Dive Report and questions
Last Friday I arrived in Boston to dive with Capt. Jim & Capt. Pat aboard the vessel Splash in and around the harbor. I currently live in New York City and dive locally here, so Im used to the cold water and murky conditions and expected the Harbor to be one bid bowl of pea soup. With about as much fish in it as you get in a bowl of pea soup. I lived in Boston 16yrs ago and remember how dirty the water was then. Now it is a model for environmental cleanup, what a difference today.
The trip started with a hearty welcome from both Captains who I have dove with in the past but not in Boston. They introduced me to the new boat and I was massively impressed with the set up. That boat is spotless they are anal about the up keep and it shows. Excellent cabin to keep things dry, impeccable head and plenty of sun deck for those inclined to sunbathe. They built benches inside the cabin for gearing up and for me that is something other boats should really think about. They have all the facilities you require as a diver.
Our first dive was to Outer Brewster Island with a group consisting of two ladies doing their open water check out dives and local photographer, who has published his own New England Dive books. His name is Don and one other person who I buddied up with a man named Ken, he had not been diving for twenty years and wanted to get back into it.
Gearing up was a pleasure with a black dry suit in the shade and breeze of the cabin, on deck it can become unbearable and feel like you are melting. Capt Jim with his wards entered first while Capt Pat Dive mastered and was very helpful with us on board. I plunged in and signaled to the boat all is OK , then started to get myself together to descend. I looked below the surface and thought I was right about the pea soup. My buddy joined me and we descended. As I descended it was bright green haze but suddenly at about 12ft it cleared to about 15ft of visibility and I could clearly see the kelp below me. I could see my buddy having a tough time with buoyancy but there is little I could do and no danger at these depths so I left him to figure it out. We swam along the bottom following the path where the kelp met the sand and broken shells. Lobster everywhere but I dont have a license to grab one but practice is good so I tried, so much easier in the open. My buddy gave up after about fifteen minutes but I stayed down and went off exploring the undersea life. It is quite something to see here, rocks with swaying kelp and all kinds of interesting creatures hiding in and around it. On the way back to the boat I spotted an anchor, someone had lost next to an old sunken pier. I surfaced and called to Pat asking if he wanted it, to which he replied,bring it over. Easier said than done. I deployed my 6ft safety sausage and clipped it to the anchors chain, blasted some air in with my inflator hose, enough to swim with it along the bottom back to the boat about 60 yards away. After only 20 yards, I bottomed out and had to do a kangaroo all the way back. Lift swim and drop repeatedly until I made it close to the boat. Next time I will carry my lift bag on all dives. Pat was happy to win a free anchor and my first Harbor dive was stella.
My second dive was the Wreck of the Kiowa, a steel freighter 291ft long that was sunk in a snowstorm whilst anchoring to wait out the storm. The vessel Admiral Dewey, out bound from Boston caused enough damage to sink the Kiowa on December 26th 1903.
Today it sits in 45ft of water and like all wrecks in shallow shipping areas; it had to be cable dragged. Pat dove with Ken and me on this good dive site. It is a debris field that is scattered so Pat ran a wreck real and gave us a tour of the wreck. Lots of sea ravens and some very big lobster on this one. I was busy with my face down looking for any thing that looked man made but found only broken deck plates. Vis was about 12ft but the water temperature 59deg was a welcome relief. I want to dive this again.
The next day we hit Calf Island with some more students and had a blast. There was a harbor seal hanging around before we hit the water and I was hoping to get up close under water. I guess he is not to fond of bubbles because whenever we hit the water he disappeared but when we surfaced he came right back out. I explored a barge that was half submerged and found this a beautiful spectacle. It had a crack on the north side mid way up that had kelp spilling out and plenty of sunlight penetrating into the barge. I swam over the top and looked in, you could see very well in the holds but there where far to many hazards to penetrate. I dropped in a hold feet first and done a slow three sixty looking around and understood why our seal friend hung out there. It was like a kelp forest all hanging down from the deck and due to shallow waters light was at a premium. I really understand why Don takes the pictures here. Conditions where excellent so we done a second dive here that reaffirmed the beauty.
After the dives where done we hung out and caught up over some beers as usual. I have to say that diving the Harbor is great and diving it with friends who run an excellent operation was all any one could want. Good job boys!
Alan
Last Friday I arrived in Boston to dive with Capt. Jim & Capt. Pat aboard the vessel Splash in and around the harbor. I currently live in New York City and dive locally here, so Im used to the cold water and murky conditions and expected the Harbor to be one bid bowl of pea soup. With about as much fish in it as you get in a bowl of pea soup. I lived in Boston 16yrs ago and remember how dirty the water was then. Now it is a model for environmental cleanup, what a difference today.
The trip started with a hearty welcome from both Captains who I have dove with in the past but not in Boston. They introduced me to the new boat and I was massively impressed with the set up. That boat is spotless they are anal about the up keep and it shows. Excellent cabin to keep things dry, impeccable head and plenty of sun deck for those inclined to sunbathe. They built benches inside the cabin for gearing up and for me that is something other boats should really think about. They have all the facilities you require as a diver.
Our first dive was to Outer Brewster Island with a group consisting of two ladies doing their open water check out dives and local photographer, who has published his own New England Dive books. His name is Don and one other person who I buddied up with a man named Ken, he had not been diving for twenty years and wanted to get back into it.
Gearing up was a pleasure with a black dry suit in the shade and breeze of the cabin, on deck it can become unbearable and feel like you are melting. Capt Jim with his wards entered first while Capt Pat Dive mastered and was very helpful with us on board. I plunged in and signaled to the boat all is OK , then started to get myself together to descend. I looked below the surface and thought I was right about the pea soup. My buddy joined me and we descended. As I descended it was bright green haze but suddenly at about 12ft it cleared to about 15ft of visibility and I could clearly see the kelp below me. I could see my buddy having a tough time with buoyancy but there is little I could do and no danger at these depths so I left him to figure it out. We swam along the bottom following the path where the kelp met the sand and broken shells. Lobster everywhere but I dont have a license to grab one but practice is good so I tried, so much easier in the open. My buddy gave up after about fifteen minutes but I stayed down and went off exploring the undersea life. It is quite something to see here, rocks with swaying kelp and all kinds of interesting creatures hiding in and around it. On the way back to the boat I spotted an anchor, someone had lost next to an old sunken pier. I surfaced and called to Pat asking if he wanted it, to which he replied,bring it over. Easier said than done. I deployed my 6ft safety sausage and clipped it to the anchors chain, blasted some air in with my inflator hose, enough to swim with it along the bottom back to the boat about 60 yards away. After only 20 yards, I bottomed out and had to do a kangaroo all the way back. Lift swim and drop repeatedly until I made it close to the boat. Next time I will carry my lift bag on all dives. Pat was happy to win a free anchor and my first Harbor dive was stella.
My second dive was the Wreck of the Kiowa, a steel freighter 291ft long that was sunk in a snowstorm whilst anchoring to wait out the storm. The vessel Admiral Dewey, out bound from Boston caused enough damage to sink the Kiowa on December 26th 1903.
Today it sits in 45ft of water and like all wrecks in shallow shipping areas; it had to be cable dragged. Pat dove with Ken and me on this good dive site. It is a debris field that is scattered so Pat ran a wreck real and gave us a tour of the wreck. Lots of sea ravens and some very big lobster on this one. I was busy with my face down looking for any thing that looked man made but found only broken deck plates. Vis was about 12ft but the water temperature 59deg was a welcome relief. I want to dive this again.
The next day we hit Calf Island with some more students and had a blast. There was a harbor seal hanging around before we hit the water and I was hoping to get up close under water. I guess he is not to fond of bubbles because whenever we hit the water he disappeared but when we surfaced he came right back out. I explored a barge that was half submerged and found this a beautiful spectacle. It had a crack on the north side mid way up that had kelp spilling out and plenty of sunlight penetrating into the barge. I swam over the top and looked in, you could see very well in the holds but there where far to many hazards to penetrate. I dropped in a hold feet first and done a slow three sixty looking around and understood why our seal friend hung out there. It was like a kelp forest all hanging down from the deck and due to shallow waters light was at a premium. I really understand why Don takes the pictures here. Conditions where excellent so we done a second dive here that reaffirmed the beauty.
After the dives where done we hung out and caught up over some beers as usual. I have to say that diving the Harbor is great and diving it with friends who run an excellent operation was all any one could want. Good job boys!
Alan
