After a totally disappointing week of weather - we finally got out on Saturday.  We just couldn't pick the right day to dive this week, which was extremely frustrating because we had so much time off because of the holidays.  Of course over the Christmas weekend the weather was gorgeous... warm and sunny with flat seas.  But, we had holiday commitments that made it difficult to get away.  Along came Monday and more bad weather.  We decided to reschedule the dive to Thursday since I was taking the last few days of the week off (Dave had the whole week off) - but more bad weather showed up then.  Finally it looked like the weather was going to break for Saturday, briefly with predictions for light winds.  Conditions were good - there was an easterly ground swell building in and the sky was overcast, but the conditions were pleasant still.  The air was pretty raw, so it was cold, but the wind was down and all in all it wasn't too bad.  Of course, it wasn't going to stay that way, but we were definitely going to get in a good dive before it went.  We got out to the "Marblehead Schooner" - which is a good candidate for the Alma Holmes.  This wreck has introduced some doubt that the other wreck known as the Holmes is indeed the Holmes.  There's not nearly enough rigging on the "Holmes" for a fully rigged 4-masted schooner to have sunk there.  Anyway, the visibility looked awesome on the surface as we dropped in the granny line and made ready to dive.  Capt. Eric was helping out today, so he headed in first and we got tied in quickly.  Dave and I were able to dive today and would bring up the rear.  Everyone hit the water and soon enough it was our turn to dive.  Everyone said the visibility was incredible - 40 feet or better on the bottom.  We couldn't wait to jump in - especially since last time we were here the visibility was about 10 feet and dark.  We hit the water and dropped down to the wreck - visibility was pristine.  It was at least 50-70 feet vertical, with probably 35 or so feet horizontal.  Just awesome.  If the sun had been out, it would have been even more.  As it turns out, now that we could see, we realized that before the line had landed in a rats nest of line - perfect aim - but the whole wreck didn't look this way.  Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of net on this thing - mono and trawl lines galore, but we just picked one hell of a bad spot last time.  Dave tied off a reel and we headed out in a direction until wreckage started disappearing.  The wreck is very low lying, so its hard to discern where you are going, especially since this was our first real dive on the wreck in decent visibility.  We stitched our way along - in many areas we had to go up and over ghost lines or underneath of them. This is the kind of dive where you wish you had eyes in the back and on top of your head.  We avoided cutting any lines that could make things even more messy.  We swam amongst rigging - poles, masts, beams.  We figured we were near an end of the wreck - so next time will try a different area.  All in all it was a very exciting dive, in part due to the great visibility, but also because this wreck is very cool.  Santa brought us some new dive toys that we were able to play with today, but my new undergarment was back ordered, so I definitely was cold on the deco - 43 degrees all day long - and dropping.  This was a great dive to close out 2005.  We'd like to thank everyone who helped make the dive season great.  We have some exciting plans for 2006 - Buzzards Bay wrecks, and more...

No diving due to weather.

Sun., December 11, 2005:

A late afternoon Friday snow storm dumped piles of wet, heavy snow on the North shore.  In behind of course came gale and storm force winds out of the NW, making for an unpleasant Friday into early Saturday morning.  The seas were running heavy with strong winds on Saturday morning, so we felt it was best to cancel altogether, aborting our planned dive to the Holmes and forgoing a trudge to the Poling.  Not only were the sea conditions pretty churned up on Saturday morning, but the marina still needed a lot of clearing out of snow and ice.  Everyone needed to spend some time digging out - including us.  This was that good heavy, wet "heart attack" snow.  By mid-day on Saturday it had warmed up, and the wind began tapering off, so we shoveled out the boat and dock, and moved GAUNTLET back over to her winter slip at the end of the pier.  This isn't our favorite spot as it is not the most convenient for loading and unloading, but it beats being iced in down in the basin.  The ramp is also grated at the pier end so the snow falls though.  On the other end of the marina the ramp is solid metal and becomes seriously treacherous with a little snow on it.  So, this is for the best.  Really.  Sunday's weather looked to be very nice so we went ahead with our planned trip to the Chester Poling.  The wind was out of the SW so there was a little chop running, probably left over from Saturday, but it was otherwise nice with mild temperatures.  We arrived up on the Poling and got settled in without much adieu.  I suited up with a few students and we hit the water first.  The conditions were good, but there was a fairly strong current running, enough so to require hand-over-hand pulling along the granny and pulling all the way down to the wreck.  We tried to find some protection from the current on the port side of the wreck along the cat walk, but even there the current was funneling through open parts creating that "surging" effect as you swam along.  The visibility was good on the first dive - about 25 feet or so, with the outgoing tide and current no doubt diminishing what would have otherwise been pristine visibility.  The water is getting chill-y with 45 degrees coming through on the bottom timer.  We did some drills and took a little tour before heading up for our surface interval.  We warmed up between dives and headed in for a second one after a good break to repeat the fun.  Getting warm between dives makes a big difference this time of year - it makes the second dive a good solid dive and not a "get it over with" bounce because you're freezing your a** off.  Anyway, visibility was down a bit from the first dive, which was in part due to all the traffic on the wreck as well as the tide, but it was still a solid 20 feet.  Amazingly, my newly replaced 18 watt HID light worked on both dives today confirming that indeed, miracles do happen.

Sun., December 4, 2005:

Sat.-Sun., November 26-27, 2005:

The Thanksgiving holiday is good for (at least) 3 things - eating, diving and James Bond marathons.  As it turns out we got a good balance of all three over this past weekend.  Friday's dive was scrubbed due to weather - a late week storm churned things up, dropping some snow and turning the weather bitterly cold.  But as it was blowing out of the Northwest, when it stopped blowing on Friday afternoon it actually became quite nice.  Saturday we headed out for a dive on the Holmes, or so its said.  We're not sure quite honestly if this wreck is actually the Holmes or not.  There are some things about it that don't jive, but for now we'll continue to call it the Holmes.  We had a pleasant day with just a slight chop running - just enough for a small white cap, but nothing to get excited over.  Capt Eric tied in a new mooring on the wreck and when he surfaced Dave, Kathy and I headed in for a dive.  Conditions were decent, with visibility about 15 feet give or take.  There was a little current running, but nothing unmanageable.  Kathy was doing her final dive from her tech course, so we finished up with one last skill and then perused the wreck for the remainder of the time.  I can see Kathy is becoming a bona-fide wreck diver, as she found a broken piece of a chamber pot and shoved it in her belt since she didn't have a bag.  Ahh, she's been trained well.  Dave appeared soon enough and donated his bag for the piece.  Anyway, we had a smooth dive and all was good, though surface temps are chilly around 47-48 degrees during the hang.  Unfortunately my drysuit is pretty much porous, and the zipper was leaking badly throughout the dive.  I was soaked through 4 layers of long underwear in addition to my undergarment, down my arm and on my chest when I got out of my suit.  This is even after Dave patched it up last weekend.  Kathy kindly lent me a shirt since I had no dry clothes left and I tried to warm up.  When we arrived back at the marina it had grown overcast and gloomy - there were even some snow flakes in the air.  We grabbed a bite to eat after cleaning up the boat and called it a day.  Congrats to Kathy on a job very well done.  Sunday morning the day broke sunny, mild and with no wind.  It was looking like another perfect day for diving.  We headed out first to the Talisman in 160' off Marblehead.  Today I was diving with Scott so once we agreed on a dive plan we suited up and hit the water.  Scott hopped in first and I was right behind him.  When I jumped in, however, I didn't see that he was underwater, swimming essentially under the swim platform towards the line since the current was running stern to bow and his bubbles were blowing under the boat.  I stepped back off the platform dropping in, and my knee landed square on his tanks about 10 feet down.  I hit so hard I saw stars.  Knee vs. PST 104s - you know how that fight ends.  I wasn't sure what happened at first, but I was glad only one of us was injured.  I took a moment at about 20-30 feet to get it together and we proceeded with the dive, but I was hurting.  Visibility on the wreck was 12-15' or so, not bad but not great.  We swam around a little ways with Scott running a line.  We headed up and did a nice conservative decompression.  I was a bit warmer since I was wearing my other suit and a different undergarment today.  We got out of our gear and warmed up while we had some lunch.  After Dave came up from his dive we motored over to the Romance.  Scott and I went in to set a mooring.  Dave did a great job dropping us right on a boiler and tank so we tied in quick, popped a bag and then headed off for a dive.  Visibility was "fair" for the Romance, maybe 10 feet.  I've seen it a lot worse.  We did a good tour of the wreck headed both fore and aft before calling it a dive and heading up.  Dave went in to shoot some video and get tuned up with the camera since its been about 2 months since we used it.  The camera is nice, but it's a bit unwieldy since the lights are mounted on the housing.  All in all it was a great weekend of diving.  We got home about 6 pm and we were both starting to ache.  We gulped down a handful of "Vitamin A" - a.k.a. Advil, I threw some ice on my knee and we closed out the weekend with Diamonds are Forever.  Another good Thanksgiving.

Sat.-Sun., November 19-20, 2005:

Saturday marked the 1 year anniversary since we launched Gauntlet.  It was nice to look back and see how far we had come.  We've had a fantastic year in 2005 and it still seems hard to believe a year has passed already.  But we're looking forward to the future, and finishing the final interior construction on the boat i.e. being done with construction.  I still can't believe we did it sometimes, and looking back at where we were a year ago with this project, well, it was not an enviable position to say the least.  But we pulled the rabbit out of the hat and ended up with the boat we always wanted.  Anyway, Saturday's charter was scheduled for the Pug wreck and the weather looked great for it.  We headed out of Pickering Wharf right at 9 am.  The harbor is starting to look pretty empty these days.  The harbormaster and 5-mph buoys are long gone and once again it's mostly fishing boats, commercial dive boats and the Coast Guard that rule the ocean.  As we were steaming out of the channel towards Salem sound we happened upon a small dive boat anchored in the middle of the channel, obviously broken down.  On a cold morning in the middle of November, it could be a while before someone comes along to help you (unless you have SeaTow or call the USCG).  We were asked for assistance and we were obliged to help.  I like keeping on schedule, but leaving someone in distress is a big no-no.  So we rigged up a hip tow and towed the boat and it's sole occupant about a half mile into Salem harbor to a mooring by Dion's yard.  It's a bit nerve wracking going in that close, especially into the mooring field since that area is very shallow and a boat our size isn't really intended to be there.  It was also low tide.  But we approached the mooring staying as close to the channel as possible and we able to put him right on the mooring.  A hip tow gives us a lot more maneuverability in close quarters and so everything went smooth.  We even had about 6 feet of water underneath us (we draw ~3-3.5').  Once he was all set we headed back out.  This added up to about a 35-40 min delay, but as I said, you cannot deny someone assistance and were pleased that Gauntlet was able to do something good on her "birthday".  We got out to the Pug wreck and the old mooring Cape Ann Divers put in was still there, but we decided to replace it because it was just rope tied to the wreck and it had been chafing against wreckage last time we were on it.  Dave dropped down the old mooring with a new one and tied in a good one with chain, in the old spot over the engine.  When Dave returned I suited up with a class and headed in for some "fun".  Visibility was ok - it looked really good on the surface but on the wreck (with the caveat that I was last to get down there) it was maybe 10 feet and murky.  Oh well.  Anyway, it was still a good dive and a beautiful day overall.  Thanks to everyone for their patience and understanding while we towed the disabled boat in to safety.  Sunday the wind picked up and we weren't sure what it was going to be doing out there.  The weather buoy read SW winds 17 kts, gusting to 20 kts with a 2 foot sea.  So we decided to drive out to Marblehead neck to see how it looked - we weren't headed that far out, but you can't really hide form SW winds.  Looking out at the water the conditions looked ok actually, so we headed out as planned for the Talisman (unknown dragger wreck).  We believe we have positively identified this wreck at last, so stay tuned for an updated wreck information page in the near future.  It was a bit choppy on the ride out, but it was maybe a 1-2 foot chop.  It was a wet ride, but mostly because the waves were hitting us about 2 points off the starboard bow.  When we got out there we found our mooring more or less intact, well, our mooring with a new buoy and some added line.  I guess the mooring fairies visited this wreck and put a new one on for us.  Anyway, we got settled in and Dave and Peter headed in first.  Today was the day for gear to break, and did gear break today, oh my.  First, it was Peter's turn.  He returned from his "dive" in minutes saying water was pouring down his leg.  I checked his zipper and it was closed, but there was obviously a hole somewhere.  He got out of the water and poured the rest of it out of his suit.  Apparently a mouse chewed a hole in the leg just below the knee - you could see the little teeth holes.  When Dave came back, Dan and I suited up for our dive.  Dave said that Scott's HID light was toast and he had been swimming around with a back up light.  Score thus far: 1 drysuit, 1 18 watt HID light.  Dave also said the visibility wasn't great - maybe 10-12' at best and murky.  Just as I was about to hit the water I fired up my recently-returned-having-found-nothing-wrong-with-it 18 watt light - and it wouldn't turn on.  After a string of expletives finished coming out of my mouth, I grabbed the increasingly popular 10 watt UK handheld that Peter donated to the boat and we splashed.  This is a nice light, but I couldn't see a friggin' thing quite honestly in this visibility, especially when Dan washed me out with an 18 watt HID.  I passed Scott on the way down and we exchanged screams (this has been an ongoing saga with lights).  Score thus far: 1 drysuit, 2 18 watt HID lights.  Visibility was not as bad as I was expecting - there was some ambient light, but it was a cloudy 10-12' at best.  It probably would have been better if I had a brighter light.  Anyway, we had a nice dive - Dan was trying out his new suit and I was just fumbling along in semi-darkness.  When we wrapped up our decompression we surfaced, pulled in the lines and headed home.  Upon our arrival at the dock Scott was bumming another 18 watt HID light off his pals for next weekend's dive, as the Thanksgiving holiday pretty much means nothing is getting fixed this week.  Roman kindly donated his light (also newly fixed).  But when Scott looked at the light, he noticed it was flooded - and the canister was now a pressure chamber filled with battery acid.    Final Score: 1 drysuit, 3 18 watt HID lights.  Scott gave Roman's light back and went chasing off after Aaron and his 18 watt light.  Oh, I guess we'll all be on the edge of our seat to see what repairs Aaron's light is undergoing next week.

Sat.-Sun., November 12-13, 2005:

The weekend weather looked good for a repeat of last weekend's same line up of charters.  For the second time in two weekends, Lee made an appearance on the boat - bringing with him none other than Anderson and Scarpa, two characters we've not seen in some time.  We headed out a bit earlier that the usual winter departure time, first destined for the Brenton Reef Lightship.  Conditions were good, but it was a bit breezy out of the Northwest and as a result, a little choppy.  But the wind was forecast to diminish and the seas lay down, so we knew it would be improving.  We had set a mooring on the wreck on the weekend before, and it was still there when we arrived on Saturday morning.  Since Lee was diving with us again, Dave and I had a chance to dive together - definitely a rare treat.  The divers all suited up and headed in, though we had one unfortunate zipper blow out pre-dive that ended the day's diving before it began for one diver.  You know the zipper is toast when you need someone to cut you out of it.  Anyway, when Lee returned from his dive, Dave and I suited up to hit it.  There was a moderate current running, lots of particulate in the water column and it was definitely colder than last week.  I didn't check the bottom temp, but at 20' on the hang it was hovering around 49 degrees.  We are definitely in the downward spiral with temperatures.  The visibility on the wreck was ok - maybe 10-15' by the time we got down there after everyone else.  There was some current on the wreck and the way the line was laying, you had to pull yourself by the big net on the bow before the current pushed you into it.  We are thinking about moving the mooring, since this net could really be a problem if the line were laying just right (or is that just wrong?).  Anyway, it was a good dive and it was nice to dive with Dave.  When we surfaced from the dive I was definitely chilly - my drysuit is more like a dampsuit.  Time for a new suit, but unfortunately the "Heather Fund" is a bit on the light side with a recent rebreather purchase.  Some patchwork and maybe replacing the boots will get me one more season.  We had lunch while we cruised over to the Chester Poling for the second dive.  Dave and I sat this one out since we were the last ones out of the water and didn't have time for a good surface interval.  Unfortunately we had somewhere we needed to be later that day, so time was tight.  The others suited up and headed in - conditions looked really good though.  Once everyone was up we hit the road and arrived back at the dock around 2:15 pm.  Sunday morning the weather looked like it was going to be pretty nice - and our destination was the Chester Poling.  I decided I would try out my new toy today - an 18 watt HID light.  I've had it for about a month, but was reluctant to use it because then it wouldn't be new anymore...  We got underway just before 9 am and made our way up to Gloucester.  It was a bit windier than it seemed and the seas were a bit rough.  We were taking a solid 2-4' out of the south on our beam most of the ride up.  It was cranking pretty good on the Poling when we arrived.  We picked up the mooring and got settled in - it was a little bouncy, but we were riding it out ok.  I got in first with my new light head.  As I was descending, I went to unclip the light and noticed it was not on.  I thought that maybe I bumped it getting in and it switched off, but that was not the case.  I couldn't get the light to stay on for more than a few seconds.  Gee, what a surprise - I have a problem with my light.  I might hold the record for number of times my light has gone back to the manufacturer for repairs (some of which were genuinely my fault, but most were not).  In any case, this light wasn't working out on this dive.  It was very annoying for obvious reasons, but also because the visibility had not been disturbed inside the wreck, and I was planning to go in.  New plan.  Since I didn't have a light it was harder to be seen (I had back ups but didn't really need them - visibility was good, 25-30 ft).  I swam over to Aaron, Scott and Roman who were doing something, what I don't know, but they were doing something.  Anyway, Aaron didn't notice me so I hovered above him and grabbed onto his manifold.  He was having a real tough time swimming - hmm, I wonder why?  He kept looking around - he saw Roman and Scott... and they played dumb giving him the OK... he tried reaching up and checking his valves, but I just moved my hand as he reached.  He even tried turning around, but holding onto his manifold I just turned as he did and stayed out of sight.  I let him struggle all the way to the break before I let him know I was there.  Roman and Scott were enjoying the prank as much as me.  Hey, without my light, I needed something to do down there.  After I left the group at the break I swam out to the stern and then out in the sand.  It was a nice dive with enough ambient light that I was no worse for wear without my light, though I really had wanted to go inside.  The ascent and hang was uneventful, and by the time I had surfaced the seas were calming down with the tide change.  Cape Ann Divers arrived shortly before Dave was heading in, so he took a line and tied in another mooring for them.  With everyone back aboard we took our time wrapping up and headed back a little after 1 pm.  All in all it was a good weekend of diving.

Sat.-Sun., November 5-6, 2005:

Finally, and I mean finally, it looked like the weekend weather was going to be half decent. After a miserable October, the weather pattern finally broke.  The weather forecasters actually said it was going to be as warm as 70 degrees this past weekend. I wanted to see that to believe it, but in any case, something other than 15 foot seas, rain and gale force winds would be fine with me. Saturday morning we woke up to very heavy fog, which is not something we like to see. This makes things all the more precarious out there whether your concern is hitting something, someone hitting you or losing a diver drifting away from the boat out of sight. Nevertheless, other than the fog, the conditions looked very good, so we loaded up and departed a few minutes before 9 am for the Brenton Reef Lightship. We took our time getting there, as heavy fog required that we navigate almost solely by the instruments. When we arrived on the wreck, the mooring was gone – not exactly surprising. We had a line ready since we were expecting we’d be using one, so we dropped the shot line, and Dave and Peter headed in to tie in the line. The lift bag popped to the surface a few minutes later and we secured the boat, put the lines in and made ready for diving. Just as the last divers were going in, Dave was up so Dan and I suited up and got in for a dive of our own. Dave had left a strobe for us on the wreck – turns the shot line landed in the bow and they tied in just a few feet back from a large dragger net stretching up about 10-15’ in the water column. However, the visibility wasn’t very good. When I asked Dave what the visibility was he said, "I don’t know." I wasn’t sure what kind of answer that was, but I figured it that it certainly didn’t mean the visibility was going to be good. Sure enough, it wasn’t good. I couldn’t see the strobe until we essentially reached the tie in point at about 165 feet. Visibility was about 5-7 feet and pretty dark. We cut the dive short since we were the last ones to dive and there wasn’t a whole lot to see. Decompression was uneventful, always a good thing. When we surfaced we made ourselves some lunch and then headed over the Chester Poling for the second dive.

No one was on the Poling so we picked up the sole mooring and got the boat secured. A few divers were skipping the second dive and had taken to napping, so Dan and I got ready to dive with just under a 2 hour surface interval wrapping up. We were the last ones in so we were definitely not going to get the pristine visibility inside or out.  But the visibility was at least 15-20 feet, so I had no complaints.  We swam the length of the wreck and dropped down to the sand and out to the break.  We were going to take a tour through the inside since Dan hadn't been in the wreck before, but when I dropped in the hatch to check out the visibility, it was wasted so we skipped it.  Better to see it for the first time when there's something to see.  Anyway, after about 20 min we had our fill.  It was getting colder and the day was wearing on.  We did a little bit of an extended stop since we had just done a deep dive prior to this one, and headed up.  The sun was sinking fast as we climbed aboard, so we beat it for home asap.  We were still in heavy fog, and now it was dark - not the combination we go looking for on a regular basis.  But we have safe routes plotted into the GPS taking us in Salem harbor from sea via either channel so we are able to bring the boat "IFR" if you will, which is essentially what we did.  We came in a little after 5 pm, breaking out of the fog bank by the time we entered the approach into Pickering Wharf Marina.  We swapped around gear and got ready for the next day of diving.  Sunday we were scheduled for a single trip to the Poling.  Again we were facing some fog, but it was patchy with better all around visibility.  Since we weren't planning on being out late, it was a less concerning weather scenario overall.  No one was on the wreck when we arrived, so again we picked up the mooring and got ready for diving.  Today, and for the first time in a long, long time, our friend LEE was aboard.  So not only did we have some great entertainment, but Dave and I also got to dive together.  Lee and his student headed in first and when they surfaced Dave and I went in.  Visibility was really good - about 30 feet on the wreck.  And since no one had been inside the wreck yet, we had pristine visibility inside also.  We toured through the inside and swam the whole length of the wreck.  Someone pointed out a monster lobster to Dave before we headed in, so we went and dug it out - but it was an egger, so we let it go.  After about 30 minutes we called it a dive and headed up.  We opted for only one as it was raw and cold on the water that day, so we cranked up the heat in the cabin and and once everyone else finished up we headed in.  All in all it was a great weekend of diving after a long spell of bad weather.  Looking forward to a better month in November.

Sunday, October 30, 2005:

It's a good thing Sunday marked the end of the diving month of October, because this has just one of the worst fall diving seasons I can remember.  We went from getting out every weekend to not being able to get out at all.  Saturday marked a new low - not only did we wake up to 4 foot seas, but it snowed, dropping 3-4" of snow along the coast on the North shore.  It was seriously not ok!  Like true New England weather though it cleared out and melted off, with fair temperatures for Sunday.  The wind came up strong out of the NW and a heavy ground swell was running, but if you were land dwelling, it was a nice day.  We were originally scheduled for the Poling on Sunday, so we didn't have to admit defeat in having to go there.  It wasn't looking nice though.  It was a relatively smooth ride up, but the pea green water and rolling swell made one thing apparent - the visibility was not going to be good.  We arrived on the wreck and amazingly the mooring we installed the week prior was still there.  We secured the boat, got the lines in and flags up.  I suited up first and headed in right after Mike.  The tide, current and wind were running in different directions, so it was holding us beam-to.  You could also see the upwelling of swell when the wind and waves came over the wreck.  When I first jumped in it didn't look too bad, considering.  The vis was murky and greenish, but I thought it was ok.  But as I reached the wreck the visibility diminished to nothing and I couldn't tell I was on the wreck until I was touching it.  Visibility was maybe 3-4' at best.  There was also a lot of surge on the wreck, so I was getting tossed around a lot.  I swam out to the break end where the visibility was even worse - the swells and surge were coming right up and over the wreck, so it was messy here.  I puttered around for a short while before calling it quits and heading up.  I did a short stop and headed for the surface, got out of my gear and called it a day.  We arrived back a bit early since no one was itching to do a second dive.  We grabbed a quick lunch, watched some of the Halloween crowd mill about the marina, gave Gauntlet a bath (for the first time in a month) and headed home.  Glad October is over - hasn't been the greatest of months.

Saturday, October 22, 2005:

The weather finally let up on us for long enough to get a dive in.  We had extremely low expectations for both conditions and visibility, especially based on one report indicating visibility was "0-2 feet."  It looked like we were going get a short window of opportunity on Saturday before the next Nor'easter came through.  Initially it looked like we were going to have light winds, but the front was coming through faster than expected and at 5 am when we checked the forecast, it was already blowing NE around 15 kts with seas running 2-3 ft.  We met at the dock around 7 am and we decided the Poling would be the best bet.  Given the conditions and probable low visibility and likelihood of needing to install a mooring or tie in, we decided it would be easier to go there than try to go deep as we were planning.  We loaded up and headed towards Gloucester.  When we arrived, there was no mooring, which was not surprising.  Dave and Peter suited up and went in to repair the mooring.  Once that was done, we secured the boat and begin getting divers ready.  We had a little bit of protection from the land so conditions weren't too bad overall, though you could see offshore it was cranking up.  When Dave returned it was my turn to dive.  I was astonished to hear that the visibility was actually good - like 30 feet good.  I figured it maybe had something to do with the tide and last few days of heavy NW wind.  Either way, I would take it.  I jumped in myself and headed down to the wreck.  Definitely, the conditions were great.  I cruised all around the wreck and out into the sand, where I nabbed a nice looking lobster for my brother, visiting home from the Navy.  I had to enlist the help of Slav's bag since I hadn't brought one along and was swimming around holding a lobster.  But we got the lobster back and he had a nice lunch.  We returned to the Poling for the afternoon charter, which originally was intended for the Pug wreck.  But conditions were deteriorating and the Poling was the only place we could really go.  In the afternoon I was diving with Andy and Scott, well sort of.  Anyway, by the afternoon the visibility on the wreck had gone way down - and was now maybe 10-12 feet and murky.  Strange.  The wind was picking up, so we got our dives in and then beat feet for home.  We made it back to the marina just before dark and unloaded in the increasing rain.  All in all not a bad day of diving.  I can't really explain the visibility on the Poling that morning except to say, "weird" - it probably would have been worse further offshore where the steady seas had been running.  But that's New England diving for you.  It felt great to get in.  Sunday was a blow-out and now we're battening for a heavy blow.  It's been a tough start to fall - disappointing after such a fabulous summer.

Sat.-Sun., October 15-16, 2005:

No diving due to weather.

Sat.-Sun., October 8-9, 2005:

No diving due to weather.  The streak had to end eventually.... it was a good run.

Sat.-Sun. October 1-2, 2005:

Sat.-Sun., September 24-25, 2005:

We were hoping for a fair weather late September weekend - and while we got something to that effect, Saturday did not arrive with the weather we had envisioned.  As a result, our offshore plans were scrubbed and we stood at the boat wondering what to do next - go to the Poling, the most protected location, or try some stuff off Marblehead/Nahant and see how the conditions were.  The weather buoy was reporting 5-6' seas and NE winds 20 knots gusting to 25.  It wasn't going to be pretty, but we figured we would try something.  We headed out and indeed the seas built in quickly as we steamed out past the islands into open water.  As I was driving out, I noticed a very large breaking wave off the starboard midship - I thought to myself that it was either one big rogue wave, or it was a whale.  And sure enough there were 2 humpback whales cruising around - quite a ways inshore - but giving us a great show nonetheless as they broached and swam through the seas.  Conditions were not too good when we arrived at our destination - a solid 4-6' was running with breaking waves and good size rollers.  The boat was handling great and no one was seasick, which was impressive, but the bottom looked like a yo-yo.  Since we had to tie in at this destination, and our target was low lying, we didn't feel optimistic about getting on it.  So we headed inshore to the Romance, where the conditions subsided to 2-3' and we had some protection.  The water looked kind of pea green, so I wasn't optimistic about the visibility.  Dave and Scott went in to set the hook - there was a mooring on site, but we weren't sure of it's condition and given the sea state, we elected to set our own line.  Gauntlet has broken more than one mooring this season.  Once the bag came up we got the boat secure and divers began to splash.  When Dave and Scott returned, Chad and I suited up for a dive.  Chad is leaving us for the left coast, so we tried to give him a good send-off on the Gauntlet.  The plan didn't exactly come together, but the Romance was not a bad wreck to check out for the first time.  We hit the wreck and conditions were surprisingly good.  Visibility was a solid 15 feet, maybe even bumping up against 20 ft.  I ran a reel since even though the vis was good it's easy to get lost on this wreck.  Coming up freely is not ok, especially in those conditions, so we made sure we could find our way around.  We swam out amongst the hull plates, and then around to the bow and the boilers.  Then we followed the line back, came up to the boilers from the other side and then took a quick swim out the shafts before heading up.  We hopped in for one more dive later that afternoon - as conditions improved significantly with the shifting wind and tide change.  We pulled the hook and headed home.  The next day, Sunday, we were scheduled to visit a wreck we are still attempting to identify - a schooner barge in 120 ft of water.  Its a small wreck and mostly broken up, but an interesting dive nonetheless.  Today my diving partner was Kathy.  We headed in and dropped down to the wreck - visibility was "ok", maybe 12-15' and kind of murky.  It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either.  We circumnavigated the wreck and poked around for a little bit before heading up.  The day had started out beautifully with flat calm seas, sunny skies and mild temperatures.  But the wind shifted SE and began to pick up, clouding over the sky and making it a bit choppy.  Everyone was content with one dive on the schooner barge, so we eventually worked our way back over to the Romance for the second dive.  There were a few boats on site already, so it was a bit crowded there.  We dropped Dave in on one of the other boat's lines and fed the tie in line down to him.  He swam it off in another direction so we could anchor up without bumping up against the other boats.  Once the boat was secure and Dave was back on board Kathy and I headed in.  Everyone said the visibility was about as good as the day before, but the combination of divers on site, a cruise ship coming through very, very close and standing water from slack tide wiped out the visibility by the time we got down there.  About 15 ft off the bottom you could see a cloud layer covering the wreck - weird looking.  Parts of wreckage poked up through it, but by the time I reached the bottom after disconnecting the granny and meeting up with Kathy, we couldn't see crap.  Vis was maybe 3-4' and kind of dark.  We milled around for a while since even running a line you couldn't see where you were going.  We stayed near the shaft where we were tied in just puttering around there.  Mostly I was waiting to see the chain drop so I could pull it and get the hell out of there.  When the chain finally dropped, I quickly pulled it off the shaft and got us free.  Kathy was most helpful holding a light for me and helping feed the chain out of the wreckage.  We have a new chain for our tie in line and it's a little long - about 15 feet in length and its friggin' heavy.  Definitely after this weekend Dave and I both agree we need to cut it down.  I gathered it all up in my arms and I just starting running along the bottom to get out away from the wreck - this wreck is a good one for getting lines snagged, so I wanted to make sure we were clear.  I couldn't really see where I was going as the vis was totally gone now, but I had figured out a direction during the dive where there didn't appear to be wreckage, so I went that way and when I hit sand, I dropped the chain and we headed up.  I was sincerely hoping the line wasn't going to snag any wreckage when we pulled it up, because I really didn't want to go back in.  We did a short hang and then Dave picked us up out of the water.  Fortunately we had gotten the line out off the wreck and it came up no problem.  Thanks to Kathy for doing a great job helping out in difficult conditions!  And good luck to Chad with his new endeavors in Washington... We beat the odds again with the weather - let's hope it continues into October .... can you believe it's almost October?

Sun. September 18, 2005:

The weekend started off with unpleasant weather, prompting us to cancel Saturday morning's lobster dive.  Even though the seas were running 3-4' with winds out of the North (Poling would have been do-able no problem), this group was looking to do some shallow water lobster diving, these conditions would have created a pretty uncomfortable surge and probably no visibility in shallow.  Sunday looked good and the swell laid right down.  We headed out in the morning for the Baleen, a tug in 170 ft of water off Hull.  There was patchy but heavy fog - though by the time we reached the wreck, the visibility had cleared right up nicely and the sun was even trying to come out.  The seas were like glass and there was no current to speak of.  Dan and I hit the water and dropped down to the wreck.  Mid water visibility was outstanding - 30-40 feet at least and clear.  The visibility was great on the wreck too, with about 25-30 ft and not too dark.  It has been awhile since we were on the Baleen, as other projects and wrecks have taken our attention, so the last 2 weeks visiting the wreck have been great.  The I really love swimming up over the aft rail towards the deckhouse and then around the pilot house.  All too soon our time was up and we finished up our decompression, getting out of the water at about 55-60 min run time.  The shallows are nice and warm so once we hit 20-30 ft, things were very comfortable.  For the second dive of the day we loaded up with some new folks and headed out to the Chester Poling.  We anchored up and hit the water - conditions here were also very good, with no current and flat seas.  Dropping down to the wreck, the visibility was a bit down compared to the Baleen, which was not surprising given the Poling is in shallower water and more likely affected by the previous day's swells.  Still it was very good - 15-20 ft, which isn't bad at all.  The day ran long and GAUNTLET did not pull into the marina until about 6:30 pm, but it was a great day with fabulous conditions over all.  The weather forecasters botched it again - what else is new?? 

Sun., September 11, 2005:

A beautiful late summer weekend was upon us - and Sunday's weather looked to be excellent.  September 11 is hardly a day to look forward to and though it was now four years ago, I thought of September 11, 2001 often throughout the day, recalling that terrible morning when thousands died unfairly and unjustly.  In many ways, the best way to honor the memory of those who died on 9-11 is to go on living and defying those who sought to destroy our freedom and life in the United States.  With that, we set out for a full day of diving - first visiting the Baleen and then an unknown schooner barge in 120 ft of water.  We had learned a ghost net was draped over the mooring line on the Baleen, obstructing the line and the stern of the wreck.  We had a few divers who really wanted to see the Baleen, so Capt Eric jumped in and cut the net out for everyone, clearing the wreck for everyone, which was most appreciated by all.  Since Eric and Lori were helping us this weekend, Dave and I were able to enjoy what is a rare treat these days and get in a few dives together.  Dave and I hit the Baleen last and brought along the video camera - visibility was an excellent, dark 20-25 feet.  We circumnavigated the wreck, taking in the beautiful colors from the anemones covering the wheelhouse and stack - the Baleen is still a great dive.  Between dives we checked out a couple of new sites, enjoyed lunch and then headed over to an unknown schooner barge in 120 ft of water.  We were pretty sure we knew which one it was, but our dives on Sunday disproved that theory.  Eric and Lori headed in with a survey tape to measure out the dimensions and then Dave and I headed in to repeat them.  We also brought along the video camera to obtain footage for later study.  The group identified some key features of the wreck, which were helpful in excluding wrecks.  The jury is still out on which one it is, but we'll figure it out sooner or later.  Visibility was down a bit from last last week - but it was still excellent with 15-20 ft on the bottom.  Midwater vis was maybe 3-5 feet.  The day turned out to be great weather-wise... the morning started out a bit snotty with a ground swell running, but by the afternoon it was flat and warm.  Hurricane Ophelia threatens to ruin next weekend - let's hope for a lucky break to keep the streak going.

Sun.-Mon., September 4-5, 2006:

We returned from our Empress of Ireland trip to close out the Labor Day holiday with some local diving.  On Sunday we headed out for a dive on a schooner barge in 120 feet of water.  The schooner is mostly broken up and settled into the sand bottom having gone down with a load of coal.  The bottom in this area is sandy, which affords good visibility - and we were treated to spectacular conditions with calm seas and pleasant weather.  Chris, Dan and I headed in first and arrived on the wreck to find the visibility to be at least 30 feet or more.  We swam the entire length of the wreck noticing lots of cod fish among the wreckage.  After diving the Empress nothing seems cold, but some were remarking that the water felt a bit cool.  I didn't notice it, but if it was cold, that was fine because the visibility was so good that kept you distracted.  Dave and Pat were zooming around the wreck on their scooters - buzzing us divers who need to use our legs to swim still.  All in all it was a great morning dive.  For the afternoon we headed out for some lobster diving - didn't have the haul we were hoping for, as the afternoon breeze picked up and the shallow water areas developed a strong surge - the kind of dive where the bottom is moving constantly.  Anyway, we filled 2 five gallon pails so it wasn't too bad.  Sunday morning we headed out for a double header on an e-rig fishing dragger in 160 fsw.  We loaded up the boat with 16 sets of doubles and stages to boot.  I hit the water with Dave and Pat - and found the visibility to be about 5 feet near the surface but sharply improving as we hit thermoclines.  By the time we reached the bottom it was a dark 15 feet of visibility, a bit murky.  Not bad - better than the last time I was on this wreck, but definitely not great.  The bottom here is muddy so it silts up easily.  There was a bit of current running, but nothing major.  In between dives we fired up the grill for a Labor Day BBQ - we've been waiting a while to use the grill and we finally got the chance.  The seas were a bit bumpy, but it was nothing too uncomfortable - the burgers stayed on the grill at least.  All in all it was a great weekend with great diving, good people and lots of fun.  The fall is coming, but we still have some great diving planned.

Sat.,-Sun. August 20-21, 2005:

Sat.-Sun., August 13-14, 2005:

Saturday we kicked off the weekend with a trip to the Crane wreck - a sunken crane/barge off Thacher Island in Gloucester in about 150 feet of water.  The conditions looked excellent with light winds, flat seas and overall pleasant weather.  We picked up the mooring on the Crane wreck upon our arrival.  There was a bit if surface current, but nothing too horrible.  Chris and I suited up first and splashed - dropping down through the green murk until we hit the thermocline and found ourselves in clear, cool water.  The visibility was outstanding - at least 30 feet with plenty of ambient light.  Chris and I circumnavigated the whole wreck, which isn't hard, and spent some time poking around the structure off in the sand.  The sea life and anemones were awesome - I discovered a lump fish hiding inside the crane scaffolding and pointed him out to the others.  Chris and I headed up after about 20 minutes - about all the Crane I can handle in a dive.  The deco was cool, with temps near the surface reaching only about 50 degrees - ouch.  Anyway, we all had a good dive and Dave got some great video to boot.  On the way in we hit the Rockmore floating restaurant for lunch.  It was hot and sunny - felt good to be outside in the middle of the harbor.  Sunday was just as fantastic with the weather, though it became very foggy with isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon.  However on my last dive on Sunday afternoon on the Poling, my Sartek light checked out.  The surgery was unsuccessful - and on the last few dives I noticed the light was not working as it should.  As soon as I hit the deck, the light blinked out.  Fortunately the visibility was so good I didn't need a light and I just stuck to swimming the exterior.  All in all a fantastic weekend with great diving to go along with it............

Saturday, August 7, 2005:

We decided on an abbreviated weekend of dive charters this weekend, as we had some other diving plans for the remainder of the weekend.  So Saturday we headed out with an eager group of divers looking for lobsters.  We headed to one of our favorite spots and worked two areas for the morning.  Conditions were great - it was an absolutely beautiful day, though it was surprisingly quiet on the water - at least in the morning and early afternoon.  Anyway, we hit this area pretty hard and it yielded 28 lobsters and a small taking of scallops for the boat.  Everyone went home happy with plenty of lobsters, so it was a good day.  We returned in to the dock around noon, put the boat away and headed off to our next adventure.  This weekend upcoming we're back at it in full swing - the diving has been great and we're enjoying it as much as possible.  All too soon the leaves will be falling....

Sat.-Sun., July 30-31, 2005:

This weekend we were basically going to repeat the previous weekend's activities.  Saturday we headed down to the Pinthis for our last scheduled trip there, at least for now.  That makes 5 trips there this season, all of which have been great.  We went through the small closet one last time seeing what else might turn up.  A few things did - but nothing worth taking.... a sink, a huge vise and some other miscellaneous stuff - none of which we brought up.  Dave was just dying to bring up the vise, but we really didn't need to go there.  We managed to get through those dives without destroying anything (except for a blown piston on my reg) and over all it was a very nice day.  Visibility was about 25-30 feet on my first dive, with a little less than that after the tide changed for the second dive.  Water temps were a bit chilly there. I noted only 50 degrees on my last stop before surfacing, which was a bit surprising.  Sunday we headed back out to the YF-415 again and conditions looked even better than the week before.  Visibility looked better from the surface.  The one snag was that somehow my Sartek light got switched on and melted the cap on the head.  Of course I didn't notice this until I pulled the coozie off the light head while getting into my tanks.  It was not good.  Everyone said it would be fine ya ya ya, and to dive with it like that - what the hell was I thinking listening to that?  I jumped in, dropped down to 30 feet and flooded the light.  Dumb, very dumb.  My dive partners waited a little while for me, but I had to surface and get some other kind of light so they headed off while we rummaged around for a light I could use.  Coincidentally - and I guess luckily for me - Peter had brought along a spare UK handheld HID light for the boat.  And it turns out, it was going to be used its first day onboard.  I grabbed the other light and took a little breather before descending again.  I had been fiddling around on the surface breathing 17% so I took a rest and then dropped down.  It probably wasn't the best idea bringing the flooded light down to depth on the wreck, but I usually learn the hard way so that's the way it goes I guess.  The visibility on the wreck was definitely better than the week before - about 15-20 ft or so.  When I surfaced we disassembled the light and rinsed it off with fresh water.  Dave's first stage on his regulator blew out when he turned on his gas, so I pulled mine off, which had just been fixed from the day before, and he hit the water with Peter.  If there's one thing that is good about not being able to dive at the same time, is that we can cannibalize each other's gear, as we did last week when I needed a 7 foot hose for my dive.  When we inspected my light, it seemed that the light didn't flood into the canister, but I was still not a happy camper.  We are performing surgery on the light tonight with replacement parts, so we'll see how it turns out.... Anyway, for the afternoon charter I was shooting video so I used the 18 watt HID lights on the camera for my lighting.  All in all it was a good weekend of diving, even if most of our toys are broken now.

Sat.-Sun., July 23-24, 2005:

Sat.-Sun., July 16-17, 2005:

Another great weekend of weather unfolded and we had a jam packed weekend of diving lined up.  Saturday we headed out to the Brenton Reef Lightship - we had planned to hit the Snetind, but the group wanted to go to the LV instead, so we obliged them.  The conditions were spectacular - flat seas, barely any wind and hot.  Fortunately we had the air conditioning on the boat cranking, so we could suit up in the cool temps or duck inside the cabin when it got too hot.  Definitely makes a difference when its hot and humid.  Since Capt. Eric was helping us out today, Dave and I got to dive together.  We hit the water last - everyone reported excellent conditions, with at least 30 feet of visibility on the bottom.  The only snag was the current was ripping, but once below about 20 feet, it went away for the most part.  We hit the water and worked our way down to the wreck.  The conditions were excellent we start out towards the bow swimming along the hull and dropping down to the sand.  Dave worked along the edge of the wreck and I dropped down inside one of the holds.  We met up in the stern and swam back along the outside of the hull.  It was a great tour of the wreck in great conditions.  We headed back to the marina, swapped around tanks, dropped off a few people and headed back out to hit the Pug wreck later that afternoon.  Conditions were good, but the afternoon breeze picked up and the seas became a bit choppy.  Visibility on the Pug wreck was surprisingly about 10-15' and very "smoky".  We spent the entire dive inside the wreck where the visibility was a little better.  All in all a great day of diving - and it was great to dive with Dave, a rare treat for us these days since a captain always needs to be on the boat.  Sunday we struck out in equally good conditions to the wreck of the Pinthis.  We encountered a dense fog bank about 4 miles North of the wreck, but we slogged through it and punched out the other side into clear, bright skies.  Visibility on the wreck was down a little bit from what I've seen recently, but still very good - 25-30 feet or so.  Today I was diving with Roman and we started out our first dive with a tour through the whole wreck and then stitched along the edge.  We made another dive after having some lunch and worked on a few artifacts.  Definitely great conditions and 2 great dives on the Pinthis - we definitely swam the wreck over the course of 2 dives and had a blast.  We returned home tired from all the fun, but already looking forward to next weekend.  At this time there are 2 spots open for next weekend's Pinthis trip - this is a great wreck, not to be missed.

Sat.-Sun., July 9-10, 2005:

This weekend a group from Michigan chartered the boat for both morning spots.  Saturday broke with the remnants of a pretty lousy week of weather - it was hard to believe that just one weekend ago it was literally as nice as it gets.  Such fleeting nice weather certainly motivates one to get out there and enjoy, because it usually doesn't last.  The group seemed a little grim on Saturday morning, unsure if we'd get out.  Our destination was the stern of the Chester Poling, and given the weather it was probably the only realistic destination of the day.  The buoy off Boston was reporting 5 foot seas with a stiff Northerly wind blowing.  We assured the group it wouldn't be like that where we were headed - and that if the conditions were too rough, we could always turn back and go eat a big breakfast.  So we headed out and sure enough the conditions weren't too bad - a ground swell was running and it was a bit choppy but we rode comfortably through it and arrived on the Poling right on schedule.  We picked up the only mooring present and made ready to dive.  The group was used to diving in fresh water, but we took care of that - with a nice wet ride up to Gloucester, everyone's gear had a good pre-dive soak down.  I jumped in for a dive myself and was most pleased (both for myself and the group) to find outstanding visibility - probably 60 feet or better.  This group all had good skills, so there was no ceremonial destruction of the visibility that usually follows.  I swam all around the wreck and spent some time inside.  I haven't been up to the Poling in a few months so I always notice changes when I do visit the wreck after a break.  Certainly things are really starting to break down.  It appears there will soon be a large enough hole on the port side inside the break to enter the oil hold from there.  Anyway, it was a great dive and by the time we were finishing up the surface interval, the wind had died down and the sun was out.  Sea conditions flattened out and a nice day was upon us.  Sunday morning we headed out for a trip to the Pug wreck and Halfway Rock - this group was into photography so Halfway afforded better visibility and more in the way of marine life.  We sat out this dive since we had plans to dive the Brenton Reef Lightship later that day.  I don't usually like to do deep decompression dives after a (much) shallower dive, so we waited.  Heading out to the BRLV the conditions were pristine - it had been windy and choppy that morning, but it laid down flat for the afternoon.  We were in the midst of the start of the Marblehead-Halifax Race, a 101 or 102 year tradition.  This year the sailboats were starting from Marblehead, so literally there were about 1000 boats just outside of Halfway Rock.  Of course, the wind died so it was pretty anticlimactic after the start, but it was neat to look out upon while we were anchored up.  Conditions on the lightship were great - bottom visibility was ok, about 15 feet.  Not great for video and less than I expected, but not the worst we've seen.  This wreck is a good artifact producer so if the visibility doesn't do it for you, some brass usually will.  Anyway, all in all a great weekend of diving - we edged out against the weather again.  Let's hope the hurricanes stay in the south for a few more months.

Sat-Sun., July 2-3, 2005:

This holiday weekend offered fabulous weather for a jam-packed weekend of diving.  Saturday's double header started out with a lobster/scallop charter off Marblehead.  Conditions were perfect - warm, light breeze, calm seas... why can't it be like this all the time?  The group from a local dive club did ok on lobsters and very well on scallops, so all were happy.  Dave headed in for a dive and came back with a large bag of scallops, which he donated to the group, adding to their catch.  I sat out the morning since I prefer rust to lobsters, saving myself for 2 dives later in the afternoon on the Pug wreck.  Conditions on the Pug wreck were even better than the morning diving conditions - very flat seas, some current but outstanding visibility.  Dropping down to the wreck with Scott and Roman - you could see the better part of 50 feet.  Being the first on the wreck, we got to enjoy the best of the visibility.  I was shooting video and was glad I brought it along until I looked in the view finder to see a large white spot of condensation on the lens.  I had the camera loaded with desiccant, but it was just too warm on the surface and too cool on the bottom.  I was pissed - there was no point in rolling tape.  I waited over 12 minutes for the white spot to go away as the camera equilibrated with the bottom temp.  I got a few minutes of video before it was time to go up... disappointing.  I opted to leave it out for the next dive since swimming around with a camera but having no video left me less than thrilled about the prospects of lugging it around again.  The second dive had even better visibility than the first since the sun was lower in the sky (the water was a bit dimmer, which cut down on the bright-out effect) and no one was on the wreck.  We took a tour through the inside and swam around the wreck before getting bored and heading up.  All in all we had a great day of diving.  On Sunday we were headed to the Bow of the Poling, the ugly sister of the popular stern section of the wreck off Eastern Point.  Conditions were just as good - if not better - than the day before.  Since our friends Eric and Lori joined us today and helped out taking a watch, Dave and I got a treat and were able to dive together.  Everyone splashed quickly once we were secured into the wreck and soon enough it was our turn to dive.  Everyone reported great conditions on the bottom.  We had soaked the video camera in a bucket of cold sea water to keep condensation from forming and it seemed to be working.  Dave and I hit the water and started dropping down - conditions were awesome, for the Bow, - bright green, slightly hazy water with about 20-25 feet of visibility... the best visibility I have seen, for sure. I was really looking forward to this dive.  We started dropping down the line - it looked like it was sitting funny in the water column, but we kept going figuring since there was no current or wind we were just sitting slack.  Dave was floating down, filming me dropping down the line.  As I got deeper, dropping faster I started to think the wreck should have been here by now... and suddenly I hit 155 feet (definitely shouda been there by now...) and found myself passing the end of swinging chain.  As the words "What the f---" screamed through my mind, I wondered how on a perfectly flat day, with no current or sea and a boatload of happy divers on the surface we could have come free from the wreck. This totally sucked and was pretty much - the - last thing I expected to have happen on this dive.  Whoever put the mooring in on this wreck (not us) didn't bother to tighten the shackle pin and it just came undone, so we broke free sometime between the time the last diver ascended and we jumped in.  There were not happy faces on our faces when we broke the surface 15 minutes after jumping in... .  But hey, at least the camera didn't fog up.  We spent the extra time we would have had diving exploring some new areas off Cape Ann before heading in.  We spent the rest of the weekend diving on our own and enjoying the holiday out on the boat - all in all great weather and great diving despite the snag on the Poling.

Fri.-Sun., June 24-26, 2005:

See the Rhode Island Wrecks trip report!

Sat.-Sun., June 18-19, 2005:

Another fine weekend was upon us and we had plans to do as much diving as possible before exhaustion set in.  On Saturday we headed out to the Pug wreck - heading out of the islands towards Nahant, the seas were a bit lumpy with some left over ground swell dissipating.  The conditions were decent, certainly better than the day before.  We weren't hopeful for good visibility, but at least we were out.  The air temperatures were cool, but comfortable.  We arrived on the Pug wreck and picked up the mooring, settled in the lines and began suiting up.  Everyone splashed right after another, eager to hit the wreck.  Slav was trying one of his "weird science" equipment modifications/creations so we steered clear.  I was diving with a student, and we were having fun learning how to use a reel.  As we dropped down to the wreck, I was quite surprised to see how good the conditions were.  I was expecting what we had the week prior - about 10-12 ft and dark, but instead was pleasantly surprised to see about 30 feet of visibility with ambient light.  The current was moving pretty good.  This season we've had some abnormal tides, which has resulted in more current than we usually see on almost all wrecks.  The current followed all the way down to the bottom.  It wasn't too bad, at least it helped keep any silt that was stirred up moving in the right direction - i.e. away.  Things went very well with the reel work for a first-time wreck dive using a reel.  We headed up, did a short stop and climbed aboard.  Dave headed back in a short while later while the rest of us relaxed and enjoyed the cool temperatures and improving seas.  All in all not a bad morning.  That afternoon we headed back out with some newer divers for a shallow water lobster dive.  Visibility was good - about 20 feet, but there was a lot of surge (30-40 ft depth range) and a lot of shorts.  No lobsters.  I can't say I was giving it my 100% effort, as I don't eat them, but they were definitely "micro" as far as relative size went.  Sunday we headed out to the dragger wreck in 160'.  Conditions were decent, but were deteriorating.  A choppy sea was building in with a NE wind picking up.  The tide and the wind were running opposite, so the boat was held in an awkward beam-to position with the granny line in the water.  Jumping off the swim platform I was sucked quickly under the boat in the current.  I dropped down to the wreck and was shocked to find the visibility was about 3 feet and very dark.  Totally disappointing.  I think this wreck is probably a "winter dive" based on conditions we've seen recently.  The seas built in to a solid 2-3 foot sea, which made for a wet ride home, but we cruised along and got in with some time to spare in preparation for a Father's Day cookout.  A great weekend overall.  Next weekend GAUNTLET goes to Rhode Island looking for calm seas and clear water.  Will we get it?  We'll see...

Sat.-Sun., June 11-12, 2005:

We kicked off the weekend with a double header technical trip - first dive to the passenger steamer Southland in 160 fsw off Scituate, MA followed by a pit stop on the Dragger on the way home.  The location of the wreck works out well so that the 45 min transit between wrecks helps burn off surface interval time.  The day was beautiful with flat calm seas and light winds.  A quick shower passed over us - literally over us - when we first arrived on the Southland.  On the radar you could see the shower and as I said, it was literally over us.  And for good reason, Dave forgot the mustard.  On full day trips we usually bring food along for everyone - cold cuts, chips, fruit, etc but in our haste we forgot the mustard.  We did have mayo, but no mustard. This was apparently an issue.  The mooring on the Southland was gone, which was surprising since it was there a week ago, but moorings are unpredictable, especially during the gillnet season.  So, rather than put a new one in since we don't know when we will be back, Dave tied into the wreck and I pulled the hook at the end of the dive.  There were few, shall we say minor issues with breaking the short piece of line that Dave tied in from the wreck, but we got it.  The key word is break-away.  Anyway, any minor difficulties were no doubt the cause of everyone's chi being thrown off by the mustard situation.  I myself do not care for mustard, so it was no biggie to me.  Anyway, visibility on the Southland was about 10-15' when I got down there - last - which means it was probably 25 feet when the first person got down there.  It was a nice dive, a bit of current but nothing major.  We were tied in right next to the boiler and machinery areas - definitely the prettiest part of the wreck.  On the way in we hit the Dragger and conditions were similar to the Southland.  Water temps were around 43 degrees near the surface, still pretty chilly on the bottom.  There's a couple of nasty layers to punch through now - one at about 50-60' that reduced the visibility to about a foot.  Sunday we headed out to the Pug wreck in equally fantastic weather.  The seas were once again calm and the day was shaping up great.  Dave grabbed the mustard before we left the house, so we had all our bases covered.  I was diving with 2 students so we hit the water first and dropped down to the deck of the Pug wreck. Visibility was disappointing, definitely down from the week prior - maybe 10-12' and fairly dark.  Not sure what's causing the bad visibility since things have calmed down with the weather in the last few weeks.  Definitely not typical late May/early June diving conditions.  Nevertheless, we had a great weekend - exhausting, but I always enjoy being tired from having a great weekend.

Sat.-Sun., June 4-5, 2005:

Another weekend of fair winds and calm seas was upon us - and this one was to be even warmer than the last.  Our plans for the weekend we were simple: to take full advantage of the great weather and get in some good diving.  Saturday we headed out to the Pug wreck and the Romance.  We've been trying to get back out on the Romance for several months now, but one thing or another always seemed to prevent it.  We reached the Pug wreck and picked up our mooring, set the lines and the first divers suited up to go in.  Dave headed in first with Roman, while I stayed topside and helped the others. When Dave returned I suited up and headed in - having the whole wreck to myself.  The visibility was terrible on the surface - maybe 5 feet, but cleared up and by the time I reached the bottom it was easily 25 feet with plenty of ambient light.  These were the best conditions I had seen here in months.  I swam throughout the interior of the wreck and then off the bow.  The anemones were opened up and the hull was just a wall of great colors.  When my bottom time had expired I began my ascent and climbed back aboard.  We headed over to the Romance for the second dive.  Dave went in to set a mooring.  I dropped him right on top of the boilers, a nice intact portion of the wreck with some decent relief.  While we were getting tied in another dive boat arrived and set another mooring.  We got tied in quickly and the divers began to splash.  A few of the divers from the other boat surfaced, one of them was a friend of ours and he let us know that they had put a mooring in too - it was very close to ours so we decided that we'd pull the one we put it and leave one on the wreck that would be unobstructed.  Roman and I headed in last - I was shooting some video and then was going to cut our line.  The granny line came down close enough to the top of the wreck that we could just cut it and jump over to the other line.  We dropped down to the wreck and spent the next 25 minutes exploring the wreckage.  Dave had come up with wild tales of 30 foot visibility, but it was more like 15' when I got down there.  Still good for the Romance, but the video camera autofocus didn't like it too much.  I managed to get some decent stuff even with cloudy water and the white-out effect of twin 18 watt HID lights (can't see anything in front of you).  I was getting cold by 25 minutes because during the descent I managed to flood some water into my suit through my inlet valve when I forgot to hook up my suit inflation hose - I wasn't "getting it" when no gas would enter my suit and kept pushing the inlet valve.  Suddenly it felt like a garden hose got turned on in my suit, so I figured it out then.  I was wet from my waist to my neck, through to my skin.  Smooth, oh yes.  Anyway, we got on top of the wreck and once we pulled the strobe, I got Roman above me and I cut the line.  We were swinging in the breeze a bit with the current and way of the boat drifting, but it was otherwise fine and we surfaced, climbed aboard and headed home.  A great day of diving.  On Sunday we loaded up with a mix of rebreather and open circuit divers for some deeper diving.  We decided on one of my favorite wrecks, the Coyote.  With the good visibility from the day before, we were figuring it would be even better out on the deep wrecks.  We got out on site and took our time setting the line.  The Coyote is a big wreck, but I wanted to put Dave right in the middle and not off the wreck at all.  We dropped the line and in went Dave.  Since he was tying in alone he was going to take it nice and easy.  Soon enough the lift bag popped up and we were good to go.  Everyone hit the water and when Dave returned I suited up for a dive too.  When Dave surface I was shocked to hear the visibility was not very good - maybe 10-12'.  I was totally disappointed, especially since I was really looking forward to this dive.  I prepared for the worst and hit the water.  The visibility on the surface was horrible, as expected.  Then it opened up to about 40 feet.  But by the time I passed the last ascending divers and reached the wreck, the visibility had diminished considerably.  We have seen this before - always a bummer.  But it was still better than what I had been led to believe.  It was probably more like 12-15' but with some ambient light still.  There was a little bit of current during my dive, but not much.  Just enough though to make you a bit uneasy swimming around in limited visibility with the incredible number of lines, rope and net collected on this wreck.  I enjoyed the dive despite the less than perfect visibility and decompressed uneventfully.  All in all it was a fantastic weekend of diving.  We're owed some good weather now and I do hope it continues.  We began noticing lots of gill nets on a few of our favorite wrecks, so thus begins the season of dealing with nets.

May 28-29, 2005:

A strong nor'easter bore down on us for several days in the week leading up to Memorial Day.  15-18 foot seas and sustained 30-40 knot NE winds with gusts up to 50 knots struck a heavy blow to the boating community.  In Marblehead harbor alone, 4 boats broke off moorings and went up on the rocks - at least a half dozen, including a 40 foot or so crew boat were washed ashore in Salem Harbor.  Each day we made sure someone stopped by the GAUNTLET to check on the boat - both to make the sure the lines were good but also that no other boats might break free and hit her.  Pickering Wharf Marina is one of the most protected marinas on the North shore and as a result, just about every boat that could fit was jammed into the marina during the course of the storm.  We weathered the storm well and Saturday broke with a clear sky, warm sun and light winds.  The heavy ground swell was gone and while the surface clutter of seaweed, wood and other debris told of a strong storm, the seas were otherwise friendly and calm.  Of course beneath the surface was another story - 15-18 foot seas sustained over several days means no visibility for all practical purposes.  We departed bright and early at 7:30 am for the steam freighter SOUTHLAND, which we first visited last weekend.  The wreck is located in 160 feet of water off Scituate, near the former dump area.  Careful to avoid hitting floating wood, we made a smooth and fast ride to the Southland where we found our mooring to be intact.  This was good news considering the likelihood of losing the mooring in a bad storm like this one is very high.  We dropped in the lines and made ready to dive.  While picking up the buoy we noticed that the current was ripping - we were on the tail end of an ebb tide during a "moon tide" cycle, which meant higher highs and lower lows (ie stronger current).  We settled in and decided to wait for a little bit before jumping in since dead-low, when we'd presumably have slack water was at 10 am.  Peter and I were heading in first but no one was moving while the current was moving.  Finally the current seemed like it was slowing down a little, but it wasn't stopping.  We decided not to wait any longer so we hit the water.  Before Peter even broke the surface we was about 10 feet back from the boat - I guess it didn't slow down that much.  I jumped in next and decided to hold on to the trail line so I could pull myself over once I broke surface.  The current was ripping all the way down to about 60 feet, where it diminished to a relatively mild flow.  The water column was horrible - a featureless green-gray with lots of particulate floating by.  It got progressively darker.  Finally I reached the bottom and the visibility cleared up a bit to probably 10-15 feet horizontal.  I was surprised and pleased (I had prepared myself for total and complete disappointment).  I set my strobe and struck out on the line Peter set.  He was planning to run a line out to the bow since we were just adjacent to the shaft near the stern.  We didn't have much reference in the low visibility so, a line was prudent today.  I swam out around the boiler and triple expansion steam engine - this is just quite simply put a marvelous sight.  The anemones cover everything in brilliant colors.  Everything is pristine.  The boiler and engine stretch about 20 feet up from the wreckage and have all kinds of nooks and crannies to explore.  Various junk - pipes, big brass valves, etc litters the wreck.  The shaft leads to a large propeller, which was totally covered by a huge, scary dragger net suspended high in the water column.  A giant cod fish cut across my path - first big one I've seen this year (about 3 feet long).  I departed the bottom alone since Peter was doing a 35 minute rebreather bottom time and I wasn't up for that on open circuit.  The ascent through the water column was uneventful, though the gloomy water made it less than stellar.  Starting up around 60 feet the current intensified.  By the time I reached 20 feet my arms and shoulders were hurting - I had not brought along my jon line since usually I don't need it.  I had a short piece of rigging line I could have used, but it wouldn't have taken the load of my shoulder.  Just when I thought my arms were going to detach, it was time to surface.  I climbed aboard and helped Dave and Chad suit up.  Dave braved the current with the video camera so hats off to him.  You can check out an updated SOUTHLAND info page here.  When they surfaced from their dive we pulled the lines and cruised home.  It was an absolutely beautiful day and I enjoyed the ride back lounging on the back deck.

Chad hangs on in the strong current running over the Southland

On Sunday we headed out to the Pug wreck - I had expectations of lower visibility since this wreck is shallower and more likely to be affected by the ocean swells.  The seas were once again flat calm.  The skies were a bit cloudy, but it was by all accounts a nice day out there.  I was planning to dive with Dan and Scott today.  Once we secured the boat and set the lines and the first divers headed in, the three of us headed in together.  The visibility on the surface was poor and ambient light quickly disappeared similar to the Southland, but not quite as dark.  Upon reaching the bottom we got oriented and I set my strobe - the batteries were running low though since I had left my strobe on the Southland for Dave, which a few hours of blinking ran down the batteries.  I didn't really need a strobe to navigate the Pug wreck, but I like having it in low visibility anyway just for reference.  We struck out and circumnavigated the wreck, took a few more passes and then dropped into the aft hold.  It was a bit tight for 3 in there so I exited and marked the exit for Dan and Scott.  After 20 minutes we decided we had enough of the Pug wreck and headed up.  We conducted a short decompression and climbed aboard the boat.  Scott twisted my rubber arm into doing a second dive - another dive on the Pug wreck in 10-12 feet of visibility didn't thrill me, but how can you say no to diving.... we hopped in for a quick second dive.  The current had picked up from the tide change but was pretty mild overall.  Certainly nothing like the Southland river dive.  We unloaded the boat from our new summer location within the marina - no more parking hassles, we have the primo location in the marina for loading.  After unloading we enjoyed a nice lunch at Victoria Station and headed home to refuel for the next day's diving...

May 20-21, 2005:

After a long, long trip to Florida for work I was most happy to return home late Tuesday night and get back to normal life and hopefully some diving.  As a bonus for working for 12 days straight, with the last 6 days all being 18 hour days, I got the rest of the week off.  We decided to head out to what we believed to be the wreck of the freighter SOUTHLAND, located in 160 fsw off Scituate, MA.  We'd been looking at this wreck for awhile and had been blown out of a couple of previous attempts so we were looking forward to this trip - especially given our desire to have a few deep wrecks to visit in the vicinity of the Pinthis so that we might consider running for a whole weekend out of Scituate.  The weather was gorgeous - the ocean like a millpond.  The skies were sunny and the air temperature was warm.  We made the 19 mile run in just over an hour and arrived on site to quickly locate the wreck.  We set the line, I heard it clunk on the wreck so in went Dave and Peter to tie in.  In about 12 min the lift bag popped to the surface, so I knew we were good to go and I quickly secured the boat.  When Dave returned from his dive he reported that indeed we were on a very large wreck.  He gave me a brief description of the wreck, which can be summarized here along with some of the history, and I made ready to head in.  He said the conditions were marginal - visibility was poor and the water was very dark.  He and Peter both remarked that the dive was "spooky"...  I was planning to shoot video but I balked when he said the visibility was about 10 feet and black.  Given this was my first dive here, and I was heading in alone I decided to leave the camera behind.  I jumped in and headed down - by about 40 feet it was real dark with lots of particulate in the water.  Dave had left his strobe on the line for me so I would have some reference besides my depth gauge as I descended.  We've gotten in the habit of attaching a strobe to the shot line when we deploy it, granted we run the risk of damaging it or losing it when the line hits the wreck, but it's only dive gear and we have more of it... but the advantage is the first divers going down the line, especially on an unknown wreck have a little bit of comfort in knowing there's some reference by spotting the strobe.  It's worked well for us so far.  Anyway, I reached the strobe, realized I was on a wreck, and found the visibility on the bottom to be about 7-10 feet at best.  The tide had turned since Dave and Peter's dive, and now there was a bit of current on the bottom, probably further diminishing the visibility.  We were tied in near the starboard quarter edge, just forward of the shaft, just aft of a large boiler so we were more of less near the stern of the wreck.  In this area the wreck is flattened out quite a bit and mostly ribs and hull structure are all that's visible.  I was glad I didn't bring the camera and was definitely spooky being all alone down there, but we have plans to bring it next time.  I completed my decompression uneventfully and we spent the rest of the day riding around checking out some other areas - all in all a fantastic day.

The following day we had plans to return to the Southland, but the weather wouldn't allow it.  The day broke with a stiff NE wind and seas building in quickly from a mild one foot chop to a solid 3 foot sea.  We ended up deciding on the unknown dragger in 160 fsw for our destination since it wasn't too far out and we'd be able to get a decent dive in before the conditions totally went to hell.  I jumped in first with Peter and we descended down the line in very low, dark visibility.  The water cleared up a bit around 100 feet and the bottom visibility was a dark 15 feet or so - not the worst we've seen but not the best either.  Given the building sea above us, I decided to do a thorough inspection of the mooring before venturing too far.  The line had been cut on the surface so we lost some scope when repairing it.  I wanted to check it closely before coming back to find it gone.  I've been focusing on small areas of the wreck each dive instead of trying to cover distance, as now we are into the "knick knack" kind of artifacts - small stuff like cage lamps and running lights.  We got all the big stuff.  With this sort of small stuff thing you need to study details to find things.  Nothing jumped out at me though and I began my ascent disappointed that I hadn't bagged the bell or something mintly like that.  I was concerned about the deteriorating weather and by the time I reached 20 feet, I could feel a steady sea above me.  Getting up on the ladder was a bit of a bull ride but I got on and up, stowed my gear and quickly helped Dave suit up.  Peter was still off doing a power 37 minute bottom time in ebreather heaven... anyway Dave headed in and I helped the others who were returning back aboard while keeping a watchful eye on the weather.  When Dave returned we made some more repairs to the line and headed home.  It was a wet ride but we "plowed right through it" as they say.  All in all a great day of diving - we hit the weather window for sure. 

Sunday, May 15, 2005:

By: Capt. Dave - This weekend Heather was traveling for business so we decided to take Saturday off so I could catch up with getting some extra things done around the boat. After a few weekends of terrible weather, we finally got our chance to get back on and in the water. I had been watching the weather on and off for the past week, it seemed as if it was not going to be nice. Much to my surprise I woke up early Sunday morning, it was overcast, not raining for a change and the best part was flat calm seas. I listened to the weather report, from that it was predicted to change around and start blowing out of the northeast with increasing winds, just what I wanted to hear.... The prediction said later in the morning, so we figured we could get out and back before things started to deteriorate.

Where Heather was gone, Fred decided to come along and crew for the charter.  We had some regular faces on the boat along with some new faces, our destination was the new wreck we started diving this past winter. The time is coming that the rebreather divers are almost starting to outnumber the open circuit divers. There were three rebreather divers and four open circuit divers, we are not out number yet, but the day is coming. The first team started suiting up, Fred and I helped the divers out getting ready. One of the team members heard some air leaking from his pressure gauge; I poured some water over the hose and saw the hose was starting to bubble. As we discussed whether he should stop and swap it out, we hear Fred talking with one of the other divers and he says, "Yeah it’s just the little leaks that kill ya". With that said, we immediately stopped, swapped out the faulty hose. Better safe then sorry, within minutes we changed out the hose and the diver was making his jump into the water.

The next teams got ready within a few minutes. Fred and I stood back, just glanced at the water and commented how calm it was, in the same breathe we could see off in the distance, bad weather heading our way with the wind beginning to shift. With Fred on the boat I decided to get suited up and do a dive myself, figured the conditions looked nice, I mind as well take advantage of it. A few minutes I was suited and Fred was clipping off my stages, and off I went.  Heading down the line the visibility on the surface was not very nice at all, maybe 10’ at best. I passed by everyone on the line doing there deco between 70’- 80’, the visibility was picking up a little but not much. Once I got closer to the wreck, I could see the cloud that was left behind from everyone swimming around. I quickly tied off my strobe, and headed in the direction of the bow, even with the visibility being somewhat poor from all the divers being on the wreck, it was actually pretty clear, but dark. After having a few dives on the wreck and being comfortable with the site I made my way to objects that I recognized.

Once I reached the mast, I made a swim to the end of it that lies over the starboard side. The mast is covered with nets from the base to the tip, you could see over the years that everything and anything got tangled up on this protruding object that sticks out off the wreck about 30’- 40’. After swimming out and back with plenty of time still left, I continued my swim forward to the bow. Moving forward looking for familiar objects keeps me on track and preventing me from getting lost or off the wreck. I came up to the bow section searching all the little nooks and crannies; I enjoy just swimming the wreck checking out all the little details that you generally don’t pick up on your first dives on a wreck.  Once I reached the bow with time to spare as I planned a twenty-minute bottom time I decide to make a swim back towards the winch and make my way towards to stern. Once again checking out all the little crevasses where debris and decking has collapsed over the years. So much to see with so little time spend, while trying to get a big picture of the way it might have originally looked before its demise. After making a swim around the stern, I now swam up the starboard side on the wreck and back to the winch where I unclipped my strobe, stowed it away and started making my ascent to my first deco stop.

My deco went smoothly without any interruptions or mishaps, I figured I would run into someone still in the water but by the time, I got to my shallower stops I noticed everyone was out of the water. I finished up with a forty-eight minute runtime, exited the water with the excitement of a great dive. We packed up the remaining gear, along with pulling up the lines; Fred started up the engine and headed for home. On the way back the wind had shifted to the northeast as planned, we arrived at the dock in no time, and the rain started to fall. We could not have planned the time any better, it was nice to have some new faces on the boat, hope to see them again. As well as having, some regular faces and taking them to new deeper wrecks that, they have not seen before. We all missed Heather - it just was not the same not having her onboard, but Fred certainly added to the camaraderie.

Sat. May 7, 2005:

No diving due to weather.

Sat-Sun, April 30-May 1, 2005:

Despite rain and persistent fog, we had a great weekend of diving - check out a video clip from Saturday's trip to the Pinthis in the Shipwreck Junction. 

Sat-Sun, April 23-24, 2005:

No diving due to weather.

Sat-Sun, April 16-17, 2005:

Sat.-Sun., April 9-10, 2005:

Finally the weather broke and a fabulous weekend unfolded before us. Since the end of February, things have just plain sucked – storms, swells and no visibility. When we could get a dive in, it was hardly worth it. But a relatively tranquil week of weather prevailed and there was a reasonable expectation that the visibility would be something better than 3 feet. Since daylight savings time has come upon us, we switched back to a 7:30 am departure time, giving us more time and what’s usually the better part of the day, the morning. We headed out to the Pug wreck with an eager group – a fast, smooth run put us out on the wreck in less than 30 minutes, where we were most pleased to find the mooring still intact. We picked up the buoy, set the lines and made ready to dive. There was some current running from the incoming tide – it seemed like we were having some big swings in the tide. I suited up for a dive and headed in. The water was a cloudy, murky green for about the first 15 feet or so – not too good. I thought to myself, “This is going to suck,” but as I dropped down deeper, the water cleared up to about 20-25’ or so of vertical visibility in the water column. It got a bit darker as I reached the wreck – visibility was probably about 15-20 feet. Not bad – certainly the best visibility I have seen since mid February. The current was running on the wreck too, but it wasn’t anything unmanageable. There were a couple of first-time Pug wreck divers on the trip and they were exploring the interior, so I stayed out. All in all it was a pretty basic dive, I enjoyed the improved visibility and overall conditions. When I surfaced, Dave headed in for a dive and when he returned, we pulled up the lines and headed over to the YMS-14. We were surprised to find the mooring we left on the wreck still there upon our arrival – quite unusual given the location of the wreck. We wasted no time and picked up on the mooring and deployed the granny line. The current was ripping now – we were approaching high tide and were at the peak flow. No one budged to hit the water. We waited about 40 minutes for it to slow down before the first divers headed in. I was hoping the visibility would be better than our last trip, which was literally a no visibility dive. Indeed I found this to be the case – visibility was about 15 feet here also, with some ambient light. The current was still running, but was pretty mild. Definitely a place where you need to run a line – especially when current is running, as you would be blown right into the shipping lane if you surfaced off the line. Several large container ships passed within about 700 feet of us, so this location is a bit precarious. The weather was beautiful, even though the wind had picked up slightly and was creating some chop. We cruised in and arrived a little later than planned – about 2 pm. Future trips to the Pug wreck/YMS-14 will likely need to be full day trips given the distance and time spent getting there. If the locations Pug and YMS were switched so that the YMS was the wreck closer to home, it would be a lot easier. On Sunday, the weather was just as fantastic so we headed out with a small group to dive the Holmes, a coal schooner in about 160’ off Marblehead. The air temperature was a bit cooler on the water, but it was great. Dave and I got the chance to dive together, which is a treat these days. We found the visibility to be about 15 feet and not totally dark – pretty much what I was expecting. The first divers in reported no current, but by the time we got in, it had started picking up a bit. All in all it was a great weekend of diving. The fresh water got turned back on at the marina, so we spent the rest of the day cleaning the boat – very much needed. Already we’ve got some gelcoat work to do from tanks and lines getting yanked about… such is boat life.

Sunday, April 3, 2005:

No diving due to weather.

Saturday, March 26, 2005:

With the March Madness of dive shows finally winding down, we were getting back into the swing of things working our way back to a regular schedule of diving.  Last weekend we were at Beneath the Sea in NJ, which is always makes for an interesting time - but now that the weather is improving and the days are getting longer, we are getting the itch to focus on diving again.  Our planned destination was the Pug wreck and YMS-14, but the heavy ground swell and NNE wind made the Poling seem like a better choice.  It was a beautiful,  mild day otherwise.  The diving was going to be marginal, that was guaranteed, but the Poling generally edges out slightly better conditions than the other two sites.  The YMS-14 is only about 60 feet deep, so with a 6 foot swell, the surge would be quite bad.  Anyway, everyone agreed on the Poling and we headed up that way.  Sea conditions were better than expected on the Poling, which is what we were hoping for by heading there.  The mooring, however, was gone.  We made ready to set a line - we prepped and dropped in the shot line... and it promptly disappeared.  We had put plenty of scope on the line, but the current was so strong it sucked the buoy and the line at least 10-15' below the surface.  The line also seemed to miss the wreck or at least was pulled away in the current.  We pulled out the shiny new stainless steel grapel that someone kindly gave us and deployed a new line - this time with even more scope and more buoys.  It was also sucked under the surface, but popped up enough for us to keep an eye on it.  Dave and Scott went in to tie in the line - the current was impressive.  After about 15 min Dave and Scott returned to the surface - no good, we weren't on the wreck.  The grapel had dragged.... On the surface they had to hang on to the line for dear lift while I brought the boat around to pick them up - I have not seen current like this on the Poling in a long time.  It was like a river.  Again, this was an impressive current. We got them back on board and pulled in the line - the grapel hooked a lobster pot, which made it a real pain to haul up.  We also broke the lock pin on the pivot point of the ladder driving around with the ladder deployed, so things were going well.  We reset the line and this time I was sure we were on - and hooked in.  The current was letting up a bit since we were approaching high slack.  Dave and Scott headed back in to get the line tied in.  While they were in, we saw the buoy on the first line pop up so we retrieved that line - it was way off the wreck.  Soon enough the lift bag was up and I secured the boat.  My brother was on board today crewing so it was very helpful to have someone on deck while I ran the boat given the amount of line work we did.  Once the boat and lines were set we got the divers in the water.  Dave returned with Scott and I suited up to make a dive - they had reported after the first dive that the visibility was about 3 feet and black.  The current had let up quite a bit but was still running.  It wasn't looking forward to those conditions, but I really needed to dive.  I headed in and found the wreck when my legs hit something on the descent.  The conditions were pretty lousy to say the least - bottom surge, no ambient light to speak of and a decent current, but it felt good to get in and swim around.  We had suspected the old mooring was just submerged, as that has been known to happen before, but it was indeed broken.  I cut away some of the ghost line on the way up, as it was tangled around the chain and hanging out into the water column.  I was last to board the boat and once I was back on, we pulled in the lines and made way for home. 

March is usually a lousy month for diving - stormy, poor visibility, but I must say this winter overall was tough.  We dealt with a lot of storms and so we didn't get the "winter visibility" that makes diving worthwhile despite the cold.  But we did get some great dives in anyway.  I am very much looking forward to spring... next weekend the Metro West Dive Club's WRECKS symposium closes out the dive show tour.  We have some great diving planned for this season.

Sat-Sun, March 12-13, 2005:

No diving due to weather.

Sat-Sun February 26-27, 2005:

The last few weeks the Gauntlet has been dedicated to exploration and survey activities, so charters have been on the back burner.  But this weekend the boat was back in charter mode and we had 3 charters lined up to fill the weekend.  Saturday we headed out to the Pug wreck and the long awaited YMS-14, which we have been trying to get to for about 3 years.  Never did we have enough interest on the other boat and given the limited schedule, there were always other wrecks to dive.  We departed on time for the Pug wreck and found a beautiful day waiting for us.  The cold, clear air was perfect for February, I guess.  A 4-5' ground swell was dissipating so the day was shaping up to be quite nice.  We arrived on the Pug wreck to find the mooring intact - which is surprising given the number of storms we have had over the last few weeks.  We set the lines and made ready to dive.  Dropping the granny lines in the water it was pretty obvious the visibility was not looking too hot - and sure enough we found that to be the case.  Visibility was a nighttime dark 3 feet with a heavy surge.  Nasty stuff.  Next we made way over to the YMS 14.  Dave planned to go in to set the line once we located the wreckage.  The YMS-14 was a wooden minesweeper that sunk in a collision with the destroyer Herndon in Jan of 1945.  Some info about the wreck can be found here: http://wreckhunter.net/DataPages/yms14-dat.htm.  The wreck was clam shelled since it's in such shallow water - the wreckage is literally on the edge of the shipping lane heading out of Boston, so given the shallow depth (60 feet) and traffic, the wreck was pretty much reduced to debris.  We located wreckage and then began the process of setting the line - we were working with a target the size of a postage stamp, so I took time and care to set the line right smack on the wreck to make things easy for Dave.  Unfortunately, Dave and I have done a lot of "we're on it" dives to later discover when we reached the bottom that we were "right on it about 40 feet away".  At 180 feet, that's a bit inconvenient.  Anyway, we took our time and sent Dave in when I felt confident we were on it.  Granted, in 60 feet of water it's no big deal to come up, but it adds time and makes people antsy, plus I don't like to miss.  Dave dropped in and about 15 minutes later a lift bag popped up.  We secured the boat and divers began suiting up.  Soon enough Dave got back on board with the report - we were right on it, but the visibility was about 6 inches.  He went on to say, "There's no visibility and I mean NO visibility... there's a strong surge on the bottom and it pretty much sucks."  A few people decided not to dive given the horrible conditions.  Dave went on to say, "But there's stuff everywhere and we're on a gun mount!"  Immediately, everyone changed their mind and a mad scramble to get into gear ensued.  Everyone dived.  I found the conditions to be just as horrible as Dave described - I didn't know I was on the wreck until I crashed into the gun mount.  Anyway, we identified some areas of debris with more structure about 180 feet away, so we'll be back.  Looks like a decent dive, just not in bad vis.  My right post reg was pretty much toast - high pressure piston gone, probably from freezing, which means the 1st stage won't maintain IP.  This makes the reg breathe badly and potentially freeflow.  Without time to fix it, I swapped it out with another reg at home that night.

On Sunday we headed out for a deep dive on a new wreck we've been playing around on.  The conditions had become quite bad though in the overnight and we were dealing with 4 foot seas and 25 knot NW winds with freezing spray.  Unfortunately, my gear was on the windward side on the way out and was basically and iceball by the time we reached the wreck.  I should have covered it with a trashbag - note to self made there.  I got into my gear and had one free flow after another.  I was losing lots of gas and I was just sitting on the boat.  I had to dip my regs in a saltwater to thaw them out and try to make them stop - sort of.  My brother was helping out today and was giving me the "don't you think this is enough to call it" look as I continued to dip my iced regs into the bucket.  I got them to stop or at least slow down to a hiss, jumped in and they free-flowed again, and I realized I blew the HP piston on my other reg (the first one being the day before).  I decided to get out - I should not have even pushed it this far ... with 2 malfunctioning regs I was asking for it.  I got back on board and hung out with my brother for the morning, which was nice.  The conditions were pretty marginal with dark variable vis and strong current on top of the sea.  We finished up and headed in to load up for the afternoon charter. 

Conditions had continued to deteriorate so the group opted for the Poling instead of the Pug.  We headed up and found similar conditions - a bit better with seas about 2 feet, but strengthening wind and current were making it unpleasant.  The group did one dive, reported ok visibility about 15-20 feet and we split.  It was an arduous weekend of diving for sure.  Springtime can't come soon enough.  Next weekend we're off for Sea Rovers - and then back at it the following weekend.  I have a lot of gear to fix between then and now.

Sunday, Feb. 13, 2005:

Exploration diving.

Saturday, February 5, 2005:

Given the less-than-stellar conditions we encountered last week, I was not optimistic about diving for this upcoming week.  A relatively silent Nor'easter stirred up huge swells, adding insult to injury.  Friday night I toyed with the idea of canceling the dive, as the 8 foot swells with a NNE chop on top of it made things look rather unpleasant.  But a wind direction change and warm temperatures were forecast, so I figured we could get to the Poling - granted, visibility was going to be poor, but that's life in New England.  If we canceled dives because of poor visibility, we wouldn't do much diving around here.  Dave was away for the weekend working the Atlantic City boat show, so I enlisted the help of Capt Lee and my father to assist in running the boat.  Lee wasn't planning on diving, but at least I'd be able to go in and set a mooring if we needed one.  With the 2 of them topside, they could run the boat, deploy lines and help the divers while I went diving.  Sounds good.

A few divers canceled due to other conflicts, so in the end we had 2 brave souls for the trip.  We departed right on time for the Poling - sunny skies and warm air made the weather seem a lot nicer than it was going to be. Heading up to Gloucester we encountered heavy ground swell - long periods but about 7-8' in height.  Sea scum and a pea-green water color made things look nasty.  A stiff Northerly wind was blowing a 2 foot chop on top of the swell, which up on the Poling isn't too bad since Cape Ann shelters the area.  We arrived at the Poling and thankfully the mooring was there.  I was not looking forward to the prospect of having to go in the water to do a mooring in these conditions.  Careful not to snap the mooring while picking it up, we gave ourselves plenty of time to settle out and then deployed the granny lines.  As I guided the line out through my hand I couldn't help notice how lousy the visibility looked.  There are a lot of words that come to mind when thinking about the conditions on Saturday - nasty, lousy, crappy, not too good.... but one word sticks out in my mind: putrid.  That pretty much summed it up.

I had planned to go in with one of the customers onboard for his second dive, so I waited while they suited up and headed in for their dive.  But I had a feeling no one would be making a second dive so I started suiting up to head in alone after the first 2 went in.  But the combination of green faces and green water made me wonder about even bothering to go that far.  As it turned out the first 2 were back in a short time, with one comment: "don't bother."  Visibility was reportedly just about zero.  I had already been convinced to bail, though I was still tempted because my doubles were all wet from the spray during the ride up.  I had to wash them anyway so... but the green party prevailed and we pulled the lines, heading home with a nice following sea.  I decided against charters for Sunday, as there was just no point in going in the water - though I admired the desire try.

Saturday-Sunday, January 29-30, 2005:

A horrendous week of cold temperatures made even thinking about diving sound crazy, let alone actually planning on diving.  But, we are crazy so there was nothing unusual about this weekend.  Generally, after the last charter each weekend we winterize the engine, generator and head so we don't need to worry about damage from freezing.  It's a pain, but it allows us to sleep at night when the air temperature is -5 degrees.  We still keep heat on the boat, but power can sometimes be unreliable so it's always better to be safe rather than sorry.  All week we were slowly icing in at the marina, though with the change of the tide or wind direction, the ice sometimes cleared out.  Friday night, however, we came down to find the alley in the marina frozen in pretty good.  We were hoping the tide would carry out the ice in the morning with the warming temps, but when we arrived on Saturday morning things did not look good.  We had arrived early so we'd have time to deal with getting the boat out and put together without the pleasure of a crowd watching us do it.  For better or worse, we are in a highly visible spot.  Much to our delight, the engine roared when we fired it up and everything was running great - but there still was the small problem of getting out. 

We felt we could work our way to open water, as the ice was still relatively soft, though solid enough to be concerned.  I wouldn't have gone walking on it, but it was solid.  We very slowly nudged the boat through it, breaking plates of ice as we maneuvered the boat to clear water.  It was pretty stressful to put it mildly, but it broke up relatively easily - it was a very unpleasant sound hearing the boat move through ice.  I won't need to hear that sound again anytime soon.

Busting out of the ice at Pickering Wharf.  No one thought we'd get out... but we did.

Once the boat was free and clear we took a ride out to the harbor to see if we'd be able to get through the channel - there were some parts that were frozen and there were floating ice fields here and there.  Most of the channel markers were covered in ice and partially submerged.  Good thing for chartplotters.  Anyway, after venturing out a ways, we felt we could get out for a dive - though slowly and carefully through the harbor - so we proceeded back to the marina, loaded up and departed again for the Holmes.  We didn't want to load up with everyone and then find we couldn't make it, so this worked out well.  We left late - about 10 am, but no one was in a rush (obviously) so we took our time.

There was a mild ground swell out of the NE, and water was a pea-green color, which quite obviously meant there was going to be no visibility.  Dave and Peter headed in first and when they surfaced, William and I headed in for our dive.  The water temperature was about 35-36 at 155' and the visibility was quite poor.  On the surface it was a murky 5-7 feet and near the bottom, it was a night-dive black 10 feet or so.  Not the nicest of conditions, but at least we got out.  Anyway, we had a good dive and it felt good to get in despite the conditions.  We did a quick hull inspection to make sure we didn't do anything bad to the boat breaking through the ice - and sure enough everything was fine, no scratches or anything.  Though when my father stopped by the marina after we left and saw the broken ice trail leading out from our slip, he freaked.  Ooops!

The next day we headed out to the Poling with a full boat.  It was a much nicer day with warmer air temperatures and even calmer seas.  We warned everyone of the likely poor visibility and indeed it was really bad.  I found the visibility to be worse than the day before, which made sense given that this was shallower water we were diving in.  On the wreck there was maybe 3-5' of visibility and it was very, very dark.  It was the kind of dive where you don't realize you're on the wreck until you bump into something.  Anyway, disappointing visibility all around, but we still got good dives in.  The group passed on a second dive so we headed in a bit early and enjoyed a nice lunch at Victoria Station.  Once everyone had departed, we put the Gauntlet away until next time, performing the 50 hr oil change and winterizing.  Since we have now been moved to a more open location at the end of the pier, we won't have to worry about ice again.  Good thing.

Sat.-Sun., January 22-23, 2005:

No diving due to a blizzard!

Rollers coming in along Swampscott Beach (Boston is in the background along the horizon) and the Gauntlet at right, filled with snow.

Saturday and Sunday, January 15-16, 2004:

Saturday's plan was to head up to the Chester Poling, primarily with a group from the NY/CT area.  The weather on Friday prompted more than one phone call wondering about the chances of getting out given the strong winds, rolling seas and heavy rain.  I described the location of the Poling and promised that while it may look bad now, it wasn't going to be bad there.  Despite growing tiresome of many dives on the Poling, there's a reason we have so many there - and if it weren't there we would be getting out a whole lot less in the winter time.  Anyway, the day turned out to be a lot better than even I thought and Saturday morning broke with brightening skies and diminishing NW wind.  It would have been bumpy offshore, but when we arrived on the Poling, it was beautiful.  Lee was crewing today and we had him run the boat up to the wreck and bring us alongside the buoy for the pick-up.  He did great and we quickly secured the boat and got divers ready.  Lee headed in first so Dave and I could dive together later.  After everyone was suited up and off the boat, Dave and I dressed and waited for Lee.  Soon enough it was our turn to head in.

We had a strong incoming tide so the current was ripping for the first 30 feet or so, and then it diminished a bit down on the wreck.  Visibility reports varied widely, but we found the conditions to be not too bad (considering the week of unsettled weather preceding the trip).  It was about 10-15' but with some ambient light - the kind of dive where you can see better without your light.  Dave and I headed into the wreck to do some digging in the crew's quarters.  Dave has been working a drawer and he wanted to bust it open today to see what goodies were within.

We swam in and found the area, set up and began going to it.  For awhile the visibility wasn't too bad - I positioned myself along a bulkhead next to a porthole opening.  We were digging right under a small hole in the ceiling, so with that and the porthole lined up, I had good orientation.  However, once Dave started going at it - and I mean I don't even know what he was doing because I couldn't see him anymore - it got black.  It was so black I couldn't see anything at all.  Suddenly he tossed a bunch of stuff at me - I didn't know what it was, it was a couple of black boxes with wires coming out everywhere.  It was hard to hold because there were like 3 things tangled together.  I couldn't tell if he wanted me to take it or not because I couldn't see him.  Finally I got close enough to bump into him and handed back - he dug it out, he can carry it out, whatever the hell it was.  He started swimming in a direction - I had long lost the porthole and hole in the ceiling and we exited through the galley coming out from the engine hatch entry way.  We looked over what he found - maybe some kind of radio... who knows.  We tossed it.

We headed up and checked out a couple of valves and other do dads that came up.  Most did a second dive, but we were content with one.  The day turned out beautiful, though the wind shifted around to the south and began to pick up.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the dives, even the visibility wasn't stellar.

On Sunday the wind had picked up and seas were running about 2-3 feet offshore, but we felt we could get to the Pug wreck.  We decided to change the destination to something a little more realistic once we saw the weather forecast earlier in the week - turned out to be a good call.  We headed out and made good time getting to the Pug.  There was a large container ship hanging out very close to us - at anchor.  The seas were a bit choppy, but the Gauntlet sits nicely and seems very stable, so everyone was comfortable.  I headed in first to dive since with no other crew Dave and I couldn't dive together today.  I was totally stunned at the visibility - I was expecting similar conditions to last week (night dive, 10-12' visibility) but it was bright with 30-35' of visibility!  Cool.  I dropped into the wreck and swam the whole interior forward and aft and then popped out for a few laps around the wreck.  I swam off the bow a distance, turned around and dropped to the sand - looking back it was great.  I love those distance views in good visibility.  Of course, expecting poor visibility - or at least similar to what was on the Poling the day before, I didn't think it would be worth bringing the camera.  I wished I had it - it always seems to go that way.

Anyway, eventually I ran out of things to do and headed up.  Dave got suited up and headed in for his dive.  Everyone enjoyed the dives and a few guys braved the cold and headed in for a second dive.  We made a few pit-stops on the way in, but the wind had shifted NE and the seas were kicking up good so we had to keep it quick.  We arrived back at the dock as the snow was picking up.  Dave and I spent some time cleaning up the boat - in the short time we've been in we have definitely put it to work.  All in all a great weekend of diving - and I especially love those days when weather is chasing us, makes the day all the more fun when we beat it out.

Saturday and Sunday, January 8-9, 2005:

The impending snowstorm was not about to get in the way of some good diving this past weekend.  Though we were looking at the typical New England wintery mix, the winds were going to be light and temps hovering around freezing.  We had to run an errand in the morning to pick up more He and O2, so we needed to leave a bit later at 11 am.  We picked up our stuff and made it back in plenty of time to load up the boat with three hearty divers and head out for the Pug wreck.  We needed to install a new mooring since we broke the other one last weekend.  Dave planned to go in and set the line while I ran the boat.  I was also hoping to shoot some video today, as it's been a while since we've taken the camera on a dive and the old video of the Pug wreck we have really sucks.  There were 4 large container ships anchored up in the vicinity of the Pug wreck - hanging out to ride out the storm.  We set the line on the Pug twice before sending Dave in to make sure we didn't miss the wreck - we had some current and didn't want to waste a dive by putting Dave in the mud.  Once we were sure, Dave headed in and less than 15 minutes later the line was in and the pool was open.  It was snowing pretty good by now, but it was kind of nice out there.  We got the other guys in and then I hit the water for a dive.  Dave said the visibility was "ok" - maybe about 12-15' but very, very dark.  That didn't bode well for video.  Sure enough, I jumped in and realized quickly the video was not going to be stellar - I was getting a lot of back scatter and I wasn't even on the wreck yet.  When I was about 3 ft above the wreck, I saw it.  I wasn't planning to set my strobe since it is annoying in video, but decided to since I was all alone down there and the visibility was less than what I expected.  I took a swim around - and was delayed a few times getting the camera settings right, as looking through the view finder I noticed it was in manual focus, etc, etc.  These things have a wicked learning curve and if you don't dive with it often, it's like starting over each time you do.  I cut the dive a bit short since the video was adding up to be a lot of wasted tape.  Back on the boat everyone was making snowmen and throwing snow around.  The wind was shifting and everyone was cold, so we called it a day and headed in.  Why push it?  We had done alright just getting there in a snow storm.

On Sunday we had hoped to make it out to the BRLV off Marblehead, but it was cold and windy out of the N-NW.  The boat was iced up pretty good.  We chipped and shoveled it off, but the blustery wind and 6 foot seas said the BRL was out.  We had been out last Saturday in conditions better than what was reported and we got beat on pretty good going out in the vicinity of the Holmes/BRL/Pug.  So we decided not to chance it with the temps and seas and head up to the Poling, which is the most protected in a NNW wind.  It turned out to be a good call, as the seas were a bit lumpy even there - and we had my father and Slav on the boat.  Bad seasick combo those two are.  Anyway, we got in a decent dive on the Poling - visibility was better here for sure compared to the Pug wreck (those were the conditions I am more accustomed to seeing there).  Anyway, it was about 15 feet and murky, but not bad given everything else.  A few brass valves came up and a good dive was had by all.  Not bad for January.

Friday, December 31, 2004-Sunday January 2, 2005

Upon our return home from our cave diving trip earlier in the week, we were looking forward to a weekend of charters beginning with the last of the year, a trip to the lightship and ending with a weekend wrap up on the Poling.  After a few days of cave diving, we had to quickly put the wreck diving version of our gear back together - lift bags, hammers and chisels, etc needed to find their way back on our gear.  The weather, as usual, wasn't looking too promising, however, as strong ESE winds threatened to ruin our Friday plans, but nevertheless we loaded up the Gauntlet and prepared to head out - it was not looking good and we knew it.  The weather buoy was reporting 3-4' seas and 20 knot SE winds.  But sometimes the weather buoy can be deceiving, as we'd discover on Sunday, so we decided to poke our noses out and see what it was doing, with the caveat that we may be heading back in.  There's nothing lost by looking and if we don't dive, the customers don't pay.  Off we went.  No sooner than we reached the mouth of Marblehead harbor and the SE side of Children's Island did we start getting clobbered.  We were taking big waves right over the bow and there wasn't much to be seen out the windows except for sheets of water.  We were getting hammered pretty good, and we still had over 4 miles to go further into it.  There was no way we'd put divers in the water for a deep dive in this and the conditions were awfully marginal for anything.  I turned the boat around so we had a following sea and gave my recommendation - others agreed and we headed back for a great breakfast up the street.

New Year's day upon us we decided to give it another go with a trip to the Pug wreck followed by a first-trip to the YMS-14, a clam-shelled minesweeper in shallow water off Boston.  The wind direction had changed and it was blowing from the west, however, it was still cranking.  We headed out and took a pounding from a solid nasty 2-3 chop right on our starboard bow the whole way out to the Pug wreck.  It was a bumpy ride, but we got to the Pug wreck and discovered the mooring was still there, which pleased everyone.  We picked up the mooring, which didn't have much slack on it since we cut it a bit short the last time we installed it, and promptly snapped the mooring, tearing it right out of the wreck in about 2 minutes flat.  Better it happened then rather than after divers were in, but it was not the desired outcome nonetheless.  We retrieved the line, recovering everything but the chain and decided what to do next.  It was too rough to set a mooring so we decided to head inshore to the Romance, which last we knew had the mooring we installed back in November still on it.  We got over to the Romance and the seas were a bit calmer, but it was still a solid 2 feet.  We hunted around a bit and located the mooring - and gingerly picked it up.  We got the boat settled in and made sure we were secure before opening up the pool.  Dave and Scott jumped in first - I fed a line down for Dave to set a second mooring on the wreck.  The other divers suited up and in the water while I stayed topside until Dave got back.  Everyone reported low visibility 5-10 ft, which didn't surprise me in those conditions.  After a surface interval, Scott and I headed back in.  We really had no idea where we were going since the visibility was so low, but it appeared we were heading forward as we were into an area of hull plates near the boilers.  After about 20-23 min we had our fill and I cut the old mooring free so we could settle out on the newer, stronger one Dave tied in. 

Dave found a very nice brass sink faucet on the Romance, which had "H" and "C" for hot and cold marked on each handle.  The sea conditions were improving gradually, but once again the forecast wasn't looking too promising for Sunday.  The weather was forecast to turn to the Northeast, with seas 3-5'.  We hope it would stay away long to enough to get in a dive on the Poling.  We loaded up Sunday morning and my last check of the weather buoy didn't leave me feeling too optimistic - seas were running 5 feet with 20 knot winds out of the NNE.  Not good.  We loaded up anyway with the "let's go see" philosophy in effect.  We had a feeling it might be ok since the wind had been blowing out the NW for most of the night and the Poling is relatively sheltered to the Northerly wind.  As long as it didn't crank out of the NE, we'd be ok.  Sure enough, it was a little choppy but not a bad ride at all.  We made good time getting on site and the stern mooring was still intact.  We had a mix of rebreather and open-circuit divers today so we got the OC divers in first followed by the rebreather group.  I headed in first with a customer and we had a nice tour of the wreck, despite the low visibility - a murky 10-15'.  I returned from my dive and Dave headed in for a dive as well.  It was a little chilly out there, but not bad.  The water temperature was about 41 degrees - it's hanging on!  It was a lot colder this time last year, of course the visibility was better too, but it will come around.  All in all not a bad finish to 2004 and definitely a good start to 2005. 

- dive report by Heather Knowles