It's not over.......

Some of the best New England diving occurs after the summer is over. The visibility increases because there is less particulate, like fish eggs and algae in the water.  The thick eel grass dies down, but the water is still warm enough for a lot of sea creatures to be moving around.  Night dives bring out an abundance of lobsters, sea robins, squid and the possibility of tropical fish.
The water temperature in the fall is often warmer than the air temperature. Also, donning a thicker wetsuit is less strenuous in the cooler weather. Although you will not perspire as much getting into the water, bring an extra sweater for after the dive. There is nothing better than enjoying the outdoors on a fall day! We can expect the water to be warmer than 50 degrees into late December.
The fall is also a great time to start practicing with a drysuit. As drysuit prices continue to fall,  it might be time to think about extending your season.  We dive all winter and sometimes use our drysuits on deeper summer dives. (ie. U-853) Wearing a drysuit requires a bit more training, usually starting with a pool experience before getting into the ocean.  If you are interested in discussing the benefits of drysuit diving, give us a call or e-mail. We would be happy to set up an introductory session for you.

You say fluke, I say flounder.......you say summer, I say winter...

One of the biggest mysteries of the sea (or maybe just to me) is how to tell the difference between winter flounder, summer flounder and fluke.  To solve one question, summer flounder and fluke are the same fish. Summer flounder are found in coastal waters from the southern Gulf of Maine to Florida.  The Summer flounder, like other species of flatfish have both eyes on one side of its head.  Fluke (aka summer flounder) are considered left-handed because both eyes are on the left side of the fish. To clarify, look at the fish as a whole with the dorsal fin ("back-bone"on top.  To figure out which side is left or right, imagine the flounder turned on edge like a regular fish with its eyes above the mouth. If the fish has eyes on the left side of the body it is a summer flounder. If the eyes are on the right side, it is a winter flounder.The fish pictured above is a winter flounder we took a picture of at Ft. Wetherill, RI.

                                                                                                                                                           

A weekend of diving....

This Sunday we will be completing an Advanced Openwater diving course.  The last two dives will take place at Ft. Wetherill State Park in Jamestown, RI.  The PADI Advanced Course consists of five specialty dives and is designed to fine tune your abilities after completing your Open Water course.  Last Sunday in the pool, the students completed the Peak Performance Buoyancy workshop. We worked on proper weighting, specialized finning techniques and hovering.  We also spent time learning how to use lift bags and pony bottles.  These two pieces of equipment are frequently used on deep and wreck diving adventures.  Thursday, we completed the navigation and night diving specialty requirements.  On the night dive we saw lobsters and northern sculpin.  The objective of the navigation dive was to be able to do some underwater exploration without getting lost in low visabilty conditions.
This Sunday, we anticipate beautiful weather. It may even be........hot!!! This means that the ocean water is getting warmer and more suitable for long comfortable dives.  The deep dive is located on a wall and allows us to gradually reach a depth of 80 feet.  The wall is covered with gorgeous anemones and it is common to see skates, sea robins, and tube worms.  This is also a great dive for the underwater naturalist and photographer specialty courses. For more information on the Advanced Openwater Course, go to our website. http://www.seaviewscubact.com/

Sexy Saturday - Is there something in the water?

"What is all that stuff in the water?" This is a common question after completing a spring time dive.  The good news is, during the summer months you will see a lot more fish and lobsters.  The bad news is, right now you are swimming through their eggs and larvae!
Ichthyoplankton is the scientific term for the eggs and larvae of fish that are found near the surface of the oceans.  Most fish larvae drift along with the surface currents until they are developed enough to swim on their own. New England lobster larvae spend the whole summer as free-swimming plankton near the warmer surface layer. Horseshoe crabs produce thousands of eggs and there are many species of jellyfish floating through the water column at all depths.
So what are we swimming with? The list is amazing. Recent studies of Long Island Sound*, have found the larvae from different species of flounder, hake, mackeral, scup, butterfish, horseshoe crabs, lobsters and more. We also see hydromedusa, siphonophores, comb jellies and moon jellies. (all non-stinging)
So next time you go out to Stonington for a dive.......

*http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/projects/ct/mtapa/moheganefha.pdf

When animals (fish) attack!!!!

On our recent trip to Cozumel, I was bitten by a Damselfish!  No blood was drawn, but I am sure that if I had not been wearing a full 3mm wetsuit, I might be missing a tiny area of skin!  Notoriously territorial, the many species of Damselfish are not afraid to attack divers and chase away intruders. This is very impressive for a fish that is usually only 3 to 6 inches long. Their tiny mouths are lined with sharp teeth.
Damselfish are very aggressive and quickly attack anything within their proximity. After laying approximately 200,00 eggs the female swims away and the male takes over to guard the eggs, attacking everything in sight until they mature and hatch.
I feel special though.  The chance of being bitten by a fish underwater is slim.  Most fish rely on clever color changes to blend into the environment and avoid being seen by predators. Other species rely on speed and maneuverability to make a quick escape.  Pipefish and Seahorses are protected by thick scales and bony plates that make them hard to ingest.  The Porcupine fish inflates a spine covered body and Scorpion fish, stingrays and Stonefish have venomous spines to discourage predators.
Most fish are carnivores (meat eaters) that eat shellfish, worms and other fish. Oh, and the occasional diver!

Sexy Saturday "What's love got to do with it?"

The lobster is a solitary animal. They roam the sea floor looking for food and possibly a fight.  When two lobsters meet, there is always a challenge for territory and some fights that occur are "to the death." The only time two lobsters may inhabit the same burrow is during a brief mating encounter. Once a female has molted and her shell is still soft, she may allow a male to tickle her shell (or fancy) with his antennae.  If she is receptive, the male lobster enters the burrow.  While raising on his tail and claws, the male uses his legs to flip the female over.  The male lobster has a pair of hardened swimmeretts, or fins that he will use to pass a gelatinous blob of sperm to the female. The female has a recepticle on her shell located along her swimmeretts which will be used to store the sperm until fertilization. The female can store the sperm for several months until the egg-laying season in July and August. When a female produces fertilized eggs she fans them away to disperse with the current.  These planktonic larvae float along the surface for 4 to 6 weeks.  After molting five times, they are about an inch long.  At this time they swim to the bottom to start their sedentary lives.
The female lays about 50,000 eggs during a mating season, but only 2 will generally survive to a legal catch size for lobstering.  It takes 5 to 7 years for a lobster to grow to be one pound.

Sexy Saturday - Horseshoe Crabs

It's almost time for the horseshoe crabs again.  In the cold winter months, they go to deeper water and bury in the mud, waiting for spring. (Like the rest of us!)  As we start diving regularly again, we always see mating pairs of horseshoe crabs scooting around on the bottom. Here is their story;
The American Horseshoe Crab (Limulus polyphemus) is not actually related to a crab at all.  They are more closely related to scorpions, ticks and land spiders.  They are however, one of the longest surving species, with a design basically unchanged in 250 million years.  Their hard curved shell makes it difficult for predators to turn them over and they can adapt to big changes in temperature and salinity. A horseshoe crab can go without eating for almost a year if necessary.
Each spring during a new moon or full moon high tide, male horseshoe crabs start migrating in toward the shoreline.  Once the females start to arrive, the males release a pheromone into the water to attract them and use their compound eyes to spot a potential mate.  Once a female has been selected, the smaller male uses a glove-like claw to attach to her shell.  The female then drags the male in toward the beach.  Every few feet on shore, the female digs and deposits as many as 20,000 eggs.  The male fertilizes the eggs as he is pulled over the nest.
A female may lay as many as 90,000 eggs each season, but with very high predatory rates only about 10 percent survive to adulthood.  The eggs of the horseshoe crab are an important source of food for migratory shorebirds, and many species of fish feed on larvae or recently molted juvenilles.
For more information, NOAA has a whole website devoted to the the horseshoe crab. http://www.http//www.ceoe.udel.edu/horseshoecrab/