Suggestions for Cape Cod/Fairhaven this weekend

maskinut · Aug 28, 2008

Hi All,
We have what looks to be a good long weekend coming up and I want to get out for a dive or 2. I'll be starting out of Falmouth and then heading to Fairhaven/buzzards bay area to pick up my dive buddy. Anyone know anything worth diving between Woods Hole and Fairhave. We could always do Garbage beach but since we have aboat I'd like to go somewhere I cant usually access. Plan B would be diving on the Cape somewhere. I have never had any luck finding the Port Hunter. Does anyone have coodinates the trust for it? The coordinate I have seen in past aren't logically even close to Hedge Fence.

Has anyone ever dove the Brick Factory?

Tarpaulin Cove is an option though afer a few dives there I have not yet found any of the old beams/ribs that are rumored to be in the sand.

Anyway I'm open to ideas if you have any suggestions.

Thanks,
Sean

RIOceanographer · Aug 28, 2008

The Port Hunter is actually marked on the NOAA charts at the western tip of the shoal as a "wk" symbol. When you come up on it if the tide is still running you can often see where it is because it causes a bit of a rip at the surface as the water flows over it.

Here are the numbers I have:

41 29.808 N, 70 33.213 W

You probably know this, but just in case be sure you watch those tides because the currents there are intense and they turn pretty quickly.

maskinut · Aug 29, 2008

found some options. I agree the tides around the Port Hunter make it challenging especially timing wise.

http://www.mwdc.org/Shipwrecks/PortHunter.html

http://www.mwdc.org/Shipwrecks/Lackawanna.html

http://www.mwdc.org/Shipwrecks/vineyardsoundlightship.htmla

http://www.atlantis.nu/html/shipwrecks4.htm

http://www.scubadiving.com/article/Massachusetts_Cape_Cod/

http://www.pgis.net/Scuba/DiveSitesMA_files/BuzzardsBay/The_Wreck_of_the_Angela.htm

http://secretsquirreldivers.com/buzbay.html
http://www.pgis.net/Scuba/DiveSitesMA_files/BuzzardsBay/The_Wreck_of_the_Colonel_Cowin.htm
offshorehunter.com

http://www.pgis.net/Scuba/DiveSitesMA_files/BuzzardsBay/The_Wreck_of_the_Yankee.htm

http://www.pgis.net/Scuba/DiveSitesMA_files/BuzzardsBay/The_Wreck_of_the_Colonel_Cowin.htm
Location: Cleveland Ledge Channel, Buzzards Bay. Nearest town: Bourne

41 37 51 N
70 41 39 W

port hunter
http://www.mass.gov/czm/buar/shipwrecks/ua-porth.htm

cuttyhunk http://www.mwdc.org/Shipwrecks/usstriana.html
nomans http://www.mwdc.org/Shipwrecks/USSYSD.html
nashawena http://www.mass.gov/czm/buar/shipwrecks/ua-jd.htm

http://www.scuba-newengland.com/DiveSiteDetail.asp?DiveSiteID=77&StateID=MA

http://www.scuba-newengland.com/DiveSiteDetail.asp?DiveSiteID=110&StateID=MA

RIOceanographer · Aug 29, 2008

If you are diving that area a lot you might want to grab this book:

Shipwrecks of Massachusetts South, by Gary Gentile from LeisurePro.com

And also:
http://www.donferris.com/books.shtml

edm · Sep 1, 2008

I live in the area and am always looking for local sites. The visibility looks unusually good in the bay this year. It's still not great, but it's better than some other years.

maskinut · Sep 1, 2008

I loaded up the boat and headed out of Falmouth at 8:30 on Sunday. It took about 45 mins to get to Sconticut Neck near Fairhaven in nasty chop through Buzzards Bay. Vineyard Sound was glass with no wind (A perfect day for wakeboarding). We left Sconticut Neck for Gooseberry Neck near Westport without our 3rd person (the non diver who was going to mind the boat). My new GPS/Sonar charted a sketchy course though some submerged rocks off the coast so we swung out to deeper water and took the longer route to Hens and Chickens Reef about 3.5 miles off Goosberry Neck. Unfortunately the wind was pretty strong and seas were a bit choppy still. Since our boat sitter bailed we need to take some precautions diving. We were there about 90 minutes before slack tide and got the water about 45 minutes prior to dead slack. We anchored north of the wreck and let out enough line to get us close to the wreck without becoming a wreck. From the stern we launched a 200ft drift line and each tied into it. Unfortunatley the tide was running east and it took our line toward Gooseberry Neck. So even though this is an easy 30 ft dive it was pretty clear we weren't going to have an easy time of it. We hit the water and quickly descended to 30 feet. Visibility was pretty poor and we ended up doing a dive around the edge of the wreck. Because of the conditions, tide and lack of a chaser in the boat we decided to stay out of the wreck and stuck to a fairly tame cruise around the perimeter. This will be helpful in the future because I now have a better idea of the hazards that do and do not exist on the north side of the wreck. BTW you cant miss this wreck. It is between 0 and 14 feet above the low tide line. We pulled back into the boat via the drift line and decided to head to easier waters.

Dive two was to be one of the wrecks close off the shore of Cuttyhunk or a liesurely swim in Tarpaulin Cove. The tide was tearing through Cuttyhunk channel and it was very low which resulted in a ding to my prop. I had a 225 Honda 4 stroke pinned and was barely making solid headway in the current. We decided not to bother diving near c-hunk without our boat sitter and headed to Tarpaulin. Tarpaulin was packed with boats so we setup close to the house and had some BBQ. We did a quick and sandy dive and headed back to Falmouth.

Overall it was a great 10 hours on the water and now I have a much better understanding of the trip, time & uel required to get out to the Angela, Corwin, etc. Unfurtunately I wasn't able to pick up any of the other wrecks with the sonar but have some charts and coordinates that are roughtly close enought to keep looking.

a few pics -> http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56666&id=613924368

LobstaDiver · Sep 5, 2008

I Dove the Port Hunter yesterday and the Vis was horrible in the afternoon.vThe morning dive was great

wreckedinri · Sep 6, 2008

maskinut:
I loaded up the boat and headed out of Falmouth at 8:30 on Sunday. It took about 45 mins to get to Sconticut Neck near Fairhaven in nasty chop through Buzzards Bay. Vineyard Sound was glass with no wind (A perfect day for wakeboarding). We left Sconticut Neck for Gooseberry Neck near Westport without our 3rd person (the non diver who was going to mind the boat). My new GPS/Sonar charted a sketchy course though some submerged rocks off the coast so we swung out to deeper water and took the longer route to Hens and Chickens Reef about 3.5 miles off Goosberry Neck. Unfortunately the wind was pretty strong and seas were a bit choppy still. Since our boat sitter bailed we need to take some precautions diving. We were there about 90 minutes before slack tide and got the water about 45 minutes prior to dead slack. We anchored north of the wreck and let out enough line to get us close to the wreck without becoming a wreck. From the stern we launched a 200ft drift line and each tied into it. Unfortunatley the tide was running east and it took our line toward Gooseberry Neck. So even though this is an easy 30 ft dive it was pretty clear we weren't going to have an easy time of it. We hit the water and quickly descended to 30 feet. Visibility was pretty poor and we ended up doing a dive around the edge of the wreck. Because of the conditions, tide and lack of a chaser in the boat we decided to stay out of the wreck and stuck to a fairly tame cruise around the perimeter. This will be helpful in the future because I now have a better idea of the hazards that do and do not exist on the north side of the wreck. BTW you cant miss this wreck. It is between 0 and 14 feet above the low tide line. We pulled back into the boat via the drift line and decided to head to easier waters.

Dive two was to be one of the wrecks close off the shore of Cuttyhunk or a liesurely swim in Tarpaulin Cove. The tide was tearing through Cuttyhunk channel and it was very low which resulted in a ding to my prop. I had a 225 Honda 4 stroke pinned and was barely making solid headway in the current. We decided not to bother diving near c-hunk without our boat sitter and headed to Tarpaulin. Tarpaulin was packed with boats so we setup close to the house and had some BBQ. We did a quick and sandy dive and headed back to Falmouth.

Overall it was a great 10 hours on the water and now I have a much better understanding of the trip, time & uel required to get out to the Angela, Corwin, etc. Unfurtunately I wasn't able to pick up any of the other wrecks with the sonar but have some charts and coordinates that are roughtly close enought to keep looking.

a few pics -> http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56666&id=613924368

Sorry that I am responding a bit late to this post. But perhaps for your next trip this insight may be useful.

Another nice dive in the Angela/Cowin area is the Hilda Garsten, she is only about a mile due south of the Angela. The currents can rip over her as well so slack water timing is a good idea. The wreck is fairly intact so navigation is simple and with a sand/gravel bottom the vis is usually pretty good.

Your options also include the St Francis which is about 3.4 miles west of the Angela. That wreckage is broken up and quite scattered but currents are not usually problematic. Running a line is a good idea as is spending a bit of time with the depth sounder and finding a substantial chunk of wreck to dive on.

I dunno what your limits are for water travel, but with a 225hp OB I suspect that you can get out pretty good. If the weather and conditions are cooperative, a run to the YSD 56 is worth it at least once a season. It is a pretty and shallow but interesting dive. While you are out there take a look around the wreck with the sounder for the derek.

A couple more wrecks from Falmouth to consider are the John Dwight and the Seaconnet. Vis is typically not great in the summer, but early spring as well as a bit later in the autumn are usually better. Of course there is also the Vinyard Lightship also near the Seaconnet. Vis concerns there mirror the JD and the Seaconnet.

Hope this helps.

Dennis

maskinut · Sep 8, 2008

I have charted out most of those wrecks on a nice Richardsons' Waterproof chart set I got at West Marine for BuzBay, Cape and Islands. I highly reccomend this as I now have a handy chartset to evaluate a dive/distance/time. Last summer I missed a few chances to dive because it wasnt planned enough and time was wasted getting data to make the trip. If anyone is in Fal on the weekends I'm happy to share my charts over a coffee/beer. I'm also looking to add some new sites, wrecks or otherwise.

Now comes the hard part, actually finding the wrecks on the water and in the water. Sometimes simply showing up at the GPS coordinates doesnt cut it. Since I have only been diving for 2 years I haven't tried to hit anything as deep as the Lightship yet but will be progressing. I may try to squeeze a dive in on the YSD off of Nomans before it gets cold out. I can carry about 180 gallons of gas so limits are pretty far for chasing a dive but the real limit is filling the beast with $5 a gallon gas. I was pleasently surprised though that a round trip from Falmouth to Fairhaven, Hens and Chix, Cuttyhunk, Tarpaulin and Falmouth only rang up to about 30-40 gallons which I split with my buddy. I was expecting much worse but also took care not to bury the needle as effeciency gets real bad at the top end.

I'll be down this weekend and might look at the wrecks identified on the charts in Woods Hole across from the ferry terminals. In the meantime my tuna got picked up by On The Water. On The Water: Fishing Forecast I hope I dont meet any of his friends in the water.

Twosocks · Sep 9, 2008

Nice looking fish!

Suggestions for Cape Cod/Fairhaven this weekend

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