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

Saturday Night Ledge and Burnham Rock 2

        In a continued effort to shoot as much SNL video as possible before the end of the season, we booked another Cape Ann Divers charter to take us out. We were blessed with another flat day, unusual for mid October. With only 3 of us on the boat, we got to spread out and relax before the dives. Conditions underwater were not as nice as the surface. It was another foreboding, murky day at the base of the mooring line. While Chuck was grappling with an unruly, tangled wreck reel and a slowly leaking drysuit, I swam around the general area taking pictures. Alas, we never even made it to the trench. Although generally not difficult to find, our own minor problems and nitrogen induced confusion hampered our less than perfect navigational skills. This proved to be a mixed blessing as I was able to take my time and get some nice pictures to incorporate into the video.        
         At Burnham, the current was up and sweeping through the trench. It was strange because we really didn't feel the current until we hit the bottom. I swam through the trench a little bit and took some more pictures. While we were down there, Chuck seemed reluctant to move away from the mooring line. I realized when we were back on the boat that he had suffered a catastrophic drysuit zipper fail. When Chuck got out of his suit we were all shamefully amused when he emptied about 2 gallons of 55 degree water out of his legs. Funny when it's not you... So Chuck didn't have the best day in the world, and we didn't really get much video done. However, as always, it was a good day because there were no major issues and everyone returned to the boat safely.   

Sleeping anemones

Spiny sun star

Stalked tunicate

Cunner by the mooring line

Spiny sun star

The camera strobe illuminates the hidden color that is everywhere down there. I will paste this image to the forehead of the next person that tells me "there's nothing to see while diving in New England"