Barnegat Ridges

It was cold this morning….O Dark Thirty…. and cold enough to wear my drysuit under roos to the boat. I had to drive myself to the marina…what is up with that? It was still dark out. What was I thinking? I could be home all snuggled in bed. I was thinking that we were getting some great dive days in and I didn’t want to miss them, that’s what.
I was heading for the Lady Godiver and diving with a group of friends - Jim, Steve, Jack, Bart, Ernie and Howard. An interesting day of diving and company. The seas were moving this morning with rolling swells in the 2-4 foot range and the sun came out shining. Not a bad day so far.
As we headed out past Barnegat Light we could see the remains of the scalloping boat that had grounded and fell over. Just lying there on its side on the shoal. It has been there a good part of a week and we wondered what would become of it. We wondered if you could dive it, we are divers, that is what we do. And we wondered if it was salvageable and when it would be moved too.
We headed out to the Gulftrade, but it had a fishing boat sitting on it so we headed to the Sea Hag, which was also occupied and finally on to the South Ridge. The South Ridge is an unnamed unidentified wooden wreck, located on the Barnegat Ridge, that is quite broken down but goes on and on.
Two tries to hook in and the Captain was not feeling the love. I believe, at one point, I heard the boat was going up for sale as soon as we got back. We got pulled off the wreck twice by errant swells and he ordered a shot line dropped. In minutes we were tied in and ready to go.
I was buddying up with Ernie for this dive and it was the first time for both of us on this site, so down the line we went not knowing what to expect. We arrived at the sand at 80fsw and much to our delight we had 64F water temperatures and 30 foot of visibility. Woo Hoo!
Ernie tied in his reel and checked out a hole with fresh dark sand in front. You know there is always a lobster at the tie in…but alas we were not the first ones down and it was empty. We moved on peeking all around and did not see anymore lobster but we did find lots of other friends to play with. The sea bass and black fish and blue fish were plentiful and big, really big. They were swimming over and in among the wreckage. Each time we came to the end of a piece of wreckage we could see the next piece and headed out to it. There were some scattered starfish and moonsnails and each time we moved to a piece of wreckage we came across piles of fluke stacked one on top of the other in the sand and they were huge. They just layed there, I am sure thinking “Ha! Ha! Out of season…you loose” But…… I poked them anyway, poking is still in season. Since there were no lobsters to hunt, Ernie got into the fun of things and started poking them himself. Another convert….you are all coming over…don’t fight it.
I had one rather large guy just buried in the sand looking at me with both eyes (that both eyes on the same side of the head thing takes some getting used to) and I opened my catch bag to see if I could get him to just scoot on in. I knew I couldn’t keep him but it would have made one heck of a story. I juuuust missed him. You know I will be trying this again, it’s like a challenge now, Coe-Ed Fluke Wrestling Diving …hmmmm.
It was time to turn and we headed back in, stopping at section of planking making a shallow cavern for the local sea life. Ernie was on one side and I peeked in on the other. In between the boards Ernie spotted a large spade fish and scooted it over for me to see. Upon seeing this fish I immediately poked him back towards Ernie so he could see him. We ended up playing water hockey with this poor fish for several minutes before he got pissed and swam off in another direction.
Back at the line we headed up and as I looked at my computer I had 5 minutes of deco and for the Iife of me couldn’t figure out why. As I hung on the line it came to me….I had forgotten to enter my nitrox mix into the computer before going in. Oh well, 2 more minutes of hang wasn’t necessary but wasn’t going to kill me.
As I arrived on deck, Howard was getting ready to go in. With all the talk of clear warm water and big fish everywhere, he had to go down and see for himself.
We had an enjoyable surface interval and regaled each other with stories of the dive and other subjects. We didn’t talk about Mark. He shouldn’t miss dives. And soon Howard was back on board with his catch bag bulging. He had definitely shot the biggest sea bass of the day, it was huge. And he was smiling and all was right with the world again. The boat was no longer for sale. It is amazing what ills a good dive can cure.
We could have stayed here for a second dive but it was getting late and we headed for the East Ridge on the way in.
The sun was shining and the seas had laid down some, life was good. We arrived on the site and dropped the line in and the pool was open. This wreck is identical to the last in that it is broken down and unidentified and lying on the Barnegat Ridge, but sits at 90fsw.
We dropped over the side and went on down, this time I was to run the reel. The day before we were talking about reels and I had mentioned how mine was temperamental and I had just run it the dive before, determined to find the problem and fix it or buy a new reel. Of course the reel had operated flawlessly and of course upon hitting the sand, I had not pulled out 3 inches of line before it jammed. Big time jam. I ended up cutting about 6 or feet of line off before clearing it and after tying it in we moved out. The visibility was cloudier on this site and there was a bit of a current on the bottom. I spent a good part of the dive staring at my reel while Ernie jammed his arm in holes everywhere after lobster. There were many fewer fish here but each hole had someone home. Most you could see were shorts but the first one he pulled out was over 3 lbs and had probably another pound of eggs, so back she went. And she was pissed! Most crustaceans her size didn’t get that big by being stupid and would have been back, way back, in their hole in a heart beat. This one just stood there brandishing her claws and snapping away, I swear she tried to jump up and get me as I swam over her. Never under estimate a womans scorn. As we moved along Ernie managed to grab two more in the 2-3 lb range but they were also with eggs and went on back. The rest were shorties and at one point he found one really tiny bugger (pun intended) so small it was hiding in a clam shell.
It was just about time to turn around when we saw the blinking of the strobe on the line. We had made a huge circle, but still had to wind the line back in, and so headed on back. My reel had worked flawlessly out and back…so frustrating. At the tie in we headed up and at about 5 foot up the line my computer blinked and gave me deco time again….this time 15 minutes! Ernie kept shaking his head, he was still well within his limits…what was up with mine?
Ernie hung with me for most of the time and he was running low on air and headed up as I finished my time out. Now I know why guys with planned deco bring toys with them…how boring. I got onboard and we waited for the last of the other divers to come up before we headed on in.
A few more lobster came up this dive but everyone reported pulling out several females laden with eggs. What is up with that? Was this a wreck for wayward lobster? All single mothers? Abandoned after a night of lobster whoopee? Where were the guys!!! They should be boiled and soaked in drawn butter!!! Ahh….
A nice relaxing ride in … a few laughs…. 2 lbs of peanut butter pretzels… Think I might have to do this diving thing again.

My Bob

I found my “Bob” #3053 in February of 2007 on Alhambra Beach, Venice Beach, Florida……. "Bobs" are numbered cement shark teeth that are planted around Venice Beach to keep divers interested in searching for shark teeth and possibly finding that one real meg.
The Story....
There is a gentleman in Venice Beach Fl. who makes these fake shark's teeth...His name is Bob, and he is as much a legend in VB as dive operators think he is a menace (unsuspecting noobs bring their "Bobs" to the dive shop thinking they found the mother load of a tooth - for Bobs that are black, or black and grey)
Bob's wife won't let him make them just anywhere in the house... He is relegated to the bathroom (Hence... Water Closet Productions)
Periodically through the year, Bob will make dives at VB and seed the bottom with his "Bobs", or he may just place one on the entrance signage to the beach.
Finding one (they can be pretty heavy) is a pain. You have to carry it around for the rest of the dive... most people don't carry a bag big enough to fit a Bob...
It's all very humorous, and most of us appreciate the man, the legend ... The Bob!

As told by ~ Cooltech

My Bob

I found my “Bob” #3053 in February of 2007 on Alhambra Beach, Venice Beach, Florida……."Bobs" are cement fake shark teeth which are sometimes painted like a dive flag and are numbered on the back....the gentleman who makes them places them around Venince Beach to keep divers interested in diving the area and looking for that one real meg sharks tooth.

There is a gentleman in Venice Beach Fl. who makes these fake shark's teeth...His name is Bob, and he is as much a legend in VB as dive operators think he is a menace (unsuspecting noobs bring their "Bobs" to the dive shop thinking they found the mother load of a tooth - for Bobs that are black, or black and grey)
Bob's wife won't let him make them just anywhere in the house... He is relegated to the bathroom (Hence... Water Closet Productions)
Periodically through the year, Bob will make dives at VB and seed the bottom with his "Bobs", or he may just place one on the entrance signage to the beach.
Finding one (they can be pretty heavy) is a pain. You have to carry it around for the rest of the dive... most people don't carry a bag big enough to fit a Bob...
It's all very humorous, and most of us appreciate the man, the legend ... The Bob!

As told by ~ Cooltech

.

Shark River Inlet

Ocean: A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man - who has no gills ~ Ambrose Bierce

I have been wanting to dive the Shark River Inlet for some time...it is right in my back yard, and I have been diving all around it...but something has always come up and I just never got to dive there ... until now.
Last night, in the middle of the night, Josh, Tom and I dropped in to see what was up. High tide was at 10:30pm and I wanted to try an MK25 reg set out so we met early and moved my hoses and mouth piece on over to one and then set out for the inlet. Josh just bought the same regulator and was diving it for the first time so we would get to compare notes.
They wanted to go in on the ocean side and this required a climb down the rocks, not a natural rock stairway, but up over and around wet slimy boulders in the dark. I made it down and got in the water and found myself wedged and straddling an underwater boulder. This actually worked out as I wasn’t going anywhere with the current and could put on my gloves and mask and make last minute adjustments with no worries with the current. Unfortunately it did not work as well for putting on fins and I struggled for a minute extracting myself from my perch to find a better spot to get on my fins. Ready and we dropped on down.
The water was unbelievably clear and while I do not have a canister light, like my dive buddies, my light worked just great and things came to life. We were swimming against the current on the way out and I hugged the rocks for some relief as I looked about, taking an occasional fin to the head from Tom if he stopped short.
First thing we came across on the bottom was a beautiful red and white sea robbin about 18 inches long just hanging about and upon a slight poke from someone who shall remain nameless, it scurried off in a tiff. We then immediately came across several flounder, winter flounder, fluke, sundials.... We discussed this at length later in the evening and honestly think there was one of everything there... But anyway after sending one or two on their way I just reached out and grabbed one. Yes.... grabbed it and now I had this fish firmly locked in both hands and no idea what to do... No goody bag and they are out of season anyway, but still, Tom and Josh’s lights are on me and we are all just smiling into our regs. I let him go and he took off like a shot.
We checked in and about on the rocks and there were several small crabs and three or four short lobsters. Josh began waving his light and we went to see what he found. It was an enormous shrimp out in the sand all by himself. We kind of encircled him like a wagon train and watched him for a minute before he jumped up on top of my hand (he was longer than my hand is wide, and then he took off and we were on our way.
There were small crabs out looking for dinner and larger crabs nestled in the cracks and crevices and the rocks were covered in different sponges and other life making for a colorful trip out and with a signal from Josh we turned to go back. We encountered the same assortment of sealife on the way back but since we were not fighting the current as hard we spent some additional time in the sand looking about. We passed over a large american eel just swimming about and grabbed at several more too small lobsters as we headed in.
It was time to go up and as we surfaced, one quick look up at the rocks reminded me why it was so much nicer in the water. It was a mountain goat climb up the rocks to the shore and then, of course, UP a set of stairs to the street and our cars. And one quick look down just made me shake my head, after carefully wiping and lubing the o-ring, I had flooded yet one more light.
As we broke down our gear we talked about the dive, divers never gossip so we surely didn’t talk about anyone else, we discussed past dives and sights and of course....we compared notes on the MK25 regulators.
Josh and I both agreed that they breathed very dry , I especially noticed it since I normally use the Sherwood Oasis which retains and re-circulates moisture. It obviously works because the difference was noticeable. Josh was not comfortable with the mouth piece, he thought it was short and made his jaw tired trying to hold on and will replace his. I was using my familiar mouthpiece which is longer but did notice the difference in shape from my Sherwood which is oval shaped and the MK25 is more round. While I find the oval shape to be more comfortable I think I will just have to get used to the feeling of the rounder , which actually takes a little more effort to retain, as that seems to be the shape of all the other regulators. Both Josh and I never moved the valve from surface to underwater position when we descended. My 5ml gloves just don’t allow me any fine motor dexterity. But they still breathed very smoothly. I will have to think on this a bit but it is not a bad regulator overall. And the Shark River is not a bad dive either.

Diving With Frnak

I did not have a fun Saturday and I hadn’t been wet since Ernie and I tried to swim to Indiana, so I went to Dutch Springs on Sunday….we had a mission.
I left at O’Dark Thirty….does this ever end? Only this time it was 29 F. For those of you that slept in….that means Hot Dang it was cold and dark! Somewhere on Rt 78E I asked myself “are we having fun yet?” I must be crazy….
I arrived at Dutch and met Nick, Terry and Frnak for a day of diving…we had a “mission” and they weren’t telling…. Loose lips sink ships…..but they had a crowbar, hammer and chisel all attached to double enders. Some serious stuff.
Nick made the rounds like a greeter at Walmart, stopping to say hi to everyone while we unloaded our gear... It was now 35F, warming up nicely….Ernie stopped by while his tech class was getting organized…he worked these guys to the bone by the way, they were the last ones off the peninsula that night.
Anyway, back to me…I was buddied with Nick and our plan was to complete “phase one” of the “mission” without silting up the bottom and then Nick and I were going to go to the old airplane while Terry and Frnak completed the mission.
I think the other two got lost cause we got there first and that never happens with Frnak the Olympic swimmer. Either way I hovered flawlessly and was not responsible for the less than optimal visibility….we were soon on our way and as usual my directional and spatial skills are a work in progress…while I remember all the stuff I saw, I have no idea where I was. We saw 2 cars, a big boat, the big tree, the telephone pole that is laying in the silt and the one standing up with the signs, tanker, crane, trolley, toilet bowl and the kitchen sink, and of course the old airplane that was replaced with a newer version.
We had 10-20 foot vis and the zebra mussels all had their tongues out and I spent some time trying to catch one, The. water temps were in the 50’s and there was a decidedly abrupt thermo cline. As we approached the airplane we passed the big tree and the thermo cline hung almost exactly mid tree in thick cloudy layers making this lone huge tree look eerie, like something out of a movie. I only saw 2 fish this dive and I thought it odd, but the water is cooling off….
We arrived back at the dock after 50 minutes of leisurely swimming with gas to spare. Frnak and Terry came in after 80 minutes, “mission” accomplished, and we had our usual leisurely surface interval.
Nick had to leave and I buddied with Frnak and Terry for the second dive. This was planned as a leisurely stroll to the wall and in we went. It must have been low tide as there were layers of crumbly rock exposed directly in front of the docks and it was a long walk down. After picking my way down hill and into the water we readied to sightsee.
We had a great dive, Frnak went nice and slow and we took in all the scenery. There were more fish this time several large ones and some small ones also. One large bass tried hiding in the weeds and Terry had a good time outing him. Later as we hit the big boat on our way in I showed my lack of directional skills as I had no idea where we were and was getting low on air. Frnak pulled out his octo and waved it in front of me. We were only about 30 yards from shore and swam on over. There my AAD kicked in as I forgot I was low on air and started to chase two huge yellow koi before I came back to complete my hang under the docks.
Maybe the dives were not exciting enough to warrant a trip report…. But the company was stellar. And that is part of what diving is all about. Enjoying seeing everyone on the peninsula and diving with the boys. Oh…and if you haven’t figured out what the “mission” was yet…don’t feel bad, neither have I.
Frnak says we went here for dive 2:
Descended west side of peninsula. Followed heading 145 degrees to crane and island. Crossed over island to south side. Follow rocky edge to beer can pointing to a fallen electric pole (RFL). From the electric pole we followed heading 150 degrees to a small ridge. On the ridge there were things that looked like sawhorses. There were also long pieces of hose scattered about. We continued on 150. We crossed a road and reached the southwall. On the south wall we ascended to 15 ft. to the old plane. While ascending on the south wall we noticed that the wall was completely striped of all plant life. We wondered how could this happen. And Why?
We left the plane and descended to 65ft. From there we followed heading 345 degrees to the tanker. We continued on 345 to east tip of island. From there it was 355 to Silver Comet and home. now I am tired....it was not such a relaxing dive after all...it was far.
How do you remember all that? I just remember the fish....and one really long piece of hose...and the fish.

Ernest Goes West

SCUBA diving is not considered a good exercise for aerobic conditioning. If SCUBA divers do everything "right," by maintaining neutral buoyancy, drifting with currents, and breathing slowly and deeply while underwater, they should expend less energy than when resting on land. MICHAEL STRAUSS, Diving Science

We have a visiting diver in our midst for a few weeks, Nick, aka Puddles himself, and he was bored with hotel life and wanted to get wet. Despite our efforts to plan either boat or beach, Mother Nature kept blocking our path. But we were not to be deterred….. we dove anyway
The waves wouldn’t cooperate for a boat dive and the continuing rain and murky water made the beach dive less than appealing, although Josh really lobbied for it. Next time Josh.
And so we ended up at our old standby, the railroad bridge. By the time we were done, what started out as a fair sized group had whittled down to just four hearty souls, Nick, Ernie, Josh and myself. (the others were the smart ones).
As the last of the light faded, we geared up in a light rain, and Ernie outfitted Nick with a singles setup since he only had doubles with him. We peered out at the black water and wondered if it was moving to slack tide yet. You have to love Josh, he didn’t see any current (he didn’t see anything, it was pitch dark out) so he was ready to go.
We were in the water putting on our fins when Nicks light failed and he was left just with his backup. We realigned out groups for optimal lighting and set out, Nick with Josh and Ernie and myself, with every intention of staying together. Oh yea….the best laid plans……
We dropped down and had not made 2 fin kicks when I grabbed Ernies hand. We were in 0 viz and I wasn’t about to loose him. What Josh and Nick did about it, I have no idea. We headed on down and the visibility opened up to a whopping 2 to 2 ½ foot. I could feel the current under the bridge already and knew we were in for a ride.
As we passed under the bridge I didnt get to look around much at the flora and fauna as I was pretty busy bobbing and weaving the rubble of the old bridge as it appeared rather close… rather quickly as we sped through. There were still hundreds of starfish and small crabs and an occasional small striped bass.
The usual dive for this site is to ride the last of the incoming current through the bridge, hug the bottom out towards the marina and then hang a right and follow the rock ledges along the railroad tracks back to the bridge, back through the bridge on the outgoing tide and then up the canal on the north side until you see signs of the party boats and then back into the bulkhead and out. A relaxing circuit using the tides to your advantage, but now back to the dive at hand…
As the rubble from the old bridge cleared, we swam shoulder to shoulder fanning our lights and looking about. Tons of starfish were locked around muscles enjoying their nightly meals. All really small, some just the size of my thumb, blueclaw crabs and all with an attitude, especially if you poked them. The cutest little bitty hermit crabs were scurrying about and of course the moon snails. I love to pick them up and watch them suck aaaallllll that huge body into their little shell. There were anchovy scattered about the bottom and stripers. Big stripers, in the 2 to 2 ½ foot range. And with the poor viz we came upon them rather quickly startling them as much as they startled us in the dark water. This took some getting used to but by the 3rd or 4th time I was poking and grabbing as we went on past.
Ernie was looking regularly at his compass and I was diligently keeping up and not getting lost as we went along. We then came upon some rocks and a wall that we moved along, with indents and hidey holes and growth up and down. I was looking in and about for some eels and other things and thinking “I don’t remember the rocks along the tracks looking like this….must be farther down than usual”. And then the wall ended and sandy bottom began again…and then a piling…and then sandy bottom and then…..Ernie signed “up”. As we broke the surface and looked around, we both had the same thought “This isn’t Kansas anymore Toto”. Where the hell were we?
There was a marina with really big boats…a bridge with no shoreline in sight and a lot of open water, and nothing looked familiar. Ut whoa. Question was…were we in the bay on the Point Pleasant side or had we cleared the island and were heading for Manasquan? We had only been drifting for 18 minutes, but it was one heck of a current and it could be a long walk back. The surface current was not as bad as the bottom and we pulled ourselves over to the wall to take advantage of the eddy current while we regrouped. The plan was to surface swim back under the bridge and see if we could find a familiar landmark on the far side.
Well, I am pretty sure we swam for a mile or 2, at least that is what a 10 minute surface swim against the current feels like…. But we cleared the bridge and I could make out the unique lighted roofline of the marina near the train bridge in the distance. Dang! we had shot clear through the marina and under the big bridge and were on our way to Clarks Landing for last call the way we went!
We took a heading and dropped down to fin on home. I stopped to play with another moon snail along the way and relocated a small hermit crab dropping him off near an abandoned cinderblock. We then swam though a school of about 15 “mature” striped bass. There was a mad dash for everyone to get out of each others way and as one shot underneath me I made a grab for him almost smacking into a piece of bottom debris that appeared out of the murk. I love poking fish… Some familiar looking debris started appearing out of nowhere (remember the 2 foot viz here) and we were back under the bridge and home again. We saw a light penetrating ahead of us and thought we had found our wayward buddies and so we surfaced. Unfortunately, some additional equipment issues had cut their dive short just after the bridge but next week, we will try to get Nick out again.