After Saturday’s botched weather report (calling for 2-3’ and got 6’+) we weren’t too optimistic about making the 53 mile run to the SOMMERSTAD (aka the “Virginia”) on Sunday. The SOMMERSTAD (170 fsw) was torpedoed by the U-117 in WWI. Capt Dan decided to push back the departure time a few hours to let the wind die out and die out it did. It was still a tad bumpy on the ride out as we were taking the seas coming out of the N-NE on the beam but once we got on site and tied in we sat nice and the day only continued to improve and was very flat by the time we pulled hook making for a smooth ride home.
A whale was spotted on the surface as we were tying in where we ended up right by the boilers and visibility was very good with about 50 feet of dark visibility and temps in the mid to high 40s. Monster cod were lounging in nearly every hole in the wreck big enough to provide adequate accommodation and this is one of the few dives I wish I had a spear gun. I had never seen cod this big let alone in the numbers in which they were present, it was pretty cool. No one on the boat had been on this wreck before so wasn’t sure what to expect and after following the prop shaft was surprised to find the stern section mostly intact and looming a good 30 feet up above the seabed. Lobsters were in pretty much every nook and cranny as well as crawling openly on the bottom and many were spotted (some dead, some alive) tangled in the mess of discarded anchor lines and monofilament that covers most of the wreck. The wreck clearly gets fished hard and if anyone needs to go anchor “shopping” the SOMMERSTAD has a pretty good inventory of stock on hand.
Surface visibility was pretty poor so deco was a little boring but I was able to entertain myself playing with the seahorses that would drift by clinging to pieces of grass every now and again. Was a great dive and turned out to be an awesome day!
Sean "rescuing" a lobster tangled in lines on the SOMMERSTAD
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