Neptune II (8-6-06)

[RIOceanographer]

Earl, Ed and I went out to the Neptune II today on Earl's boat. Seas were as flat as it gets on the ride out. We got out there to find a nice mooring at the wreck site and we all let out a cheer for the work it saved us! Thanks to whoever put that mooring on there!

The vis wasn't that great at depth, probably only 10ft, though it was much better near the surface. I tried using the video feature on my camera and it worked surprisingly well. I cut together a minute and a half of the footage.(edit: I deleted the original full resolution footage I posted because at 125 mb it was a monster download, see the post below for the more reasonable 13 mb file I made)

For a second dive we went and tried to find the Gooseberry Arches, but just ended up diving Gooseberry Island without finding the arches. Seems we just weren't in the right place on the Island. Still a nice warm shallow dive though.

And while I am posting dive reports, Dave and I did Beavertail Parking Lot 4 on Saturday, and had great conditions. Probably 15 ft vis and 61 degrees at 60ft. For the second dive at Bass Rock the vis was more like 10 ft but the water was a balmy 73 degrees all the way down to the bottom!

 

[RIOceanographer]

The original movie I posted was a bit too huge. Here is a lower resolution 13 mb version:

http://web.mac.com/cmelrose/iWeb/Chris's Homepage/Neptune II (8-6-06).html

 

[sean22]

Chris. we were originally planning to dive the Larchmont yesterday but we had a friend who runs our dive trips up for the weekend and he really wanted to dive the Teti, so that is where we went. Vis was a little lower than last weekend. We too ended up at the Arches for the second dive. If you pick out a few key landmarks you should locate them. They were great yesterday. There was a school of small stripers hanging out near the big arch.

 

[RIOceanographer]

I guess we just missed you. There was another boat out there diving when we arrived, but it definitely wasn't the Adventurer.

I think the problem was that none of us had been there so we didn't know exactly what landmark to look for other than the "SW Corner of Goosberry".

We didn't see the arches, but I did at least see the stripers.

 

[sean22]

I guess we just missed you. There was another boat out there diving when we arrived, but it definitely wasn't the Adventurer.

I think the problem was that none of us had been there so we didn't know exactly what landmark to look for other than the "SW Corner of Goosberry".

We didn't see the arches, but I did at least see the stripers.

That was probably our friends' the Snyders on Sandpiper. Was it a white and kind of Brown boat (it is an old 22' Cruisers). I was just going in when we left. I usually swim to that Rock on the SW tip that is seperated form the Island. Then follow the island keeping it on your left and stay at about 20-25' deep you will run into the first Arch.
One of the things I sometimes run into is a chimney like formation in the rocks, the arches are a little way to the right of this chimney.

 

[RIOceanographer]

Thanks for the info, I think that explains it, looks like we didn't search far enough to the south. When I ran in to the stripers I was probably just short of the arches by your description. Unfortunately we doubled back and started looking to the north instead of continuing south because we didn't think they were that far around the point. Oh well, still a nice dive.

And yes, I am pretty sure that would have been your friends, the boat matched your description.

 

[sean22]

Thanks for the info, I think that explains it, looks like we didn't search far enough to the south. When I ran in to the stripers I was probably just short of the arches by your description. Unfortunately we doubled back and started looking to the north instead of continuing south because we didn't think they were that far around the point. Oh well, still a nice dive.

And yes, I am pretty sure that would have been your friends, the boat matched your description.

I am chuckling, because I do the same thing almost every time I go there. When you see the "wall" of rock start to change to a gentle slope you think you have gone too far toward the point, but in actuality, if you keep going in that direction, the slope changes back to more of a wall and that is where the arches are. The neat thing I find about the site is that even if you miss the Arches, the seascape is still really pretty!