So--How was this weekends diving?

My trip to the quarry as safety diver for the OW students was fun and interesting. This is the first time I've been with students(when I wasn't one of them)The joy was still there(for me) when they succeeded at something. While touring with one student after the certification work was done I had him follow his compass back to the exit point( a distance of 950 to 1,000 yds). We came up right on target

Each of the 3 students had to recover me(unconcious diver) from the bottom and all did very well.

I look forward to diving with these 3 again.

Four dives off Panama City this weekend - perfect conditions - this was a makeup weekend after we were blown out by Barry.
In the Gulf, you just never know what you'll get, so this was an exceptional trip - vis upwards of 60-80 feet, except sometimes when it was restricted by *fish*.. Water temps 85 at the surface, 77 at 100'. Clouds of bait being worked by big jack and mackerel; barracuda, turtle, octopus, grouper, snapper, the usual mob of little guys; decorator crabs, arrow crabs, the list goes on. All students certified without any problems. A highly satisfactory weekend.
Rick

2 nice long shallow dives yesterday out on Cape Cod -- Sandwich Town Beach. 1 for 1 hour at a max depth of 22 feet; the other for 50 minutes at a max depth of 20 (water temp = 61F). Viz was crappy -- about 10 feet. Surface conditions were calm.

Highlight of the day was watching my buddy catch 2 nice size flounder with his catch bag (and with a lobster already in the bag). Beautiful day and very relaxing, enjoyable dives. With all the hype about "going deep", sometimes I forget how enjoyable shallow shore diving can be.

well let's see .... rain, cloudy, 10 ft viz, another shop with 30+ students in water, no paddlefish and back spasms ... I've had better


BUT, 6 newly certified divers!

Back from a long weekend in Eastport Maine, (Bay of Fundy). Certainly the best diving in the Northeast, at least for viewing invertebrates and macro photography. Water was a balmy 52 degrees F. It's a six hour drive from Boston and well worth the trip. It's not the best location for a novice diver, you should be comfortable in the water first. For shore diving you must know the tide tables and dive at slack water. We also dove with Sparky Too (Deer Island, Canada) on the first trip on the new (used) boat and had a great time. The new boat (a converted scallop fishing boat) can easily take 10 divers and probably more.

In 5 sucessful dives I saw (excluding the various unidentified creatures and fish) northern sea stars, spiny sunstars, smooth sunstars, blood stars, basket stars, daisy brittle stars (horse and winged stars were seen by friends); frilled, northern red, and northern cerianthid anemones, red gilled and bushy backed nudibranchs; sea peach, sea vase, and stalked tunicates; finger sponges, crumb of bread sponges and others; red soft coral, slime worms, orange-footed sea cucumbers (none feeding), urchins everywhere (I've got the holes in my hands and gloves to prove it); mussels, scallops, snails, and welks; tublarian and solitary hydroids; large hermit crabs, the biggest damn lobster I've ever seen in the water, green crabs, rock crabs (shrimp were "everywhere" if you know how to spot them, I didn't); a rose fish, lots of sea ravens (including a beautiful yellow one), sculpins, grubbies, rock gunnels, flounder, ocean pout and hand fed a wolfish.

For tropical divers this may not sound like a lot, but for the northeast is certainly is. I saw more new stuff on one dive than I've seen all summer diving in Southern New England.

I don't have any pictures, but if you're interested in a description of diving in the Eastport area with many great pictures see:
http://www.oceanicresearch.org/eastport.html
http://www.divernet.com/travel/0501canada.htm http://www.scubadiving.com/members/tripreports.php?s=107
http://www.scubadiving.com/members/tripreports.php?s=111
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/sparkytoo/

Ralph

took the Pacific Star out of Redondo Beach yesterday for a 3 dive day off Catalina. First dive was at Eagle's Nest, my usual dive buddy could not go soi I buddied with 2 guys from the LDS. 68 degrees to about 50 fsw then dropped to 63. Vis was about 45 ft, nice casual 1/2 hour dive with max depth of 75 fsw. Second dive was at Parson's Landing, had to do my last dive of AOW (navigation), passed my navigation test, now a certified AOW, yippee, did a few back flips. Water temp was a balmy 65, vis 40, 45 minutes max depth 50 fsw. Third dive was at Black Rock, vis dropped down to about 25, mild current water temp about the same. Just like a walk in the park, took some pics, max depth 38 fsw, 32 min duration, came up with 1200 psi left in tank, not much sea life to see for some reason. Oh well.

I had a good weekend of diving as well. The Mrs and I went down to Cancun for the weekend and I managed to get in 4 dives, she got 2. Saw nurse sharks on 2 dives, rays on 3, a turtle, numerous baracuda, rock beauties, anglefish, grouper, butterfly fish, eels, and many many more. We also had 75+ vis on all dives inspite of recent tropical storm that passed through the area a few days before. Water temps were a pleasant 82.

Enjoyed all your dive reports. My turn is coming soon.
LargeDiver I didn't realize you were in Cape Cod.
I'm jealous!
Warhammer who did you dive with in Cancun and did you like them?
:sunny:

Natasha,

Living on the Cape...if only it were true

The Sagamore Bridge (the northern bridge over the Cape Cod canal) is about 55 miles (southeast) from where I live. Sandwich Town Beach where I went diving yesterday is adjacent to the nothern end of the canal on the "Cape" side (about a 5 mile drive from the bridge). I live in Needham, MA, about 12 miles directly west of Boston.

Local diving for me is:
- North of Boston in the Cape Ann/Gloucester area (about 50 miles away) -- best area diving in terms of access and variety of dive sites
- Cape Cod
- South Shore Boston (35 miles)
- Southern Rhode Island (70 miles)
- Southern Maine (85 miles)

-LD

water temp was upper 50s, low 60s: warmest thus far this
year. after 30+ minutes we surfaced back at entry point and
she asked "can we stay in for another 15 minutes", so we
continued the dive. vis was 10 feet or less but the dive
was great.

after she exited the water I slipped back in for a 20
minute "valve shutdown" and "mask switching" practice
session.