wreckedinri
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Better late than never!
This week our goal was to dive a wreck that was new to all of us. We headed to the wreck of the Reliance. While certainly not a new wreck, as many charters are run out to it, we never had a chance to make it the nine miles out of Hull, MA to visit her. Joining Harry and me for this adventure where Chris M. and Red G., the owner of Giant Stride Dive Shop.
After meeting at the rest area on route 295 and consuming a much needed cup of Dunkin Donuts high test coffee, we loaded up the boat and made our way to Weymouth, MA. We had a leisurely cruise down the Weymouth Back River and were greeted with pond-like conditions as we rounded Hull gut into Bostons outer harbor. In twenty minutes we were upon the site and were tied in. One by one, Red, Chris, and Harry geared up and rolled in leaving me to casually get ready and await their return. As anticipated, Red returned first with a report of good but diminishing visibility. That made sense, since he splashed at slack low water and now there was a visible, albeit mild, current running. I geared up and hit the water. Passing Harry on the line, the light penetration gradually faded until I had to fire up a light as I arrived at the bottom. There I saw that we were tied into one of the hawse pipes lying off the former bow of the wreck. I made my way towards a dark form and came across a series of planks and pieces of frames. At this point I was cursing myself for not changing regulators before the dive. Yes; I knew better, I had a slight free flow when I turned on my gas but opted to dive with it anyway.
Now, the steady blub, blub, blub was unnerving so I decided to turn the dive. An hour of getting the boat ready, an hour drive, forty minutes to the site, and my stupidity allowed me only 8 minutes on the wreck! I got to see a few pieces of wood and a piece of old pipe.
Next we set our sight on the wreck of the City of Salisbury. On the numbers we dropped the hook and the boys hit the water with me bringing up the rear. With a different reg, I reached the hook in 20 feet of water and saw that the boys had secured it around a hunk of hull plating. Following the gully that we were in and bearing right towards the north east, I first missed the wreck! I did have a nice first part of my dive exploring the face of the ledge that the ship ran into. There were numerous flounder and several decent sized lobsters cloistered within the ledges nooks and crannies. I turned and made my way back up the slope and hit a familiar piece of wreckage. From there I came across a line later to learn that it was Chris - and went on to explore the large scattered pieces of disarticulated steel plates and hull sections. There were large Cunners effortlessly cruising amongst the tool shed sized pieces of twisted steel. Schools of small Pollack marched en mass above the bones of the Salisbury, erratically turning in unison to unspoken commands. Working my way in and through a tunnel like area of wreckage I went down the slope to a boulder strewn gravel bottom, the waters turning darker as the clouds obscured the sunlight from the surface fifty feet above. At that point I decided it was time to turn and head back to the tunnel that I passed through earlier. I was running a line so going around it was not an option. It seemed tighter going back, but no problem, except that when I exited my cave, I came up and got tangled into Chris reel line. As I set my reel down and secured my light, I was about to reach back to free myself when I saw Chris light coming towards me. At that point I sat still and he came by and rescued me.
We made our way back to the hook and surfaced to perfect summer dry-suit diving conditions; breezy and cloudy! As usual, it was another fun and interesting day exploring some of the local wrecks with a few friends.
This week our goal was to dive a wreck that was new to all of us. We headed to the wreck of the Reliance. While certainly not a new wreck, as many charters are run out to it, we never had a chance to make it the nine miles out of Hull, MA to visit her. Joining Harry and me for this adventure where Chris M. and Red G., the owner of Giant Stride Dive Shop.
After meeting at the rest area on route 295 and consuming a much needed cup of Dunkin Donuts high test coffee, we loaded up the boat and made our way to Weymouth, MA. We had a leisurely cruise down the Weymouth Back River and were greeted with pond-like conditions as we rounded Hull gut into Bostons outer harbor. In twenty minutes we were upon the site and were tied in. One by one, Red, Chris, and Harry geared up and rolled in leaving me to casually get ready and await their return. As anticipated, Red returned first with a report of good but diminishing visibility. That made sense, since he splashed at slack low water and now there was a visible, albeit mild, current running. I geared up and hit the water. Passing Harry on the line, the light penetration gradually faded until I had to fire up a light as I arrived at the bottom. There I saw that we were tied into one of the hawse pipes lying off the former bow of the wreck. I made my way towards a dark form and came across a series of planks and pieces of frames. At this point I was cursing myself for not changing regulators before the dive. Yes; I knew better, I had a slight free flow when I turned on my gas but opted to dive with it anyway.
Now, the steady blub, blub, blub was unnerving so I decided to turn the dive. An hour of getting the boat ready, an hour drive, forty minutes to the site, and my stupidity allowed me only 8 minutes on the wreck! I got to see a few pieces of wood and a piece of old pipe.Next we set our sight on the wreck of the City of Salisbury. On the numbers we dropped the hook and the boys hit the water with me bringing up the rear. With a different reg, I reached the hook in 20 feet of water and saw that the boys had secured it around a hunk of hull plating. Following the gully that we were in and bearing right towards the north east, I first missed the wreck! I did have a nice first part of my dive exploring the face of the ledge that the ship ran into. There were numerous flounder and several decent sized lobsters cloistered within the ledges nooks and crannies. I turned and made my way back up the slope and hit a familiar piece of wreckage. From there I came across a line later to learn that it was Chris - and went on to explore the large scattered pieces of disarticulated steel plates and hull sections. There were large Cunners effortlessly cruising amongst the tool shed sized pieces of twisted steel. Schools of small Pollack marched en mass above the bones of the Salisbury, erratically turning in unison to unspoken commands. Working my way in and through a tunnel like area of wreckage I went down the slope to a boulder strewn gravel bottom, the waters turning darker as the clouds obscured the sunlight from the surface fifty feet above. At that point I decided it was time to turn and head back to the tunnel that I passed through earlier. I was running a line so going around it was not an option. It seemed tighter going back, but no problem, except that when I exited my cave, I came up and got tangled into Chris reel line. As I set my reel down and secured my light, I was about to reach back to free myself when I saw Chris light coming towards me. At that point I sat still and he came by and rescued me.
We made our way back to the hook and surfaced to perfect summer dry-suit diving conditions; breezy and cloudy! As usual, it was another fun and interesting day exploring some of the local wrecks with a few friends.
