Diving the USS Blenny - Ocean City, MD - 8-30-2008

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

jrmiah

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Messages
339
Reaction score
11
Location
Ocean City, MD
# of dives
500 - 999
Some friends and I took out the boat out to do some SCUBA diving this past weekend at the USS Blenny. The USS Blenny is a WW2 era submarine that was sunk 12 mile SE off the coast of Ocean City, MD in the Atlantic Ocean as part of Maryland artificial reef program. We set out of the OC Commercial docks around 7:00 AM on Saturday and it was about an hour ride to the GPS coordinates I had on record. After searching around for a blurp on the sonar we found what looked to be a possible wreck about 70 feet underwater so we dropped anchor and prepped up. The seas which were around 2-3 feet on the way out had flattened to what they call “Lake Atlantic”. Great conditions for being so far offshore.

The conditions underwater were pretty bad; above the thermocline was a hazy yellow brown with about two-three feet of visibility. Once pass the thermocline around 30 feet it was like the lights went out, pitch black with 18 inches of visibility (with a flash light). It was an eerie feeling sinking 70 feet to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean not knowing what is around you in total darkness. The blenny had lots of growth and life around. Interesting wreck although we just explored a small portion of it on this voyage.

We each had two dives ranging from 20- 40 min, and then we headed in. We had an afternoon forecast of rain and possible thunderstorms so we wanted to get back before “Lake Atlantic” became “Atlantic Chop”. We returned to the docks around 1:00 pm, successful trip all around!

Palm%20Divers%20OC%20Dive%201.jpg


Palm%20Divers%20OC%20Dive%202.jpg


Palm%20Divers%20OC%20Dive%203.jpg
 
Glad you had a good trip, my dive on the 31st got blown. What boat did you use and what were the water temps like? This year has been much different than normal, the water hasn't warmed up and the visibility just doesn't seem to be there.
 
Thanks, it is actually my dive boat, I have it docked here in Ocean City, Maryland until I move down to the Keys next year. I will be running charters out of Key Largo. I think the temp on the bottom was around 60 but I will have to check my computer tonight when I get home. I was wearing a 5 mil w/hood & gloves and was fine.
 
Im in florida til next week. If you dive it again and want some company send a message. Im in Salisbury and would like to try more local diving.
Post when you head for Key Largo and where you will be chartering out of.
 

Back
Top Bottom