MSilvia
Contributor
On monday, Mer and I did some dives off her dad's friend's 28' boat out of Newburyport, MA. After some initial trouble with my car (which turns out to be due to either a cracked block or a blown head gasket... ugh), and with weights (which I forgot in the temporarily abandoned car and had to replace at McDougal Sales and Service in Salisbury (978)388-1234) we headed toward Cape Ann.
Thanks to Mer's navigational prowess, we arrived in 30 fsw off of Halibut Point, suited up and hit the water. We checked the anchor, set due north, and began a bug hunt. It looked good from the start, as we wrestled a good sized keeper out of the rocks, but she kept her tail curled tightly closed, and alas was heavily berried. We kept on the same heading over large, flat, angular rocks, and as we approached a small dropoff were suprised to see several sharks ahead! Just spiny dogfish, but nonetheless the first sharks I've seen in New England waters.
I nearly crashed into another one later in the dive as I cleared a large rock, and managed to get a nice up close look at him... close enought to tell he was a him anyhow. We nearly bagged another keeper near the anchor line, but it managed to sidestep and bolt. All in all a very nice dive... good vis, max of about 38 fsw, and did I mention the sharks?
Dive two was off Rockport Breakwater, where the depths ranged from as little as 10 fsw to well over 60. It's a pretty typical breakwater... mostly a big pile of cut and blasted granite, which made for some pretty deep holes, narrow archways, and abundant marine life. We saw a big school of cod almost right away, and couldn't help but notice that most of the available real estate was occupied by urchins and anemonae. I think we may have even seen some hydroids, but my invertebrate identification slills are pretty sketchy.
This was my 75th dive, and I was pleased to notice early in the dive an old anchor lodged in the rocks, which we swam back and deposited near the anchor line. There was a good current, which we perhaps unwisely began the dive drifting with, but we turned early to account for the extra effort returning and made it back to the line with 1500 psi left in my tank. We decided to continue up current for a bit, but misjudged riding it back and overshot the boat by 100 yards or more. When we finally made it back to the line (at 15 fsw), I was close to running out of air, so we filled the lift bag off Mer's reg, and returned to the boat with a nice trophy, which I hope to deconcrete and preserve.
Thanks to Mer's navigational prowess, we arrived in 30 fsw off of Halibut Point, suited up and hit the water. We checked the anchor, set due north, and began a bug hunt. It looked good from the start, as we wrestled a good sized keeper out of the rocks, but she kept her tail curled tightly closed, and alas was heavily berried. We kept on the same heading over large, flat, angular rocks, and as we approached a small dropoff were suprised to see several sharks ahead! Just spiny dogfish, but nonetheless the first sharks I've seen in New England waters.
I nearly crashed into another one later in the dive as I cleared a large rock, and managed to get a nice up close look at him... close enought to tell he was a him anyhow. We nearly bagged another keeper near the anchor line, but it managed to sidestep and bolt. All in all a very nice dive... good vis, max of about 38 fsw, and did I mention the sharks?
Dive two was off Rockport Breakwater, where the depths ranged from as little as 10 fsw to well over 60. It's a pretty typical breakwater... mostly a big pile of cut and blasted granite, which made for some pretty deep holes, narrow archways, and abundant marine life. We saw a big school of cod almost right away, and couldn't help but notice that most of the available real estate was occupied by urchins and anemonae. I think we may have even seen some hydroids, but my invertebrate identification slills are pretty sketchy.
This was my 75th dive, and I was pleased to notice early in the dive an old anchor lodged in the rocks, which we swam back and deposited near the anchor line. There was a good current, which we perhaps unwisely began the dive drifting with, but we turned early to account for the extra effort returning and made it back to the line with 1500 psi left in my tank. We decided to continue up current for a bit, but misjudged riding it back and overshot the boat by 100 yards or more. When we finally made it back to the line (at 15 fsw), I was close to running out of air, so we filled the lift bag off Mer's reg, and returned to the boat with a nice trophy, which I hope to deconcrete and preserve.
