Stuart Cove Shark Dive

I thought this was going to be a phony setup to take advantage of tourists.  A couple of diving friends told me I should check it out, even if it was a tourist trap because it's still a cool dive.

Taking their advice, I signed up for the Stuart Cove Shark Dive when I was in the Bahamas last year, and found it totally worth the trip.  This isn't my video, it's posted on YouTube by Stuart Cover Divers, but the quality is good and the footage is really clear.

I thought the dive would be a bit touristy, because if they do it several times a week, the shark's are pretty well trained.  You know what:  So What?  How often do you get to dive with these huge creatures?   And trained is a heck of a lot different then tamed.  Let me share the advice that more experienced divers gave me:

If you have the opportunity, then go.

And keep your hands and fingers real close to your body.

Diving for the amazing Scallop in NJ

This story is about one of my most memorable dives.

I grew up in the 1960’s, and fell in love with the sea watching a television show called “Flipper.”   Since I was 5 years old, I wanted to be like the kids in that show, strapping a tank to their back and jumping into the ocean.

As I grew up, the family used to spend the weekends at the Jersey shore, where I learned to snorkel.  Well, I shouldn't say I learned.  I just put the mask and snorkel and fins on and went into the ocean.  Me and Miss Atlantic were inseparable during the summer.  My mother thought I must have had gills.  

One thing that many New Jersey divers have in common is our love of fresh seafood. Regardless if you’re a fan of shipwrecks, an underwater photographer, videographer, archaeologist or if you just like looking at the fish, sooner or later you’re going to find yourself on a dive boat populated with divers with game bags.

The dive boat "Outlaw"

The date was August 18. 2003.  The boat I was on, the Outlaw, was a well know dive boat based out of Belmar, NJ.  I had befriended a group of divers that liked to take off from work on Mondays to get a little nitrogen fix in their bloodstreams.  For the nitrox divers in the group, the note for this Monday’s trip was “bring gas good to 130 feet.”

Captain Bob Nash met us all at the dock and made his typical snide remarks as we loaded our tanks, 3 per diver, onto his 60 ft twin diesel wooden boat.  The chatter that day, aside from the typical insults and jokes, was that we were going for scallops.

The Famous "Divers Scallop," Placopecten magellanicus 

Scallops are a strange creature.  Unlike most mollusks, scallops swim.  If you have ever seen one in the water, it’s really amazing to watch.  Scallops have rows of “eyes” around the opening of their shells.  When they see something that resembles a threat, they scoot away like little jet propelled soap dishes.  Unfortunately for the little guys, they don’t have very good eyes. They can see light and motion, but not shapes.  An alert diver can quickly learn to collect them before they take off.

Scallop eyes

It was a 90 minute ride to our destination.  Captain Bob wouldn’t reveal where we were, just that we were likely to find scallops.   When we reached the spot, he gave us a quick briefing.  "Depth 120 feet.  Some structure on the bottom but nothing that looks like a shipwreck.  Watch your bottom time, watch your ascent rate, be careful and have a good time.  Now get the hell off my boat."

Because the water was so calm, the decision was made to drop two groups of divers each into two different locations about 1000 feet apart.  As he dropped the first group of four divers into the ocean, he said “Swim west.”

I was in the second group.  The plan was that after Captain Bob dropped off the second group, he would go back to the first group to pick them up, then return for us.  It’s what’s called a “Buoy Dive” in New Jersey.  

As Captain Bob slowly moved the boat into position, he nodded from the wheelhouse to the mate, who dropped a home made buoy into the water.  Captain Bob’s buoy’s were old plastic bleach containers, wrapped with the appropriate length of wreck reel line for the depth, with an old window sash weight at the end of the line.  

With the buoy deployed, we three divers lined up to hop overboard.  The Captain called down to us from the wheelhouse.  “When you get to the bottom, swim east.”  We waved our acknowledgement to him and he maneuvered the Outlaw into position.   One – two – three.  We all rolled over the side of the boat into the water.

I was the first to go.  As soon as I spotted the buoy line, I dumped the air from my BC, pointed downwards and kicked my way to the bottom as quick as I could clear my ears. 

As I reached the bottom, my computer indicated 118 feet and I saw a scallop right next to the sash weight.  I plucked him up - his shell was at least 5 inches across, and opened my game bag and dropped him in.  Looking in front of me, I saw another scallop about 3 feet away.  I swam up to him and he sputtered away, but I quickly grabbed him.  Then I saw another scallop about 3 feet away.

I continued following what seemed like an endless line of scallops for about ten minutes, leaving the smaller guys on the bottom while quickly filling my game bag.  As this was before I bought my steel tanks, I was using an Aluminum 80, and it was soon time to go.

I tried finning off the bottom to start my ascent, but my game bag weighed quite a bit with all those scallops and their shells in it.  I secured the game bag closed and attached my lift bag to it.  Since this was going to be a free ascent, I decided to send the lift bag up on the end of my wreck reel, which I would then use to ascend, winding in the line as I went.  

I fed the lift bag a bit of air until it started to rise, then watched it go up out of sight.  When my wreck reel stopped unraveling, I knew it had reached the surface and started to fin my way off the bottom.  This time I rose with no problem.

I ascended slowly, watching my bubbles and breathing steadily.  I stopped off at 60 feet for a minute, then continued up to 20 feet, continuously winding in my line.  At 35 feet, I could see my lift bag on the surface.  At 20 feet, I let a little more air out of my BC to stop my ascent, and hung in the water, watching my depth, my air pressure gauge and my bag of scallops floating above me.

When I finally broke the surface, I could see I was the first diver up from my group.  The Outlaw was still picking up the other divers, so I just enjoyed floating on the calm ocean, lightly bobbing up and down thinking about how lucky I was to be able to take such a beautiful day off from work.  I watched the boat and got a wave from the Captain; I touched my head with the "okay" sign.

After a few more minutes, two other heads popped up, the closest about 150 feet away.  We waved to each other and waited patiently.

When the boat came to pick me up, Captain Bob leaned over the side of the boat and grabbed the top of my lift bag.  He tried to pick it up, but it was too heavy and he didn’t have enough leverage to lift it.  He quickly retrieved a hook, and carefully slid it around the rope and twisted it.  As the mate leaned in to help, the two of them lifted my bag of scallops onto the boat and their eyes opened wide.  My game bag was 4 feet long, 3 feet wide, and was bulging with scallops.

Seeing the scallops in the boat, he told me to let go of my wreck reel so he could pull it in.  I un-clipped it from my BC, tightened it so it wouldn't unwind, and released it.
Climbing into the boat, I asked the other divers “How’d everyone do?”  There were about 35 scallops among the other four divers in the boat.

As the last diver from my group climbed aboard, he needed no help bringing his scallops on.  He had 10.

“We went East like you told us to,” they all complained.  “Where did Dave get so many scallops from?”

“I never looked at my compass,” I laughed.  “I just followed the trail and threw them into my bag.”

Just as an aside to my story, I wouldn't want anyone to think I’m bragging about my underwater hunting abilities, because I’m usually the diver who comes back empty handed.  I have been on the boat many times when every diver had 4 or 5 lobsters and I had to stop at the fish market on the ride home so as not to disappoint my wife.  This was just my lucky day.

Shucking scallops on the Outlaw - Aug 2003

We sat around the back of the boat shucking the scallops, enjoying a little scallop Sushi, and joking about how the Captain didn’t know East from West.  The abductor muscle, the part you eat, on the scallops that we harvested were on average about 2 inches across and an inch thick.  Some were even larger.  There were a few that were close to 4 inches across.  You truly could make a filling meal on just 3 or 4 of them.  So I shared my luck with the other divers on the boat and everyone went home with dinner for two that night.  

Scallops anyone?

Except for me,  I kept the extras – bringing home about 4 pounds of scallop meat.

Fresh scallops have the most incredible taste you can imagine.  I love all kinds of fresh seafood, but I think the scallop is the best of them all.

A quick credit - scallop images were taken from Wikipedia and are shared here as per their Creative Commons license.  The photo of the Outlaw and shucking scallops were taken by dive buddies.  When they see this post and complain I haven't credited them properly, I will update this post.

I swear I didn't Pee in my drysuit

Sometimes your drysuit might not have a leak.  From the DUI website "Dog Tricks" blog:

I swear I didn't pee in my drysuit!

Diving for Food - hunting lobsters and flatfish in New Jersey

This report is on our local dive trip from June 2014.  

The North East Sailor (c) Aaron Hirsh

The "Venture 3" is a dive boat run by Paul & Ruth Hepler out of Belmar NJ. In addition to commercial work and dive shop trips, Paul runs private dive charters, and a constantly changing group of about 20 of us have been mid-week diving on the Venture 3 for over 20 years. New divers are always welcome to join us, so if Belmar, NJ is do-able for you, leave a note and I'll get back to you.

Yesterday was one of those "perfect days" that only seem to crop up once out of every 4 or 5 diving days here in NJ. We got 3 dives in, all relatively shallow (80 ft). It was a good day for hunting for all aboard. We visited the North East Sailor, plus two of Paul's "secret spots."

To start the day, we were pleased to find out that NOAA was wrong again. Instead of 10-15 KT winds and 3 foot seas, we found a gentle breeze and a 1 foot swell. that pretty much stayed that way the entire day.

The NE Sailor was easily the best viz I've seen on a NJ dive this year. About 20 feet of clean, calm water. Bottom temp was 50 on all 3 dives. The NE Sailor is the remains of an old wooden ship in 75 feet of water about 7 or 8 miles out of Belmar NJ. She's always great for digging because it's a sandy bottom that doesn't kick up too much silt. Here's a little write up on the wreck from Rich Galiano's website: North East Sailor.

This was my first visit here since Hurricane Sandy, and it looks to me like the bottom's been rearranged, with a large portion of decking and debris pushed off to the side, and a chain pile that's been flattened down a bit. 

Know the expression "Shooting fish in a barrel?" That pretty much sums it up. There wasn't a Sea Bass in every hole. There weren't 2 Sea Bass in every hole. More like 3,4 and even 5. Quite a few of the Sea Bass brought up were engorged with sand eels. So I doubt if a fisherman with rod and reel would have done as well because these fish could not have been very hungry. 

Black Sea Bass (Centropristis Striata)

Our second stop was a natural rock pile in 80 feet of water.  The place looked more like a Lobster breeding ground than a reef. From my personal examination, I'd say 3 of every 4 lobsters were eggers. That means I had to pull 12 bugs out of their holes to find 3 keepers. But I gently put the mommies back, knowing that in 4 or 5 years, I'd be back to visit their kids. I also found a nice size Fluke in the sand who I gathered up to bring home to meet the family. I named him "Dinner for 5." 

Last stop was another natural rock pile. We've pretty much stopped asking Captain Paul where we are, because the names we get become more and more meaningless. I think this was the "East of the west on-shore rocks," or maybe the "West of the east off-shore." One thing it definitely isn't anymore is home to half a dozen lobster, several large fluke and a few more sea bass.

Show off author with his fluke

The best way to end any dive in NJ is to return to the boat and find the ladder just hanging off the boat like a ladder leaning against your house. As opposed to bouncing up and down, that is. On the short ride back into Belmar, we saw several pods of dolphins. You never get tired of that.

Swimming with the Dolphins

I can't take any credit for this video, but when I found it on YouTube, I just had to share it.  

Just to set up the action, a group of divers and snorkelers are doing a nighttime "Manta Ray Feeding Dive" (which sounds pretty cool by itself) in Hawaii.  A dolphin shows up and begins to "hang around" the divers. One diver notices the dolphin appears to be moving irregularly, and finds fishing line tangled around a fin.

The video shows the interaction between the divers and the dolphin.  It's one of those videos I reserve the word "amazing" for.   The dolphin - diver interaction begins around 4:00 into the video, but the footage of the manta rays at the beginning is pretty spectacular on its own.

Notice that when the diver tries to cut the dolphin loose, he uses a pair of underwater shears.  I always carry a pair of EMT shears for cutting fishing line that I get tangled in; I never imagined something like what this video shows could happen.

Diving on the Mohawk - NJ coastline

NOAA forecasted Friday June 20th to be a calm ocean day with 15-20 Knot winds.  Hold it a second -  calm AND 20 knot winds?  Am I missing something?

Well, actually not, NOAA was missing something.  Seas were rough and choppy with a howling wind that keep the surface stirred up.  And a very strong surface current made it a good day for burning off those extra calories I've been stuffing into my mouth.

We were on the Gypsy Blood, one of my favorite NJ dive boats.  Gypsy Blood is a 50 foot dive boat with twin 450 HP engines that make any destination a quick ride.  Today, Captain Jim was taking us to the remains of the steamship Mohawk, which lies in 80 feet of water about 8 miles east of Manasquan, NJ.

If you dive out of New Jersey, chances are you've been on at least one trip to the Mohawk.  It's an immensely popular dive site because of all the fish life and artifacts that can be found there.  Also, with its relatively shallow depth, a diver can get in a nice long dive without having to go into deco.  Rich Galiano has a very well detailed write up on the Mohawk, complete with pictures on his website at www.njscuba.net.

For me, no trip to the Mohawk is complete without a run into the sand to look for fluke.  I use a wreck reel to make sure I end up at my starting point, and for this wreck, a reel is very important because it's been wire dragged and doesn't resemble a ship - it's just a huge, huge debris field, rising up 10 -12 feet from the ocean bottom in some spots.

Anchor found on the Mohawk

On today's trip to the sand, I found a small debris field about 150 feet off the main wreckage.  I"m not going to share too many details, because every diver likes to have their own "secret spots," but there was enough debris for a tribe of lobsters to dig themselves a few caves, and there I found them waiting for me. Separating the mom's from the dad's, (you don't want to take a lobster with eggs on it) I was able to get 3 bugs to make a nice dinner for the family that night.    I never found any fluke, but I did find a collapsible anchor twisted up in some abandoned fishing nets.

Like most divers, I have my own collection of worthless crap found on the ocean floor, and I'll be adding this artifact to it.

It was a great day for diving with the ocean warming up, good visibility and an experienced Captain who really knows the right way to run a dive operation.  In case anyone's keeping score, my computer said 52 degrees on the bottom, and vis was about 15 feet.

How to become a Certified Diver

I can't tell you how many times people have asked me how to get their scuba diving license.

If you're interested in trying scuba diving, let me share a few quick pointers.

1.  There is no such thing as a "scuba diving license."  We should all count our blessings that the U.S. government hasn't found a way to control how we breathe.  Although I'm sure someone in Washington would be happy to build a $300 million dollar website to administer recreational diving.

2.  Scuba "certification" is really an industry standard, not a legal license.  The way it's supposed to work, is that a dive shop will not fill your tanks with air, and a boat will not allow you to dive off of it, unless you can provide proof of your training.  That proof is your certification card.  You take the class, you get the "C" card, and you can get air in your tanks and go on dive boats.

3.  "My friend said they'd let me borrow a tank so I can dive without a 'C' card."  My recommendation is to avoid that "friend," because his or her actions are likely to get you injured.  Look, scuba diving isn't difficult to learn, there are only half a dozen really strict rules.  But unlike most above-water rules, if you break the rules of scuba diving, you better have a really good plan or you're dead.

I found this really helpful short video about how to get certified.  I hope you enjoy it:

Diving the Stolt

Here's a video I shot diving on one of my favorite local divesites, the Stolt Dagali, about 19 miles off the Central NJ coast.  The really nice thing about the "Stolt," as we refer to it around here, is that it's a great location for divers of all interests and all skills.

The bottom of the shipwreck is at 130 ft, so if your experience makes you comfortable at depth, there is a huge debris field.  If you enjoy hunting for lobsters or collecting scallops, both are often found at this site.  A few bugs have come home with me following a visit.

If you are a new diver, or just don't want to go that deep, the top of the shipwreck is at 60 feet.  I have been there four times in the past ten years, and the visibility has been excellent every trip.  It takes more than a little nasty weather to mess up the water column at 60 feet when the bottom is so far down.

I dive with nitrox, and was supposed to be doing an 80 ft dive trip that got cancelled.  Luckily, the Gypsy Blood had a trip going out tot he Stolt, and Captain Jim had a little extra space.  Even with EAN 32 in my tanks, I was guaranteed a great dive on the Stolt, without pushing the safety limits of my Nitrox mixture.

It was a good decision, because viz was great (as usual) and I was able to get these fantastic clear pictures.   Video was shot with a GoPro Hero3 and edited in Premiere Pro CS5.5.

Enjoy the video, and let me know what you think.

For more information about the Stolt, visit NJScuba.net.