reefseal
Contributor
I made an impromtu treck to Gloucester. I was able to play hookie from work and it was buddy's day off so we schlepped down to Cape Ann. On paper, a good idea.. Warm air temps, light winds from West, South/west. You would think conditions would be ideal.
It was my buddies first dive to Lanes as he had read a lot about the site and heard me talk about it. It's by far one of my more commonly dove sites because of easy parking, entry and exist. It's divable regardless of the tide. We were going in at lowest point of low tide. You just have to be careful entering, like when entering at low tide at Nubble. What's cool about the site is the mini wall and neat terrain.
There is still the sign (Gloucester ordinance, flag for each diver..) What a bunch of bull... Don't get me started..
As I got in the water (12:14) I heard a clunk behind me and saw that buddyhad slipped on the moss/sea weed. No injuries, he moved on.
I also decided to change over to dive wet. I figured the warm air temps would make the difference. As soon as I entered, I thought to myself, what was I thinking. Too early to change back to wet. I'll go back to diving dry for a couple more mos.
The water looked clear from the surface but the moment we decended, the vis was terrible. We couldn't explain the poor vis. The winds were light and the seas were flat calm, there weren't storms the past few days. We could barely see each other but we trudged on towards the wall.
The plan was to plant the flag at the start of the wall and follow the wall until turn point, go back to the flag and head back in. When we found the wall, I started to plant the flag but then realized we probably wouldn't be able to see or find it on the way back so I carried it with me.
A few minutes later, I lost buddy. After a quick search, I surfaced, found his bubbles and then decended back down on top of him. He was surprised I found him. We putzed around a bit more and headed back.
I was starting to get cold (water temps 39-49)
Max depth I got was 51, bottom time 40 min. I still had plenty of gas left (1260) but had enough because of the poor vis. (5-10 feet?)
We optimistically thought would find a site with better vis on the cape. We drove to Folly, saw a diver emerging and he too said the same, Poor vis. Incidently, his buddy was topside and had to scrub the dive becuase he forgot his dry hood. He had suited up, ready to go in and couldn't find the hood. He told us he did try to dive anyway without the hood. He quickly got out. I don't know if I would have even tried it.
We headed back around 3 to beat the traffic
So what's up with the water vis? Alge bloom?
It was my buddies first dive to Lanes as he had read a lot about the site and heard me talk about it. It's by far one of my more commonly dove sites because of easy parking, entry and exist. It's divable regardless of the tide. We were going in at lowest point of low tide. You just have to be careful entering, like when entering at low tide at Nubble. What's cool about the site is the mini wall and neat terrain.
There is still the sign (Gloucester ordinance, flag for each diver..) What a bunch of bull... Don't get me started..
As I got in the water (12:14) I heard a clunk behind me and saw that buddyhad slipped on the moss/sea weed. No injuries, he moved on.
I also decided to change over to dive wet. I figured the warm air temps would make the difference. As soon as I entered, I thought to myself, what was I thinking. Too early to change back to wet. I'll go back to diving dry for a couple more mos.
The water looked clear from the surface but the moment we decended, the vis was terrible. We couldn't explain the poor vis. The winds were light and the seas were flat calm, there weren't storms the past few days. We could barely see each other but we trudged on towards the wall.
The plan was to plant the flag at the start of the wall and follow the wall until turn point, go back to the flag and head back in. When we found the wall, I started to plant the flag but then realized we probably wouldn't be able to see or find it on the way back so I carried it with me.
A few minutes later, I lost buddy. After a quick search, I surfaced, found his bubbles and then decended back down on top of him. He was surprised I found him. We putzed around a bit more and headed back.
I was starting to get cold (water temps 39-49)
Max depth I got was 51, bottom time 40 min. I still had plenty of gas left (1260) but had enough because of the poor vis. (5-10 feet?)
We optimistically thought would find a site with better vis on the cape. We drove to Folly, saw a diver emerging and he too said the same, Poor vis. Incidently, his buddy was topside and had to scrub the dive becuase he forgot his dry hood. He had suited up, ready to go in and couldn't find the hood. He told us he did try to dive anyway without the hood. He quickly got out. I don't know if I would have even tried it.
We headed back around 3 to beat the traffic
So what's up with the water vis? Alge bloom?