Pinthis 5-27-06

[paulthenurse]

Chris,
What is thet name of the organism in your 4th picture, the 11 armed starfish? It is a fantastic pic.
Paul

 

[RIOceanographer]

Chris,
What is thet name of the organism in your 4th picture, the 11 armed starfish? It is a fantastic pic.
Paul

Thanks!

It has a couple of different common names, either Rose Sea Star or Spiny Sunstar. The scientific name is Crossaster papposus.

 

[Tampico_ED]

Do not mean to make this thread huge but here is one more....thanks chris for replacing my discharged focus light !

 

[Rafael]

Do not mean to make this thread huge but here is one more....thanks chris for replacing my discharged focus light !

I know you didn't want to make this thread big, but since it already is i have another question.

-What kind of rig you guys use for this specific dive, doubles, nitrox, reels, i notice a pony btl. what size 13 or 19?.

As always i want to think that your choice of rig depends of your personal preference, but i'm just courious of what people bring with them to visit this spot.

If possible i will like to extend this question to everyone.

Thank you.

 

[paulthenurse]

Thanks guys.
I'm stuck at work this weekend 7pm till 7am. I get home in time to realise what a wonderful day it would be to dive and get up in time to realise what a wonderful day of diving I've missed. I'm living vicariously thru you guys this weekend, post more pics!
Paul

 

[RIOceanographer]

-What kind of rig you guys use for this specific dive, doubles, nitrox, reels, i notice a pony btl. what size 13 or 19?.

Well, since I am the guy in Ed's picture with the pony I guess I'll go first....

My pony is a 19. I prefer to sling it like a stage as opposed to mounting it on my back because it is easier to reach. My main tank is a single steel 100 with EAN32. I also had a reel which you can see on my left hip in Ed's pictures. We weren't doing penetration but I bring a reel as a precaution on most deeper boat dives around here. I can use the reel to run a nav line back to the mooring if the vis is really poor and in the undesirable event I have to ascend off the mooring I can use the reel to shoot a marker (another thing I carry).

 

[vetdiver]

Hi, all -

We also had a great couple of dives - both on the Pinthis, as well. I think there wasn't a mooring on the Mars, and since Fran was only up in Scituate for the day, he just took us back to the Pinthis.

Vis was about the same for us - maybe 15ft (I must say, it was not nearly as good as it was last year). First dive was pretty slack except for some surface current - current picked up on the second dive due to changing tides, it was a bit brisk coming up on the line (then again, I was hanging onto a camera while trying to adjust the air exhaust from my new drysuit, but I did have to pull my mask back into place once or twice). I love this wreck - it is my favorite in the area. Tons of starfish, huge flounders, lobsters...

Chris and Ed, great pics. None of mine turned out at all... we didn't take the camera down on the first dive, and for the second one, the strobe wasn't firing for the first 10 minutes, so I was pretty limited. I think I had my ISO setting wrong...Chris, I'm going to pick up the book you recommended immediately. I do OK in shallow water with good ambient light, but once I am in deeper water, I am useless. Think I'll keep the exposure on auto for a while - or switch back and forth and fiddle a bit.

I also got a GREAT tip from Fran - my neck seal is pretty tight, and I am loathe to trim it more - I was having trouble getting it off, and he greased up my neck with K-Y...abracadabra, that sucker came right off!!! Maybe this is a well-known tip among guys, but I had never heard this before! Girls, this was the BEST. I didn't lose a single strand of hair in my neck seal, a total first.

Rafael - I dive a single steel tank (HP 80) and add a 13 foot pony bottle for dives over about 60 ft for the "just-in-case" redundancy. I dove air on Sat, but I will pick up Nitrox on occasion. When I dive air below 60 ft, I tend to get headaches, so I ascend very slowly, doing a safety stop for a minute at 50 ft, then 3 or 4 at <20.

I take a reel on many dives, but we didn't on this one, as we've been on it before, and navigation is pretty easy. Same as Chris, I generally use it for navigation back to the mooring rather than penetration.

I generally don't see many people diving 80's, though I know a few other women who use them, the 80 provides plenty of air for me - my husband uses a HP100.

 

[Rafael]

Hi, all -

We also had a great couple of dives - both on the Pinthis, as well. I think there wasn't a mooring on the Mars, and since Fran was only up in Scituate for the day, he just took us back to the Pinthis.

Vis was about the same for us - maybe 15ft (I must say, it was not nearly as good as it was last year). First dive was pretty slack except for some surface current - current picked up on the second dive due to changing tides, it was a bit brisk coming up on the line (then again, I was hanging onto a camera while trying to adjust the air exhaust from my new drysuit, but I did have to pull my mask back into place once or twice). I love this wreck - it is my favorite in the area. Tons of starfish, huge flounders, lobsters...

Chris and Ed, great pics. None of mine turned out at all... we didn't take the camera down on the first dive, and for the second one, the strobe wasn't firing for the first 10 minutes, so I was pretty limited. I think I had my ISO setting wrong...Chris, I'm going to pick up the book you recommended immediately. I do OK in shallow water with good ambient light, but once I am in deeper water, I am useless. Think I'll keep the exposure on auto for a while - or switch back and forth and fiddle a bit.

I also got a GREAT tip from Fran - my neck seal is pretty tight, and I am loathe to trim it more - I was having trouble getting it off, and he greased up my neck with K-Y...abracadabra, that sucker came right off!!! Maybe this is a well-known tip among guys, but I had never heard this before! Girls, this was the BEST. I didn't lose a single strand of hair in my neck seal, a total first.

Rafael - I dive a single steel tank (HP 80) and add a 13 foot pony bottle for dives over about 60 ft for the "just-in-case" redundancy. I dove air on Sat, but I will pick up Nitrox on occasion. When I dive air below 60 ft, I tend to get headaches, so I ascend very slowly, doing a safety stop for a minute at 50 ft, then 3 or 4 at <20.

I take a reel on many dives, but we didn't on this one, as we've been on it before, and navigation is pretty easy. Same as Chris, I generally use it for navigation back to the mooring rather than penetration.

I generally don't see many people diving 80's, though I know a few other women who use them, the 80 provides plenty of air for me - my husband uses a HP100.

Looks like you had fun down there, i'm impress, 80's that is pretty cool, so i think my set of steel 120's will do it for me.

More i hear about this wreck more i want to go, when is the best time of the year to visit her? I notice Viz has drop dramaticlly from early May to know at least in the Boston Harbor area, we went from 20'+ to 10', is the same down there?

Thank you.

 

[vetdiver]

Heck if I know!! We dove her last year on Memorial Day weekend, and the vis was phenomenal. The Pinthis is renowned for having good vis, I think due to the sandy bottom. It wasn't bad or anything, just not the 25 ft or so we had last year...I remember coming down the line and being able to see a lot more of her!!

If you get the chance, you should go, for sure.

And I think a 120 would be totally fine - you'll probably be more limited by NDL than air.

 

[Rafael]

And I think a 120 would be totally fine - you'll probably be more limited by NDL than air.[/QUOTE]

I was being Sarcastic About the 120's, i actually own a set, but yes as you mention i will ran out of time before air.

As soon as i get an OK from my instructor i will try to pay a visit to the Pinthis, i just want to make sure i'm ready for it, as you can see in my profile my expereince in the North Atlantic is not the best, been diving this waters for less than a year, but one day i will shoot for "the Doria". (Not any time soon