Sunday August 13, 2006

I had a very fortunate opportunity to dive the Bow Mariner and Marine Electric this past Sunday.

The Bow Mariner was a 540 ft long tanker sunk just over two years ago.  She rests in 260ft off water 48 miles off the Eastern Shore.  We tied into the top of the bridge at 140ft.  Vis was in excess of 100ft, temp was 54 and no current.  I had tables cut for 19/35 Trimix with EAN 70 for deco.  Max depth for my dive 210ft, 25 minutes of bottom time with a total runtime of 75 minutes. 

From the tie in, I dropped down to the main deck and spent my dive slowly working up the superstructure exploring/checking out a little of each level. I entered the bridge/wheelhouse through a window on the port side and exited through a window in the very front of the bridge, pausing as I exited I could see the entire width of the beam below me. 

It's hard to put into words just how visually spectacular this wreck is. My allowed 25 minutes went by way too quickly, and I starting kicking myself for not swimming back and checking out the view over the end of the stern. Without a doubt this "tops" any dive I've ever done and I'm sure will rank up there for quite a while!

Our second dive was on the Marine Electric, a wreck I've wanted to do for a long time. Thanks to Mike Marks who lent me his doubles, I had a fresh set of tanks ready to go.  My max depth for this dive was 120ft. Vis was maybe >25ft.  The wreck is broken in two pieces, we tied in to the Stern section near the collapsed bridge. 

I didn't really get a good feel for the layout of the wreck but I did poke around quite a bit.  I'm sure the wreck would have been much more impressive had it not been right after the Bow Mariner and I definitely would like to get some more time on her.

Sunday August 6, 2006

I was crewing as divemaster on the Big Time this past Sunday.  Also on the boat from our local dive community was Eric Horton and Chris Coates.  We were scheduled to dive the Cuyahoga but after a little discussion in the inlet on the way out the divers elected to go to the Morgan instead.  When I hit the water to tie in, I was greeted by clear, warm blue water and a good sized school of spade fish.

The warm clear water lasted all of maybe 50ft and then I knew I was "back home".  Vis on the wreck dropped down to the normal 15 or so ft, bottom temp was in the upper 50's.  Everyone onboard had good dives and I know Eric and Chris especially had very productive dives.

Sunday July 29, 2006

Two weeks and no Ocean dives.  I did head down the Rawlings with Kevin Jones to try out some of the goodies Dive Rite had out for their demo day. 

July 14, 15 and 16, 2006  

Gina and I went down to Morehead City this past weekend and joined our good friends Roy and Kim Cowan for Roy's annual prime time Diver Down trip.  Roy is a regular divemaster for the Diver Down but for this one weekend the boat is his. Seas were a little rough Friday so we did both dives on the Caribsea.  This wreck is known for it's Sand Tiger population and didn't let us down this time.

Unfortunately, we were joined by two other crew boats during our surface interval.  Gina and spent most of our second dive off the wreck in the sand out from the bow swimming with the sharks.

Saturday we were blown out but still spent the day "underwater" at the Aquarium.  Conditions Sunday were perfect.  Did our first dive on the Papoose.  Gina finally got to use her new camera and got some good lion fish shots. Our second dive was on the U 352.  The vis here was just amazing.  From the bottom at 110ft you could look up and clearly see the boat.  Horizontally, you could almost see the entire length of the sub. 80 degrees top to bottom. Morehead City and Gulf Stream diving is the best!!!

Sunday July 9, 2006

Dive Connections reserved the boat this past Sunday for a SeaDevil trip.  I was joined by Chris Coates and Brian Miller who were doing Wreck specialty dives.  Gina was on board and diving with her good buddy Greg Downer.  Last minute scheduling problems kept Claudia Roussos from joining us.

Stan Karpinski was our Divemaster and expertly tied us in right beside a large stockpile of the Morgan's famous 90mm shells, about half way between the stern and the remaining high piece of hull and superstructure.  Water temp was in the upper 50's and visibility was at least 40 ft, probably one of the best days I've seen diving at Va Beach.

Gina had two great dives with Greg.  Chris and Brian completed 2 of their dives toward their wreck specialty and I'm sure they will be back wreck diving again soon.

Sunday, July 2, 2006

With the "Big Time" not running this past Sunday (no customers), I had an opportunity to do a little diving off a private boat instead.

The boat was a 2006 28' Parker with twin 250hp 4 strokes. These were the first dives off the boat, but it was set up for diving as well as many of the commercial dive boats I've been on.

Our first wreck was the Schooner. An unidentified 19th century sailing vessel. Our second dive found us tied up to the Kurn. No monster lobster this time but there were a lot of flounder on both wrecks.

Both sites are a little over 100ft deep. Bottom temp was around 56 degrees and vis was very good, 30ft or better, conditions top side were perfect.

The Big Time did go out the Sat before and the divers reported 50ft vis on the Morgan. I'll be heading to the Morgan next Sunday with a group from Dive Connections (July 9th). Gina and I have a long weekend in Morehead City, NC the following weekend (July 14 thru 17) and I'll be in Ocean City diving on July 21st.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Eric Horton and I made the trip down to Va Beach this Sunday for another day of wreck diving.  We met Capt. Steve and the other divers on the trip at Marina Shores for a very early 6am leave time.

Our plan was to make the 60 mile run south to the wreck of the Chenango but the threat of roughs sea's and winds to the south of us caused us to change our plans.  We decided on the Cuyahoga instead. 

The 125ft long Coast Guard Cutter (built in 1927) was sunk as an artificial reef in 1978.  The wreck is still intact and resting upright in 115ft water.  Bottom temp was a comfortable 55 degrees, vis +/- 15 ft, no current and 1 to 2 foot seas. T he Cuyahoga was a very fun dive, one of the few intact wrecks we have.  Small size, easy swim through penetrations and home to Sea Bass, Tautog, Flounder, a few Lobsters and even two Angel Sharks.

Our second dive found us about a mile away on the Kurn.  The Kurn was a 250ft long Navy Ocean going tug, also sunk as an artificial reef.  She is broken into two pieces with the small stern section resting upright and the larger bow section upside down in 100ft of water.  Eric and I spent most of our dive exploring over, under and through the upside down bow section.  Lots of Flounder and Lobster, including two of the biggest ones I have ever seen.

One of them eventually brought up by another diver on the boat, the other (even larger) still hiding out under the bow.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

I made the short trip down to Va Beach once again this Sunday, joined by fellow SeaDevils Gina Petrucci, John Dawson, John Williams and Eric Horton.

We had chartered the dive boat "The Big Time" through Dive Quarters.  Captain Steve picked us up at Marina Shores and in 2 to 3 foot seas we headed out to our dive site, the wreck of the Margaret P. Hanks.  The Hanks is a former clam dredger lying on her starboard side in about 65ft of water.  We had 12 to 15ft of vis, mild current and a bottom temp of 54 degrees.  Pretty typical conditions for Va Beach diving this time of year.  Surfacing from our first dive, we were greeted by a building sea.  The 4 to 5 footers made it an interesting climb back into the boat.  We were lucky enough to be joined by a curious Loggerhead during our surface interval who seemed very interested in the boat and again after the second dive by a very large pod of Dolphins.

Eric and I are going back again this Sunday to dive the Chenango. I'll be with a group of SeaDevils in Nags Head the following weekend.  Back at the beach July 2nd and we have the whole boat reserved July 9th for a SeaDevil trip.  If anyone is interested joining us just call Dive Connections or email me (gordons@connect2diving.com) if you have any questions.