Yes we did, though it was a short one for me which I will explain soon.
I left the house with 10* on the thermometer. I got to Nubble at 9:30 with sunny skies and little wind, air surface temp at 20*. A few diehard surfers at Long Sands were already in the water - in 1 1/2 - 2' surf.
The paved path down to the ledges was 1' snow covered - I got to break trail! The step down at the end of the path was glare ice so we had to carry our scuba units down to the mooring cleat and put them on last as it's too much of a step down on the icy rocks with all that weight on.
I dove with a couple out of Fredericton, New Brunswick that own COJO Diving up there. We went in a couple hours into the outgoing tide. The slippery, algae covered rocks were all over the ledges even up this high on the rocks. It seems to be a lot more slippery this winter that it has been the past few years that I have been diving there.
The water at the surface was 36*, viz was 15' and there was a lot of sediment [1 " long white thready stuff.] There was very little surge or surf. Forecast was calling for WNW winds at 5-10mph. A great day to dive Nubble. There is no parking in the usual spots as they are covered under snowbanks, but this time of year there is usually abundant parking up top.
We were in for about 15 minutes and I started having issues. When I was suiting up my front zip drysuit, I had checked closely to ensure that the zipper was all the way shut. Then when I first went in the water I got a blast of cold water against my skin on my right hip by the end of the zipper. I could feel water pouring in. I gave it another yank and closed it tight again. About 15 minutes into the dive I was having a lot of issues with buoyancy. I was getting chilly and kept trying to give it blasts of air to create a bubble for warmth. Now understand we are only at 20' depth and up against the fishing ledges. I felt like a tugboat trying to manuver around. My buoyancy was terrible. This is only my 3rd dive in the ocean with a drysuit and I blamed it on lack of skill. I called the dive and we went up onto the rocks above to talk. I had trouble crawling up onto the shelf under me, so I went back down and swam around to the sloping ledges where I could do the "Nubble Crawl" to get out. Once I got onto my feet I found that I had at least 2 gallons of water in each leg. My buddy checked my zipper and it was open a tiny bit, apparently enough to create a slow leak. I swear I had closed it right up against the stop both times before. I quess I am going to have to investigate this before I do any serious diving at depth, to see if the zipper is opening on it's own. We got out and I removed the suit. I was drenched to the bone. I jumped into some dry clothes and got the truck heater going. I was glad we got out when we did. Soon afterwards I started getting the shakes and shivers [first signs of hypothermia]. I had an obligation that afternoon so I had to get on the road anyway by then. The others stayed and did a 2nd dive.
It was a nice day there but the viz was poor and there was not much to see underwater this time of year anyway, so you didn't miss much. We should be approaching the coldest water temps soon and then we will start the upward climb to Spring diving season.
I am supposed to be heading down to the Keys on Wednesday for a week but now this snowstorm coming in on Tuesday and Wednesday has me worried. I hope I can get out before the worst of it hits and grounds the flights.
