Local Dive Notes - 2003

"Nearly" Christmas Dive...Lands End at Bailey Island, Saturday December 13, 2003
#Divers:         4 (Clark, Lester, Bob and Sarah dove...Clair came to take photos....Sarah's family came to watch... Sarah and Clark dove wet and Bob and Lester were diving dry...)
Location:        Lands End, Bailey Island, ME
Visibility:        5 feet...and we were lucky with that...as we got out farther the vis dropped
Bottom Time:   16 minutes
Air temp:        46 degrees...but with the wind it felt colder...sunny, windy and cold...the wind was north - west, so our dive site was calm.
Water Temp:    41 degrees.
What we saw:    We didn't see much of anything...Sarah found a watch...but was bummed that it wasn't usable like the sweater that she found on the last dive...
We went for lunch at Winners...what a great place to warm up!...
Submitted by Sarah on 12/14/03.
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Ocean Point, Saturday November 8, 2003
#Divers:         5 (Claire, Bob, Sarah, Fred & Lester)
Location:        Ocean Point, East Boothbay ME
Visibility:        25 - 30ft
Max Depth:      23ft
Bottom Time:   28 minutes
Air temp:        COLD!...with the North wind it felt freezing.
Water Temp:    50 degrees...Not bad, some of us dove wet. It was when we had to get out of our dive gear, that it hurt.
What we saw:    Lobsters, Green crabs, rock crabs, hermit crabs, snails, all sorts of different sea weed and (I think) Crumb of Bread Sponge...the stuff that was covering the rock like an odd yellowish blanket and golf balls, Sarah even found a tri color knit sweater just about her size. After the dive we went for lunch at a local pizza place on the way we took a look at the Scharazad (the record breaking 155 foot sail boat just launched in E. Boothbay)
Submitted by Sarah on 11/8/03.
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Thank you note from Mary Power of NH Coastal Program
Sarah,
I finally have a minute to thank you for your help the day of the cleanup and also for the pictures. Great! I'm hoping to use some of them in the brochure for next year if we are allowed to produce one. This year we were not allowed to print it or a poster or tee shirts. We are hoping that will change next year.
Thanks so much for helping on the day of the event. I love that the diver's club is involved and I look forward to the Coastal Cleanup every year.
Talk with you soon.

Sincerely,
Mary
Submitted by Sarah on 10/17/03.
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Beauchamp Point, Sunday October 5, 2003
We had a successful dive today. Thanks to Claire for rounding up Bob and Denise.
#Divers:          4 (Claire, Denise, Bob, & David)
Location:          Beauchamp Point, Rockport Me
Visibility:         10ft
Max Depth:      31ft
Bottom Time:   43 minutes
Water Temp:    COLD! (Denise said it was 55 degrees)
What we saw:    I'll do my best to identify the marine life, but I guess I should buy one of the books. Lobsters, Green crabs, rock crabs, hairy/(spider) crabs, yellow and orange sponge things, starfish (green, one yellow, and one red) (a few were the size of a dinner plate), sea urchins, fish (no idea what kind), sand dollars, and sea anomies (one was white with brown spots)
Submitted by David on 10/6/03.

Thank you David for showing us a dive site further north. Denise was deee-lighted to find people diving in her neck of the woods and Bob valiantly dragged the dive flag as the rest of us shone lights into the startled eyes of lobsters. I have added a couple of images of Beauchamp point to the photo album for the web site for southerners interested in attempting the northern shores!
Submitted by Claire on 10/6/03.
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Ocean Point, Wednesday October1, 2003
On Wednesday Nick B , Sarah and myself met at Ocean Point for a low key relaxing morning dive. The visibility was not the best but the company was great. Nick gathered some souvenirs for his young son and we poked about with the lobsters sand dollars and other creatures.
I wanted to let folks know that we dive fairly regularly on Wednesdays. We dive throughout the winter as well. Usually we do a morning dive between 10-11 in the Boothbay Brunswick area. If you would like to come along on a Wednesday dive just e-mail Denise.
Submitted by Denise on 10/2/03.
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Splash for Trash...Sept 20, 2003
The MAINE-iac Divers were invited by the United Divers of New Hampshire Dive Club (the UDNH) ) to participate in their Coastal Clean Up Program...
The clean-up involved, the State of New Hampshire's Office of State Planning, New Hampshire Coastal Program, the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, the UDNH dive club and any diver willing to get wet for a great cause.
This dive was an adventure!! ...but worth doing again!

Where? Rye NH State Marina.... under the floats, docks and boats.
Water temp? about 65 degrees.
Depth? about 12 feet.
Visibility? about 0 to 3 feet...at one point one of our diver said "it was easier to close my eyes and grope...It's a wonder we brought up as much stuff as we did."

We came to the surface with.... about 1,200 pounds of "JUNK"
Our "Junk" included .....
about six - 35 gal. fuel drums, a fire extinguisher, an Acetone can, cordless drill (with the battery), cigarette packages, PVC pipe, rope, knife, gaff hook, pliers, soda / beer cans, an old boat hood, and lots of other junk....
It also told us (by taste) how fuel lingers in the water of a protected harbor....

We met at the Rye NH State Marina, were given a wonderful breakfast and were briefed on what we were going to do, and see...

This is a great way to, give a view, into the "underworld" and accurately record it ... for those on the "surface" trying to protect it...
Submitted by Sarah on 9/21/03.