Today myself and Captain Pat Breen headed out to dive the wreck of the Romance. Upon arriving at the dive site we had the pleasure of Captain Jim Sullivan of The Boston Harbor Diving Company join us with his boat.
http://www.mass.gov/czm/UA-ROMAN.HTM
The weather was a nice 70 degrees with a mild breeze. The water was a little choppy but not a problem. Jim anchored his boat and tied us in. After gearing up and hopping in the water we started our descent down the line, the viz didn't look to promising by any means and there was a slight current. Reaching the bottom of the line at 77 feet we had a whopping 6 to 8 feet viz and the bottom water temp was 50 degrees. Pat attatched his wreck reel to the anchor line and away we went, Jim the fish went on his own venture. I think he has a homing device and he is not telling us since he never gets lost. Anyhow myself and Pat first hit the engines, these things are huge, there is all sorts of marine life growing and living in and around these engines. Lots of cod was hanging about and we got to see some huge flounders. Moving on to the boiler stacks I could see a few big lobsters inside getting ready for the fight if need be, but I thought since it was a holiday I would let them be. If I had my catch bag it might have been a different story. Returning back around the port side there is a lot of debris scattered around and I noticed a toad fish just sitting there so I gave him a tickle around the gills and he was happy enough. 40 mins in to the dive it was time to head back, we met up with jim on the anchor line gassing off on his safety stop, myself and Pat was using nitrox on this dive due to us being blown out in North Carolina so we did have a few extra mins bottom time.
After a good hours surface interval it was time to get back in the water and back down to the wreck, we had taken a compass bearing so now this time we where to explore a different part of the wreck, we headed east. On this dive I noticed alot of sharp edges of the wreck and alot of old cables and obstructions. I knew we had to be careful, the last thing we wanted was to be caught up in anything or even tear a hole in our drysuits. This dive can be a danger spot. There was a slight current that kept on pushing me in to Pat, I didn't want to venture to far away from him as this dive we only had about 5 feet viz, he tolerated me very well! We had got to the bow of the boat and guess who shows up? Jim the fish, he pointed out the old huge anchor this passenger vessle once carried then he proceeded to examine parts of the remaining hull. The stem of the mast came in to view, at a guess I would say it had to be 90 feet long, we swam to the end of it, I noticed at this point we where at 80 feet and the water temp was 48 degrees. As we headed back there was all sorts of marine life hanging about, I was just wishing for 10 more feet viz. I saw two or three dog fish hovering over Pat, there was a ton of different kinds of fish. I also noticed about a dozen scallops around the wreck but again with it being a holiday, either that or I forgot my catch bag again. Back on the boat myself Pat and JIm had a good old banter about our dive. This is an awsome dive for people who have the right dive experience, it's by far an advanced dive. If you are thinking about diving the Romance please be prepared, careful and dive safe.
Paul Langley.
Divemaster for: Diver Services.
http://www.mass.gov/czm/UA-ROMAN.HTM
The weather was a nice 70 degrees with a mild breeze. The water was a little choppy but not a problem. Jim anchored his boat and tied us in. After gearing up and hopping in the water we started our descent down the line, the viz didn't look to promising by any means and there was a slight current. Reaching the bottom of the line at 77 feet we had a whopping 6 to 8 feet viz and the bottom water temp was 50 degrees. Pat attatched his wreck reel to the anchor line and away we went, Jim the fish went on his own venture. I think he has a homing device and he is not telling us since he never gets lost. Anyhow myself and Pat first hit the engines, these things are huge, there is all sorts of marine life growing and living in and around these engines. Lots of cod was hanging about and we got to see some huge flounders. Moving on to the boiler stacks I could see a few big lobsters inside getting ready for the fight if need be, but I thought since it was a holiday I would let them be. If I had my catch bag it might have been a different story. Returning back around the port side there is a lot of debris scattered around and I noticed a toad fish just sitting there so I gave him a tickle around the gills and he was happy enough. 40 mins in to the dive it was time to head back, we met up with jim on the anchor line gassing off on his safety stop, myself and Pat was using nitrox on this dive due to us being blown out in North Carolina so we did have a few extra mins bottom time.
After a good hours surface interval it was time to get back in the water and back down to the wreck, we had taken a compass bearing so now this time we where to explore a different part of the wreck, we headed east. On this dive I noticed alot of sharp edges of the wreck and alot of old cables and obstructions. I knew we had to be careful, the last thing we wanted was to be caught up in anything or even tear a hole in our drysuits. This dive can be a danger spot. There was a slight current that kept on pushing me in to Pat, I didn't want to venture to far away from him as this dive we only had about 5 feet viz, he tolerated me very well! We had got to the bow of the boat and guess who shows up? Jim the fish, he pointed out the old huge anchor this passenger vessle once carried then he proceeded to examine parts of the remaining hull. The stem of the mast came in to view, at a guess I would say it had to be 90 feet long, we swam to the end of it, I noticed at this point we where at 80 feet and the water temp was 48 degrees. As we headed back there was all sorts of marine life hanging about, I was just wishing for 10 more feet viz. I saw two or three dog fish hovering over Pat, there was a ton of different kinds of fish. I also noticed about a dozen scallops around the wreck but again with it being a holiday, either that or I forgot my catch bag again. Back on the boat myself Pat and JIm had a good old banter about our dive. This is an awsome dive for people who have the right dive experience, it's by far an advanced dive. If you are thinking about diving the Romance please be prepared, careful and dive safe.
Paul Langley.
Divemaster for: Diver Services.
