Braille dive on the City of Salisbury

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I was originally scheduled to dive the Pinthis on the Gauntlet but unfortunately the winds were not cooperative at all this weekend.  It was a nice ride out but the forecast was predicting that winds were going to gust up to 25-30kts SW in the afternoon which would have made for a not-so-great boat ride back from Scituate so Heather opted to stay local and we dove the City of Salisbury which “can” at times have decent visibility.  Keyword here being….can. Dave and Tim splashed in first to set a…

Gear Review: Light Monkey Bailout Attachment System (BAS)

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When I was at Beneath The Sea (BTS) I stopped by the Light Monkey booth to look at some new products. Consequently, I purchased the Light Monkey Bailout Attachment System (BAS) for use with my rebreather.  Now I’m finally getting around to writing a quick review. I know it’s ultimately just a bunch of bungee, webbing and large rings but I think it’s a pretty slick setup.   All things considered, it’s compact, unobtrusive and the large rings are easy to find and manipulate with thick dry gloves. You can…

Wreck of the Herbert with NADE

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I was originally scheduled to dive the Coyote (~175ft) with Northern Atlantic Dive Expeditions (Gauntlet) but the offshore forecast wasn’t looking so hot with 3-4ft swells and heavy fog predicted so Heather opted to run to the wreck of the Herbert instead (~100ft) . Not a huge deal. At least with rebreathers you have nobody wasting a 150 dollar trimix fill on a 100ft dive. I was just happy to be on a boat and not blown out for a change. Since I had already packed my car for the…

Nudibranchs and Beer: Shore diving Folly Cove & Back Beach

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I decided to get some open circuit “practice” in on Sunday and Monday and left the rebreather at home. Me and Annie dove Folly Cove on Sunday while Lewis joined us on Monday (Patriot’s Day) at Back Beach.  As much as I hate shore diving I didn’t really want to pay for another two days of charter fees.  It was also pretty windy so I didn’t want to end up getting blown out and then go to a less than optimal dive site.  4 days of diving in row in…

Trip Report: Big Fantastic Wall (BFW) & Poling with CAD

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We decided to continue the trend of good weather and booked a Saturday morning charter with Cape Ann Divers to the Big Fantastic Wall (BFW) and the Chester Poling. Myself, Matt H., Lea H. and Sang were signed up for the charter. Visibility not as good as yesterday but still decent. It was ~20ft on the Poling in some areas.  On Big Fantastic Wall it definitely seemed less but then again I had my nose up against the wall for the entire dive so it could have been a lot…

Trip Report: Burnham Rock & Poling with CAD

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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…

Scootering at Old Garden Beach

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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…

My CCR Cave Diving Course with Paul Heinerth

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A little background information first.  It was a while ago that I started my “full cave” journey.  In March 2012 I took Cavern/Intro/Apprentice with German Yanez in Cozumel, Mexico.   He was a great instructor and I really enjoyed class with him but this was all on open circuit and to be perfectly honest I haven’t dove doubles frequently enough in the last two years to want to complete my full cave on open circuit.  I still dive OC but I just prefer to be on a rebreather for most dives…

Review of Thermalution Heated Vest (Yellow Grade)

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Thermalution heated vest

I wanted to wait a few months before finally writing a review for the Thermalution Heated Vest.  On a whim I purchased the Thermalution Heated Vest (Yellow Grade Plus) with the wireless remote controller.  I’ve been looking into getting an active heating system for use under my drysuit for some time but it has been hard to stomach the costs when I know the incredible markup on a lot of dive gear. The Thermalution heated vest is an intriguing one.  Thermalution is a Taiwanese company / manufactured vest that is…

Batman goes scallop diving and finds a torpedo bottle

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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…