Summer 2006 Dive Report - Local Diving in New Jersey
 

August 13th & 14th - Alex Mac
On Sunday morning, we headed out to find New Jersey's most recent shipwreck, Alex Mac.  The Alex Mac was a 64 foot, wooden scallop boat that collided with a barge on July 29th and sank almost iDepth Finder Reading of the Alex Mac - Note the Water Tempmmediately about 7 miles out of Shark River Inlet.  We had acquired a set of coordinates from a trusty source, and want to take a look at a contemporary wreck site.  When we exited the inlet out of Belmar, NJ aboard the Stingray, we were greeted with blue skies and calm seas.  We could even see the moon still high up in the sky.  After about a 50 minute ride, Captain Henrick had a hit on the depth finder about 100 ft from our target coordinates.  When we descended, we found the Alex Mac, laying on her starboard side.  The paint is still on the wooden boat and the name of the bStern of the Alex Macoat is still evident on the port side and the stern.  It appears that the impact must have been on the starboard side as not much impact damage was evident elsewhere.  The wreck should be dove with great care as one can easily be entangled in all the loose rope, chain, cable and electrical wiring on the wreck.  It is not a big wreck and it is easy to navigate. A lot of  bottom time can be made on the wreck as the top of it is only 60 feet deep.  Penetrating the wheelhouse can be disorientating as the wreck is laying on its side. It is also a tight squeeze in doubles.  The water temperature was 54° on the bottom and 74° down to 20 feet for our safety stops.  There is still oil or fuel leaking from the wreck.  We noticed petroleum on the surface between our dives.  We noted a few small tropical fish on the wreck, which is nice to see for a wreck that sank just 6 weeks earlier.  We had such a good time with Captain Henrick on Sunday, a few of us decided to come back for a dive on Monday morning before the afternoon winds picked up.
 

August 4th - 8th    Andrea Doria Expedition
For the full report on the 50th Anniversary Expedition to the famed Italian Luxury Liner, Andrea Doria, check out the trip report by following this link:  Andrea Doria Trip Report

July 26th Night Dive on the Pinta
We headed out on Wednesday evening for a night dive on board the Stingray.  The weather looked good so we decided to head out to the wreck of the Pinta.  The Pinta lies in about 90 feet of sea water and is the result of a collision in 1963.  WePhoto by Clare Deming encountered 3 foot seas with an occasional 5 footer in between on our way out.  We had 11 passengers on the trip and everyone enjoyed the night dive.  The main mission for the dive was to recover a Pulley that Andrew Epstein had found on a previous dive inside the wreck and pulled out into the sand mid-ship.  When we descended, we discovered that we were hooked into the bow, so we headed aft until we came across the pulley.  R.J. and Andrew tied the pulley up and sent it to the Surface with a 100 lb lift bag, attached to a wreck reel.  Dave Esehak finished his dive early so he could retrieve the pulley on the boat while R.J. and Andrew reeled the pulley back to the anchor line.  We encountered bioluminescence on our safety stop which was pretty cool.   The pulley turned out to be a 12" steel pulley, probably used in the holds to move the cargo around that the Pinta was hauling.  Andrew has begun the restoration process and it is coming along nicely.  Already, some writing has been found on it and once it is fully restored, we will have pictures available.

July 22nd & 23rd Trip to Rhode Island
Due to Tropical Storm Beryl, our trip to Rhode Island to go dive the U-853,
USS Blackpoint and USS L-8 was cancelled. 

July 4th - 8th North Carolina Trip
Our first 2 days in North Carolina were excellent.  We had blue water from Top to Bottom with surface temperatures as high as 82°F.  On July 4th, we dove the E.M. Clark and were treated to Hammerhead and Sand Tiger shark sightings.  What an awesome dive.  On July 5th, we dove the Dixie Arrow and had similar conditions.  The highlight of the dive was the 18 Ft. Stingray that was being followed around by about 10 cobia's that were 3 to 4 Ft in length each.  For some cool pictures from the trip, check out Paul Gacek's website:  http://paulgacek.home.att.net/nc2006.html
Unfortunately, high winds and rough seas prevented us from getting out the next 3 days.  We made the most of the trip and went 4x4 on the beach and took the ferry over to Ocracoke Island to eat at Howard's Pub and check out the Black Beard museums.  We had a great time hanging out with Captain Arty, aka "The Legend".  We also discovered a new restaurant, Dinky's, that was absolutely fantastic. 

June 25th - Texas Tower Trip
We left the dock at Midnight and headed out to site of the Texas Tower #4 aboard the Dive Boat, John-Jack.  The Texas Tower was Divers Gearing Up!was a pre-satellite era radar facility to detect a nuclear threat against the United States during the Cold War.  The Texas Tower collapsed on January 15th, 1961 in a North East storm off the coast of New Jersey.  When we arrived at the sight of the Texas Tower #4 at around 8:00 Nice Find by R.J.AM we were greeted with an overcast sky, but flat seas.  Everybody splashed in and had a great dive.  We had 40' of visibility on the bottom.  The Texas Tower has further eroded from when it originally collapsed and now the shallowest point on the wreck is 140 Ft.  After our dive on the Texas Tower, we headed into an inshore wreck in the hopes to find some Lobster's for dinner.  We ended up on an old Barge and instead of Dinner, we found a pile of old antique bottles.  Everyone on the trip came up with at least one bottle!  For more pictures from our trip, check out our Texas Tower Gallery:  http://www.treasurecovedivers.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=3

June 22nd - Intro to Boat/Wreck Diving - Macedonia
On Thursday afternoon, we headed out to the wreck of the Macedonia with a gChina Recoved from Macedoniaroup of new divers for an Intro to Boat and Jersey Wreck Diving aboard the Dive Boat, John-Jack.  We were treated with some nice seas and about 25' of visibility on the bottom.  The Macedonia was a coal fired steam freighter that was sunk in 1899 by a collision with the Steamship SS Hamilton of the Old Dominion Fleet.  One of our new divers, Peter Bredlau, Jr.  found a piece of china with the Old Dominion logo on it.  Imagine that, finding a piece of china on a wreck from the ship that collided with the wreck over 100 years later.  Nice find Pete!!

June 18th - Father's Day Charter - Macedonia
On Father's day, we headed out on the Dive Boat, John-Jack, to the wreck of the Macedonia.  The Macedonia sits in 60 feet of sea water about 5 miles south of Sandy Hook.  Captain Nicky steered us out of the inlet as we headed out to the wreck site.  R.J. tied us in on the propeller shaft, just aft of the boilers and engine.  The Macedonia is continuous and easy to navigate along the wreck as the propeller shaft runs up and down the center, back half of the wreck.  The boilers and engine are the biggest pieces on the wreck and have an abundance of small fish around them.  We did just one dive and headed in to spend the rest of the day with our fathers.  A good dive was had by all.