Category: Trench

Burnham Rock and BFW

7/17/2013

For those unfamiliar, Burnham Rock is like a mini Saturday Night Ledge, a little bit smaller, a little shallower (70-130FSW), and right around the corner, geographically speaking (about 5 miles south of Gloucester harbor). Both have sizable trenches as the main feature and both have walls and massive boulders to explore. Only sure thing for not getting lost is navigating by trench or bringing a wreck reel. As reels are not an option for me while I'm with my camera (I'd need two more hands) I stay inside, or within sight of the trench/s and tend not to cover an insane amount of ground. Aside from the geological features, these sites are well known for spectacular invertebrate growth virtually covering all surfaces of the granite substrate.

Later at BFW, Captain Steve anchored on the southern portion of the wall. Jim inspected for potential mooring sites (left) and I continued to work further south to some tumbled boulders that Landy found where some large anemones live. The wall runs approximately north to south. The more south you go, the less shear the wall becomes. It eventually wraps around east to become a small trench. This can be done in one dive provided you navigate with care and you're not schlepping a big camera around. I've dived BFW around 8 times, and have yet to explore the northern half of the wall with any confidence, but I know the southern half very well and can even find individual anemones I photoed last year . I'm sure I'll be back again this season and will keep everyone updated. Enjoy!

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Saturday Night Ledge and "BFW"

6/27/2013

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Badge star in trench of SNL

Yesterday I rode with Mass Diving on the big boat with Cape Ann Divers. Water was a flat as could be and I had the pleasure of diving at 2 incredible spots.

At SNL I swam through the trench solo. I mostly shot video, but I did take a few photos. I shot with the 550D and a GoPro mounted on top, pointed at me. I will cut together a first-person SNL video soon and share here. Vis was fantastic at SNL. a good 30 feet or more. I was also pleased that no one kicked up the mud on the bottom. In my usual wimpy fashion, I stayed on top of the trench at around 100'. Of course I saw Robert Landy swim by 30 feet below me (and moving twice as fast). I ambled down to the end of the trench, was briefly tempted to photograph the burrowing anemones, but knew it would take me another 8 minutes to get to them and get a good shot. I decided to head back and leave the dangerous work to Landy.

BFW was considerably murkier and the current blew me off the down line which I promptly lost. I just focused on Alisa's bubbles instead and eventually found the wall. I hooked a left and went south for a couple hundred feet along the bottom of the wall. I was thrilled to see a cod swim by, a very rare treat!