Labor Day Weekend Diving

[ScottyK]

So did everyone get out and do some diving over the holiday weekend? If so, what did you do, and how was it?

We had a blast with the two good days we got!

Saturday- Dove the Culloden off of Montauk Point. This is a "no take" landmark site that consists of the debris of an old 1800's sailing ship. It's loaded with fish and invertebrate life.

Sunday- did an afternoon dive off of the north shore. We had the best vis of the year so far (about 15') and brought food to feed all the small fish that hang in the rubble zone. The last 20 miles or so to the site are through farm country. On the way back we stopped at a farm stand and had homemade wood roasted corn, apple shortcake, and ice cold lemonade. It was delicious!

Sunday Night- Caught a midnight high tide on the south shore. The stars were out, and the water was clear and beautiful. We saw a 3" Big Eye Squirrel, which is a tropical species that I've never seen up here before. We also found a large bowl shaped depression in the sand with a huge congregation of eels and watched a really large Blue Claw crab duking it out with an even larger Spider Crab over a dead mussel. On the way back in we got swarmed over by what seemed like a million silver minnows!

I hope everyone else had as good a time!


Scott

 

[PhotoTJ]

ScottyK once bubbled...
On the way back we stopped at a farm stand and had homemade wood roasted corn, apple shortcake, and ice cold lemonade. It was delicious!

I hope everyone else had as good a time!


Scott

OK, THAT sounds tasty! I had a pretty good dive Sunday, got a few scallops, saw the biggest sheep crab I've ever seen, and then on the way home my truck caught on fire.

I know I've never had more excitment on a dive trip! (I'm fine, the gear is fine, even the truck is already running again!)

 

[WileEDiver]

Hit the Breakwater in Monterey on Sunday and Monday.

Three of the dives were run-of-the-mill dives for that location. On the second dive of the day on Sunday, though, the sun was shining brightly and swimming through the kelp with the light streaming through the stalks was truly awesome. It bordered on a religious experience!

 

[Dee]

We had a nice day of diving at the lake planned. Diving and cookout later with more diving to finish the day. Unfortunately TS Grace kicked up in the Gulf and decided to ruin our weekend.

We got over 5" of rain which left the viz about 2ft and the ground muddy. We'll try again next weekend!

 

[seaangel]

I did a total of 7 dives in WPB over Saturday and Sunday. We did 3 dives on Saturday, and then did 4 on Sunday. The last dive was a night dive. Water was choppy, vis was so- so. But, a great time was had. Currents were ripping along pretty good too on most of them, but that made drift diving easier to me. Only on one did I wish it had not been as strong and that was on the wreck dive, but all in all it was a good weekend of diving.

 

[Rick Inman]

Saturday dive where the aquafer enters the Spokane river and it's 52 degrees - to try out the new (used) dry suit. 50 foot vis, lots of rainbow trout and one BIG 'ol brown.
Monday, boat out on lake Coeur d' Alene to the Harrison, a 165' steemer. 20 foot vis, lots of bass. Working out dry suit boyency issues.
Still off today! Dive again at lake Coeur d' Alene with new weight distribution and underwear. Lots of bass following me around.
Am now sitting here waiting for Stowey to call for a night dive. Gear is still in the truck...

 

[Juls64]

Saturday was a long, full day of Rescue Class. It was great. Did the classroom Tues and found the test more difficult than I expected, did pretty well though. Did the pool part Wed. and felt nothing but frustrated. Everything I did was WRONG! I was really nervous going into the open water part Saturday. But I worked with my husband and another terrific buddy, and while everything wasn't perfect, I took alot of initiative and tried hard on everything, and in the end, felt like I did a pretty good job. It was a very rewarding class.

Sunday we joined my son at a local quarry for the second day of his AOW. Did 3 dives in the rain, but it was great.

Good weekend!

(Glad I was off Monday, cause I was so tired!)

Juls

 

[seakdivers]

Loooong weekend for me- we went camping with my family on an island about 3 hours north of town. The camping was OK - the diving was great! I did have a scary experience however... There were three of us, and we got dropped off on a barely exposed set of rocks in the bay that we were camping in. It was a beautiful dive, but of course when we came up, the rocks were submerged quite a bit, and as luck would have it, a squall had kicked up. So here we were, bobbing up & down in a pretty nasty swell, and nobody from the big boat could see us. We bobbed around for about 10 minutes, and then we saw them coming for us......except they were in the WorkSkiff, which has really high sides on it. They pulled up to us, and we all did something really stupid. We pulled our bcds off so that we could pass them up to them, however, by the time my boyfriend and I struggled out of ours in the swell, the boat had drifted quite a ways away. My sister was the closest to the boat when they first pulled up, so she was already getting on board, and they didn't notice how far away from us they were.
The waves were getting pretty intense, and even though I had a really good hold, my bcd got wrenched from my hands by a nasty wave. I was in a drysuit, but of course I was wearing a weight belt. For about 10 minutes I had been kicking like crazy trying to keep my head above the swells. I know the right thing to do would have been to ditch my weights, but I tell you what - after taking a few crashing waves over my head and inhaling lungfull after lungfull of water, I totally panicked... I'm not kidding you - I was fully freaked out. I couldn't see the boat, I couldn't see my boyfriend, I couldn't find my bcd...and I didn't think about what I was supposed to do.
Fortunately, my boyfriend was just one swell behind me, and he grabbed me, gave me his air and yelled REALLY loud at the boat G*D DAMMIT GET OVER HERE NOW! They zoomed over to us and he was still yelling at them GET HER OUT OF THE WATER NOW!!
They grabbed me, pulled me into the boat, and while relieved, I felt like a total moron.....
It certainly was a learning experience on so many levels!

 

[SueMermaid]

I got to go diving with the Jenkinson's Aquarium staff at the railroad bridge in Point Pleasant. They needed to specimens for some of their display tanks. It was my first Jersey dive, due to various bouts of seasickness/apathy/lack of buddies.
It was *excellent*. They tell me the visibility was poor to average, about 5', it was just fine by me. I had no idea there was so much life there. Every square inch had some drama happening. It made me feel good to see so VERY many baby flounder, there were so many of them that it was impossible to put your hand down on the bottom without disturbing five or six of them. And here I thought they in particular were really overfished. It was every bit as interesting to me as a coral reef, maybe moreso because it was so different. I tend to like the teeny things better than the large animals, so it's a place I will return to.
The only caveat was the very stiff current, even at "slack" tide, which swept me very quickly under the bridge, so I had to hang on with one hand to really get a look.
There were anemones of several types, tunicates?, several species of crabs, bazillions of fish, mussels and clams, and some really beautiful orangey snails that I had never seen before, among other stuff. The place is teeming with life. (and fishing line, I had to use my knife like six times during the dive). I am going to the book store this afternoon to get myself one of those mid-Atlantic fish/sea creature ID books.
I wanna do that again! Anyone care to join me before the weather gets too chilly?

 

[ScottyK]

Sue- With or without a buddy, you are welcome to take a drive out to LI and dive with Jen and I anytime. We can take you places that are just as nice, without the current.

Now you know why I'm always rolling my eyes when friends and co-workers ask that dreaded question. Is there anything to see down there?


Seakdiver- If you took it as a learning experiece (as you said) then you are on your way to becoming a better diver. Don't let it put you off.

Sue- PM me if you're interested!

Scott