did some diving this weekend

[Diesel298]

Left outa Newport Sat morning..
did some diving on the L8 there was a odd surge on the bottom. it was dark , and only had aboput 5 feet of viz, 55 deg bottom temp. but all and all. it was a cool dive.
Sunday went out to the Blackpoint stern......
had about 15' viz about 55 deg bottom temp lotsa small fish, im not good at fish id but there where abunch of them...
seas where nice, and there wasnt alot of wind, and it wasnt so hot that you loose 5 lbs from sweating while suiting up

 

[Gidds]

No dogfish?

 

[Diesel298]

no,, not this time
Some others said they saw some wolf fish on the stern of the black point but i didnt see them
mabye next weekend..
dont know where were goin yet...
were thinkin of doin a overnight trip...leave sat morning come back sunday afternoon.... hopefully theres gonna be some intrest so we can get enough people to steam.. if not it will be a day trip

 

[RIOceanographer]

That surge at the bottom on the L-8 is interesting. Just a little oceanography, the depth to which a wave will generate surge is a function of the wavelength not the wave height (waves begin to "feel" bottom at a depth= to 1/2 the wavelength). What that means is you had some waves coming through with wavelengths at least hundreds of feet long. When you are on a boat, those long waves will not look like much unless they have a lot of height/steepness so you might not even notice them. In addition, other waves can be superimposed on top of the longer wavelength waves which can make them even harder to spot.

Or the less nerdy answer, you felt surge generated by swells from hurricane Ophelia.

 

[Diesel298]

yeah. well it was messin up the viz. make it stop

 

[RIOceanographer]

yeah. well it was messin up the viz. make it stop

Err... well, if I ever branch into "mad oceanography" and build some sort of giant sea base with a weather control machine I'll let you know....at least assuming the sea base isn't destroyed by some meddling British super-spy....

I have always felt mad oceanography is an under-appreaciated mad science. Captain Nemo was one of the early pioneers in mad science and he was definitely a mad oceanographer! Why do all mad scientists these days have to be physicists and genetic engineers?

 

[ScubaSarus]

"you felt surge generated by swells from hurricane Ophelia."

Yes. I knew it but was afraid to say it. They looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned the tiny swells Sunday.

Its about time the Oceanographer earned his keep. Now I wonder if I should ask him if there really is an Orinoco Flow. I know. I'm sure to get more starange looks.

 

[matt_unique]

I have been thinking about diving the L8 as well. Though I have not heard much about it other than the limited vis. How does the wreck look?

--Matt

 

[mstudley]

Err... well, if I ever branch into "mad oceanography" and build some sort of giant sea base with a weather control machine I'll let you know....

You should totally do this... I think it would increase my chances of actually doing the U-853...

 

[aquageek]

FYI...I don't think the surge was from Ophelia. I emailed Todd Gross (7 News) about it and he states that it was Maria and Nate causing the high surf and surge up here.

Jim