Kettle and Egg

It was supposed to rain at 2 PM today so we had better get going.  No wait.  That was the forecast for today from yesterday.  Wait, wait.  No rain today according to Weatherspark.com.  Hoo boy.  Maybe we should just go diving and forget who says what.

So we did.

We had Alan Hicks, Dennis and his buddy, Bob, along with Pete and Veronica as crew.  The Captain organized us all.  I drove the boat.

Although it had looked reasonably good on our drive around this AM, the back shore had crashing waves as we rounded Eastern Point light and the breakwater.  Hum.  Time for Plan B.  I swung around and headed west towards Kettle Island.

Because the divers were experienced, I anchored in about 40 feet of water on the southwest side of Kettle.  It’s got boulders and a drop off and proved to be a good spot for the hunters.  The water was cold at 54 feet, according to Pete.  It was 45 there.  He obviously went deeper than I would have.

I was cold in my jeans, fleece and anorak windbreaker.  I wished I’d brought my gloves.  Veronica had bare feet in her sandals and wouldn’t wear warm socks because of the fashion outrage that would spark with the sandals.  But she had gloves.

Here’s an image I found on the Internet.  We were anchored off the lower left of the island:

Kettle Island

Veronica made this dive and reported it in her blog.

The divers were ready for a second spot, so I chose the same relative orientation to the wind and the waves behind Egg Rock.  It was deep here too, but they seemed happy with the visibility and the terrain.  And the prey.

As we were motoring back to the marina, it was completely clouded over and grey.  But the wind died.

Docking was a piece of cake.

Speaking of carbs, this is one of the last crumbs in the cookie bag.  I’m licking my fingers to trap the last bit of summer sweetness.

Playing with Pipefish

We had Larry D. from Ashburnham with us today.  Otherwise it would have been just Pete, Pat, me and The Captain.

We were happy to be back in the water after several weeks of not diving due to rainy, windy, surgey conditions.

It had looked good on the north side of Cape Ann after our early morning drive around, so we headed for Folly Cove.  On the way, we spotted a mola mola just off Lanes’s Cove.  That’s our second one this season.

I anchored far into the cove in about 20 feet of water.  Larry was going to be practicing with his new back inflation rig and we were hoping for some more footage for this year’s movie.  Luckily the pipefish were willing to come out to play:

A Pipefish Looks at My Gloved Fingertips

Once you saw one, then you saw lots more.  They resemble what a sea horse would look like if it uncoiled.  The 30′ visibility certainly helped in spotting them.  The water was 55 degrees on the bottom and 59 on the surface.

I was diving wet in the new suit that The Captain won at the Bay State Council’s picnic two Sundays ago.  It was a man’s large, but fit me just fine.  I made two dives in it and used my regular weightbelt and a steel 70.

There was a very friendly little fish that might have been a tropical that got swept up north in the Gulf Stream.  Its eye had a red ring that was irridescent:

Red Ringed Eye

We made both dives in Folly.  The second one was a little deeper because our anchor had dragged as the south wind freshened.  We swung close to the rocky wall and then back out into the cove – just like a flag in slow motion.

The ride back was not bad at all and the ocean had only a few trespassers, mostly sailboats.  It marks how quickly the season ends for boaters once Labor Day has passed.

We docked easily because I could head into the south wind and use it to turn the boat for backing into our slip.

Nice day for early October with good people.

Newbie at Niles

We  had Alan and Andrew H. for Andy’s first dive lesson today.  The Captain and I had driven around Cape Ann earlier, looking for a good place to take a student after the week’s storms.

It seemed every dive instructor on the Cape was at Niles Beach because every other place was blown or surged out.  There must have been thirty divers on the beach, waiting their turn in the water.  It was warm water, though.  I didn’t have to wear  my gloves.  It was probably in the low 60s.  Visibility was decent at about 10-15 feet before it got kicked up by our maneuvers.

Niles Beach

Pete and Alan and I took the inflatable and Andy into stand up water so he could get used to the gear in a comfortable setting.  The first thing that happened was I lost one of my golden see-through Force Fins.  Luckily, I felt it drop and was barely able to retrieve it as it blended into the bottom coloring so well.

The Captain maintained a lookout from Easy Diver.

We went through the basics and didn’t get cold at all even though the sun was hiding behind fog and clouds.

As we left, the crowd of other divers was just entering the water.

Boat diving makes all the difference.

Veronica’s Version of Sunday’s Adventure

Veronica posted another description of Sunday on her blog, here.

Oreos Overboard

The ocean was riled up on the south side of the cape by passing Hurricane Nadine.  They were surfing at Good Harbor Beach.

It was blowing from the NW again.

So we decided to try for Lob Lolly Cove which faces east.  It was a good thing we did because we came across a mola mola:

Fin in the Distance

You can see why people sometimes mistake them for a shark.  The fin looks menacing.

Then we got closer:

Mola Mola

It was moving along briskly at the surface just off the Back Shore, so we didn’t stop to snorkel with it.  We haven’t seen one in two years.  A rare treat.

We continued on to Rockport’s Lob Lolly Cove for the first dive.  It was surgey and the visibility was not that great, but the water was 59 degrees.  The wind continued to be brisk from the NW, so we decided to move back down the coast for the second dive at Brace Cove.

Here the waves were crashing into the rocks with huge plumes of spray.  The surface was calm enough inside the cove, so I dropped anchor in about 20 feet of water.

The divers were back in quickly, but I wanted to keep track of IT and Stu because they weren’t familiar with the cove’s layout.  I got into the inflatable and here’s me with their bubbles to my right:

Brace Cove

LD got some great shots of the crew too:

Pete in the Inflatable

Veronica’s Smile

Captain Fred

As we were pulling ourselves together to leave the cove, Linda slipped with the oreos in her hand and landed in the drink.  Fred said he immediately thought he was going to jail.  Pete wanted to rename the place Brace Yourself Cove.  She was hauled aboard unceremoniously and suffered no injury except for the wet clothes – and the soggy oreos.  Both she and Myanna were good sports about it and decided it was a memorable way to end the season with us.

With the help of all hands, I was able to power back into the river at max rpms.  Then, again with lots of assistance, I backed down the marina’s narrow access to our slip that had the tour boat, Annie, at its north side.  LD and Pete were super at making my docking look good.

Another exciting day on the ocean with good friends.

Shimmering Ocean by LD

Here’s evidence of the beautiful clearing skies we experienced yesterday, Saturday, September 15th.

LD took the picture.

Shimmering Ocean

 

Town Head Rocks and Graves Island

We had a strange morning with dark clouds and spitting rain.  But the forecasters promised a better day after that front went through.  We watched the wind shift from south west to north west as we ate our muffins and drank Dunkin’ Donuts coffee at Magnolia Beach.  Sure enough, as we were motoring southward, down the coast, the clouds started to break up and the sun shone down in shafts of light onto the shimmering ocean.  Bee-yoo-tee-full.

Because the waves were coming in from the south east, we were limited to sheltered areas that protected us from the northwest breeze.  I picked Town Head Rocks for the first site:

Town Head Rocks

They are just around the corner from White Beach in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA.

We had Dave and Dean as well as LD with Pat and Pete as crew.  The Captain decided where we’d anchor.

I was happy to be in my Atlan drysuit because the water was 54 degrees.  It was clear on the bottom (between 15 and 20 feet) at almost high tide.  There were lots of comb jellies in the water between the 10 foot and 20 foot mark.

I videoed a crevasse in the jumble of huge rocks with the camera wedged and shooting towards the flickering opening in the notch between two of the biggest.  The sea weed was fuzzy beige and bright red and iridescent yellow and maroon.  The fish were tiny newborns.

For the second dive, Pat drove us over to the east side of Graves Island.  I had her pull way into a calm place that had us nestled close to the island in about 30 feet of water.  I found a massive beam from the USF New Hampshire off our starboard bow.  It had drift pins and copper plates on it.  No one would ever expect to find one of these so far from the shipwreck’s remains on the other side of the island.

By the time we surfaced, the sun was out in full force.  So was the wind from the northwest.

With LD’s, Pat’s, Pete’s, and The Captain’s help, I was able to dock the boat without crashing into any of our neighbors.

Whew!

Torpedo Ray Day

Oh, yes.  We had quite an adventure today.

Surfers were having a field day at Good Harbor beach as we drove around the cape this AM.  With Linsley and Kevin Mordasky and Linda and Kerry Hurd, we were headed north to avoid the surge and waves of Hurricane Leslie who was passing by over 600 miles out to sea.  The wind was picking up from the south as we rounded the top of the cape.  Two other dive boats were already anchored at Lanesville and The Restaurant, so I chose the deep part of the outer wall at Folly Cove.

As Linsley and Kevin got suited in their wetsuits, I decided to transition to my newly replaced zippered Atlan drysuit.  I’m very glad I did because the anchor was in 42 feet of water and it was 50 degrees on the bottom.

It wasn’t very good visibility at about 10-15 feet and dead low tide, but I could see the shape of Kerry’s camera on the sand in front of me.  I’d followed the trench the anchor had dug as it dragged in the stiff south breeze and was exploring the huge boulders in front of me.  What was Kerry’s camera doing on the sand all by its lonesome?  A-h-h-h.  He was doing a set-up shot with something.  Something big.  It was a torpedo ray and he was getting in the shot to give some perspective to how big it was.  Pete later said it was the biggest one he’d ever seen.  I stole a frame from the video I was shooting to show you:

Kerry and Ray

We decided to make both dives here because Kerry had been longing to see and video another torpedo ray and some dogfish.  He got 1/2 his wish anyway.

I switched tanks and went back in with a steel 72 for more footage.  We circled it and got up close and personal with it, but it never moved and we didn’t touch it.

I got cold and decided I’d gotten all I could as the cold incoming tide cleared up the visibility a little bit.

Back on board, we all agreed that the excitement never ends.  Kerry had seen only three torpedo rays in his life and two were this year.

The wind was much stronger as we rounded Folly Point for home.  Daybreaker and the big Cape Ann Divers boat were going by in the other direction with their afternoon charters.  I was especially glad that we only go out once a day.  My heart couldn’t stand much more excitement than it did today.

Great day with fine folk.

Treasure Hunt and Rescue Mission

We had lots of excitement for a Labor Day.  With only Richard Brandolini and Peter Donahue aboard, we could venture on a treasure hunt. A neighbor had noticed The Captain’s truck at Dunkin’ Donuts and asked whether he’d consider looking for a missing wedding ring.  He’d lost it at his mooring in Magnolia Cove, right at the ball.  We’d never had a small enough group to make that kind of a recovery mission feasible, until today.  Richard is a great diver and Pete is Pete.  How could we miss?

As I motored us into the mooring field, another boat was just leaving and let us use their mooring to tie up because it was right next to the one we were told held the treasure.  Pete, Richard, and I dropped carefully over the side so as not to disturb the sand.  It was about 15-20 feet deep and very bright and clear.  No garbage or litter on the bottom.  In fact, the chain on the mooring looked brand new.  I circled wide because Richard and Pete were close.  After about twenty minutes, they’d left and I decided to give it a try.  I swept aside the short sea weed on top of the concrete block very carefully.  After the third sweep, I moved ahead a little and there was the ring:

Wedding Ring

We were happy to have found it and await a call back from the owner.

With that success, we went to find a real dive.  Several fishermen were in our first choice behind Kettle Island.  Swells were rolling in from the southeast and curling around behind Egg Rock, which was our second choice.  Then I motored over to Coolidge Point and Saddle Rock.  It looked great and the south wind would position us parallel to the rocks.

We all went in – The Captain and I to video, Pete to hunt, and Richard to sight see.  Here’s a picture of me that The Captain took:

Chris with Video Camera

When we got back on board, Richard reported helping a too big lobster that had been totally wrapped in monofiliment line.  It couldn’t even move its tail.  He was running low on air, but managed to free it enough so that its fighting instincts kicked in.  He let it go to shed the remaining pieces of line on its own.  What a great way to end a dive!

We had a super time and saluted the gorgeous weather that made it all that much more fun.

Sunny Sunday

We inched our way out of the slip, past Ocean Rose from Hingham who had spent the night on the adjacent finger dock, and into the open water.  The steering wasn’t responding very quickly and The Captain wanted to get fuel.  The quarters were as tight as I’d ever seen them with boats rafted three abreast into the open area where I usually maneuver to get situated for fueling.  I handed the helm over to Peter for the duration.  Of course, he managed just fine and we were all fending off boats to help.

“We” means Veronica and Richard Brandolini with George K. and his son, Christopher K.  Jacki K., Dianne Kelleher, and Sandy M. wisely stayed seated and out of the hubbub.

In due course, we were out of the crush and on our way up the river to the north.

Our first site was in about 25 feet of water, at Lanesville Shores.  There were lots of passing fishing boats, so the wash was considerable.  I rowed out to keep the dive flag over the bubbles of the farthest away diver, just in case.

Peter later reported that the water was between 59 and 61 degrees, depending on how deep you went.  George and Christopher saw a large ray with a mottled, spotted top.

The visibility was OK.

For the second dive, we wanted a little more stability, so I opted for the rocks across from the wall at Folly Cove.  As the tide turned, it was going to be emptying and that might make the visibility get a little better.

Jacki and Sandy went on a trip towards the deeper water in the middle of the cove.  At 45 feet, they couldn’t hear Desperado motoring over their heads.  I was rowing again to keep bigger boats from their area.

Chris shared his ‘Nilla wafers and Veronica gave me one of her yummy basil, cheese and tomato pits sandwiches.  I also downed water, Sprite Zero and V-8 (just in case you wanted to know what I had for lunch).

All this was seasoned with mopping up a spilled can of transmission fluid which we use to fill the hydraulic steering system on the flying bridge.  It dripped pink oil down the starboard side of the boat and we used every paper towel in the place to sop it up.  When they were gone, I used my tee shirt and sweatshirt too.  Yuck.  Definitely gotta get that hydraulic steering repaired.

The trip home down the river was leisurely and the ramp was almost flat.  How good it that?

Great day with great folk.

And we get to do it again tomorrow!