paulthenurse
Contributor
So the ever intrepid Ishouldknowbetter and I get a late start on Saturday. By the time I got home on Friday afternoon I was finishing up a work week that went 11 straight nights of 7pm - 7am shifts. (Gotta work a lot of overtime to have some money left over to buy scuba gear when you have two kids in college!) I crashed around 2pm and slept like the dead until 7a on Saturday. Gathered up my gear and headed to Ishouldknowbetter's. By the time we had some breakfast adn got caught up on the week the morning was going by. Eventually we got all our stuff in my car and headed out. We got to Cape Ann around noon and pulled into Cathedral Rocks. There were two guys just finishing up their dive and they said that the vis was ok, and they saw a whole lot of bugs but hadn't brought any bag to keep em in.
We hump our gear down the rocks and gear up, not without me slipping on the rocks going down and tearing a hunk of skin about the size of a quarter off my palm. I fell full force onto my left chest wall carrying my full set up. Can you say echymosis? Ouch!
The tide was pretty far out and the was no giant stride going to happen off the couch so we climbed down aroudn the side of the couch, pulled our rigs down and set up standing on the seaweed. We flopped in and finned out a ways before dropping down. There wasn't a whole lot of wave action but there was a fair surge. As always, the first part of the dive was really cool, swimming thru the fronds. I'm not sure exactly what the seaweed is, the really long, broad, dark green leaves, with stalks about the size of a pinky finger securing them to the rocks? Anybody have a name?
Vis was pretty poor (maybe 10 feet) until we got below 40 feet, where it opened up. We zigged and zagged, here and there. I shouldknowbetter was having a problem with her suit inflation and was getting squeezed pretty good. Eventually we surfaced at teh shore, but we had strayed off to the left and were on the far side of the Grand Canyon. We found a path that took up back to the truck and it wasn't that bad a hike back. First dive 48 feet, 42 minutes, 47 degrees (Both our computers agreed) no bugs. In fact I saw only one and that wasn't even worth attempting he was so small. I don't know where the other guys dove but it wasn't on the left side of the cove.
We got back in the truck and drove by the DOG Days gathering at Stage Fort. TONS of people there. We didn't even stop, just drove by to look. What a crowd!
Drove down 127 to Magnolia where we stopped at Magnolia Rocks. We walked down to the waters edge but again there was a good surge and Ishouldknowbetter was iffy, until I slipped on the seaweed and landed on my butt and she wisely thumbed that site, "I'll buy you a beer instead." (How can you not love a woman who knows how to play the "I'll make it up to you" game that well?) We're driving down 127 when we spotted a nice sheltered cove in a town which shall remain nameless. We pulled over and scouted out easy access and nice rocks ringing the cove with a nice pile of rocks out a ways. We dropped the gear off and I went and found a place to park. Dive 2 was a blast. We hit the narc inducing depth of 18 feet and got an hour and 10 minutes out of it. The place was crawlling with critters. We filled a bag with oysters and a half dozen clams. Plus, there must be some crazy home owner who golfs in the area because we would come across areas where dozens of golf balls would collect in small depressions. We filled up another bag with the balls and left them with the guy who let me park in front of his house. He was thrilled. In addition to the oysters and clams we saw a big ocean pout, two really big tautog, and a load of fingerling lobsters. But not a single keeper.
After waking up early on Sunday we headed back down to Plymouth for a boat dive. My roommate wanted to try to get out early but Divers MArket wasn't open till noon and we needed to fill tanks so we got a late start. By the time we got to High Pine Ledge it was close to 2:00p. I was wearing my set of doubles for the first time and was a little apprehensive as we set up. I said to Lenny, "I'll go first and if I shoot straight to the bottom, follow my bubbles." No problems, it's just that the set up is so damned heavy you have trouble believing it is weghtless in the water. I LOVED the doubles. With a backplate and wing set up you quickly realise why they are called wings. It's like you fly, suspended under the rig. It was really cool! The three of us hunted around and came back to the surface with one keeper that Ishouldknowbetter caught. Kudos to her for the first legal bug of the year. We caught a dozen but only one was legal. But they're coming back. Most of the ones we caught were just out walking around, not under rocks. My theory is that they are just coming back to the area and haven't moved into a neighborhood yet, still trying to find a good place. I also caught a few big flounder. They are so stupid, just lying htere on the bottom thinking, "He can't see me, I blend in." Ya, right. I open up my bag and put it right in front of them, tap them on the arse and they swim right into the bag.
All in all a nice dive weekend. The lobster and clams made a fantastic Fra Diablo sauce for pasta last night, a nice Reisling, crusty bread and some Motrin topped it off.
Paulthenurse
We hump our gear down the rocks and gear up, not without me slipping on the rocks going down and tearing a hunk of skin about the size of a quarter off my palm. I fell full force onto my left chest wall carrying my full set up. Can you say echymosis? Ouch!
The tide was pretty far out and the was no giant stride going to happen off the couch so we climbed down aroudn the side of the couch, pulled our rigs down and set up standing on the seaweed. We flopped in and finned out a ways before dropping down. There wasn't a whole lot of wave action but there was a fair surge. As always, the first part of the dive was really cool, swimming thru the fronds. I'm not sure exactly what the seaweed is, the really long, broad, dark green leaves, with stalks about the size of a pinky finger securing them to the rocks? Anybody have a name?
Vis was pretty poor (maybe 10 feet) until we got below 40 feet, where it opened up. We zigged and zagged, here and there. I shouldknowbetter was having a problem with her suit inflation and was getting squeezed pretty good. Eventually we surfaced at teh shore, but we had strayed off to the left and were on the far side of the Grand Canyon. We found a path that took up back to the truck and it wasn't that bad a hike back. First dive 48 feet, 42 minutes, 47 degrees (Both our computers agreed) no bugs. In fact I saw only one and that wasn't even worth attempting he was so small. I don't know where the other guys dove but it wasn't on the left side of the cove.
We got back in the truck and drove by the DOG Days gathering at Stage Fort. TONS of people there. We didn't even stop, just drove by to look. What a crowd!
Drove down 127 to Magnolia where we stopped at Magnolia Rocks. We walked down to the waters edge but again there was a good surge and Ishouldknowbetter was iffy, until I slipped on the seaweed and landed on my butt and she wisely thumbed that site, "I'll buy you a beer instead." (How can you not love a woman who knows how to play the "I'll make it up to you" game that well?) We're driving down 127 when we spotted a nice sheltered cove in a town which shall remain nameless. We pulled over and scouted out easy access and nice rocks ringing the cove with a nice pile of rocks out a ways. We dropped the gear off and I went and found a place to park. Dive 2 was a blast. We hit the narc inducing depth of 18 feet and got an hour and 10 minutes out of it. The place was crawlling with critters. We filled a bag with oysters and a half dozen clams. Plus, there must be some crazy home owner who golfs in the area because we would come across areas where dozens of golf balls would collect in small depressions. We filled up another bag with the balls and left them with the guy who let me park in front of his house. He was thrilled. In addition to the oysters and clams we saw a big ocean pout, two really big tautog, and a load of fingerling lobsters. But not a single keeper.
After waking up early on Sunday we headed back down to Plymouth for a boat dive. My roommate wanted to try to get out early but Divers MArket wasn't open till noon and we needed to fill tanks so we got a late start. By the time we got to High Pine Ledge it was close to 2:00p. I was wearing my set of doubles for the first time and was a little apprehensive as we set up. I said to Lenny, "I'll go first and if I shoot straight to the bottom, follow my bubbles." No problems, it's just that the set up is so damned heavy you have trouble believing it is weghtless in the water. I LOVED the doubles. With a backplate and wing set up you quickly realise why they are called wings. It's like you fly, suspended under the rig. It was really cool! The three of us hunted around and came back to the surface with one keeper that Ishouldknowbetter caught. Kudos to her for the first legal bug of the year. We caught a dozen but only one was legal. But they're coming back. Most of the ones we caught were just out walking around, not under rocks. My theory is that they are just coming back to the area and haven't moved into a neighborhood yet, still trying to find a good place. I also caught a few big flounder. They are so stupid, just lying htere on the bottom thinking, "He can't see me, I blend in." Ya, right. I open up my bag and put it right in front of them, tap them on the arse and they swim right into the bag.
All in all a nice dive weekend. The lobster and clams made a fantastic Fra Diablo sauce for pasta last night, a nice Reisling, crusty bread and some Motrin topped it off.
Paulthenurse
