Mooring at Halfway cut....now restored

[matt_unique]

I went out to Halfway last weekend to find the mooring buoy gone. I anchored about where I thought it was and planned a mooring recovery. I brought line with me in case the original line was cut deep.

I found the mooring and the cut line. The end of the original line was wrapped up in hooks, leader, and fishing line. I got rid of that, tied up my 1/2" line, and floated a bag to the surface. I used a spare fender to secure the line at the surface. The fender is (dirty) white if anyone is looking for it.

There is nothing like the convenience of a nice mooring for dive sites. Hopefully she will stay in tact for the rest of the season.

--Matt

 

[Gabriel90512]

Good work Matt...

 

[MSilvia]

Sweet. Thanks for taking care of it Matt!

 

[ScubaNorth]

Thank You!

 

[MadisonK]

I wasn't aware there was even a mooring line to begin with. Where is it located? My favorite dive of the summer was halfway rock but I was nervous about my boat. You have to anchor fairly close to the rock and with the shifting winds and tides you could easily find your boat up against the rock when you come up. Thanks for fixing it.

I just got my Advanced over the weekend. We got to dive the Chester Polin and do a night dive. I think halfway rock would be an incredible night dive. Have any of you done this?

 

[matt_unique]

I wasn't aware there was even a mooring line to begin with. Where is it located? My favorite dive of the summer was halfway rock but I was nervous about my boat. You have to anchor fairly close to the rock and with the shifting winds and tides you could easily find your boat up against the rock when you come up. Thanks for fixing it.

I just got my Advanced over the weekend. We got to dive the Chester Polin and do a night dive. I think halfway rock would be an incredible night dive. Have any of you done this?

It can be tricky anchoring at HWR and dangerous to leave your boat unattended there. It gets deep quick as you know so if you don't have a good set the person on board your boat may have their hands full. You would have your hands full to surface sans boat

The mooring is on the Marblehead side of the pinnacle. You can't miss it - now it's a dirty white fender. I have a bowline tied at the end of the mooring line to easily attach to a bow cleat.

Halfway is a nice night dive spot. You can choose your depth from 20' to 105' but be careful about the surge. I have been in some smokin' surge at Halfway night and day. You would have to be awfully good with navigation to find your way back to the mooring line at night. At 34' (give or take depending upon tide) there are yellow marker tags. At number 139 take a course of 300 degrees and descend down to about 55' to find the mooring. This is tricky enough during the day so I would suggest you do your safety stop on the pinnacle. You may need to plant yourself on some rocks at your safety stop depth if the current or surge is heavy.

A few weeks ago during a (day) dive I was in a surge column that pushed me from 30' to 42' then back to 30' in pretty short order. I could have avoided this by turning away from the pinnacle but I decided to ride it out. I kept my hand on my nose to equalize as necessary but went for the ride. Pretty wild....on the surface you could see just how the water was riding up the pinnacle (Salem side) then down.

The Poling is a great night dive spot as well. Without knowing your experience I would suggest you incrementally work up to that as a night dive. HWR would be easier in many respects if you are set with buoyancy but definitely make sure someone is on board for a night dive!

--Matt

 

[MadisonK]

Thanks Matt,

I would only do a night dive at halfway rock if the conditions were perfect and I had my instructor friends with me. Even though I have my Advanced certification I still have less than 50 dives so I wouldn't push it.