To celebrate Columbus Day, and inspite of the EXTREME weather predictions, 6 divers from Divers II braved the mighty Atlantic on board the Double Diamond out of Shark River yesterday morning. We left the dock at 8am sharp and by 9:30am, first mate Jesus had us tied into the Stolt right at 76'.
The mighty Atlantic was throwing around her 1 foot ripple in an attempt to put the fear of Zeus into the hearts of those that dared to enter. I was the first diver in the water after the tie-in and my buddy Bob quickly exited through the transom door right behind me. He was in a rush to get to the bottom so he passed me on the surface and quickly made his way down the grapple line.
Seconds later, I released the air from my BCD and headed down the line.
I was immediately engulfed by the EXTREME condtions. I COULD SEE!!!! Hell, I could see my buddy who was already about 30' feet down the line. Off ahead of him, I saw another set of bubbles!!! Jesus??? Shit yeah....I saw Jesus' bubbles at the tie-in from just about the surface. He was just haggin' there with his spear gun looking for a Black Fish....probably more in a daze from the EXTREME conditions like a deer stunned from on coming headlights .
When I hit the wreck, I motioned to my buddy....(in perfect hand gesture of course)...."HOLLY SHIT....I can see the whole Freakin' wreck...we don't need no stinkin' wreck reel!!!"....well, at least that's what I meant to say. What I did do was make the motion of winding a wreck reel and then shook my head back and forth.
We had happened upon PERFECT October North East diving conditions ~18miles offshore at the wreck site of the Stolt Dagali. Without exaggeration, looking up from the tie-in, I was able to see the hull of the Double Diamond....btw, she could acutally use a little cleaning.
Horizontal viz was nothing short of 50'...probably more like 60'....all the way from the top of the wreck at 65' down to the sand.
Heck...on the first dive, my knife fell from it's sheath. I didn't realize it till I went looking for it to pry off a floor tile. On the second dive, one of the other diver's found it lying in a bed of mussels at around 95'....he 'saw' it!!
Now, I've only been diving for 4 years. And this was only my 4th dive on the Stolt....but....it was the first time I was actually able to see what the wreck looked like.
I wish we could have these EXTREME condtions every weekend.
We did an October dive on the Algol from the Venture III, I was standing on the deck of the Algol and could see Capt. Paul looking over the rail of the Venture III
I fogot to mention in my first post that we had a surprise guest with us on board. Captain Bob Nash of the famed NJ Dive boat 'Outlaw' was onboard to help Capt. Dean at the helm. I had dived from the 'Outlaw' only three times before she was retired. This dive was like old times. We exchanged many a freindly 'barb' during our ride and surface interval.
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