localdivah
Contributor
- Messages
- 146
- Reaction score
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- # of dives
- 500 - 999
A friend and I decided to take advantage of the unseasonal break in weather and hit Cape Ann yesterday. Forecast was unspectacular -- mid 50s air temp, but strong possibility of rain and 15-25kt winds. In fact, there was a small craft advisory in effect.
Figuring the warm weather was worth it, we headed up to Lane's Cove, reasoning that it would be more sheltered from the southerly winds. Got there with not a soul in sight, but a few lonely lobster pot buoys in sight, which was reassuring, as we were hoping to catch a few bugs that failed to get the winter eviction notice.
Although we were diving wet, we took some precautions, including an extra 3mm shorty I wore under my 7mm Pinnacle semi-dry (or "semi-wet" as my drysuit friends like to remind me), a pair of wool socks worn under boots and neoprene socks. My buddy was trying out his new Akona 7mm semidry jumpsuit. We also kept plenty of warm water in thermoses.
Water was a bit of a shock, but nothing unexpected. Temp varied from about 40 at surface to 36 at depth. Viz was fair (when not silted)-- about 20' with some good direct sunlight. We headed out at about 300 degrees, because of a slight west-to-east current. We went out a good 400-500m seeing nothing but sandy bottom. That seemed strange because I had never seen that much sand there before. Eventually, we decided to veer east and came to the familiar rocky drop off (where it falls to about 50-80'). Started seeing a few lobsters -- problem was that most of them were fairly deep in their holes. Second major problem was that the lack of vegetation made things extremely silty. You had one chance to grab lobsters or else you were going blind. The two of us were quickly separated and met back up at the top. We did get to see the resident monster lobster with claws the size of a forearm. I had one good size keeper and was starting to worry about frostbite. We decided to turn back in. I grabbed one more lobster on the way in at a shallow 10' and Bill had a bag full of large sized rock crabs. Total time was 56 min, with a max depth of 55'.
After regaining feeling in our hands and feet with the help of some warm water, we switched tanks and dropped back in. I also swapped fins to try out my newly acquired pair of Force Fins. Surface swam out fairly far, having learned that most of the bugs were out past the dropoff. I found one area which is usually a bug neighborhood, but there were few there today. Silt was an issue again. Of the lobsters I saw that seemed promising, I was able to grab about half, and of those, about half were too small or were v-notched. Surprisingly there were a lot of small v-notched females. During this dive, the one lobster I caught early on managed to pinch me a number of times in the leg and arm through the mesh bag-- maybe my buddy with the expensive $50 plastic coated catch bag has a point. I started the dive with only 2000psi in my HP100, so turned back pretty early.
I paid attention on the way back to the new fins. The Force Fins leave your toes open, so it was nice to feel like I was wearing a pair of sandals instead of fins with my foot crammed in a footbox. On the other hand, they felt pretty unsteady -- on a straight kick, my CressiSub Frogs track straight up and down through the water, whereas these seem to move side to side a bit through the water column. They were nice for small little bicycle kicks, which is what I use a lot when lobster hunting.
My buddy surfaced about the same time I did and had another large haul of crabs topped with two lobsters. Dive time 42 min, about same max depth.
All in all, good way to start 2006, but I'm still looking for a better way to keep my fingers warm!
Figuring the warm weather was worth it, we headed up to Lane's Cove, reasoning that it would be more sheltered from the southerly winds. Got there with not a soul in sight, but a few lonely lobster pot buoys in sight, which was reassuring, as we were hoping to catch a few bugs that failed to get the winter eviction notice.
Although we were diving wet, we took some precautions, including an extra 3mm shorty I wore under my 7mm Pinnacle semi-dry (or "semi-wet" as my drysuit friends like to remind me), a pair of wool socks worn under boots and neoprene socks. My buddy was trying out his new Akona 7mm semidry jumpsuit. We also kept plenty of warm water in thermoses.
Water was a bit of a shock, but nothing unexpected. Temp varied from about 40 at surface to 36 at depth. Viz was fair (when not silted)-- about 20' with some good direct sunlight. We headed out at about 300 degrees, because of a slight west-to-east current. We went out a good 400-500m seeing nothing but sandy bottom. That seemed strange because I had never seen that much sand there before. Eventually, we decided to veer east and came to the familiar rocky drop off (where it falls to about 50-80'). Started seeing a few lobsters -- problem was that most of them were fairly deep in their holes. Second major problem was that the lack of vegetation made things extremely silty. You had one chance to grab lobsters or else you were going blind. The two of us were quickly separated and met back up at the top. We did get to see the resident monster lobster with claws the size of a forearm. I had one good size keeper and was starting to worry about frostbite. We decided to turn back in. I grabbed one more lobster on the way in at a shallow 10' and Bill had a bag full of large sized rock crabs. Total time was 56 min, with a max depth of 55'.
After regaining feeling in our hands and feet with the help of some warm water, we switched tanks and dropped back in. I also swapped fins to try out my newly acquired pair of Force Fins. Surface swam out fairly far, having learned that most of the bugs were out past the dropoff. I found one area which is usually a bug neighborhood, but there were few there today. Silt was an issue again. Of the lobsters I saw that seemed promising, I was able to grab about half, and of those, about half were too small or were v-notched. Surprisingly there were a lot of small v-notched females. During this dive, the one lobster I caught early on managed to pinch me a number of times in the leg and arm through the mesh bag-- maybe my buddy with the expensive $50 plastic coated catch bag has a point. I started the dive with only 2000psi in my HP100, so turned back pretty early.
I paid attention on the way back to the new fins. The Force Fins leave your toes open, so it was nice to feel like I was wearing a pair of sandals instead of fins with my foot crammed in a footbox. On the other hand, they felt pretty unsteady -- on a straight kick, my CressiSub Frogs track straight up and down through the water, whereas these seem to move side to side a bit through the water column. They were nice for small little bicycle kicks, which is what I use a lot when lobster hunting.
My buddy surfaced about the same time I did and had another large haul of crabs topped with two lobsters. Dive time 42 min, about same max depth.
All in all, good way to start 2006, but I'm still looking for a better way to keep my fingers warm!
Kind of like posting something about a dive out at Magnolia without complaining about the owner on the corner. (who I actually get along with really well. He has this amazing cat which is 26 lbs.)
