Cape Ann Conditions & Dive Report

[Jim Riz]

Cape Ann offers some of the best diving in the Northeast...and we weren't disappointed!! To that add the AWESOME hospitality of Dave from Cape Ann Divers and the knowldege & talents Captains Steve and Steve we had a better time than expected!!
Day 1 Friday found us fogged in !! but that was not enough to deter young Steve!! captaining abord the smaller CAII !! Due to weather conditions he decided a northern dive would deliver the best conditions, so we headed out to the tip of folley cove. The water was prestine with moderate particulates and visibility of 20-25'. I understand that this site is also a great shore dive i couldn't imagine getting to the spot Steve took us to from shore.
Water temp was 48 @ 56 feet max....due to a leaking inflator valve of my son ....we didn't explore any deeper and ended the first dive early. Even with that there were a few bugs to explore and more crabs than i have ever seen congrigated together! I did a solo on the second and found and area of anenomes (sp??) that was truly breathtaking.....many bigger thn my fist!!...While I was down Steve did an excellent job making my son feel comfortable...in choosing not to dive again....and shared his vast knowledge and experiences of his diving and sea career.
The second day greeted us with bright sunshine and calm waters with a brisk southeasterly wind, now aboard the CA (larger boat) again we were alone (well except for Dave & his nephew?? a great local charater) Steve(older) Captaining for the day and Steve (younger) mated.....he decided that half-way rock was going to be much too rough....so we decided to do the Nina T and Kettle Island where he had seen Seals the previous day on a return trip from a Plumouth Trip to the Mars & the Pinthis! Alas no seals were spotted, but was a neat dive....all temps and vis remained about the same....The Nina T in about 100' was an awesome dive with a ship covered with anemoes(sp?) and fish were abundant......this ship is beginning to detiorate rather quickly as the yarn was told from Dave....who helped place this wreck.....seems in went down in port during a storm and was raised and towed to her resting place......she went down on her bow....the pilot house is still intact......and it is a very pretty wreck....
What can I say other than when you dive with Cape Ann Divers you are truly in for a great experience!!......It doesn't get any better than these guys....and they held true to their words......we will go out with as few as 2 divers!!.......Awesome bunch...Thanks for a great experience

 

[Spectre]

Nice to hear good things about Cape Ann Divers, I've not gone out with them yet, but I almost did yesterday [well, with their shore diving program]. Might as well give my report also!.

5:30, the alarm rings. Not too bad, 4 hours of sleep, that's about on par. I start going through final preparations, getting the tanks in the car, making sure I have everything for the first dives of the year. Don't forget the lobster license! Make my lunch and out the door @ 6:45.

Gas, Coffee, on my way. As I'm heading down 93, I hear about an earthquake that just occurred. I wondered if that's what I thought was my pony bottle rolling in the trunk, or was that the time I thought my base sounded really good!

Heading down 128 at 7:40 getting set to pull into the BK rest area when I see the cones. I knew the BK had closed, but I didn't realize they didn't allow people in there currently. Where are we supposed to meet then? Oh well, off to Cathedral because that's where they will end up anyway! Got to Cathedral
at 8:00. Checked out the tide [ebbing] and the seas [nominal] and headed back up to the car. 8:20... Little spin down to Dunkin Donuts for a bathroom break and some more coffee. Spin by Back Beach [just in case]. Head back to Cathedral and start reading a book.

8:40 a car pulls up. Someone I recognize. "So you guys did decide to come to Cathedral!", to which Ed replies "Don't know, I was going to fast to stop so I decided to come straight here, since this is where we always go. Turns out we still meet at BK, just have to pull over and back up the onramp!. We gear up slow while we wait. By 9:05 we decide they just aren't coming here.

So down the rocks, on with the hood, on with weight belt and the rig, on with the mask, reaching for the fins. :bonk: Missing finstrap. Ed asks what's wrong. "I took my finstrap into the shop last weekend to make sure I had spares that would fit". Off with the mask, gloves, hood, BC, and back up the rocks to the car. Why I didn't remove the weight belt I'll never know.

Armed with my not-so-spare finstrap from my spare parts kit, I'm back down, catch my breath, suit up, and in we go. Ed's playing around with his new sonar toy, so we decide to tie the flag around a rock @ 25 ft and leave the transmitter there and head off to the sand flats to go chase some bugs. The visibility was great in the beginning, probably 40 to 50 feet down to about 40 fsw, and the water temp was 48-50. Then it started to get murkier. We got down to 70 fsw, and the visibility was about 4 feet. Given the limited vis, it was fairly low light, and the anemones were all opened up. It really was like two dives, a cold deep night dive combined with a crystal clear shallow dive!. We chased a few bugs but found nothing legal. I was busy futzing with my new equipment that I was sucking down gas pretty fast. Finally I tapped Ed and said it was time to go.

The return trip was where the clarity and brightness was really apparent in the shallower areas. Ed had a little bit of trouble with the sonar and we ended up missing the flag by about 20 ft. He decended back down to go get his sonar, and I snorkeled along the surface watching him and fiddling with my computer. 48 minutes, max depth 70 ft, temp 42 degrees. I saw he wasn't
going to grab the flag so I decended to pull it out. look at my computer: 20 ft, 2 minutes, second dive. Up I go. Swimming back to shore I look back at my computer: 2nd dive, 8 ft, 5 minutes. Huh??? Right out of the water I glance back: 3rd dive, max depth 105 ft, current depth 84..76...82..78. Whoa! Off with the BC and the weight belt, look back at the computer... 3 little lines. and look again... blank. :razafraz:
So I get to the car, throw some stuff in the rinse bucket, and dig out my tables. 70 ft, 48 minutes. Doah. Check analog depth gauge, 77 ft. Arghh.. Damn computer... :damn:

At this point in time I'm chewing my nicorette like a madman. Finish packing up, and head off for home. Half way home I realized that I hadn't been paying attention to my new regulator... Well, it was like a regulator... I than thought about it some more and realized I hadn't had more than one sip of water since I exited. Usually I'll go through 16-20 oz on my SITs while I try to get rid of the 'licking rocks in the desert' feel. I have nothing to say about how the ATX-50 feels and breaths underwater, but I can tell you I didn't get the dry mouth that I have always found synonymous with diving.

 

[large_diver]

Wow -- sounds like the water has definitely begun to warm up if you saw 50F....thanks for the reports.

 

[decapoddiver]

I did Pebble and Hoop Pole last Tuesday. We had 43 degree temps and about 20' vis. We did manage to get a few legal bugs so it was worth it. More and more sea life every week so I imagine we will be back in lobster heaven soon.

 

[large_diver]

Now where did that warm weather go....;-)

 

[Tavi]

The warm weather left us too! Upper 80's at the end of last week. Today 35 and snow.

 

[large_diver]

We hit 93F last week......now cold and snow last 2 days.

Add to that an earthquake over the weekend -- wierd!

 

[MASS-Diver]

Nice to hear good things about Cape Ann Divers, I'm going out with them next Sunday for the the first time. Going to do the Charles Haight since one guy doesn't have his advanced yet.

I was hoping to get in the water tommorow, but, with the wind going south-east, might not be able to.

Cape Ann really is great diving, very pretty dives sites (and lots of them) and great lobstering.