70' vis at Front Beach (measured) Sat 12/08/2007

[dave4868]

My wife says I'm addicted to ScubaBoard!!

I'm giving her a dive report over the phone from Front Beach in Rockport MA, just in case someone has the opportunity to take advantage of the incredible vis on Sunday.

Will post more later........the VIS was magical................

Dave C

 

[Dannybot]

Yeah, but how cold is the water?

 

[pgdive]

That's pretty cool, 70ft! We had some customers out at Folley today and they said the temp was 45ish. If anyone wants to get wet tomorrow we have a group going down to Hathaways at 9:00


Paul

 

[dave4868]

I'll post a more detailed dive report with critters seen and some pics tomorrow, but here's a brief report mostly about conditons, hopefully to whet the appetite, since the predicted light NW winds and seas should be favorable for similar great vis tomorrow, Sunday 12/09/2007, at least on the east side of Cape Ann.

Location of my dives today, Saturday, 12/08/2007- Front Beach, Rockport, MA

Air temp 25 to 40. Partly sunny.

Near calm all day. Light west winds. High tide was at 10am.

Two long dives (2h 5min and 1h 50min). Max depths 42 fsw and 32 fsw, respectively.

90 and 30 degree headings, respectively, from the north side of the beach. (following the edges of the two shoals).

The dives were 10:55am-1pm and 2:15pm-4:05pm.

Water temp was 40F throughout both dives (calibrated thermometer is accurate +/- 1 degree). I expected 46F like the Boston buoy, but luckily I had overdressed. I was glad I did! I wore my mid-30's gear.

Super vis, up to 70', measured!

I measured the vis horizontally at various depths and found it as great as 70' on two occasions at 15-20' depths with bright sun at my back. Even at 2:30pm at a depth of 30', vis was again measured to be 70'!

Vis was measured to be 60' several times in other areas.

Also got my two lowest vis readings of 50' while facing the direction of the sun.

The vis looking diagonally from the bottom at 20' toward my tied off surface buoy (and the tuna ball I use) was even more spectacular! It added at least a few feet beyond the maximum horizontal vis! What an amazing feeling to see the sunrays sparkling over huge areas of the barely rippled surface!

Method and criteria I use for measuring horizontal vis:

My 3/16" white nylon flag line is marked at ten-foot intervals. I tie the vertical line taut to an object with decent contrast then swim horizontally away until the object or the vertical part of the flag line was no longer discernible at all. Then I slowly return and note when the object or line become visible again.

In other words, this might be a little more stringent vis criteria then being able to barely see a buddy, since the buddy's movements, bubbles, bright fins, high-contrast suit, etc, make him easier to see than a lower-contrast stationary object or line.

Today was a remarkable dive day!

Hope somebody gets out there for something similar tomorrow!

Please post, if you do!

Dave C

 

[MASS-Diver]

Clam seas & west wind = great winter diving and through the roof viz

 

[dave4868]

Clam seas & west wind = great winter diving and through the roof viz

Exactly.

I was watching the marine forecasts all week and they were favorable for just such an event!

I'll take a good look at yesterday's 100+ pics to see if I was able to capture a sense of the vis! I'm still excited just recalling the sensation!

In our area, I've seen it this good only one other time in 12 years and, surprisingly, that was in early September, 1999. That was also at Front Beach.

Using the same method and criteria, I measured up to 70' vis that day, but it was not as widespread. Most of the water was 30-45' vis.

That day, along with the clear water came some schooling squid, and some cod. There were also some 4-8" baby bluefish and what I noted as possibly baby bonita, also in a school.

Dave C

 

[MASS-Diver]

P.S. Love the Avatar - although I think it might give me nightmares

 

[dave4868]

P.S. Love the Avatar - although I think it might give me nightmares

Thanks, John!

The Atlantic torpedo ray demands respect....more than once one has turned suddenly and flown right at me! That's definitely a little unsettling....who am I kiddin'....scares the heck out of me!

It might help if I didn't mess with them for pics!

Speaking of pics, from yesterday's clear water dive at Front Beach I was hoping to have some decent macro pics, but they were nothing special.

The few critters I saw included a few northern cerianthids, a juvenile frilled anemone, a few crabs, starfish and green sea urchins and a couple baby scallops, one of which was swimming, which is always fun to watch. Saw one lobster.

I looked for nudibrachs, but didn't see any.

The only fish I saw were a couple of winter skates, one sea raven, and a few cunners.

Nevertheless, the 70' measured vis made it a breathtaking experience for me and very memorable diving. The shoal areas I'd seen many times before looked much different with the broader perspective.

Here are a couple of pics with common objects for scale.

Hope the weather keeps things nice for diving there next weekend, but it's tough to go a week without adverse winds or weather here in the northeast in winter.

Dave C

 

[ScubaSarus]

Im glad you posted these becuase I have trouble convincing people when I happen to dive at times of good vis. 30-40 ft.

Nice blue tinge there.

 

[dave4868]

Im glad you posted these becuase I have trouble convincing people when I happen to dive at times of good vis. 30-40 ft.

Nice blue tinge there.

Gonna mark your flag line? Or take a camera with you?

Dave C