rhyz
Contributor
Sunday I have a chance to do my first Atlantic wreck dive I was an alternate
on the dive list at my shop and found out Thurday that someone had dropped out
due to a cold. I would be diving with 3 others from the shop, and 2 people from
another shop for a total of 6. The wreck we were suppose to dive is called the
Mohawk, about 7 miles out.
I'm getting a ride there with Larry (a DM) who lives about 4 blocks away from me, and he
will also be my buddy on the dives. We plan on leaving my house at around 5:30am as to
get at the boat at 6:30ish. I get up around 3:30am Sunday and double check my gear,
make some sandwiches, grab my water bottles and finish packing. Shower, dress and wait.
Finally around 5:50am Larry shows up and we get my gear stowed and away we go. I meet his
son Noah, who is also a DM and will be diving with us today. We talk about diving on the
way there and arrive at Clacks Landing in Point Pleasant at around 6:55am. A little late..
by the time we get all our gear onboard and do a breifing the Capt tells us due to starting
late the Mohawk is out of the question. Not a big deal for myself, seeing as I just want the
experience of doing a cold water ocen dive. But I could see some disappointment on the other
2 divers faces.
It's about a 50 minute ride out and once there one of the crew drops the anchor, and Steve
(another crew member) drops down to set it. We buddy up, Noah and Bogdan, Larry and myself,
one guy is soloing, a woman and one of the crew. Naoh and bogdan go down first, then Larry
goes and now its my turn. I'm nervous as hell now, the seas are about 3-4' F. Not to bad but
enough to easily lose your balance. I make it to the port side and do my back roll into the
water. Surface, grab the line and signal OK. Down I go!!
Following the line, the vis is about 2-3' F but I'm calming down. It always seems that way..
nervous till I'm in the water then I'm like so calm. I hit the anchor line and start my descent.
At about 20-25' F I hit hundreds of jellyfish, all around me and I look on in amazement at the
sight. Sunlight pouring through the water in rays, highlighting the reds on the jellyfish and the
green water...so beautiful. I continue down, equalizing often and finally at around 40' F the vis
get alot better, and finally at the chain, and the wreck! Vis is about 25' F now, depth 68' F
and water temp around 50.
I see Larry on the bottom with his reel so I turn my lights on and go to him, I hover around him waiting
for him to hook off, and gawk at all the marine life down here. Hundreds of starfish litter the sea
floor, all over the place. I spy some Black Sea Bass, ling, a couple of Sea Robin and also a small
skate as we explore the wreck! I'm in heaven! I find a couple of lobsters but leave them along, and some
crabs also. And as it always happens my time is up..its goes by sooo fast. I signal to Larry my PSI and we
start our ascent. We hang at 15-16' for a 3 minute safety stop then I'm off to the surface and up the ladder
onto the boat! Wonder that was better than I thought it would be!!!
After about an 1:15 the Capt asks who is doing a 2nd dive and to my amazement everyone declines. I was soo
disappointed, thinking I wouldn't be able to go. But both of the tech dives are going so I buddy up with
Steve. The gear these guys have was just extensive! I'm like Holy ****! look at all that stuff!! Steve tells me
he'll meet me at the bottom and drops in. Now the seas are around 6-8' F and the boat is rocking alot, but I
drop in okay, surface, signal OK, grab the line and down I go. Vis is worse now and when I finally get to the
chain its around 15'. I dont see Steve anywhere so I hang on the anchor line and look around, a couple of minutes
pass and I still dont see him and now i'm getting nervous. If I dont see him in the next couple of minutes I'm
going to abort. But about 30 second later out of the gloom Steve comes and off we go. He hooks up and we explore
the wreck some more and I see about the same stuff as before, but the amazement is still there in full bore!!
I signal to Steve that I've reached my turn around so we turn back to the anchor line and start our ascent. Do
my 3 minute safety stop then back on the boat. I'm like on cloud nine now. Steve gets in and we both strip our gear
talking about the dive and asks me how many dives is this for me. "Including this one" I ask, 6. I had forgotten to
let the rest of the crew know that this was my first boat/ocean/wreck dive. He said he was surprise that it was only
my first time doing a boat dive, no less an ocean dive seeing how well I looked in the water. My bouyancy was very good
and I had shadowed him very well. I was proud of that and he made feel more secure in my abilites. And Larry told
me that I dove very well for my first time also. I was beaming!
Up comes the anchor and home we go, I wanted to go again and cant wait for my next dive.
The wreck was broke up, and not to big. If I remember the name I think it was something Reef wreck. I looked on the NJ Scuba site but nothing rang a bell. I'll have to ask the Capt next Wednsday when I go there again. I probably missed alot of stuff in posting this, so I apologize..
Dive boat was Blue Fathoms outta of Clacks Landing and they we're a great crew, very helpful in everything. Definitely would dive with them again..as I am. LOL
on the dive list at my shop and found out Thurday that someone had dropped out
due to a cold. I would be diving with 3 others from the shop, and 2 people from
another shop for a total of 6. The wreck we were suppose to dive is called the
Mohawk, about 7 miles out.
I'm getting a ride there with Larry (a DM) who lives about 4 blocks away from me, and he
will also be my buddy on the dives. We plan on leaving my house at around 5:30am as to
get at the boat at 6:30ish. I get up around 3:30am Sunday and double check my gear,
make some sandwiches, grab my water bottles and finish packing. Shower, dress and wait.
Finally around 5:50am Larry shows up and we get my gear stowed and away we go. I meet his
son Noah, who is also a DM and will be diving with us today. We talk about diving on the
way there and arrive at Clacks Landing in Point Pleasant at around 6:55am. A little late..
by the time we get all our gear onboard and do a breifing the Capt tells us due to starting
late the Mohawk is out of the question. Not a big deal for myself, seeing as I just want the
experience of doing a cold water ocen dive. But I could see some disappointment on the other
2 divers faces.
It's about a 50 minute ride out and once there one of the crew drops the anchor, and Steve
(another crew member) drops down to set it. We buddy up, Noah and Bogdan, Larry and myself,
one guy is soloing, a woman and one of the crew. Naoh and bogdan go down first, then Larry
goes and now its my turn. I'm nervous as hell now, the seas are about 3-4' F. Not to bad but
enough to easily lose your balance. I make it to the port side and do my back roll into the
water. Surface, grab the line and signal OK. Down I go!!
Following the line, the vis is about 2-3' F but I'm calming down. It always seems that way..
nervous till I'm in the water then I'm like so calm. I hit the anchor line and start my descent.
At about 20-25' F I hit hundreds of jellyfish, all around me and I look on in amazement at the
sight. Sunlight pouring through the water in rays, highlighting the reds on the jellyfish and the
green water...so beautiful. I continue down, equalizing often and finally at around 40' F the vis
get alot better, and finally at the chain, and the wreck! Vis is about 25' F now, depth 68' F
and water temp around 50.
I see Larry on the bottom with his reel so I turn my lights on and go to him, I hover around him waiting
for him to hook off, and gawk at all the marine life down here. Hundreds of starfish litter the sea
floor, all over the place. I spy some Black Sea Bass, ling, a couple of Sea Robin and also a small
skate as we explore the wreck! I'm in heaven! I find a couple of lobsters but leave them along, and some
crabs also. And as it always happens my time is up..its goes by sooo fast. I signal to Larry my PSI and we
start our ascent. We hang at 15-16' for a 3 minute safety stop then I'm off to the surface and up the ladder
onto the boat! Wonder that was better than I thought it would be!!!
After about an 1:15 the Capt asks who is doing a 2nd dive and to my amazement everyone declines. I was soo
disappointed, thinking I wouldn't be able to go. But both of the tech dives are going so I buddy up with
Steve. The gear these guys have was just extensive! I'm like Holy ****! look at all that stuff!! Steve tells me
he'll meet me at the bottom and drops in. Now the seas are around 6-8' F and the boat is rocking alot, but I
drop in okay, surface, signal OK, grab the line and down I go. Vis is worse now and when I finally get to the
chain its around 15'. I dont see Steve anywhere so I hang on the anchor line and look around, a couple of minutes
pass and I still dont see him and now i'm getting nervous. If I dont see him in the next couple of minutes I'm
going to abort. But about 30 second later out of the gloom Steve comes and off we go. He hooks up and we explore
the wreck some more and I see about the same stuff as before, but the amazement is still there in full bore!!
I signal to Steve that I've reached my turn around so we turn back to the anchor line and start our ascent. Do
my 3 minute safety stop then back on the boat. I'm like on cloud nine now. Steve gets in and we both strip our gear
talking about the dive and asks me how many dives is this for me. "Including this one" I ask, 6. I had forgotten to
let the rest of the crew know that this was my first boat/ocean/wreck dive. He said he was surprise that it was only
my first time doing a boat dive, no less an ocean dive seeing how well I looked in the water. My bouyancy was very good
and I had shadowed him very well. I was proud of that and he made feel more secure in my abilites. And Larry told
me that I dove very well for my first time also. I was beaming!
Up comes the anchor and home we go, I wanted to go again and cant wait for my next dive.
The wreck was broke up, and not to big. If I remember the name I think it was something Reef wreck. I looked on the NJ Scuba site but nothing rang a bell. I'll have to ask the Capt next Wednsday when I go there again. I probably missed alot of stuff in posting this, so I apologize..
Dive boat was Blue Fathoms outta of Clacks Landing and they we're a great crew, very helpful in everything. Definitely would dive with them again..as I am. LOL
