Hello from NYC

[AJStetson]

Hey, AJ... welcome!

Check out our dive club - we aren't quite sure what's going to happen with the local dive season, but we do have a lot of diving on the schedule. These days were are doing a lot of Zoom meetings with lectures, as well a our NY Underwater Photography Society meetings.

Hope to meet you someday, feel free to ask if you have any specific questions about local diving. I actually saw a humpback whale on the deco line over a wreck off the NJ shore last year!

Thanks for the great welcome, suggestions, and links!

And I have goosebumps reading about your experience and seeing the video (great soundtrack, too!) of the humpback whale! What an extraordinary thrill!
It's been a dream of mine to dive with whales. I've been fantasizing about some of the trips to Tonga. Perhaps someday, once it's ok to travel again...
Sadly, I've been realizing that, while I can do both deep and colder water dives, my constitution seems more inclined toward shallower and warmer water diving. I'd booked three dives in one day at Catalina, CA last July, but after just two dives at Casino Point Dive Park, on a sunny, warm day, 70 degrees F, with surface and bottom temps of 65 and 60, and dive depths down to 72 feet, wearing a 7mm wet suit, hood, gloves & boots, I was shivering so much, even after standing in the sun between and after the dives, that I decided to cancel my third dive of the day, for fear of spending the entire dive cold and shivering. This hadn't happened to me in Miami, Seychelles, Lady Elliot or Heron Islands, or La Paz, Mexico, where the bottom temps were all about ten degrees or more warmer, so I may need to stick to warmer waters.

Thanks again for the friendly greetings and exciting links, and perhaps we'll meet after the pandemic.
AJ

 

[AJStetson]

Welcome from Nova Scotia and a native of Yonkers. Do you dive locally (CT/NJ/LI)? I usually shore dive in the area for 7 weeks in summer since I'm in the area anyway. Looks like that won't happen this year. How are things now in the area with the virus? Any improvements? I always play with a concert band in Scarsdale. Our conductor lives right near what was the epicenter "containment area" in New Rochelle.

Hi Tom,
Things are definitely changed. I live in Manhattan, two blocks east of Union Square, and it's been far quieter lately. Now that I've recovered, after testing positive for COVID-19 and being in a single room for 25 days, I'm the outside-world point person, shopper, and errand guy for my housemates, and the whole tone of the city is muted.
I haven't been diving locally. I would love to, but as I wrote to doctormike, I think I'm more inclined to warmer water diving.

Stay healthy and well, and hope we can get back to music soon!
I'm an opera singer, and sing with the Grace Church choir on Broadway and 10th Street.
AJ

 

[formernuke]

New England diving if different than warm clear. There is cool stuff to see.

And if you can dive here warm clear is like a nice easy stroll.

 

[doctormike]

Thanks for the great welcome, suggestions, and links!

And I have goosebumps reading about your experience and seeing the video (great soundtrack, too!) of the humpback whale! What an extraordinary thrill!
It's been a dream of mine to dive with whales. I've been fantasizing about some of the trips to Tonga. Perhaps someday, once it's ok to travel again...
Sadly, I've been realizing that, while I can do both deep and colder water dives, my constitution seems more inclined toward shallower and warmer water diving. I'd booked three dives in one day at Catalina, CA last July, but after just two dives at Casino Point Dive Park, on a sunny, warm day, 70 degrees F, with surface and bottom temps of 65 and 60, and dive depths down to 72 feet, wearing a 7mm wet suit, hood, gloves & boots, I was shivering so much, even after standing in the sun between and after the dives, that I decided to cancel my third dive of the day, for fear of spending the entire dive cold and shivering. This hadn't happened to me in Miami, Seychelles, Lady Elliot or Heron Islands, or La Paz, Mexico, where the bottom temps were all about ten degrees or more warmer, so I may need to stick to warmer waters.

Thanks again for the friendly greetings and exciting links, and perhaps we'll meet after the pandemic.
AJ

Sure! Most local divers in this area end up diving dry, which makes a huge difference. Much more comfortable and less restrictive than a 7 mm suit, and pockets too...

So that may be something to consider.

 

[AJStetson]

Thank you–I definitely will consider that!

 

[formernuke]

Thank you–I definitely will consider that!

If you want to dive up here I highly recommend a drysuit. You can do a wetsuit during the summer for shallow dives. Deeper dives you want a drysuit even in the summer. I use mine year round just fluctuate the undergarments. For winter you REALLY REALLY REALLY want a drysuit. I've dove with people in wetsuits in the winter, we had to set up a easy up with walls and a propane heater so they could rush in and doff gear in there.

 

[tridacna]

I actually saw a humpback whale on the deco line over a wreck off the NJ shore last year!

You're milking this one Mike, I saw that video aka the worlds's fastest fleeting glimpse of a cetacean.

 

[doctormike]

You're milking this one Mike, I saw that video aka the worlds's fastest fleeting glimpse of a cetacean.

Hey, he said he wanted to dive with humpbacks! Where better than New Jersey?