Quick trip report: Dry Salvages & Thatcher Island, off of Rockport, MA

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large_diver

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2 AM dives onboard the Cape Ann Diver on Saturday, August 30. Beautiful sunny day with moderate winds out of the south….smooth trip north from Gloucester harbor to the dive sites…bumpy trip into the wind on the way back to the dock.

We stayed pretty shallow - 28 ft max depth at the Salvages and 32 ft at Thatcher. Saw at least 1 seal from the boat on the surface as we went into the water at the Salvages…no luck underwater. Tons of lobster at the Salvages….the 2 other guys on the charter with us were hunting and came back with 24 lobsters between them on that 1 dive - holy bulging catch bag, batman.

Thatcher Island was shallow and pretty underwater in the bright morning sunshine. The 2 hunters came back with 4 more for a total 2-person catch of 29 (daily limit is 15/person). Impressive. My buddy and I enjoyed the boulder nooks and crannies.

Water temps were toasty in the low 60s F. Vis = just average, maybe 15 feet.

We got a surprise bonus as we cruised in and out of the harbor = the Coast Guard Eagle, which was apparently visiting Gloucester August 29-31, was docked in the inner harbor. Beautiful ship (some footage in the video below).

Took some GoPro footage on the dives = nothing particularly noteworthy, lots of waving kelp and lobster. The one thing I thought was interesting are the plants at 0:54….look like orange Christmas Tree worms.

Chris

Dry Salvages & Thatcher Island - Aug. 2014 - Zurich-Diver
 
Chris
Thanks for posting. Sounds like you are making the most of your vacation!
Jim
 
Nice! Haven't been to the Dry Salvages in a long time...
 
I dove off the other boat where we did Egg Rock and Salt Rock. Temps below the thermocline were 49 degrees at Egg Rock, and vis was pretty limited at about 10 feet. A little better vis and warmer at Salt Rock. I enjoyed the cutouts at that site.


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I dove off the other boat where we did Egg Rock and Salt Rock. Temps below the thermocline were 49 degrees at Egg Rock, and vis was pretty limited at about 10 feet. A little better vis and warmer at Salt Rock. I enjoyed the cutouts at that site.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ya gota love diving to love the North Shore.... 49F! Too bad about the vis usually the great vis up there makes up for the 49F part. Kinda like diving FTW in 49F! Yes, I've done it......in a wet suit, on New Years Day.
Sounds like you should have been on the other boat! See you soon I hope.

By the way my schedule has changed, Sundays are no longer an option. Fridays and Saturdays are now, Saturday being the best day.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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