Jellies

Cut this short video from some surface footage we shot over at "BFW." We had unusually good visibility this day, with the exception of the first 6 feet of water column that was populated by millions of comb jellies!

Jelly Attack! from Green Diver on Vimeo.

Wall diving in New England

As the season winds down, we have been booking trips through Cape Ann Divers to get out to Halfway Rock and BFW as much as we can in order to finish documenting these places before winter. Finally mother nature was on our side and we were pleased to observe incredible visibility at these sites. I was able to shoot Chuck Marrone against some impressive backdrops allowing for more perspective than I've ever previously been able to attain at these locations. If you haven't seen these places first hand, the pictures only represent tiny pieces of these colossal underwater structures.

Chuck at about 70' heading down at Halfway Rock.

Chuck running a reference line at BFW

BFW Trailer

I just cut together this short on BFW. As I accumulate more footage I will do an extended cut. Enjoy!

BFW Trailer from Green Diver on Vimeo.

BFW

     Big Fantastic Wall, Big Fancy Wall, Big Effing Wall - whatever floats your boat...so to speak. Located a mile or so away from Halfway Rock, BFW has become a favorite dive spot of mine. A submerged plateau of granite, the major appeal of this location is the geological structure itself. Beginning at 35', There is a bright and pretty area of sea plants small fish and jellies. After swimming a little way you reach the wall. It looks like to end of the earth. A perfectly chiseled cliff that drops off into blackness. It is an absolute delight jumping off this cliff (as any well adjusted diver would do). After stepping into oblivion, you descend another 70' straight down into the darkness. It is spooky and wonderful down there. Not too much abounds in terms of sea life, but it will take me a long time to get bored by this massive structure.

In a continued effort to document this place, I offer these pictures. These weren't easy to acquire photographically speaking. Capturing something this size, putting it into perspective and shooting it under very poor lighting and visibility requires some major camera tweaking. These were all shot on very high ISO and I needed to done some work in post to desaturate them, the best way to see the contrast. In any case, enough said. Enjoy.

Chuck Marrone finds the edge of the world

Chuck jumps off the cliff.

Looking north at about 60'

Looking north at a murkier 100'

Looking up at Chuck's reference line

    

Halfway Rock & BFW

curious sculpin checks out his reflection

       We recently had a low-key day on the Cape Ann Divers small boat, with myself, Chuck Marrone, Todd Daniels, and Phil Bowers onboard. We did some impressive wall diving at Halfway Rock and "BFW" (Big Fantastic Wall). Halfway Rock has been reliably awesome this year. There is frequently stellar visibility here while other spots nearby are dark and muddy. Schools of pollack frequent the area along with beds of palmate sponges, sculpin, sea cucumbers, as well as many other critters that call this rock home. These amazing technicolor photos are quite true to life here. Just add light and divers are treated to explosive color and impressive sea life. These are fantastic locations.  Soon I will post some of the video work we have been doing at these dive sites. But for now, enjoy the photos.

Palmate sponge on pink granite

colorful tunicates covering boulder

blood stars, sponges and tunicates

Wreck of the Patriot

Last month we had the pleasure of going out to the Wreck of the Patriot in Stellwagen Bank. You couldn't ask for a better day, the water was flat-calm, no current, and there was 50+ feet of visibility. On the ride out with Cape Ann Divers, we saw a humpback whale, a minke whale, seals, and plenty of sea birds. Underwater there were dozens of sculpin, nudibranchs, and an enormous (pictured) torpedo ray. Please enjoy the following photos and embedded video Chuck and I shot. It should also be noted that 2 experienced fishermen lost their lives here and divers should treat this site with nothing but respect for them and their families.

Diver exploring the upper rigging of the wreck

Hardly a "wreck", the boat is almost entirely intact.

The infamous torpedo ray...

Torpedo ray with boat for perspective.

The Wreck of the Patriot from Green Diver on Vimeo.

Some midsummer pictures.

      With the season in full steam and we are starting to accumulate some decent pictures and video from our recent adventures with Cape Ann Divers. We dove the Salvages, the Haight, the Poling, Halfway Rock, Neverfail Ledge, and Boohoo Ledge just to name a few. So far, the vis has been good and the weather only skunked us once. Since this is a photo blog and I'm not in the mood to write anything exciting, please enjoy the following pictures!

The Salvages. There is a large (gray?) seal in the foreground. I wish there was something to put him into perspective. Lot of seals and birds this day. Downwind of the island was not the place to be...

This is from my favorite snorkeling spot in East Gloucester. I don't know how, but it always looks like the tropics here. Blue water with stellar vis. 

Another from East Gloucester. A baby cunner coming out of his home to look at his reflection in my camera. 

A friendly and curious rock gunnel.

Sea star close up. The orange spot is the value for its water circulatory system.

Atlantic Wolfish in Cape Ann

        We met this lady offshore while diving with Cape Ann Divers a couple of weeks ago. A rare find (though I can't take credit for finding her) not to mention my first REAL LIFE wolfish sighting. OH Boy! I couldn't stop thinking about this magnificent fish. What's not pictured is a debris field of pulverized shells that were in front of the wolfish home (a broken pipe.)  In other words, anyone who was unlucky enough to be a passerby in this particular location.

After snapping a few pictures she became a little bit agitated and began to show off her artillery (pictured below). At that point I let her be and returned to the boat overjoyed, and happy to still have all my fingers...

 
Well folks, the season is in full swing. I'll do my best to start posting on a regular basis. In the mean time, enjoy the wolfish. A face that only a mother, or a fish-nerd could love...

Saturday Night Ledge

      Here's our short film on "Saturday Night Ledge," located offshore of Gloucester, Massachusetts. This video was shot over the course of 5 days during September-November 2011. Despite frozen head and hands, sea-sickness, and a touch of narcosis, we had a blast making this one. This is truly a magical place.

Thanks to Cape Ann Divers, Captain Steve, and Dave for getting us there and back so many times in one piece.

Shot on a Canon T2i with natural light (or lack thereof)...

Above Cape Ann

Last fall, my buddy Mike Abelson took me up in his Skylane RG to get some aerial shots of Cape Ann. We were able to quickly and easily identify some of the best dive sites around the island. It was a hazy, but beautiful day, and it's always a blast riding in the front seat of a small plane (not to mention hanging out the window, camera in hand). In any case, this video that I finally cut together offers a unique perspective of some of our favorite dive sites. Enjoy!

"This Place Sucks"

Some unbelievable cave diving footage from Mexico. Great cutting and music in the video. You will also see some footage of some ancient bones found in the cave system. Not much info on where they were or the diving conditions, but great video work. Check it out:

Some more from the archives

         The Green Diver crew has been tirelessly preparing for the new dive season: gear inspection, maintenance, improvements, and some more camera equipment. We'll probably hit the water in May sometime and have some new content shortly after. In the mean time, I'll continue to post some more stuff from last year as I come across it...

A fierce friend at The Salvages. He kept trying to get his reflection in my camera housing.

Rock covered in tunicates at the Salvages

Star tunicate, pretty but invasive.

Ocean Men: Extreme Dive

I've been waiting for a long time for someone to post this video as it is virtually unavailable for purchase or television viewing. This IMAX documentary was shot in 2001 documenting champion freedivers, Pipin Ferreras & Umberto Pelizzari's world record freedive attempts. This is a beautifully shot film and I regret never having the opportunity to actually see it in IMAX. Enjoy!

Lucy

I was at my folks house yesterday and was snapping some pictures of my parent's amazon parrot, Lucy. I had to post a macro of her eye. It looks like an alien planet. If you think this is disturbingly close up, you should see the high resolution version. Enjoy...

Diving Locker Museum

If you're not one of the fruitcakes that dives in the winter, now is an excellent time to visit Paul Harling at the Diving Locker Museum. Paul is a great guy to chat with about all things diving and his little museum is jam packed with all kinds of cool diving gear. You can even try on an antique diving helmet while you are there. Diving nerds beware.. Plan to send at least an hour here, and be sure to ask Mr. Harling questions- he has a story for everything in the museum.

Random Pictures

I've been going through my photos from this past year and looking through ones that I've either initially ignored or overlooked. Most of them are more abstract or screwed up for one reason or another, but others came out unintentionally awesome. Here's a picture of diver, Chuck Marrone, at the bottom of the mooring line at Saturday Night Ledge. His flashlight, hosed my camera's exposure settings to a dramatic effect. All you can see of Chuck is his arm and his bubbles. I desaturated the image because I liked the way it looked in B&W.

Here's the silhouette of hydroids on the side of a granite boulder on the Rockport breakwater.

Ipswich River Audubon Sanctuary

The Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary is a nice spot tucked into the north shore of Massachusetts. We generally only walk here during the winter months to hand feed the birds, but it's a nice place for a short hike in any case.

We began out walk in the early afternoon with the moon poking through the trees.

Unfortunately, there were many people here on this nice winter day, and we had trouble finding spots with hungry birds. After a little while we had some chickadees start to take interest. 

Robin did most of the feeding this day as my hands were cold and full of camera. It was impossible to get any of these little guys to hold still for me. They have no interest in hanging around after they grab a seed. They also hate the sound of my camera's shutter, which they are faster than... I got a lot of images that looked like the one below.

There were also many ground squirrels running everywhere boasting plundered bird seed. We were overjoyed teasing them about their tufted ears. They didn't find it amusing...

Moonless Night Sky in Chesham

   

I recently had the pleasure of spending the holidays with my family (and the rats) up in New Hampshire. We were treated to clear nights and a beautiful sky while we were there.

Happy Holidays

A belated Merry Christmas to all from Mr. Charley...

         On one of the last warm days of the season, I went for a quick walk at Great Brook Farm in Carlisle. It was mid November with unseasonably warm and sunny weather. While having a rest under some hulking pine trees, I heard some rustling in the leaves by my feet. A tiny garter snake poked his head out and gave me a look wondering what I was doing there. Almost certain he would be long-gone by the time I got out the camera, I decided to at least try to get a picture. To my surprise, not only did the little guy not slither away, he came closer, about 2 feet away from where I was sitting. I carefully slid towards him snapping a photo here and there. After sniffing my camera, he decided I was no longer a person of interest and went on his way. Hopefully he is curled up and warm underground somewhere, I wish I was...