MSilvia
Contributor
Gary and I went for an after work night dive at Old Garden Beach in Rockport last night, and caught the high tide at the perfect time for exploring the rock reef on the left.
Yeah... I know, it's posted no night diving. We're scofflaws, and possibly bad people. The locals were very friendly though, and a couple that was walking by seemed genuinely interested and asked us several good questions then thanked us for our time.
Anyhow, the vis was okay, the temps were cool, and the depth were shallow, but we saw a bunch of interesting stuff...
Yeah... I know, it's posted no night diving. We're scofflaws, and possibly bad people. The locals were very friendly though, and a couple that was walking by seemed genuinely interested and asked us several good questions then thanked us for our time.
Anyhow, the vis was okay, the temps were cool, and the depth were shallow, but we saw a bunch of interesting stuff...
- Very young juvinile fish of the eel-like body type. My first though was pout, but I now believe they were young rock gunnels or shanny. Probably an inch long, and irridescent.
- Lots of thumb-sized shrimp trying to hide in the sand. Are they edible? We could have filled a bag.
- A few flounder, skates, crabs, etc, as expected.
- The lobsters are coming back... I saw about 4 shorts.
- Lots of bioluminescent photoplankton. With lights turned out, every movement left sparkling trails behind it.
- Several haddock guarding clutches of young fry in depressions near the rocks.
- The highlight of the dive for me... a yellow spiny lumpsucker who had attached himself to a large piece of seaweed. It was only the second I've noticed, and it was pretty well camoflagued... it took Gary a minute to see what I was pointing out, even with a light shining directly on it.
