My August Underwater

I did four dives this month including two offshore on the Yankee Pearl. I always like the opportunity to get out and see some different dive sites and find some depth, but the weather was not cooperative on this particular day, so our boat dives were subpar.

August 8th - Halfway Rock and Picketts Ledge

Gear configuration: Olympus 14-42mm, Backscatter M52 wide angle

We pulled up to Halfway and saw lots of water movement against the rock and some seals in the water. Three of us hit the water and decided to descend to wait for the other two at the anchor rather than hanging in the rocking waves on the surface. I was third down the line and viz wasn’t amazing, so I thought we were all together. Captain Jon thought the anchor was in 40 feet, so I was surprised when we finally hit the bottom at 75 feet. One buddy was there starting to take some pictures while we waited, but the other buddy we descended with was nowhere to be found. I was starting to fiddle with the camera and then we noticed that the anchor was pulled off the bottom and hanging on to a lobster line. The two of us both agreed to ascend and see where our buddies went and let Jon know about the anchor situation, so we slowly ascended. Once on the surface, we discovered that the other three had all gotten blown off the line and were back on the boat or headed there. I hopped aboard and my buddy descended back down to free the anchor. We bailed on our second dive at BFW and headed in to more protected sites closer to shore.

After rough conditions out at Halfway, we hoped Picketts would be calmer. It seemed pretty stirred up on the surface, but we dropped in and descended down the anchor line. We were moored up on the north wall of the trench, so we milled around a bit to wait for everybody to descend. Our plan was to head south to the deeper section, but the viz was lousy, so myself and a buddy ended up separated from the others. We decided to explore the trench area so we didn’t wander too far from the anchor. We cruised the south wall first seeing tons of lined anemones, a few lobsters, and some good sized finger sponges. We wandered to the sand and then turned back to cruise along the north wall of the trench. My buddy hung on the anchor line while I explored under the ledge - it was kind of cool down there, but I couldn’t do much photography with the surge pushing me around by several feet with every swing. This one was also quite forgettable.

August 13th - Folly Cove x 2

Gear configuration: Olympus 60mm macro lens, +12.5 diopter

I didn’t take any notes on these dives, but I did manage a few nice pictures. I had the 60mm macro lens with diopter, so I spent the dive looking for tiny stuff on the kelp. I also found some squid eggs and a pipefish, but didn’t manage any good pictures of them on this dive.