Folly Cove 6/15/09

Yesterday afternoon I was planing on going to Lanes Cove but ended up at Folly Cove. My buddy was unloading his gear at Lanes and there were a few drunks harassing him so we decided to meet at Plum Cove instead. When we were unloading we started getting looks from some people and one guy said that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to dive there as the fisherman's softball league were playing tonight. When were unloading at Plum Cove we were approached by someone asking if she could watch us set up. Turns out that she got certified a while ago and was looking to get back into diving. We decided that diving there wasn't worth the risk of getting our cars messed with so it was off to Folly Cove. (for the record, we were keeping to ourselves and unloading our gear quietly and they decided that we shouldn't be diving there) While we suited up our new found buddy brought her kayak down to the water and decided to snorkel and kayak while we dove.

We dove the right side of the cove and hit a max depth of 36 feet with 50 minutes of bottom time. It was a good dive for hunting, my buddy got four or five flounder and one lobster. I however came up empty handed. We saw a sculpin, a ton of skates, flounder, lobster, crabs and when were coming in I spotted a lone striper cruising along behind us. The vis was outstanding over by us, I was swimming along and decided to fool around and swim upside down and I could clearly see the flag buoy 22ish feet above me. The temperature was 52 according to my computer.

As we were heading back in we passed reefseal and fencing fish headed out for a dive. After the dive all three of us (me, my buddy and our kayak friend) decided to grab dinner and a few drinks at the Rhumb Line in Gloucester. Can't beat sharing some stories over a few beers, a good end to a good day.

Old Garden Beach 6/14

Today was the Froggies (North Shore Frogmen) weekly dive and we met up with some members of SUDS (Somerville Underwater Diving Society) for a few dives off of Old Garden Beach. When we met up at Burger King the weather wasn't looking nice at all but after waiting around for an hour or so we pulled out and made our way to Rockport. Even though the weather wasn't good above the water we managed 2 excellent dives. The water temperature was 50 at a max depth of 44 and the vis was decent at about 15 feet. There were a few bugs to be gotten, a lot of soft shells and a ton of babies. I have to give props to a few of the divers from SUDS, it was a some their fourth dives since getting certified and showing up in the rain shows some serious dedication to a new found activity!

City of Salisbury and Graves Light 6/13

Went out with Capt Jim and Boston Harbor Diving Company Saturday to dive the City of Salisbury and Graves Light. It was a small charter with only 3 of us, but small numbers always make for an enjoyable dive. Mother nature cooperated and provided us with calm seas and a sunny day. I buddied up with Capt Jim and another diver who hadn't been diving in a year and a half. We dropped down to a max depth of 55 feet and spent the dive poking around searching for bugs. Most of the bugs were small but in another week or two there hopefully will be some legal ones. We were down for 46 minutes and according to my computer the temp was 55 but it is notorious for reading a few degrees high. The vis was about 18 feet and there was a slight surge as we came up to about 10 feet. The second dive was to Graves Light, it was also an enjoyable dive, not as many bugs as the City but there still a few. Once again most of them were small but out of the three of us bug hunting we got a 6 to 8 keepers. I hit a max depth of 43 feet and the temperature was showing 55 degrees again. The vis was about 12 feet and there was a nice surge above 20 feet. It was a good day on the water and chilling out on the dock enjoying a few cold ones was icing to the cake.

Fort Wetherhill 6/11/09

Today I met up with formernuke for what we hoped would be a few dives at Fort Wetherhill. The weather report was questionable but we decided to make the trip down and hope for the best. Mother Nature held off on the rain while we were there but she apparently wasn't in the mood to give us some good vis. We dove the right side off of the boat ramp and swam out to the middle of the "cove" then dropped down to poke around in the grass. We were in about maxed out at maybe 15 feet and the vis was an exciting 10 feet max but we managed to see a bunch of starfish, a few assorted crabs and a flounder. After 45 min of poking around we decided to swim over to the left side of the cove and swim along the rocks. We maxed out at 25 feet and decided to turn the dive after another 10 minutes because the vis wasn't cooperating, it was a whopping 3 feet max below 20 feet. We did however enjoy some warm water (57 at 15 feet) and saw a horseshoe crab cruisin' along by the rocks. There were some other divers that dove off of the left side of the parking lot and they said that the vis was better over there (12-15 feet) but we decided to call it a day as we were already packing up the cars. Besides the "wonderful" vis it was an enjoyable dive, although IMHO getting wet is better than staying dry anyday:cool2:.

Folly Cove 6/5/09

Today I dove with RadHal and formernuke at Folly Cove in Gloucester. We got in one dive of 60+ minutes this morning around high tide. Water temp was 46 at a max depth of 50 but it was around 50 above 30 feet. The vis was around 10-12 feet at best mainly due to the algae bloom. There were a few lobster around, I forgot my lobster guage so I didn't measure any but all but one looked small. We also saw a number of stars, a few flounder (both keeper and smaller ones) and the usual scattering of hermit crabs, crab and urchins. It was a good dive followed by a good lunch at the lobster pot just up the road. As we were leaving there was another diver arriving but besides him it was just us.

Front Beach 6/4/09

Today I went for a few dives with mello-yellow off of Front Beach in Rockport. We went in around high tide and dove the left side past the point. The temperature at a max depth was 50, and the visibility was around 10-15 feet. There were a bunch of bugs, but unfortunately all of them were small. We also saw a skate and a legal flounder. All in all an enjoyable morning underwater.

Pebble Beach 5/15/09

This afternoon I went for two dives with FencingFish off of Pebble Beach in Rockport. The water temperature was around 45-47 on each dive with a max depth of 20 feet on the first dive and 24 ft on the 2nd. The visibility was about 8 to 12 feet on the first dive and about 8 feet on the 2nd. The first dive there were a bunch of crabs and a few lobster, although both of the lobster seemed undersized. There was also a sea raven scooting about. On the 2nd dive we saw a few flounder, a few lobster and what we thought was an ocean pout but we weren't sure. All in all we got in a few good dives but we started getting chilled during the 2nd dive so we called it at 30 minutes.