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

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