I ended up jumping on a early Friday afternoon charter with Cape Ann Divers (CAD) to Burnham Rock and the Chester Poling with my friend Matt H. and Sang. I had not been on a dive boat since January due to weather and my rebreather was drying up since my trip to Florida in March.
The water was a brisk 38f (~3.3c) on the bottom but otherwise conditions were great. We had a little excitement on our first dive at Burnham Rock when the mooring broke right at the beginning of the dive but other than that it was a great dive. I guess Matt H. noticed the mooring broke immediately when we started the dive but I wasn’t really paying attention and just happily continued the dive until we turned around and then I noticed the mooring (and our strobes) were missing right where the line is usually tied in. Oh well..a free ascent it was. There were only 4 of us so we all ascended together. There was minimal current and a couple of us shot bags at 30ft.
Burnham Rock
Max depth: 121ft
Runtime: 55 minutes
Visibility: ~20-25ft.
We then headed to the venerable Poling for our 2nd dive. Dave S. splashed in first (in his trusty wetsuit) to set a mooring since both did not survive the winter. The deck on the Poling is definitely sagging a lot more and sections of the Poling near the break end are collapsing even more.
Chester Poling
Max depth: 97ft
Runtime of 48 minutes because Matt H’s heated vest was not working.
Visibility: approximately ~25-30ft of visibility on the Poling.
Both Burnham Rock and the Poling were covered invertebrate life. Not too many fish or lobsters yet although we definitely saw a few keeper sized lobsters hanging around.
