Torpedo Ray at Back Beach and dive report 8/22

[fencingfish]

Went out with my buddy to Back Beach this morning. Wanted a nice easy dive though I generally don't see much at Back Beach. The tide was coming in and the water appeared beautifully flat.

First dive, we went in around 9am on the left side and were surprised at just how awful the vis was. Any place where there was plant matter vis would drop suddenly to about 4' in some places. I thought that if we got a little deeper we would get out of the surgey murky area, but vis only got worse to the point where we turned around and skirted the sand/rock border for the dive where vis was much better (~15'). The dive was an hour long with a max depth of 25'. temperatures were in the mid to upper 50s and low 60s. Saw a lot of the usual wildlife on the first dive, sea raven, pipefish, baby flounder etc.

Went in for the second dive and headed down the left side, but more towards the center to avoid the poor vis and were just enjoying the sandy areas (69 minutes long and 26' max depth). We were caught up observing a school of fish that was surrounding us and the pipefish at the start of the dive when I looked over and noticed a dip in the sand that didn't look wave-created. It was a torpedo ray at 20' depth and it was probably about 2.5-3' across. A very exciting find and my first sighting of the elusive torpedo ray! We hung around it for a while watching it sitting in the sand. The rest of the dive was uneventful, lots of the usual critters as we tried to avoid being sucked out to sea by the current.

The current was pretty strong this morning. We couldn't go out too far because of the poor vis so instead we went out as far as decent vis allowed and then swam parallel to the beach. Swimming parallel we experienced very noticeable pulls of current sucking us out, much stronger than what I would consider the normal push and pull of surge. and coming in after the second dive was a bit of a work-out, riding it in and kicking to stay in one place as it tried to take you out again.

 

[spectrum]

Great sighting!

We saw one at St. Ann's beach in Kennebunkport last Saturday. It was also approaching 3 feet across.

At first sight it was folded down (feeding?) and I though I was looking at a white plastic bag in the water. As I got closer I thought it was a big odd jellyfish. Then it flattened out and there was no mistaking the disc As the tail came around I knew we scored.

At 10 feet away in great visibility and light I motioned to my camera toting buddy only to learn his battery was low.:shocked2:

Pete

 

[reefseal]

Cool. Has anyone check out conditions on rest of Cape Ann? Curious what havoc Bill is causing on southernly facing sites. Sites like Magnolia point must, pebble must be total wash out. I wonder if Fran or CAD's boats made it out. Hopefully, will be soon before vis returns

 

[dave4868]

We were caught up observing a school of fish that was surrounding us and the pipefish at the start of the dive when I looked over and noticed a dip in the sand that didn't look wave-created. It was a torpedo ray at 20' depth and it was probably about 2.5-3' across. A very exciting find and my first sighting of the elusive torpedo ray!

Wonderful! I wish I saw more of those fascinating creatures. They're one of my favorites, as my avatar suggests.

Thanks for the very interesting dive report!

Do you think the storm affected the torpedo ray's usual preference for deeper water?

Cool. Has anyone check out conditions on rest of Cape Ann? Curious what havoc Bill is causing on southernly facing sites. Sites like Magnolia point must, pebble must be total wash out. I wonder if Fran or CAD's boats made it out. Hopefully, will be soon before vis returns

I was out on ScubaBoarder David Sutton's boat in Sandy Bay that same day and, even at 80' in a fairly well-protected area, the surge and current was sweeping the bottom and reducing vis to about 3'. Makes one feel pretty small when 80' of water moves in unison several feet back and forth! :shocked2:

After a couple dives, we moved closer to Front Beach where conditions were actually a little better, at least away from the rocks.

I'm sure the more exposed sites on the southern part of Cape Ann were pounded! From a mile away, we could see waves crashing over the outer breakwater off Rockport, sending plumes of white spray high in the air!

Dave C