Morning and afternoon charters aboard Daybreaker

Daybreaker

I was scheduled to crew for both the morning and afternoon charters this Saturday aboard the Daybreaker with Matt.    The morning charter was scheduled to go to the Big Fantastic Wall (BFW) and Diver’s Choice and the afternoon charter was scheduled to go to Halfway Rock and then back to Big Fantastic Wall (BFW) again. On the morning charter we had a full boat combined with an advanced nitrox/deco procedures class being taught in sidemount. Knowing full well the amount of gear and tanks that typically ends up on…

2 Hour 15 Minute Shore Dive at Old Garden Beach

rEvo rebreathers at Old Garden Beach

Because the marine forecast called for high winds 20-25kts SW with gusts up to 30kts Matt decided to bag the charters for Saturday. Instead I met up with Brie and Scott on their rebreathers to do a nice long shore dive at Old Garden Beach.  Me and Matt were originally supposed to drive the Daybreaker down to Scituate to dive the Pinthis but that would have not been a fun ride in a 10kt boat in those conditions. In fact it would have been long and miserable. Anyway, not wanting to…

Scootering at Old Garden Beach

It’s been a while since I’ve been in the salt water (ok I just realized that’s a lie..it’s been a while since my rebreather has seen salt water) and had a few things I needed to test.  Most importantly, my aqualung/tear aid repair job on my exhale counterlung.  I also wanted to test my repaired battery on my Suex Xjoy2 scooter and my new Light Monkey bailout system. What better place than Old Garden Beach in Rockport, MA on a Sunday morning. Me and Mike W. met up at Old…

Batman goes scallop diving and finds a torpedo bottle

scallop diving

Although the weather this weekend was not ideal I managed to get out on a scallop charter on Saturday.   With my gear still wet from Scapa Flow I figured another trip into the salt wouldn’t hurt it.  I didn’t bother diving my rebreather mainly out of pure laziness since I didn’t feel like assembling it or filling scrubbers. Honestly sometimes single-tank dives are just easier especially on a 50ft scallop dive with lots of current. Me and Annie went out with Boston Scuba with Kim, Kevin N. and some…

Why does your dive gear smell like rotting fish?

I noticed a faint smell emanating from my rubermaid dive bin on Thursday afternoon that deserves some mention. Actually perhaps the rubbermaid container deserves some explanation first. In New England and I presume lots of other places rubbermaid bins tend to be the ubiquitous dive gear container on most dive boats.  They fit nicely under most dive benches, have plenty of room for storage and all of your gear can easily be rinsed and washed out inside the container.   They also help keep your car dry instead of using…

Trip Report: Bottle diving, scallop diving & Chester Poling

The weather this weekend turned out better than can be expected for New England winter boat diving.   With the winds blowing for most of the week I did not have high expectations for the conditions but I was pleasantly surprised when the winds finally laid down on Friday and I was greeted with flat and calm seas Saturday morning.   Although I have been diving most weekends in January and February all of these dives have unfortunately been shore dives since pretty much every charter has been blown out this…