Diving Header
Once in a while in the winter the boss has a heart and gives me days off to do my own thing. Many of you who fish with us know that scuba diving has been a favorite pastime of mine for nearly 30 years and that our winter down time is when I get to do a bunch of offshore diving with my long time friends on their boat. Each season our regulars with an interest in the sport ask me lots of questions about things pertaining to diving such as what types of critters we see, what kinds of things we find, how much gear do we need and the always funny "Why would sane people jump off a perfectly good boat miles from land in the dead of winter?" just to name a few. I have decided to do something different from our normal fishing reports and post just a couple of the dive related pictures taken by our group which might help to answer a few of your questions or possibly raise new ones for me to answer this coming season. I hope that some of you find these interesting. Junior

Winter diving is DEFINITELY equipment intensive!

Diving 01

A walk on the moon would probably require less gear.
Here one of the guys is nearly ready to take the plunge.

Diving 02

Mementos from a bygone era can still be found, with a
little effort, on many NJ shipwrecks. The spoons and
deadeye are from an 1800's sailing ship while the brass
valve and dish are from a 1920's steamship.

Diving 03

This SILVER fork was found on the 1898 wreck of
the steamship DELAWARE and is stamped on the handle
with "Clyde S.S. Co.", the owner of the vessel.

Diving 3A

The ultimate dream and Mount Everest of artifacts for
every serious wreck diver is to find a ship's bell.
My friends Harry and Bart often dive together and are
shown here with the heavy bronze bow bell that Harry
recovered from the steamship DELAWARE on
October 23, 2010!! It has since cleaned up beautifully
and now shines like the day it was made!

Diving 3b

Most well known shipwrecks and rock piles are
LOADED with lost sinkers. This 60 pound pile is quite
typical and was recovered by one person on ONE dive!

Diving 04

Some of the large party boats that sailed from Sheepshead
Bay, Brooklyn, NY, from the 1910's through the 1940's
sold sinkers stamped with either the name of the boat or its
captain as a way to promote their businesses to customers. These are EXTREMELY RARE to find on the inshore
wrecks and rock piles today and are greatly desired by
collectors. Here are a few that my friends and I have
been fortunate enough to find over the years.

Diving 05a

Anchors are frequently left on the bottom by boaters
who drop them in the "wrong" places. This one will
be cleaned and put back in service.

Diving 11

The deeper NJ wrecks are great places to get some of
the largest, sweetest mussels found anywhere this side
of Prince Edward Island!!

Diving 06

These colorful critters need no introduction and are #1
on most divers edible "get" lists. DEEELICIOUS!!

Diving 07

Another nice critter!

Diving 10

Big blackfish like these 13 (left) and 10 pounders have
been a common site on the wrecks we have visited so far
this winter and have made easy targets, and tasty meals,
for a couple of veteran spear fishermen in our group.

Diving 08

This 18.3 pound monster tog was speared back in
late January on one of our "secret" spots and
was our largest of the winter!

Diving 09