Block Island Trip (July 26-28)

The John Jack departed Montauk early on Monday, July 26 for a 3 day dive adventure of wrecks located around Block Island, Rhode Island.  On board were 8 divers; 3 from Sea Gypsies (http://www.seagypsies.org/); two from North Carolina, and a two students enrolled in a combo adv. nitrox / deco procedures class being taught by Bernie Chowdery.  We began with a pair of dives on the German U-boat 853.  U853, for reasons never fully explained, attacked and sank the Black Point the day after hostilities in WWII had ended. The U.S Navy responded swiftly. The next day, U853 was sunk by a navy task force and now sits upright in 130 ft of water.  Although heavily damaged, U83 is largely intact, but the pressure hull has rusted through in most spots.  The most prominent features are the conning tower, the open hatches, and the large torpedo loading tubes.  We spent the overnight in air-conditioned comfort while docked in the marina at Block Island.  Day 2 began with a dive on the USS Bass, a poorly designed U.S. sub that ended its military career as an artillery target after only 21 years of service.  Although typically described as an unusually dark dive, both light and visibility were decent at 160 fsw.  In the afternoon, our group splashed on the Idene, a small, intact fishing dragger sunk in 1991 as part of the artificial reef program.   The star of the dive wasn’t the Idene, however; the buzz was all about a school of dogfish on the wreck.  We overnighted on Block Island again. On Day 3, we did our first dive on U853 with plans to dive the Black Point in the afternoon. Unfortunately, our plans changed after we found only 1 ft of visibility on the wreck.  After a quick jaunt to Rhode Island for fuel, we returned to the Idene.  While waiting for the crew to tie in, an 8-10 ft shark was spotted cruising slowly above the wreck. Our divers, undeterred, quickly donned their gear and headed down to the wreck only to find a solo dogfish patrolling the site. The 2-3 ft seas we enjoyed from Monday AM thru noon Wednesday noon slowly turned to 3-5 ft seas, so the trip back to Montauk was a bit lumpy.  But the skies were clear all three days and the our eclectic group of divers had a fabulous time.  All seemed surprised by the fabulous meals that Jeff prepared.  After all, how many times have you been asked on a dive boat how you would like your eggs cooked?  Or, if you preferred an egg/cheese/bacon, basil sandwich, would you like it served on an English muffin, a croissant, or wheat bread?  After the customers departed, the crew scurried to prepare the boat for a 3 day expedition to the Andrea Doria.  The John Jack will return to Pt. Pleasant and resume plying the waters off NJ on August 7^th.  Don’t just live – Live the Adventure by scheduling your next dive trip on the John Jack.