I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky; and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by. ..........John Mansfield
I couldn’t let the great weather go to waste. So we grabbed some spots on the Stingray and headed out for an afternoon of diving.
It was one of those days and the boat was running late but with the blue skies and warm sun we just sat back and relaxed.
As we set off, there was much discussion about where we should head to. We were joined by 3 divers from the Aquanauts dive club and the Mate, Stas, and his father, Mike. While we had planned on some sight seeing and I had hoped for some mussels, the rest of the group were spear fishing and wanted some targets.
Captain Henrik wanted to try a site he had not been to before and the Adele was decided upon.
The Adele is a trawler sitting at 80 fsw and lying NE/SW which has been decimated by time, weather and bottom dragging. We were able to tie to a decent section of her but the steel wreckage is spread out so far and few between you could not possibly find it all. We came down the line in about 10 foot of hazy visibility and looked about. There appeared to be only a small amount of wreck left BUT there were fish!!! Tons and tons of really nice sized fish, Taug, Sea Bass and some flounder among them and quite a few purple sea urchins.
AND........... One Humungo Lobster (hereinafter referred to as HL). We had just descended the line and were beginning to look around when I looked down and spotted claws worthy of their own zip code sticking out from the wreckage below us. This puppy looked big and mean and I instinctively reached down and grabbed them. There was a bit of a struggle, like something out of a Sea Hunt episode, only I ripped one claw from her before she could cut our air hoses. I probably saved Marks life. (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it) Unfortunately neither one of us had a goody bag with us so we took turns carrying HL about on the rest of our dive as we swam out and surveyed the area.
Moving away from where we tied in and an area of what appeared to be machinery we came across some long pipes and a little farther away a small debris pile, but not much else.
While the bottom temps were a warm 57F we opted to go up. As we approached the thermo cline the water cleared a bit and we suddenly saw the eggs on the bottom of the lobster we had just dragged along with us for half an hour. She was handed off to me and I sent her on her way, her claw following closely behind.
The spear fishermen had better luck. Stas, the mate, had a huge blackfish and the others were not empty handed either.
We opted not to stay for a second on this wreck and since the winds were picking up and the seas starting to roll. We headed on towards shore and a stop at the Dykes. On the way in we discussed Henriks system for evaluating the seas. There is smooth, sparkly, fluffy snotty....it was like a listing of the seven dwarfs LOL and we were going through some fluffy ones (3 foot rollers with wide troughs and some white caps, it is actually a very interesting system).
The Dykes is a schooner barge 306 X 35ft in 65 fsw. Originally built to carry aluminum ore for ALCOA she was sold several times until she was finally converted to an unrigged sludge barge for NY City which was retired in 1959 and. sunk in 1983 as an artificial reef. http://njscuba.net/~images/reefs-img/nj02sg_dykes_3.jpg
We brought our goody bags this time, but it was almost 8PM and we were loosing the light. It was dark and murky on the way down, although I did see one small jellyfish early on. Upon reaching the sand we took up our lights and set out. This wreck had a great deal more relief to explore and tons of hidey holes, ledges and compartments hiding hundreds of fish. While it was almost dark enough to be considered a night dive, our flashlights provided a decent view of what the wreck had to offer. There were tons of starfish on this site, something that was missing from the Adele and a thick layer of sponges and anemones. I would learn later on that there was a wall of mussels just past the tie in but I was too busy chasing after the fish and missed it, so I came back empty handed once again. We were touring along, checking out all the sights when I very poorly communicated my psi and turn around time, twice, and we were on our way up the line while I still had over ½ a tank. I will definitely work on that.
It was probably for the best because the last group had waited for us to surface before dropping in. They were going to pull the hook and it was getting dark and I don’t think they were really prepared to do a full fledged night dive.
The ride in was a little “fluffy” but we were treated to the sights of fireworks in 5 different towns up and down the coast as we rode in. What a tremendous sight, no matter where you looked there were fireworks shooting up in the sky and it appeared as if the 2 most northern displays were in tandem, mirroring each other. What a nice end to the evening.
It was one of those days and the boat was running late but with the blue skies and warm sun we just sat back and relaxed.
As we set off, there was much discussion about where we should head to. We were joined by 3 divers from the Aquanauts dive club and the Mate, Stas, and his father, Mike. While we had planned on some sight seeing and I had hoped for some mussels, the rest of the group were spear fishing and wanted some targets.
Captain Henrik wanted to try a site he had not been to before and the Adele was decided upon.
The Adele is a trawler sitting at 80 fsw and lying NE/SW which has been decimated by time, weather and bottom dragging. We were able to tie to a decent section of her but the steel wreckage is spread out so far and few between you could not possibly find it all. We came down the line in about 10 foot of hazy visibility and looked about. There appeared to be only a small amount of wreck left BUT there were fish!!! Tons and tons of really nice sized fish, Taug, Sea Bass and some flounder among them and quite a few purple sea urchins.
AND........... One Humungo Lobster (hereinafter referred to as HL). We had just descended the line and were beginning to look around when I looked down and spotted claws worthy of their own zip code sticking out from the wreckage below us. This puppy looked big and mean and I instinctively reached down and grabbed them. There was a bit of a struggle, like something out of a Sea Hunt episode, only I ripped one claw from her before she could cut our air hoses. I probably saved Marks life. (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it) Unfortunately neither one of us had a goody bag with us so we took turns carrying HL about on the rest of our dive as we swam out and surveyed the area.
Moving away from where we tied in and an area of what appeared to be machinery we came across some long pipes and a little farther away a small debris pile, but not much else.
While the bottom temps were a warm 57F we opted to go up. As we approached the thermo cline the water cleared a bit and we suddenly saw the eggs on the bottom of the lobster we had just dragged along with us for half an hour. She was handed off to me and I sent her on her way, her claw following closely behind.
The spear fishermen had better luck. Stas, the mate, had a huge blackfish and the others were not empty handed either.
We opted not to stay for a second on this wreck and since the winds were picking up and the seas starting to roll. We headed on towards shore and a stop at the Dykes. On the way in we discussed Henriks system for evaluating the seas. There is smooth, sparkly, fluffy snotty....it was like a listing of the seven dwarfs LOL and we were going through some fluffy ones (3 foot rollers with wide troughs and some white caps, it is actually a very interesting system).
The Dykes is a schooner barge 306 X 35ft in 65 fsw. Originally built to carry aluminum ore for ALCOA she was sold several times until she was finally converted to an unrigged sludge barge for NY City which was retired in 1959 and. sunk in 1983 as an artificial reef. http://njscuba.net/~images/reefs-img/nj02sg_dykes_3.jpg
We brought our goody bags this time, but it was almost 8PM and we were loosing the light. It was dark and murky on the way down, although I did see one small jellyfish early on. Upon reaching the sand we took up our lights and set out. This wreck had a great deal more relief to explore and tons of hidey holes, ledges and compartments hiding hundreds of fish. While it was almost dark enough to be considered a night dive, our flashlights provided a decent view of what the wreck had to offer. There were tons of starfish on this site, something that was missing from the Adele and a thick layer of sponges and anemones. I would learn later on that there was a wall of mussels just past the tie in but I was too busy chasing after the fish and missed it, so I came back empty handed once again. We were touring along, checking out all the sights when I very poorly communicated my psi and turn around time, twice, and we were on our way up the line while I still had over ½ a tank. I will definitely work on that.
It was probably for the best because the last group had waited for us to surface before dropping in. They were going to pull the hook and it was getting dark and I don’t think they were really prepared to do a full fledged night dive.
The ride in was a little “fluffy” but we were treated to the sights of fireworks in 5 different towns up and down the coast as we rode in. What a tremendous sight, no matter where you looked there were fireworks shooting up in the sky and it appeared as if the 2 most northern displays were in tandem, mirroring each other. What a nice end to the evening.