MB104
Contributor
7 divers made the Monday "troll" on the Outlaw for a scheduled 3-tank trip. Seas were 2-3 feet, but calmed down as the day went along. It turned out to be a beautiful day to dive. We left the Belmar marina after watching smoke coming from behind some nearby townhomes. We thought it was a house fire, but it turned out that six boats burned!
First dive was on the Hankins Wreck . Depth was 77-78' and bottom temps were in the mid 40's depending on who's computer you checked. There was a thermocline at 40'. There were TONS of keepers in the way of black seabass. Viz. was at least 30'!
2nd spot was the 'Coffee Wreck , also known as "Southwest Mohawk". Depth and viz. were about the same as the first dive.
Lots of seabass and good viz. I think one bug came up, but they were scarce on this one. A spiny dogfish shark was nuzzling into the lap of Jesus (pronounced "Hey-Zeus", not "Jeez-us"). After petting it for a few minutes, he grabbed hold of its tail and escorted it into Scott's catch bag so it could accompany us to the boat. These must be gutted immediately, and this was interesting to watch, to say the least.
Enroute to the third site, the Capt. announced the presence of a "MolaMola" or "Ocean Sunny" (here is the photo I took....http://www.njdive.com/sunny.jpg ). I never saw one, so this was a special treat.
The Capt. stopped the boat and we drifted as the molamola approached us. He didn't dive under, as we expected. He swam around on the surface and waved his fin at us. He came right up to the boat, as if he was posing for all the pictures we were taking of it. It was amazing! The price of the trip was made here, and diving was secondary at this moment.
The third dive was on a rockpile at about 70'. We tied in at the perfect spot!
I didn't have to go more than 20' from the line in order to spear as many black seabass as my bag could hold. I came up with about twelve keepers! Dave caught six lobsters, including a 6 or 7 pounder (here is the photo... http://www.njdive.com/Dave_Lobsters.jpg ). The viz on the bottom was in the 30' range. Our ascent was greeted with a thick layer of "mung" hanging between 5-20 feet. At only 8 feet depth, I couldn't even see the sillouette of the boat. I saw light off to the side, and let the current take me "towards the light" so I wouldn't get slammed by the boat, which was now being tossed around by 3-5' seas.
All in all, it was a great day of diving!
First dive was on the Hankins Wreck . Depth was 77-78' and bottom temps were in the mid 40's depending on who's computer you checked. There was a thermocline at 40'. There were TONS of keepers in the way of black seabass. Viz. was at least 30'!
2nd spot was the 'Coffee Wreck , also known as "Southwest Mohawk". Depth and viz. were about the same as the first dive.
Lots of seabass and good viz. I think one bug came up, but they were scarce on this one. A spiny dogfish shark was nuzzling into the lap of Jesus (pronounced "Hey-Zeus", not "Jeez-us"). After petting it for a few minutes, he grabbed hold of its tail and escorted it into Scott's catch bag so it could accompany us to the boat. These must be gutted immediately, and this was interesting to watch, to say the least.
Enroute to the third site, the Capt. announced the presence of a "MolaMola" or "Ocean Sunny" (here is the photo I took....http://www.njdive.com/sunny.jpg ). I never saw one, so this was a special treat.
The Capt. stopped the boat and we drifted as the molamola approached us. He didn't dive under, as we expected. He swam around on the surface and waved his fin at us. He came right up to the boat, as if he was posing for all the pictures we were taking of it. It was amazing! The price of the trip was made here, and diving was secondary at this moment.
The third dive was on a rockpile at about 70'. We tied in at the perfect spot!
I didn't have to go more than 20' from the line in order to spear as many black seabass as my bag could hold. I came up with about twelve keepers! Dave caught six lobsters, including a 6 or 7 pounder (here is the photo... http://www.njdive.com/Dave_Lobsters.jpg ). The viz on the bottom was in the 30' range. Our ascent was greeted with a thick layer of "mung" hanging between 5-20 feet. At only 8 feet depth, I couldn't even see the sillouette of the boat. I saw light off to the side, and let the current take me "towards the light" so I wouldn't get slammed by the boat, which was now being tossed around by 3-5' seas.
All in all, it was a great day of diving!
