NSF Dive Talk

Posted 7:35 AM by ALI V

NSF Dive Talk

NSF Dive Talk
Todd Randall & Dan Turner Dove the Poling on Saturday; although a beautiful sunny day with fairly calm seas the viz was no more than 3 feet with a bottom temperature of 36 degrees. Hopefully visibility will start improving soon.

Posted 1:26 AM by Dan H

Diving in February (continued)

Sunday, Februaury 24th

Todd R organized another boat trip fpr the club, he was accompanied by Dan T, Dan H, Arnie P, and Paul S. Weather conditions were far better than the previous week. Sunny skies and calm seas greeted us as we entered the harbor. We chose the south side of Great Misery for today's scallop hunt. Viz was about 15-20ft and the bottom temp was a steady 36 @ 70 ft. Dan T managed to bag 2 bugs and a handful of scallops, Todd R and Dan H both surfaced with catch bags heavily laden with shell fish.A hot lunch of Chicken Marsala, kielbasa, and chicken fingers was prepped in the galley for the frozen sailors and divers. Big thanks to Arnie and Prez Paul for their assistance in helping the divers gear up/off, and for transporting equipment at the dock.

Cheers

Posted 9:09 AM by Dan H

Diving in February

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17th

Todd R, Dan T, and Dan H got in a day of boat diving yesterday. The Air temps were in the upper teens/low 20's when we met at the dock. The river had completley iced over and it made an interesting crunching sound as we plowed through it on our way out (see photo). We experienced some delays due to the fact that the train bridge is still under going repairs, but the crew eventually got it open and we set a course for Gloucester. Seas were 3-4 ft in Beverly Harbor and gradually worsened as we passed the islands. By the time we made it to the area of the Chester Poling wreck, we hit some swell that were 6-8 ft. None of us were willing to leave the safety of the wheel house to tie onto the bouy, let alone trying to dive here. So we canned the idea and headed for the slighly calmer Misery Islands.

Dive #1 was the ocean side of Great Misery, Viz was 15-20ft, bottom temp was 36 @ 40ft. Dan H found an old, large boat engine (about 4 ft wide 5 ft high and 8-10 ft long) a 16-18 ft shaft was also found nearby, there was no sign of the propeller or any other clues of a wreck. As far as lobsters go, we didn't get any keepers, it was nothing but shorts and big eggers. A few scallops were collected. Dan T got the most unusual find of the day, a canine-like skull (later to be positivly ID'd as that of an adult Grey Seal. Wonder what kind of predator got him?)

Dive #2 was the inland side of the island. We were hoping for better conditions, but with the howling wind it was rough where ever we went. A few more scallops were picked up. Todd found a canyon that dropped off to 60 ft on the north eastern side of the island and headed off in search of lobsters, he managed 4 nice keepers. A hot soup and sandwich lunch followed there after. Black clouds on the horizon and warnings of even more severe weather caused us to cut the day a little shorter than we had planned.

All in all, it was a good day.

Posted 9:26 PM by Dan H

Diving in January

3 members of the NSFC, Dan T, Dan H and Todd R, met up for a day of boat diving on a cold winter morning. We were still very tired from rooting on yet another Patriots victory the night before, but we all made it to the boat for the 9 A.M. departure. I noticed that the Danvers river had iced over in some spots as we lugged our gear over the frost covered the wharf. The sun broke from the clouds as we passed under the bridge and headed out into the harbor, the sea was calm and a great day in the water looked promising

Dive #1 was supposed to be the wreck of the Nina, about a mile off Gloucester harbor. The current at this location was an estimated 6+ knots, so we decided to dive conservatively. After suiting up and struggling to the line, we dropped down to 95-100 ft. It only took a few seconds on the bottom to realize our coordinates were wrong, there was no wreck here, but this location made for a good dive anyway, despite the 10-15 ft viz. We each bagged a critter or two, I thought I had the trophy piece of the day, an old clay smoking pipe, until Dan T surfaced with one himself (see photo, disregard the time stamp, Todd needs to re-set that!) The makers marks are still visible on both pipes.

Dive #2: We opted for a scallop dive off Misery island. After a much needed cup of coffee and a chance to warm up, we descended to 70+ ft. I was using an aluminun 80 with 2000 psi, so it was going to be a quick one. Dan T managed another bug (2 for the day) and a dozen plus scallops, I landed a dozen, but Todd found the hot spot and brought in the catch o' the day. The storm clouds appeared on the horizon and we headed in, hoping to make it home before the impending nor 'easter hit us with a foot + of snow. All in all, it was a great day.

If you're interested in winter club dives email us at membership@northshorefrogmen.com


Cheers

Posted 8:18 PM by Rob Falk

New Years Day Dive, by Graham Smith

For most people, New Years Eve activities tend to negate much in the way of New Years morning activities. Not for the Froggies though.

Tuesday morning saw seven intrepid souls changing into dive gear on a windswept Marblehead seafront at Fort Sewell, preparing for hand-to-hand combat with the wintry ocean. The seven, Dan, Dan, Dave, Dave, Jack, Steve and me Graham, were carrying on with a Froggie tradition of starting the year with a dive on day one. Like pagan priests encouraging the dive spirits to show favor in the coming months, we donned our diving vestments, gathered up our accouterments and walked into the sea.

Where the deed was done
The left-hand steps (facing the water) lead to a small gravel beach; this provides easy access to the water. Because the tide was low a prominent rock offers the choice of two channels into the sound. The right channel is deeper and the best choice. The two Dans and I swam out into the sound and made to the left towards the Fort. On descending I followed the two as they dug for Lobsters in the rocks and scoured the sand for Scallops. The wind topside was pushing my flag float towards the shore, which meant I had to tow it in my downwind hand so the line didn't get tangled in my first stage. The Dans were not so encumbered - if you know what I mean. Food finding stirred up the water and dropped the viz from 10 to 3ft or less, so I reversed direction and went for a look around. Some big Starfish, Sand Dollars, Clams, Scallops and Crabs made up a typical New England bottom. Fish were nowhere to be seen and none were reported by the other divers. I started with an HP 80 at 2900psi so at 42 minutes and 38 degrees I called it a day.

The group had varying lengths of dive, Dan Turner, getting the most out of his new Dry Suit, did the hour plus. Jack has to be commended, or maybe offered counseling, for being the only wet-suit diver. Water temperatures were reported from 37F to 39F with depths 22ft to 34ft.

Post dive triumph
"The Mighty Warriors Who Became the Seven National Heroes of a Small Town"
[Imdb.com: Tagline for The Seven Samurai]

By the time we were all out and getting changed the wind was sharper than a mother-in-law's tongue, and to add to that a freezing rain had begun. Several passers-by commented on how brave we were and one chap thanked me for "keeping the oceans safe" - must still have been suffering the effects of the loopy juice from night before.



"There is a spot mid barren hills,
Where winter howls and driving rain
But if the dreary tempest chills
There is a light that warms again"
Emily Bronte

Steve with Mickey Mouse dive gloves
Mein Host with Dan Turner promising turkey sandwiches in excess
Steve Levey provided "a light that warms again" with splendid turkey sandwiches at his nearby home. Others brought food and drink and a grand time was had by all. I can safely say this was the best dive of the year.

Graham Smith 01/04/08

Posted 9:01 PM by Dan H

The Poling in December

Posted 1:56 AM by Mary Howard

Friday through Sunday, Sept 21-23, 2007 - Eastport ME

Eastport diving; what a treat! This time we saw a lot of Sea Peaches and Sea Vases, and it seemed that the Northern Red anemones were somewhat smaller and fewer than in previous years, though still gorgeous. We saw a lot of Bushy Backed Nudibranchs, a couple of HUGE lobsters, and Jean (or variably Gene or Jacques) the wolffish has a new lady. We did get Jean (Gene or Jacques) to come out of his cave for whelks for photo ops and video, and John saw him eat a hermit crab who got too close to his cave. He is now about 4 feet long.
Our group suffered a couple of flooded digital cameras (I only got pictures on the first dive!!) and a ripped a dry suite neck seal, but the diving was fantastic anyway.

Posted 8:27 PM by Mary Howard

August 10, 2007 - Squid Dive

Friday night, August 10, a few Froggies met at Back Beach to see if the squid were in, and if so, could we get any pictures.

We found two bazillion little bitey shrimpy things that left one of us temporarily scarred with little red bites. We also found some squid. Some found more squid than others, and some take better pictures than others. See one of Daryl's pictures here. Daryl and I were annoyed by the shrimpy things and cut our dives a little short.

The weather was nice, the stars were beautiful, and we were not bothered by mosquitoes as in previous years, which made the "waiting for the others" more pleasant than expected. I didn't have my computer with me, so cannot tell you the water temp that night, but it seemed pretty comfortable.

Posted 10:49 PM by Mary Howard

We had a pretty good turnout for the Club dive today, 8 people showed up at BK by a little after 8AM. Members: Dan T, Peter E, Elaine, Graham, Paul S, Joe T and me. Also Linda, a friend of Dan's who was doing her first dive since a serious knee injury a few months ago. We went to OGB hoping it would be easier for Linda than some other locations. There were some waves left over from yesterday's wind, but not too bad. My first dive was a photo dive, very relaxed as I was only trying to get a couple of good pictures of ANYTHING. I did find an anemone and some hermit crabs to take pictures of.

Paul did a 115 minute dive with his video camera, so by the time he got out of the water Elaine and I were going back in for our second dive and everyone else had packed up and gone home. Second dive was good, but my camera battery died so I couldn't take much for pictures. I did find a dead lobster with blood stars working on it. And I found a nice keeper lobster, but without a current lobster licence I had to leave it behind.

Posted 5:40 PM by Rob Falk

Ten Froggies at the BK!

A great turn out for the Sunday Morning Dive. John F., Peter E., Paul S., Bill W. and his wife (I forgot her name, sorry!), Amy, Mia, Mary, Joe Terra and me. We headed out to Mag Rocks, which looked pretty inviting with only a few 2 foot rollers breaking now and then. Mary, Mia and Amy opted for the gentler entry and exits at Folly Cove since they were sporting U/W photo gear. After I dragged all my gear down on to the rocks and considered the heat, humidity, distance down over rocks into the water - and my drysuit, I opted to bail on the dive and headed over to Folly to see how the other three had fared.

Surprisingly, Mary, Amy and Mia had not finished suiting up, convinced me to dive (I really wasn't going to) and were gracious enough to wait for me to catch up. They saw enough little critters to be satisfied with their dive; I saw a couple baby lobsters, a whole lotta fish fry, a couple 6 inch flounders and a lot of kelp and silt. I wasn't impressed with the viz, maybe 10 feet in most places, and temps at 50 degrees at 40 feet. Folly Cove is usually a stellar dive and worth the up and down and walking - today, as my first scuba instructor, Juan in Cancun said, "Noso goo."

Those 3 were going to do a 2nd dive when I hauled my stuff back up the hill and got my car. All in all, diving Folly was better than driving out to Cape Ann on Sunday and driving back without diving, but sleeping in would have been better.

Posted 4:52 PM by ALI V

Canyon Land

A highly reccomended dive that has many exciting features: swim throughs, canyons, walls, small caves, over-hangs, sharp drop-offs.

A treasure trove of sea life and abundant lobstering. Member Dan Turner saw what he believes is the biggest lobster he has ever seen.

I encourage anybody that wants to check out this spot to talk to Dan Hering. He knows how it can be arranged.

Posted 6:41 PM by Mary Howard

There's More to the Galapagos than Whale Sharks - by Susan Copelas

Galapagos trip, July 14-21, 2007

I woke up to the gentle waves rocking the boat and birds calling out to their friends as they gathered their morning food. I quickly donned my bathing suit and slipped the kayak in the calm waters of the bay in which we were moored. The volcanic rock sloped to the edges of the bay, and the birds were nestled in every available nook and cranny. Paddling close to shore, I was actually able to see the 35 arms of the jelly looking starfish. The Sally Lightfoot Crabs were scuttling around the rocks as plentiful and bright as they come. Suddenly, a large snort sounded behind me and I was joined by a playful sea lion, a usual site I have come to enjoy as a snorkeler, hiker and paddler. How lucky we have been!! Over the course of only 5 days, we saw over 20 species of birds, 35 different types of fish and mammals galore. I felt like I was living the pages of National Geographic. Everything from a sea lion mourning the death of a still born baby only hours old, to a Galapagos shark frolicking with a sea lion as they swam under a volcanic arch heading out to sea. Snorkeling at it's best! How often can you snorkel up to a penguin 5 inches away basking in the sun just before he enters the water and decides to play with you for a spell? This is just before we spent the next 5 minutes diving in and out of the lava formations with sea lions and more turtles than we could count. Who gets tired of counting how many sea turtles you have seen?

The land portion of the trip was just as exciting. Giant tortoises mating, owls catching their prey, baby vultures awaiting the return of their mother with their morning meal, families of marine iguanas warming against the rocks, and not to mention the wonderful site of the blue-footed boobies performing their unique mating dance. Who gets to see frigate birds with their red sacks so inflated you think the balloon will pop before a female notices him strutting his stuff? The postcards didn't do them justice. It was always hard for me to return the kayak to it's resting spot for the rest of the day, but knowing that I was about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime every time I set foot on land or put on my snorkel.

Posted 11:55 PM by DanT

Sunday Club Dive OGB

This Sunday Club Dive was highlighted by a visit from Eagle Tribune reporter Emily Young who is running a story on the history of the NSFC. Emily met up with the group in the BK parking lot where several club members were interviewed. Emily then came along to OGB to have a first hand look at the wonderful world of scuba. At right, Past President and Life Member Dawn Dennler being interviewed.

Eagle Tribune reporter Emily Young interviews club members at OGB

Posted 10:20 PM by DanT

U853

On Sunday July 15, 2007, Club President Dan Hering, Dan Turner, and Todd Randall had a rare opportunity to dive the German submarine U853 located off Block Island, RI. After months of preparation that involved equipment readiness, prep dives, and developing teamwork skills, we headed for Newport on a beautiful sunny morning.

Once at the dive site, we were met with moderate to rough seas, which is not uncommon for this area. Since it was the first visit to the sub, it was decided to dive conservatively and the dive plan consisted of two short exterior dives, one forward and one aft to become familiar with the layout of the vessel and the surrounding environment. After descending to the conning tower, we were met with good visibility (10-15ft), a slight current, and a bottom temperature of 50 degrees.



As Dan Hering stated, "it was a wonderful experience to dive the submarine and touch a piece of history". Our thanks and appreciation go out to Captain Donald and Lt. Commander Ali for making this a great day.

More information on the U853 can be found at:

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Barracks/1041/u853.html
http://uboat.net/boats/u853.htm
http://www.ecophotoexplorers.com/u853.asp
http://www.wreckhunter.net/DataPages/u853-dat.htm

Posted 7:03 PM by Rob Falk

OGB Sunday 7/8/07

Decided to do OGB in the mid afternoon. Ran into John Ferrier just wrapping his morning up, with new guy, Ryan. My buddy Joe and I hit the beach about 3PM with our Sea Do VX scooters. What a blast. Cruised out to past the pinnacle in a matter of minutes and then zipped around the whole area for 78 minutes of bottom time on an HP 100. Still cool, 46 degrees at depth, which reached 52 feet. I finally found the freakin' pinnnacle - on my way in. Monumental size flounder, large ocean pout and a whole bunch of lobsters with big claws and little bodies. But, zipping around on the scooter was serious fun. And, I found out that at top speed my flag goes under, no matter how much line I let out, so I keel hauled it for a good 20 minutes to make up for the mugging it gave me last week!