2007 Boat Diving Recap

Unlike last year, this year we had some great weather for our boat dives. Those who participated had wonderful experiences.

On June 24th six of us went with Heather Knowles and Dave Caldwell to the Chester Poling and Halfway Rock. This was the best visibility I had ever seen on the Poling. I could actually see some anenomes! Our next stop was Halfway Rock. Again, we had great visibility especially below the thermocline. Wonderfully colored sea stars, anemones and a malevolent looking sea raven. The current was a little strong so when we missed the anchor line on the way back, it resulted in a longer surface swim than we intended. After the dive, all of us including Heather and Dave enjoyed dinner together. Diving and dining together with friends from the club makes for a great time.

On the evening of July 3rd, six of us joined Jim Sullivan (a club member) with Boston Harbor Diving and ventured into Boston Harbor. All of us were a little nervous with visions of drunken boaters running us down. In contrast, there were few pleasure craft on the water. Jim took us to the Kiowa, a wreck off of Hull. We arrived the site around 7:45 PM and took our time gearing up. We got in the water and down the line at 8:15 just as it was getting dark. This was my first time on the wreck and it was fascinating. Since the visibility was not great, we stayed together as a group and Rick Rosa used a wreck reel to help us stay together. Even with the poor visibility, we were able to see the ribs of the ship, the smokestacks as well as plenty of marine life including sponges, soft coral, lobsters, cod and tautog. All in all, it was a great dive. But the fun had only started. Emerging from the water, we were greeted with a wonderful display of stars. As we started our trip back, Hull (we think it was Hull) lit a gigantic bonfire and soon, we could see firework displays up and down the coast.

One of the clubs most interactive seal dives might have occurred on August 25th with Northeast Charter Boats and Bill Lussier. Don Whitehead, who spoke with our club in August wrote me after the dive to relate his experience. Don writes:

“I hope your dive at Nubble Light was a spectacular one because you missed a spectacularly exciting seal dive yesterday.

I was in the water for about two minutes when I felt what I thought was my dive partner tugging at my flipper because he was right behind me.

I turned around and got the crap scared out of me for an instant as this seal was nibbling my fin and looking at me as if to say, "Wanna play?"

There were about six seals and they were all over us. Five divers in the water and every one of us was getting seals up close and in our faces, nipping at our flippers and just checking us out right in our laps, they weren't the least bit afraid and my strobes going off in their faces did not phase them in the least either.

Here's a little tip I learned from yesterday's experience: don't wear Force
fins, wear full pocket fins. My Force fins leave the front of my feet open and this one seal went from nibbling my fins to nibbling my feet. I was trying to kick him away but he must have thought I was playing and he was clearly enjoying it, I was not. He would not leave me alone.

Then he started heading for my crotch. I was trying to fend him off with my camera rig and shoot pictures at the same time,it was getting confusing and a
little scary. One of the divers got bitten on the leg. It gave him a small puncture wound, just a scratch really, but it did break his skin.

Every diver was getting nipped at and toyed with. There's more to the story but I'll tell you later.

The "Sushi Seeker" is a very comfortable boat, it was roomy enough for us five divers without stepping on each other or bumping into each other. The only thing it lacked that would have made it nicer was a fresh water supply for rinsing the
salt off ourselves. There are no fresh water hoses at the dock either.

Capt. Bill is a great guide and skipper and his mate Matt was very helpful getting us into the boat and helping with the gear. Capt. Bill told us that our encounters with the seals was "over the top" in his entire twelve years chartering, he'd never seen anything like it.

These were my third and fourth dives at the Isles of Shoals and I'm loving it. The visibility was good and the scenery beautiful. I could have shot all my film just on the location even without the seals.

Made our second dive at Appledore and it was a very pleasant, relaxing dive. No seals there but some pretty scenery.

I should get my film back from the lab tomorrow night. If he pics come out good, I'll send some along to the club when I've had the time to scan them.

Thank you so much for keeping my in mind for your cancellation. Yesterday's seal dive was one of the most exciting underwater experiences I've ever had and that memory will live with me forever.”

Most times when diving with other club members, you know who you are diving with. This increases the sense of camaraderie and makes the entire experience more pleasant. I will begin booking dives early next year. The more people I have commit to the dives (this means giving me a check) the more dives I will book!

I hope to see you on the boat dives in 2008.