Algol - June 9, 2007
Sometimes, what seems like a slow day, fills up unexpectedly. Such was the case with Saturday. At the beginning of the week, I had no one for the open boat, then Dan Crowell called wanting to know if I was running, I said yes. He then suggested the Algol, I said sure. With that momentum, the ball got rolling. I got a call from a group of 6 in PA. They love the Algol & Stolt. Then my long time friend Bernie Chowderhury called for two more spots. BINGO trip filled !!!

As we headed towards the inlet, we stopped to visit with Bill Cleary on his new boat (Depth Charge) , a beauty, similar to his old boat. The visit was short as boat traffic pulled in behind us. We hope that Bill has good luck with his new boat.

The weather looked great for the trip. Unfortunately for the PA group, their van broke down on the way to the boat. They missed a nice day. While en route to the Algol, we decided to head south to the Gulf trade. A spectacular wreck in 90 ft. of water. The big cats hummed as we sailed the 18 miles to the wreck.

With calm seas and a seasoned crew we were tied in and diving before 9 AM. The boat rocked on a gentle sea. The water at the surface was a mild 55 deg. On the bottom, the divers were treated to 20 ft. of vis with a bottom temp of 46 deg. We shared the wreck with a small private fishing boat, so I had Tom tie in high near the boilers.  This gave the divers a chance to work the entire wreck. This wreck is known for lobsters, portholes and mussels. We scored only mussels on this trip. While we bagged up on lobsters last week, we were not so lucky this week.  Bernie took the opportunity to have his student do some lift bag exercises, taking advantage of the calm seas.

Once back onboard every one warmed themselves in the sun, while munching on Susan’s noodle concoction. As the day turned warmer, it was time for a second dive to the wreck. This time the vis was a little better and the seas even nicer. Unfortunately for us, no lobsters were found, but Bernie did bag some nice mussels. Every one made it back on board with out a hitch. Bill Aberle ( newly retired, and back with us) jumped in and set us free to return to the dock. The big cats purring all the way. You could feel the heat of the day as we cleared the mouth of the inlet, like walking into a heated room.

As we backed into the slip there were smiles all around, another great day of diving the north Atlantic. It had been a good day to be a dive boat captain.