Romance and Salisbury

I packed my scrubber, filled my bailout tank, and folded my drysuit. I was excited for the next day's SCUBA dive. "Wow," I thought to myself, "Why don't I do this more often?"

Yours truly underwater at the City of
Salisbury shipwreck. Photo by Greg 
Lewandowski.

Then my alarm went off at 4:30 am, and I remembered why. 

There is not a SCUBA charter company on Cape Cod, so if you want to go diving in my corner of the world, you have three choices: walk into the local pond, drive to Boston, or drive to Gloucester. In the last week, I have done the latter two. With a truck full of gear, I have raced down empty highways at 5:00 in the morning to join a charter boat of like-minded ocean addicts. Early wake-up calls aside, I have enjoyed every second. 

I'm training right now for a research expedition. No, I will not tell you where I'm going (yet), but feel free to guess! Let's just say there will be a lot of diving, and I'm super excited about the upcoming trip. 

Last week, I dove on a shipwreck called Romance, and this week's site was City of Salisbury. Both shipwrecks are located near Graves Light, just outside of Boston Harbor. As always, I cannot help but keep mental notes about the inhabitants on each shipwreck as I swim. Both wrecks had plenty of hydroids (Ectopleura crocea), bryozoans (Bugula turrita), and ascidians (Didemnum albidum). Red sea stars (Henricia sp.) broke up the mat of brown on each shipwreck surface. I ran a cave reel for my buddy and myself to follow on City of Salisbury, and as I tucked the string under a bar of metal, I noticed two giant lobster claws emerging from the crevice. 

The water was cold - only about 46 Fahrenheit (7 C). As soon as I reached the thermocline, I was grateful for the thick insulation under my drysuit and the warm, moist gas blend in my rebreather loop. Only a small area of skin around my lips was actually exposed to the water. 

I absolutely love SCUBA diving, and I am incredibly fortunate to make this passion part of my career. It is always a good day when I get to spend time underwater!