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.

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.

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!

Folly Cove, the little stuff...

        Chuck and I took my macro setup to Folly cove on Sunday. We were originally scheduled to dive U-853 again, but 30 mph and 10' seas cancelled our trip. I can't say I wasn't relieved, I really didn't want to be on Canned Air "the rocket sled" in those conditions. It may be fun feeding the gulls your breakfast, but vomiting over the side of a boat gets old after 6 or 7 times. Hopefully the weather will pan out next Sunday.
        In light of everything being blown out, we opted for a Cape Ann shore dive. Wind was blowing out everywhere facing south so Folly was as calm as can be. We saw our friends on the Cape Ann Divers boat finding some shelter behind the Lobster Pool restaurant and decided to harass them from shore. Their divers were exploring the granite seawall east of the restaurant.
       We saw the usual assortment of critters, and admittedly, it was nice to have a stress-free dive compared to Nazi submarine wreckage and claustrophobic Saturday Night Ledge. We were in snapping pictures and exploring for over an hour. Miraculously, Chuck's makeshift drysuit-zipper-clamp worked and he stayed reasonably dry. In other words, just the normal amount of water we get in our suits. We'll see how it holds up at 5 atmospheres. Below are some higher-res images from Folly, enjoy!

The fine folks at Cape Ann Divers

Close-up of some gnarly urchin skin

Diplosoma listerianum, invasive, but pretty.

Spider crab getting romantic with Chuck.

Blood star, and a freak of nature. I actually didn't notice until I looked at my pictures when I got home.

Club tunicate engulfed by colonial tunicate.

Rock crab with beady yellow eyes.

sea star close-up

Chester A. Poling

The Chester Poling is probably the most popular wreck dive in Cape Ann. In 1977 this coastal tanker was literally ripped in half in 30 foot seas during a fierce January storm. Today recreational divers can only access the stern half of the wreck located just outside of Gloucester harbor. The bow portion was carried several miles out to sea where it now rests upside down, in 190 feet of water only to be seen by technical divers.
 

 Our first Poling dives this year were on July, 23. We set out with Cape Ann Divers on their small boat with Captain Jim.  Getting into our drysuits proved difficult as temperatures approached 100 degrees, everyone was chewing on ice cubes to stay cool. Jim moored on the break of the wreck. As we traveled down the mooring line, water temps quickly dropped to about 45 degrees. It felt like going from summer to winter in the span of 100' and about 90 seconds.

  After our decent we took a quick swim over the the break. As you round the side of the wreck you are treated to a spectacular, cavernous opening exposing the guts of the ship. The break is about 20' tall and 40' wide and filled with twisted, jagged metal, old rope, and encrusted with invertebrate life. The space is far too big to be captured in a single picture. The wreck also rests in muck so visibility can become very poor especially if divers start to kick up the silt. I only ventured a few feet into the break to get pictures. Any serious wreck penetration should be reserved for properly equipped technical divers.

The shot above was the first thing I saw the very first time I dove this site. Having never been that deep before and looking down into the wreck, I aptly dubbed this the "Ladder to Hell." I'm now pleased to return with better camera equipment that can capture a decent image of it. It looks like it goes down forever, our best lights can't seem to hit the bottom of this ladder. The structure is now overcome with frilled anemone and tubularian hydroid.                                   
                                                                  

Rob, another photographer swimming by in his red, vulcanized rubber drysiut, looking like a martian of some kind.




Chuck is getting filthy in the muck below looking for the resident wolf fish that lives under the break (we didn't find him). Chuck was also kind enough to take my picture, but as my girlfriend bluntly put it, I "looked like a fat-faced pinhead." (I really did) So we'll try again next time, maybe a little shallower...


We were able to muster a combined 50 minutes of down time from the dives. I'm currently looking at some video I shot there, but have yet to cut anything together. I'll share some video cuts in the upcoming weeks. 

Folly Cove, Gloucester

       Last month, against our better judgment, Chuck and I decided to dive Folly Cove in the pouring rain. After days of bad weather and massive electrical storms, we didn't have high hopes for the visibility or the overall comfort level of the dive. It also wasn't encouraging that the cove was completely abandoned.     

Proceeding a ridiculous attempt to get into my drysuit in the back of my Honda, I was ready to jump in. Following the western side of the cove to Folly Point, we were surprised and pleased to enjoy excellent visibility and tranquil conditions underwater. The first thing we noticed was a staggering amount of sand dollars resting on the bottom, there were thousands of them. You could hardly find a square foot patch of sand without them.

      On our way out, halfway to the point, we saw a fully grown ocean pout. It was a beauty. Very docile, it allowed us to get right next to it without being spooked. Eventually it lazily swam beside us and then rested next to the wall. The fish had an obvious full belly which probably contributed to it's overall sluggishness.  

 After hitting Folly Point, we were ready to turn around. I looked up one last time and realized that I was completely engulfed by a huge school of Pollock. Completely overwhelmed, I started sucking down air like crazy. The school, hundreds strong, moved as one giant swarm. I briefly attempted to keep up with them, but quickly determined that it was a futile action. As fast as they appeared, they were gone around the point. On the way back to shore we saw our ocean pout friend again, this time resting in the sand. I drove home with my head in the clouds, it was a great day to be a fish-nerd.