My February Underwater

The weather was just brutal this month. I only managed two dives, but managed to get some really interesting photos I have not captured before.

Locations:

• 1 dive at Old Garden Beach in Rockport, Massachusetts
• 1 dive at Peirce Island in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

February 10 - Peirce Island (Portsmouth, New Hampshire)

We read our tide charts, hit the water on time, but the current just didn’t seem to be letting up. Almost 20 minutes after the normal entry window, the tide finally slackened and we slid down the slope into nudi-land. I went with two regular strobes for some different lighting this time and found many cooperative Coryphella verrucosa, but no “verilli” this time out. I did find several Tenellia gymnota, a small Dendronotus frondosus, an Adalaria proxima, several scaled worms, but my favorite find was the sculpin eggs! Unfortunately, they were buried in the among the hydroids and seaweeds, but I did manage to snap some pictures. We didn’t stick around too long after our late start, so this was a short dive, but an awesome one.

February 26 - Old Garden Beach (Rockport, Massachusetts)

The weather pattern had been brutal, but we managed to find a break to get out for some high tide Old Garden Beach. Our plan was to hit the pinnacle and then hang a right to the “RV rock”, but I got distracted by subjects and only made it to the pinnacle before turning back. The visibility was excellent on this dive - I spotted a recently deceased sea raven, some nudis but not a ton, and several scaled worms, including one that was perched nicely on the edge of some kelp. On the way back, I spotted an open lobster trap with some equipment inside - turns out it’s a test deployment of ropeless fishing gear, which is very cool!

Pictures