Memorial Day Weekend Dive Report

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Jaysun1327

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Location
Boston, MA
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I’m a little late in posting this report.

These were my first dives in a drysuit after the drysuit course. I dove in a rented Scuba Pro Everdry 4 neoprene drysuit

Saturday, May 28th, 2011 – Folly Cove (Left side)

Time in 10:27am/BT 47 min/ depth 22 ft/water temp 45 ⁰F/ vis 10 ft

A finicky mask strap almost cost us the dive, luckily I packed a spare. Skies were overcast and air temperature was 56 ⁰F upon entry. Surface temperature of the water was 54 ⁰F but quickly dropped with depth. Visibility wasn’t great but there was plenty to see. We were immediately greeted by two horseshoe crabs, one on top of the other, mating I guess. A big reason I got drysuit certified was so that I could check out some of the New England nudibranchs, so I was pretty excited when I found of pair of red finger aeolis. Other species seen: rock gunnel, sea raven, several grubby sculpins, several winter flounder, winter skate, mysid shrimp, Acadian hermit crab, jonah crab, lots of northern sea stars and sand dollars. Had some buoyancy issues with the suit, buddy called the second dive.

Sunday, May 29th, 2011 Loblolly Cove

Time in 10:02am/BT 43 min/ depth 14 ft/water temp 52 ⁰F/ vis 10 ft

Dropped the gear off, parked at Pebble Beach, and rode bike to Loblolly. As we entered the water there was fog covering the cove and we could barely see past the mouth. By the time we surfaced it was a beautiful sunny day. I dove with ankle weights this time and was in much better control of the suit. Again, the visibility wasn’t great and the surge was really pushing us around especially around the boulders near the point. Since the surged was smashing us from boulder to boulder we turned around and headed back in. That’s when we spotted this [video=youtube;Q96y1r3xJrY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q96y1r3xJrY[/video].

This was my fish lumpfish sighting and I was pretty excited. This guy’s fins were much more pinkish/purple than appear in the video. We move on from the lumpfish and my buddy gets my attention and points to her wrist where the diveflag lanyard should be. We surface and see the dive flag drifting into the Atlantic. After about a ten minute surface swim we chased down the dive flag, swam back into the cove, descend and continued the time. Other species seen: Acadian hermit crab, mysid shrimp, two winter flounder, a grubby sculpin, alobster, a Jonah crab, and a school of long skinny fish at the sandy entry that I haven’t been able to identify. I’ve attached a picture of these fish, but it isn’t the greatest, any ideas on what they are?


Sunday, May 29th, 2011 Folly Cove (left side)

Time in 1:19pm/BT 52 min/ depth 25 ft/water temp 45 ⁰F/ vis 5-10 ft

As mentioned above the weather was absolutely beautiful; sunny blue skies and a calm Folly cove. The air temperature was in the high 80’s and I was melting as I was donning that drysuit. The surface water temperature was again 52 ⁰F and quickly dropped with depth. Visibility was pretty bad but we again saw the usual suspects: several red finger aeolis, rock gunnel, grubby sculpins several winter flounder, mysid shrimp, Acadian hermit crab, jonah crab, rock crab, moon snail, lots of northern sea stars and sand dollars. This time buddy had buoyancy issues with her suit.

Overall we had some hiccups this weekend and are definitely still learning the ins and outs of drysuit diving, but the nudibranchs and lumpfish made it all worth it.
 

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Nice report, thanks for posting. Great shot of the lumpfish...haven't seen one of those yet. We dove Folly on Monday and you're not kidding about getting colder w/depth...it was about an 8 degree drop from surface to 20' (think we saw 47 deg at that depth).

Steve
 
Super dive report! A real pleasure to read! Nice to see the video of the lumpfish, too! Thanks!

I think the schooling fish are sand eels.

See any stripers? They love to hang out with sand eels.... :wink:

Dave C
 
Thanks for all the replies. Are Sand Eels the same as the American Sand Lance on page 275 of Marine Life of the North Atlantic? Didn't see any stripers "hanging out" with these guys. Are the Lumpfish around all year or are they only around in the spring when the males are guarding the eggs?
 
Thanks for all the replies. Are Sand Eels the same as the American Sand Lance on page 275 of Marine Life of the North Atlantic? Didn't see any stripers "hanging out" with these guys. Are the Lumpfish around all year or are they only around in the spring when the males are guarding the eggs?

Apparently, the term "sand eel" is somewhat general, and is used to describe several species, per Wikipedia:

Sand eel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's a helpful description from a fisherman:

Captain Jim Freda - Shore Catch Guide Service - Striped Bass Fishing, Saltwater Striped Bass, Stripers, Rockfish - StriperSurf.com - Saltwater Inshore and Surf Striped Bass Fishing

I don't have the newer edition of the book, so I don't have p. 275. Google Images covers sand eels quite well.

Lumpfish come into shallower water to spawn in May and June, from what I've seen. After that, I rarely see any. I've often wondered where they go. Maybe someone here will shed some light on the question.

Dave C
 

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