| Captains Log |  |
2001 Dive Season Trip Reports | |
| May | |
| May June July August September October November | |
| 05/31/01 |  Wind. |
| 05/27/01 | Despite the fog Divers Den North did the 16 mile trek to the Arundo. Seas were calm with the 1/4 mile visibility. Conditions on the wreck were about 20' of vis and low 50 water temp. We did two dives here and besides a few lobsters four nice beer bottles came up.
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| 05/24/01 | 1st trip of the year, finally! SQUID Divers today. Although I didn't think we would make it out based on the forecast, the "weather guessers" were wrong once again. Hardly any wind, or sunshine for that matter and no waves, just a ground swell. 1st dive was on the "120 Wreck" Top conditions were good, 20-25 foot, but on the bottom vis was only 5' or so. Water temp was 54-55º top to bottom. 2nd dive on the Keel wreck had the same conditions. Only 2 lobsters with Stacey's in the 3+ pound range. Stacey may have won the war against the lobster, but the bug won the battle! Thumbs are no match for crusher claws. |
| 05/20/01 | FantaSea SCUBA, no go.
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| 05/19/01 | Diver Services was canceled because we couldn't get the boat in the water on Thursday. The boat was launched today.
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| 05/17/01 | Well, at least the stern was floating before we gave up and put the boat back in the parking lot. |
| 05/16/01 | The scheduled launch will not happen today due to the lack of water flooding in with the high tide. |
| May June July August September October November | |
| May June July August September October November | |
| 06/30/01 | Lang's SCUBA today. 1st stop was at the Beth Dee Bob. For a change no other boats were here. 20' on the bottom and about 50º. 2nd stop was a buoy dive to recover some trinkets. |
| 06/27/01 | Squid Divers again today. This time we did the Seaside Crane Barge and the Irene. Good vis on both with 30' and low 50's bottom temp. Several divers did well with the bugs, especially Al G., who got his largest to date - 4.1 pounds.
The Menhaden (moss bunker) don't stand a chance with nets, chase boats and spotter planes!
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| 06/24/01 | FantaSea SCUBA had an advanced wreck diving class today on the Stolt. We shared the wreck with the Seeker for the 1st dive, securing our own mooring for the 2nd. A dark 20' on the bottom which opened up to about 30' for the 2nd dive with temps around 48º on the bottom. No lobsters but plenty of large fluke were seen swimming around the bottom. Sea conditions got better as the day went on to just about no breeze by the time we left the site. |
| 06/23/01 | NJSDC (New Jersey Skin Diving Club) dove on the Sea Girt Wreck and the Spring Lake Sailor today. Vis varied between 10 - 15'. No lobsters on the 1st dive and only a couple on the 2nd. Despite the weather forecast we had a good day, getting in before it kicked up in the afternoon. |
| 06/22/01 | Canceled |
| 06/21/01 | Squid Divers headed out to the Scallop wreck today and many of the tasty treats were brought back to the boat. Visibility was about 20' and the bottom temp in the low 50's. Our 2nd dive was on the Pinta. With the outgoing tide now vis dropped a bit. "Ze'ev" also brought back some lumber for future projects. Last year he recovered a nice piece of teak from the Viscaya and turned out a few really nice boxes he gave away to divers on that trip.
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| 06/20/01 | Canceled |
| 06/17/01 | Ok, so the weather guessers get one right. The MUD Club was onboard today. Our destination went from the Immaculatta to the Mohawk to the Dykes. Once at the Dykes we put the bow into the wind and watched the ladder and checked the wind indicator. With the "windicator" registering 25 knots out of the northeast.................. back to the dock. We were back at the dock just in time for the torrential downpours, so the "dry divers" got wet anyway. |
| 06/16/01 | Lang's SCUBA headed out to the Ida K and Lana Carol today. Despite the weather predictions we had quite a nice day. Vis on both wrecks was about 25' and the bottom temp was 51º. John B. did the best with lobsters, nabbing 4.5, 3.5 and 2.1 pound bugs. |
| 06/14/01 | Instead of diving this week I helped a friend bring his boat up from Annapolis to Staten Island. Smooth and calm sailing until we hit the "pea soup" fog off of Point Pleasant. From there we ran into Shark River Yacht Club and tied up alongside the Porthole II for the night. After an early departure we arrived in Tottenville in time for the heat wave.
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| 06/10/01 | Diver Services today to the Beth Dee Bob. Sharing the wreck again, this time with the Sea Inn. Flat calm, warm & sunny, what a nice weekend. 2 dives were made here with visibility reported to be about 20'.
FantaSea's intro to wreck diving |
| 06/09/01 | Divers Den North made the 37 mile trek to the RP Resor today and had a great dive. Sharing the wreck with the Seeker, we found 30' of visibility and COLD water on the bottom.
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| 06/06/01 | Today was one of those days you wait all year for. Flat calm, decent water and visibility, pleasant surface temperature and a good bunch of divers. Squid Divers had a fine day on the ocean today. Using the conditions we made a few "number" searches for possible future dive sites. We then dove on the Ranger and the Pinta. Visibility was in the 20' range on both with high 40's on the 1st dive and low 50's on the second. All the divers came up with a bug or 2 today.
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| 06/02/01 | Diver Services had a novice dive this afternoon on the Cannon Tug. Unfortunately for the divers though, visibility was poor and we had grappled he APC's off the stern. So, they never did see the tug. Seas were about 2-4' with an occasional roller thrown in for good measure. |
| 06/01/01 | Wind. |
| May June July August September October November | |
| May June July August September October November | |
| 07/31/01 | Weather
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| 07/28/01 |
Hey Tony!!! You need a checklist!!! |
| 07/26/01 | Squid divers made the trek for 3 miles before turning around with no dives. Today's forecast was the same as yesterdays, small craft advisory, 4-6' seas. Yesterday was a great day with the forecast wrong, today they got it right. |
| 07/25/01 | Today was a fishing trip. When you keep hearing a "bad of fishing is better then a good at work", then you know the fishing is bad! 1 keeper fluke, 5 sea bass, 1 bluefish, 3 dogfish, 5 starfish and 6 sea robins. |
| 07/22/01 | Diver Services again today and back to the Resor. The ocean was almost flat. Wreck conditions changed a little from the weekend, vis dropped to about 30' and the temp jumped up to 43º! Wow. Still a great dive, but none of the divers could locate the gun, wonder if it is still there. The 1st 15 miles heading home we spotted over a 1/2 dozen whales spouting off. Never got close enough to identify though. |
| 07/20/01 | Lang's SCUBA had the boat tonight. A twilight dive on the Dykes and then a night dive on the Cannon Tug. Conditions were the same on both, dark, murky, and a current. About 15' of visibility. The wind had swung around to the west but the seas-swell was coming in from the east, so it was a "rolly" night. |
| 07/19/01 | Canceled due to a broken rudder. But, we would not have gone anyway due to the high seas. |
| 07/16/01 | A near "10" for New Jersey wreck diving the past 3 days. Today Diver Services motored south to the Thomas Hebert Tugboat (sunk March 1993) and then to the RP Resor. A flat ocean with no wind.
Conditions on both wrecks were about the same (they are 5 miles apart). 50 foot visibility and 39º on the bottom. There is now a steady stream of diesel fuel leaking from the Hebert. It is estimated that she had as much as 40,000 gallons of diesel onboard at the time of the sinking.
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| 07/15/01 | FantaSea SCUBA out for a 1 tank afternoon dive on the Cannon Tug |
| 07/15/01 | Lang's SCUBA, Not able to get on the Tolten due to a fishing boat tying up the wreck, we headed south to the Gulf Trade. Had a good dive here and then did a stop on the Irene. Two great days in a row. |
| 07/14/01 | Divers Den North, Big Wood and Scallop Wreck. A dark 20 foot of visibility on the bottom and cold, but good dives none the less. Only a few bugs but plenty of Scallops. A near perfect day on the ocean |
| 07/12/01 | Today SQUID Divers dove on the Ida K and the Delaware. The Ida K was cold but had 30' of visibility. The Delaware was a little warmer but had poorer vis. Capt. Duane knifed a 5.6 pound fluke on the Delaware. Congratulations to Heather for making her 1st New Jersey Wreck Dive.
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| 07/11/01 | Today's dive was aboard the "Strike Force", a friends boat also in Shark River. 2 dives on the Sea Girt Reef, the Car Float and the Northeast rocks. Both dives had similar conditions, cloudy water on top and better vis on the bottom. We had none of the forecasted thunderstorms and the sea was calm. |
| 07/08/01 | Today, on the anniversary of the Delaware catching on fire, Diver Services dove the wreck. Conditions were mediocre, 10' of vis and 50º temperature. A 2nd dive on the Brunette was still cold (49º) but visibility was a bit better at about 15'. Congratulations to Cheryl for making her 1st New Jersey wreck dive. |
225 years of freedom! | |
We took the 1st week of July off, so there will be no reports until the 8th. | |
| May June July August September October November | |
| May June July August September October November | |
| 08/21/01 | The 1st "non-charter" dive brought us to the Navy barracks barge now known as Jack's Spot. Vis was about 30 feet and the temp around 47º. There was a good current running across the wreck from about 10 feet down to the wreck. There was quite a bit of grass shrimp all over the surface of the wreck and a school of fish (1 inch or so) hiding in the lee of the current at the end of the barge. Our 2nd dive was on Scallop Wreck #53. Plenty of scallops were brought up. A west wind, new moon and low tide meant we had to sit at the Belmar Marina for an hour or so while we waited for some water to come into the river. |
| 08/19/01 | We had a Surprise Dock Party  |
| 08/12/01 | FantaSea. Canceled at dock due to impending boomers, so we went out to dinner. |
| 08/12/01 | Lang's SCUBA has the distinction of being the last charter aboard the Porthole II. Our dives today were on the Royce and the 120 Wreck. With the cloudy surface water and no sun, the 1st dive was almost like a night dive! A bunch of lobsters and cold water, 43º. With the sun popping out, the 120 Wreck was a much brighter dive. Kathy & Joe celebrated their anniversary today, congratulations. Our last dive went off without any problems in part by the fine divers who joined us today. We thank all of you for being safe and courteous aboard our boat.
Lang's SCUBA and the Porthole II Captain and Crew celebrate our retirement from chartering with a touching toast by Kathy and a round of Champagne for all. right to left, John, Chris, Deb, Bruce, Helen, Foster, Duane, Debbie, Kathy & Joe
Thanks for the kind words Kathy.
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| 08/11/01 | MUD Club, canceled due to seas. Unfortunately we were unable to celebrate Susan & Don's anniversary on tonight's dive, but congratulations go out just the same. |
| 08/11/01 | Diver Services did one dive on the Oil Wreck today before calling it quits. Seas were calm when we left the dock but had built to 4-6' by the end of the 1st dive. Typical Oil Wreck dive conditions, dark and cold. |
| 08/09/01 | Squid Divers had a great day today. We did the Immaculatta and Wreck #52. Calm seas and 50' surface visibility in the blue water greeted us on the first dive. Muddy on the bottom but on the bow of the wreck there was no silt, only sand. 1 bottle and several lobsters. 2nd dive did not have the same surface vis but was still a good dive with several more lobsters and a bunch of scallops. About 15-20' on both dives on the bottom.
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| 08/08/01 | Lang's SCUBA went to the Tolten and the Ida K today. Flat seas and good dive conditions, about 45º and 20 foot of vis at both sites. |
| 08/05/01 | Lang's SCUBA did a dive on the Royce and the Logwood today. Lots of fog in the morning with calm seas. 20 feet or so of vis on the bottom at both wrecks 44º & 46º. Surface vis at the Logwood was about 50 feet!
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| 08/04/01 | Diver Services dove the Coney Island and the new barracks barge now known as "Jacks Spot". Both good dives with similar conditions, about 20 feet of vis. |
| 08/03/01 | Lang's Scuba - canceled. |
| May June July August September October November | |
| May June July August September October November | |||
| 09/22/01 | Today's dive was aboard the Seeker. Leaving at 5am we headed down to the Resor. Good surface conditions and excellent dive conditions. Mid 50's top to bottom and in excess of 50' visibility. | ||
 | 09/11/01 Words cannot express our feelings of the murderous attacks on our great Country by cowards who hide behind religion. | | |
| 09/07/01 09/08/01 09/09/01 |
Through the weekend we did 2 dives on the Aeolus, 2 on the W.E. Hutton, 1 on the Suloide and 1 on the Indra. Congratulations go out to Frank and Michele who got engaged while diving the Aeolus. Good job Lewis! | ||
| May June July August September October November | |||
| May June July August September October November | |
| 10/30/01 | Took the Porthole II out to the Royce today. Although a little bumpy early, the day just got better as it went on. The Royce dive was great! 57º top to bottom with 50' of vertical vis and about 30 or more on the bottom. And the water had that fall tint of blue to it. Only 2 bugs though. 2nd dive on the "120" yielded 4 large sea bass and another lobster, 58º top to bottom and about 20+ feet of vis. |
| 10/28/01 | Seeker dive to the Delaware. Divers reported a good dive but elected to make it a single dive before making their 1st descent. |
| 10/27/01 | Seeker dive was canceled due to weather |
| 10/23/01 | Today the Porthole II canceled at the dock due to weather. |
| 10/21/01 | Seeker dive to the Pinta. Great surface conditions until we left, but who cares then! Divers all reported a great dive, good visibility and warm temps.
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| 10/20/01 | Seeker dive today, this time to the Stolt. Rough seas (4-6) but otherwise good dive conditions. 10-15' foot of vis on the bottom 10', but 30 or better above the bottom. Still warm, top to bottom.
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| 10/08/01 | Another dive on the Seeker. Today Capt. Dan did a video survey on the Adriatic. Vis was only about 8-10' but it was warm. The Adriatic is now completely upside down |
| 10/04/01 |
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| May June July August September October November | |
| May June July August September October November | |
 Typical Sand Sculpture seen almost weekly on the beach in Belmar | |
| 11/03/01 | The Porthole II was hauled out this morning and for a change was rather uneventful. |
| May June July August September October November | |
| 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 | |