The Baleen April 8 2006

I drove up to Massachusetts late Friday night to go dive aboard the Gauntlet. I had been meaning to dive with them for a while, as they do some very cool tech trips off the north shore of MA, but could never find the time. I wound up meeting Heather and Dave in Honduras last February when we were all diving our prisms, and found them to be good people and hardcore divers (to read their excellent write-up on the Roatan trip, go to http://www.northernatlanticdive.com/roatan/roatan_2006.htm)

I did have to ask myself, though, was it worth it to do all this driving just for one dive? And am I insane to go do a tech dive in 39 degree water? Well, I rationalized to myself, where am I going to hit 170 off NJ this time of year? Besides, it would be nice to go try something new.

The Gauntlet is anchored in Salem, in a really pretty part of town. I had no real worries finding the dock, and after a little recon I pulled out the bed and crashed in the Westy. 6am came, as it always does, way too early, but at least by then the rain had stopped. Unlike locally, there was no snow, and air temps stayed in the mid 40's. The boat is a six pack, clean and comfy. Not sure the dimensions, but pretty close to the Independence in size. It was nice to see Heather and Dave again, and to meet the other divers, it was a good crew of wreck-rats. This was my checkout dive for my new Weezle undies, which I had high hopes for (oddly enough several other divers aboard were diving the same underwear for the first time as well.) The runtime out was about 45 minutes, pretty much flat seas little wind, going to the Baleen. Its a tugboat, sitting in 170', known for the sealife on it.

Descending the line, the first thing I noticed was that it got really dark really fast. The other thing I noticed was that, despite there not feeling like much current, I really had to tug myself down the line. For damn sure I was glad I had 10/50 in my dil tank, what with the cold, the new gear, the new location, and my first deep northeast dive on the sport kiss, I think my narcosis would have manifested itself as paranoia. I had forgotten to charge my HID, so it was backup lights for me, but they did the job. I eventually made it down to the tie-in at the stern, got myself sorted, and descended to the rocky bottom. All around the wreck were these beautiful anemones, ones I don't recall seeing off NJ. They have a hard brown tube that tapers up out of the sand 6"-8", then dozens of long white symmetrical tentacles splay out. Even without narcosis it was hypnotic watching them sway in the current. Swimming up to the bow, I saw why they refer to this wreck as an anemone garden, all the hard edges are softened by frilled anemones of all sizes and shapes, including my favorite, a northern red anemone on the starboard side. It was when I saw it that my question to myself was answered: it was definitely worth making the trip up for this dive. The mast lies out into the sand on the starboard-stern, so I followed that out a ways, tripping out on groves of the aforementioned (ghost?) anemones. I also found a very nice spiny sun star, as well as what I believe is a badge star. Yeah I know, next time I'll bring the camera, I promise. I hadn't felt too bad about using my little scout lights until everyone else showed up with their hunking chunking HIDs, then my little power ranger's nightlight didn't seem so adequate.

Dave had given me the good advice to make sure I headed up while I was still warm, otherwise deco would be a pure misery. It was never an issue. After 30 minutes bottom time I finally came up, still toasty, since a 37 minute hang seemed like enough. My aggravation with my VR3 continues unabated, as somehow 37 minutes turned into 45, despite hitting all my stops on the money and making sure the gasses were programmed correctly. Argh. On the plus side though I stayed warm, even with the extra hang time, and a small leak from around my pee valve (from the outside in, not the inside out, thank you.) If anyone finds themselves getting chilled on long dives you might want to check out weezle's stuff, its like a form-fitted down sleeping bag. Be forewarned though that you might have to buy two, my wife was casting covetous glances at it (not for diving, mind you, just for the brutal conditions of, say, our living room.)

Not much to tell on the way back. We returned to gunfire in Salem harbor, which was a little odd but I like a town willing to celebrate lunchtime with a fusillade of large caliber weaponry. I also learned from a Navy guy that "It ain't gay if you're underway", which had me chuckling throughout the four hour drive home. If anyone would like to make a weekend trip up let me know. Its so sweet to be able to get that depth of water with only a half hour ride out, and the area has a lot of stuff to do family-wise. I'll definitely be heading back soon.