"Get the lead out!"



Brass diving boots circa 1920'S



The most common problem for new divers is understanding how much weight they actually need.  Several factors are involved in determining how much lead will have to be worn into the water. 

Are you diving in salt water or fresh water?

   -You will be more buoyant in salt water than fresh because salt water is denser. The addition of salt to fresh water increases the density by 2.5%. This means that salt water weighs 2.5% more than an equivalent volume of fresh water.

 What type of wetsuit are you wearing?

-Neoprene is a synthetic material that was invented by Dupont in 1930.  In diving applications, neoprene provides insulation from the cold because the material is "foamed" with nitrogen gas. The gas pockets cause the material to become very buoyant, so a diver must compensate by wearing weights. The thicker the neoprene, the more weight that is needed to offset its positive buoyancy. A diver wearing a 7mm wetsuit with boots, hood and gloves will need a lot more weight than a diver in a 2mm shorty wetsuit.



A more current style of weight belt!



What are my choices?

There are several new options for weight systems available. Of course, the most important feature of a system is that it can be released with ease in an emergency.  The standard weight belt with a right hand release is still common. Many manufacturers make weight integrated BC's with quick release pockets to make divers more comfortable.



Integrated weight system



Need help?

Most divers rely on information obtained in certification courses.  A detailed logbook will remind you how much weight was needed in both the pool and ocean training.

The PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy course is a great continuing education course. This course teaches you how to determine the exact amount of weight needed to be "not too heavy and not to light."

Proper weighting allows you to move smoothly through the water, hover vertically or horizontally and conserve air.

For information on Advanced Openwater and Peak Performance courses, contact us at: seaviewscuba@sbcglobal.net

We are going hunting....scallops.

Scallops are mollusks, like clams and oysters. They belong to a group called bivalves, meaning the shell consists of two asymmetrical halves joined by a flexible ligament called a hinge. Scallops are found in both bay waters and the sea.  The habitat of a sea scallop is a bottom composition of rough cobble, shells, or coarse sand. They do not attach to anything but instead move through the water by opening and closing the shell for propulsion. The muscle that controls the hinge of the shell is large and meaty, and also the goal of our hunting trip. 

This year, the scallop excursion begins on a cold morning in Gloucester, Massachusetts. We board the boat with the blustery wind in our faces and prepare for the 1 hour boat ride to scallop territory.  The boat captain, Steve always lets us know that we may not find any. Scallop population varies from year to year. A scallop may live as long as twenty years and during that lifetime produce as many as 270 million eggs. Some years though, populations are more scarce.
Our dive begins with a giant stride into water that is 51 degrees. The depth of the dives is about 50 feet and this year visibility was only about 10 feet. In the past we have had great visibility but colder water. I think I prefer warmer water. As you swim along the bottom, the scallops are on the sand making it easy to pick them up and put in your game bag.  A thirty minute dive will usually yield about 50 to 75 scallops depending on the site. Once the dive is over, the bag is tied off to the flag and the diver uses the flag line to ascend.  On the surface, Captain Steve brings the boat over with great skill to pick up each diver.  The boat comes straight for you then turns at the last minute to put the boat ladder within reach.  Captain Steve has had many years of practice and it shows. Once all the divers are aboard, the boat circles around to gather up all the scallop bags.  Some divers prefer to schuck the scallops while on the boat, while others wait until later.

The end result though, is something pictured here. A lightly sauteed scallop with asparagus and a glass of wine. The perfect ending to a great day of diving.

Destination.....Volund.

This morning, I was up before the sun scraping the ice from my windshield.  Soon, the charter boats in the area will stop running until the spring.  I was lucky to get in on one of the last trips of Atlantis Dive Charters. Today's destination was the Volund.
The SS Volund was a Norweigan Freighter built from iron and wood in 1899. It was constructed in Norway and used to transport plaster to Nova Scotia.
On September 26, 1908 it collided with the steamer Commonwealth and sank. Fortunately, no one was killed as a result of the accident.
The wreck of the Volund sits upright and mostly intact in Long Island Sound. The wreck is very dark and covered with a layer of easily disturbed debris. It is a long slow descent to the wreck and once you reach the bottom, a lot of the structure is covered in Northern coral polyps and sea stars. After a tour of the bow section, my dive buddy Pat ran his wreck reel to the stern.  Along the way we passed two anchors, the engines and the helm station. We then swam over the back of the wreck and dropped down on the rudder and propellers. The depth at that point of the dive is 107 feet. I was very fortunate to dive with someone so familiar with the site. It is hard to navigate a wreck site the first few times out, especially on a dive site that is so deep and dark.
I thoroughly enjoyed this dive today. It was a wonderful way to end the local wreck season. Now, on to Gloucester for scallops!!

A very spooky dive......a Halloween treat.

Yesterday, I dove the Larchmont. Located 3 miles Southeast of Watch Hill, this is the wreck of a paddle wheel steamer sunk in 1907.  The story of its sinking is very sad. On an extremely cold and stormy night in February, the Joy Line Steamer "Larchmont" left port in Providence en route to New York. The winds were strong and the seas very rough when the Schooner Harry Knowlton ran into its side.  The two ships collided with such force, they were momentarily stuck together until the rough seas tore them apart again. The gash in the Larchmont was so large that icy water began rushing into the lower decks immediately.  There were 150 passengers and 50 crew members taken by surprise when the ship started to sink.  Only 19 people were able to survive the freezing conditions. All of the survivors were treated with frostbite and pneumonia.
      The dive itself is also a bit spooky. One hundred and three years later, there are just skeletal remains of the paddle wheeler.  (No, thankfully nothing of the victims..) It is one of the darkest New England dives I've done. We started out with Atlantis Dive Charters on an absolutely perfect morning. After my dive buddy Pete and I did our giant strides, we started to follow the anchor line down.  Normally the light from the surface still lets you see down to the wreck site. On this dive, the surface light cuts out after about 70 feet, leaving you dependant on your dive light. Bob, our Divemaster set the descent line perfectly on the remnants of a paddle wheel. Pete and I set down briefly in the sand at 122 feet to get our bearings.  Gary, the captain of Atlantis had told us about the pieces of wood with brass nails that could be found. The site is so dark however, I wanted to keep the ascent line close at all times!! We swam around for a while, looking at the fantastic variety of marine life. The picture above, is the real view of where we ended the dive. After a long slow ascent, we surfaced and agreed that this had been an awesome dive.
Next week....the Grecian with www.atlantis.nu

Great expectations...

Once you achieve the status of "certified diver", there are a few things you need to do. In order to improve your skills and make diving easier, find a buddy with more experience or take an advanced diving course.  The only way to improve is to keep practicing.  Diving with someone with more experience will help you to avoid the common mistakes you could make as a new diver. Enrolling in an advanced diving course will allow you more training time with navigation, use of the dive flag, boat diving, night diving and other new experiences under the guidance of a PADI Instructor.
As a certified diver, you are now responsible for keeping up with your skills and physical conditioning.  We all know that diving can be strenuous on some occasions, so a good fitness regime is important. Keeping your dive skills refreshed means that if a problem does occur, you will be less likely to panic or make bad decisions.
After any dive, think about the different stages and if you could make any improvements. How could you make the entry and exit easier? How could you use less air and minimize the movements of your hands and fins? Are you a good dive buddy? How much weight do you really need? Just a few things to think about...

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.