My wife, Veronica (Ronnie), and my dive buddy, Beth Dalzell, and her husband, Wes, headed out into the Atlantic this morning to dive the Riggie Wreck, the remains of an old wooden vessel about five miles out of Manasquan Inlet. The marine forecast was for 2-3 seas with a 5-10 knot wind out of the southwest. The seas were calm as we headed out and anchored in. Beth and I hit the water under an overcast sky. The bottom was extremely dark. I turned on the modeling lights on my two Ikelite DS-125 underwater flashes and I really needed them. The bottom temperature was a crisp 51° F.
Little did we know but as soon as our heads were below the waves, it started to rain and the wind started to blow. Poor Ronnie and Wes got soaked waiting for us to come back from the dive. Beth checked the hook and I got my camera rig lined up. We started working our way down the wooden rib and I immediately got tangled in some black monofilament line. I could not break it. I had to take a pair of scissors that I carry and cut it. What a pain.
I didn’t get far before I saw a lobster. Wes and Beth’s mother both love lobster so I grabbed one. It was too small so I put it back. I swam along photographing some sponges, sea stars and got a real close up of a ling (red hake).
I had to get real close for the photo. I swam along a little more and found another lobster. This one was a keeper. I swam it over to Beth and she put it in her bag. I went back to taking pictures and found some beautiful frilled anemones.
Towards the end of my dive, I found another lobster and brought it to Beth.
She was photographing a Lion’s mane jellyfish when I found her. I took a couple of shots of the lobster, holding it in one hand while using my other hand to steady my camera housing. When I was done, I gave her the lobster and I started photographing the jellyfish.
The toughest thing when I dive is when the visibility is not good. I was looking at about 10′ of visibility. This is very disappointing when I want to photograph. I try to shoot close to minimize the backscatter and to get acceptable photographs. Underwater photography in New Jersey can be exciting and it can be challenging. It has kept my interest for more than 25 years so I guess that it is not so bad. I almost changed to video a few years back and I may have made the change if digital did not come along. It renewed my love for underwater photography and for photography in general. I have a good friend named Robin Reed who was at the brink of leaving photography when digital came along. It was a real ephipany for her. She took to it like a fish in water and she has progressed miles since her change to digital. I am really proud of her and I smile everytime I see her photographs. You go, girl!
I was running out of bottom time so I had to take my photos quickly. I managed about two dozen jellyfish shots before I had to start up the anchor line. I saw a few many-ribbed hydromedusaes on the way up but only was able to get one shot off.
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Once we got to the surface, we saw how the weather had changed. Ronnie and Wes were soaked and the winds had picked up a lot. We were going to make another dive but decided that things were getting rough and we headed back to port. I managed to shoot 62 images on the dive which is less than I would normally but almost twice as much as I would have been able to do with film. All in all, it wasn’t a bad day.
© 2008, Herb Segars. All rights reserved.
