40 Steps 5/3/09

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mark00020

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Location
Cambridge, MA
Wow, COLD. I was diving wet in my 7mm and water temp was down to 41 F at 30' depth. My buddy actually called dive 2 at 26 min because it was too cold, and he had a 5mm hooded vest on. I guess my wetsuit fits better because while I was a little uncomfortable, I had another 20 min before I would have wanted to surface. This has cemented in my mind the need for a drysuit though, so I'll start saving my money for yet another expensive scuba purchase.
As a side note, my MK25 and S600 performed flawlessly and I even purposely inflated my BC while breathing in, and purged the octo to see if I could get it to freeze. No luck, so I think the MK25 will perform great for any diving I want to do in the near future.

We saw 7 lobster, only two were keepers which is really low for a two tank dive. There were only 2 sets of pots set off shore, so I think the lobstermen know the lobster aren't at Nahant yet.
 
Thanks for posting your report! :)

Lobsters were scarce last week in Rockport, too, with similar temps. I'm just looking, since I don't have a license, but I only saw three small ones on two long dives.

Just curious, how was the vis down there? What's the diving like in Nahant? For shore diving, compared to Cape Ann, is Nahant worth the trip?

Dave C
 
On the 40 steps side the vis was pretty good considering the current, about 10 to 15'. On the Chimney's side it was terrible, about 5'.
Diving in Nahant is great, it usually produces a lot of lobster, and the beach and rocks are fun for the surface interval. Parking is a chore though. The best way to do it is drop off all gear and everyone but one person, then have them drive the car to public parking (about 2 mi away) and then have a bike in the back to ride to the beach. Or know someone that lives there.
If you can get the parking down, then yes it really is worth it, plus it is half the distance to Nahant than Cape Ann.

I'll take some pictures next time, and I'd advise diving 40 steps at high tide because the 16' depths in the middle of the "bay" were shallow enough that we were still getting tossed around by the wave action.
 

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