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On Saturday, December 18th, Jan and I headed to Salem MA, with the hope that the planned trip to a seldom visited wreck would take place as scheduled. It wasn't looking good on Friday as the seas and the winds from an accompanying storm promised to keep all boats in port. However, as luck would have it, Saturday dawned a new day, and with it came fairer weather. |
 Dave readying gear before departure. |
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Once again we would be joining Captains Heather Knowles and David Caldwell aboard their vessel Gauntlet for a dive to the "Schooner Wreck". If conditions would not have allowed us to venture too far, we would have hugged the shore and made our way to the Poling. Our string of good luck regarding sea conditions this year continued, for as we proceeded north out of Salem Harbor and put Bakers Island off of our stern, it became apparent to our Captains that we would be able to venture off-shore and explore this "new" wreck. |
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As per SOP, when we arrived at the site, Capt. D donned his gear and chased the shot line to the bottom. After several minutes of cruising around the marker buoy, a white lift-bag appeared signaling a successful tie-in. As agreed upon in the dive plan, the next divers, Tim then Peter and Kathy, began gearing up while the balance of us donned our suits to wait for our turn. Jan and I would be splashing in after them. |
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Above: Capt. Dave set to dive and tie in.
Right: Capt. Heather helps Tim don his gloves, always a tricky thing to do without help.
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Unfortunately, when Dave returned he did not have the best report regarding conditions on the wreck. His findings were that it was "sketchy" with limited visibility and many ghost lines strewn about. His advice was not to be too "aggressive" with exploring this site under the current conditions. With that news, Jan and I decided to change our planned BT from 20 to 15 minutes with a RT of about 35 minutes. No reason for an extended hang if site conditions do not allow for a productive bottom time. When Jan and I reached the wreck we found out what Dave meant by "sketchy". I know that it may not sound like the macho thing to say, but to me the place was scary! We were on a large wooden wreck, under turbid conditions, nearly 160 feet deep, and literally surrounded by abandoned trawl lines. Every movement made the visibility worst. The only things to do was either to set a line and move away to explore, or stay in sight of the several strobes affixed to the mooring line. I did the former, and Jan did the latter. Running a line was a challenge as I had to navigate over and under the myriad of ghost lines. When I tried to go over the lines I lost sight of the bottom and wreckage, as I settled on the wreck I was encircled by the lines again. Jan wisely spent his dive in the vicinity of the mooring poking around the timbers and iron fittings. Upon returning to the mooring I found Jan at 14 minutes into the dive and signaled my intent to surface. He returned with an OK and up we went. |
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The cruise back was spent listening to stories from the eclectic group of individuals aboard that day. Even though the site conditions could have been better, it was a great day out diving with an interesting and fun group of people. Left: Capt. Heather returning from the dive. |
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