My good friend Earl took his boat out for it's first trip of the season today. Along for the ride were Brian, Matt and myself. Our destination was the wreck of the Onondaga off of Watch Hill, RI.
We launched from Barn Island and after a quick 10-15 minute run we were over the wreck. We were pleased to find that there was a mooring on the stern and that we didn't need to waste any time hooking it. Earl decided to sit the dive out because he was feeling too congested. Our buddy Ed had also cancelled earlier in the morning because he was congested. Unfortunately, Matt, Brian and I had to splash in without them.
The conditions were exceptional. To give you an idea of how good the visibility was, while hanging at my 15 ft safety stop I could just make out the bottom at about 50 ft. The water temperature was about 43 degrees F.
There were more nudibranchs on the wreck than I have ever seen in my life. In some patches we could see hundreds of them within a few square ft. In contrast to the horde of nudibranchs, there weren't too many fish out, I only saw a few cunner, a dead skate (which doesn't really count) and a gunnel.
Brian found some old silverware sticking out of the sand which had the date "1847" stamped on them. He also brought up a danforth anchor someone had lost on the wreck.
There were a few complications (the dive gods demand a price for good visibilty). Matt had a problem with his primary regulator leaking and called it quits a bit early after switching to his backup. I followed him back to the line to make sure he got home okay before finishing up my dive. As I mentioned earlier, Earl wasn't feeling up to diving, but he at least seemed to enjoy getting out on the boat.
The wind picked up a lot as we were heading home so it was a good thing we got out when we did. It would have been pretty rough later in the afternoon.
Hopefully the great visibility sticks around long enough for Earl and Ed to get well and Matt to get his regulator fixed!
We launched from Barn Island and after a quick 10-15 minute run we were over the wreck. We were pleased to find that there was a mooring on the stern and that we didn't need to waste any time hooking it. Earl decided to sit the dive out because he was feeling too congested. Our buddy Ed had also cancelled earlier in the morning because he was congested. Unfortunately, Matt, Brian and I had to splash in without them.
The conditions were exceptional. To give you an idea of how good the visibility was, while hanging at my 15 ft safety stop I could just make out the bottom at about 50 ft. The water temperature was about 43 degrees F.
There were more nudibranchs on the wreck than I have ever seen in my life. In some patches we could see hundreds of them within a few square ft. In contrast to the horde of nudibranchs, there weren't too many fish out, I only saw a few cunner, a dead skate (which doesn't really count) and a gunnel.
Brian found some old silverware sticking out of the sand which had the date "1847" stamped on them. He also brought up a danforth anchor someone had lost on the wreck.
There were a few complications (the dive gods demand a price for good visibilty). Matt had a problem with his primary regulator leaking and called it quits a bit early after switching to his backup. I followed him back to the line to make sure he got home okay before finishing up my dive. As I mentioned earlier, Earl wasn't feeling up to diving, but he at least seemed to enjoy getting out on the boat.
The wind picked up a lot as we were heading home so it was a good thing we got out when we did. It would have been pretty rough later in the afternoon.
Hopefully the great visibility sticks around long enough for Earl and Ed to get well and Matt to get his regulator fixed!
Last edited:
