lots of
steel plates from the wreck, so we were hoping for lobster, but I didn't
see any.
By the time we got back on deck, it was dusk, and Chris got some good
photos of a beautiful sunset, while the captain continued offering up even
more food. We motored over to our final site of the day, a night dive on
the Poling. Peter and I were first on the wreck again, which meant that we
had very good vis on our swim through the engine room. There was a little
lobster on the stern greeting us divers as we came down, but even if it had
been larger, you're not allowed to catch them at night. After coming back
out on deck, we circled all the way around the broken end and back to the
stern mooring line for our final ascent of the day.
Even after 3 relatively deep dives, I don't think anybody was uncomfortably
cold. (Everyone used drysuits.) It was a quick trip back to the dock,
followed by the arduous task of offloading all the gear and trekking it
back up the gangplank. I didn't get home until 22:30, totally exhausted,
but it was well worth it.
- Robert G
Normans Woe
Divers:
We certainly had beautiful weather for the Patriots Day weekend. On the
Monday holiday I went diving at Normans Woe in Gloucester. Entry and exit
were not bad at all, but there was some pretty rough back-and-forth surge
even 45 feet down. The visibility wasn't very good either. And the water
is still not showing signs of spring, given its 38 deg F temperature, and a
continued lack of sea life. But hey, at least it was sunny. On the way
out I saw only one tiny lobster, a few crabs, and a big slow-moving red sea
raven. So I was going to chalk this up as just another ho-hum early-season
dive. But then as I was heading back up the slope towards my exit point, I
unexpectedly stumbled across a nice big lobster just relaxing in the
underwater gardens and totally oblivious to me. Usually this is a sure
sign that they're a female with eggs, because they've read the
Massachusetts fishing and lobstering regulations and know that they're
protected. So when I turned this one over, I was surprised to see no eggs,
and no V-notch. Great!...my first lobster of the year, and it was a big
one, and it's only April.
I got back on shore, got out of my drysuit, and relaxed on the sunny rocks
while contemplating my good fortune. I also called Gigi Lirot (MIT's ace
lobster catcher) to brag about my catch. I jokingly mentioned that since
this week is Passover, I was going to eat the lobster on a bed of matzoh.
But Gigi offered to come over and try out a recipe from her lobster
cookbook by Jasper White. So she packed her motorcycle saddle bags with
the necessary ingredients and even a cast iron skillet, and drove over.
Well, I'd have to say that it was the most advanced cooking that I've ever
witnessed, and even involved flaming cognac in the skillet with quartered
lobster pieces. Wow, what a feast!
- Robert G
Wreck of the Poling
Divers:
While it was a nice day topside, conditions below were really quite
poor. Probably the worst I've seen on the Poling (20+ dives). This was
only my second charter with NADE this year (5/7 charters canceled due
to weather since January...). I was diving with my buddies Bill and
Joel. I had chartered the boat to hit the Kiowa since I've never been
on her, with the backup to be the Romance if conditions weren't
cooperating. Based on the AM dive conditions on Sunday, however, we
decided the Poling would probably give us the best chance for diveable
visibility.
Trip out was quite pleasant. No real waves once on station, just some
slow 2' swells. The three of us jumped in first on the stern mooring.
The first 30' or so was actually pretty clear, but it got quite dark
around 50' and murky when we hit the deck at 80'. Less than 3' of
visibility. I tied in the reel and led the dive. I'd make out Joel and
Bill by their HIDs or getting bumped. It was cold at depth, around
39F. Toured the back half of the wreck, never venturing off the top
deck. Saw a few nice anemones and starfish, but otherwise, it was
pretty devoid of life. We headed back to the mooring around 30 minutes
and made our ascent. Back on the boat everyone agreed one dive was
enough. Short trip back to Salem and then to Cambridge.
It was nice to get out, but the diving left a bit to be desired. In
any case, it was good to see friends, and as always, we were treated
exceptionally well by Heather and Dave (I really can't get enough of
the great stories they both have to tell!). As Dave always says:
"Diving is fun."
- Chris
Magnolia Rocks
Divers:
Today (Sunday) was a beautiful day to get in my March dive. I finally was
able to do Magnolia Rocks, after having to dive at Folly Cove in January
and February because of stormy weekends and rough seas. Today the air
temperature was in the mid-30's F, and the tidepools on the rocks were
still frozen over late in the morning. There was a stiff wind out of the
west, which meant that entry and exit at Magnolia were easy, but the wind
was really chilling on exiting the water. The water temperature was 35 F,
and I did a single dive of 44 minutes. Visibility was only 10-15 ft. I
wish I could say that I saw tons of things swimming about, but the truth is
that I didn't see a single crustacean or fish, or much of anything else for
that matter...not even a crab or a starfish. But there were a zillion tiny
shrimp larvae darting about, which is always the first sign of spring in
the water around here. In fact, the only thing of note is that this now
makes it 84 consecutive months (7 years) of diving at least once a month
for me (and 96 out of the last 97 months). If anyone wants to buddy up for
a dive next month, you know who to contact.
- Robert G
Last updated by Robert Granetz on 03 July 2008.
Sunday, 29 June 2008
Author: Robert Granetz
"I got scallops! Damn, they were good! Even though I've never been to
the Haight and missed out on a new thumb tack on my chart, I'm glad we
went to the pinnacle instead. It was a nice dive in its own right, and
it provided the tasty morsels."
June 2008
Author: Chris Hirsch
- Christopher
June 2008
Author: David Brescia
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Author: Robert Granetz
Monday, 21 April 2008
Author: Robert Granetz
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Author: Chris Hirsch
Sunday, 23 March 2008
Author: Robert Granetz
accesses since Mar 2008 with
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