The Gypsy Blood dive boat left the inlet under small craft warnings and cloudy skies - the group aboard came all the way from Ocean City maryland and Capt Jim was determined to show them a good time. As usual the further we went, the calmer it got, and when we rolled up at the Stolt, there was just a slight swell. i quickly jumped in having been helped by some of the best crew mates there are. The only one missing was Harryanna, who had gotten seasick the day before so bad, he may have had to be hospitalized to push his GI tract back into its proper position....lololololol - the surface vis had clean up a bit, the middle layer down to 110 or so was clear and the bottom was about 6 foot, better than it was the week before. As i returned to the boat, it became obvious another large dive boat was on course to tie into the Stolt. As that Boat was manuvering to get over the wreck, A THIRD BOAT approached and hailed Capt Jim.. The smaller vessel, which was looking sharp, waited patiently for the possiblity of a quick tie in to occur. They would be denied as there was no room left to pull up to. With a toot of her horn the third boat quickly excused herself and headed off. Soon the water around the Stolt began to bubble like a hot tub in a pay by the hour room i once saw......lollololol.. The Gypsy Blood had 13 divers and the other vessel had in excess of 20+!!! - Never before in my 13 plus years diving these waters have i ever seen so many divers in one place at one time...(Dutch does not count as real diving so please dont bring it up) There were divers on the bottom, on the sides, lolol on the top, coming out of holes , going into holes, even looking into holes, there were doubles, singles, i even saw a couple of rebreathers going by. It was crazy!!!!! Even the Begalls were confused and kept jumping in to the mussel bags of a couple of divers. There was so much activity going on at depth that the vis over the entire wreck began to deteriorate and cloud up - lololol- i was like is this really happenng????? Due to the amount of traffic i kept my dives short and to the point - mussels were the target and they were there as usual - i nabbed a bag and quickly head back aboard - After two very nice dives with a nice break in between, i hopped in and pulled the hook. As i hung to the shot line and we pulled out, i could see a diver with doubles and a pole spear working the edge of the break in the hull. Nice - the trip home was perfect - the sun was out, and the seas were flat!!! very nice considering the forecast
i remain
the bartman -
mosb