Veronica M – July 4, 2009

I thought that the winter was never going to end and then the rains started. Veronica and I had hoped to get our boat ready earlier in the season but it wasn’t to be. Finally, we are ready and July 4th was our first day on the water and our first day of diving. Last year’s diving season finished early and my last dive last year was on my wife’s tug – the Veronica M. Veronica and I sponsored this tugboat on the Axel Carlson Reef off Bayhead, New Jersey as a 50th birthday gift to Veronica. A lot of her friends thought that she was crazy wanting an artificial reef named after her but she wanted a gift that would last long after she is gone. We have both decided that the Veronica M will be the final resting place for our ashes after we are gone. You can read more about Veronica’s tug here and here.

On my last dive of the 2008 New Jersey season, I saw that the blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, on the Veronica M were very small. I was curious to see how things have changed in the last year. My dive buddy, Beth Dalzell of Brick, New Jersey was also making her first dive of the season. During the winter months, Beth had one of her knees replaces and wanted to make an easy first dive to see how her knee would hold up. She was confident that she would have no problems in the water but the climb up the dive ladder with all her equipment on at the end of the dive would be the test.

I was being really optimistic when I was getting my underwater photography gear together. I chose a Tokina 11-16mm wide angle zoom lens. The visibility underwater in New Jersey is never a sure thing and I might be taking my camera gear along for a swim if the visibility was bad.

We left Manasquan Inlet around 8:30am to a relatively flat sea. The winds were predicted to blow out of the southwest. I had checked the marine weather two days before our dive and they were predicting 10-15 knot winds with 2-3’ seas.  Beth’s husband, Wes, who is a valuable member of our crew (along with my incredible wife, Veronica) had checked the marine weather early on the morning of our departure and they were now talking 10-20 knot winds. That could make things uncomfortable. One of the reasons that we have our own boat is that we don’t have to be on the ocean when it is uncomfortable. Anyway, the seas looked pretty good but west winds are deceiving when seen from the shore line. Structures along the shore line block the wind and its effects are not felt until you are a few miles offshore.

The first thing that surprised us was a lack of boats. We expected to see many more boat on the  ocean for the 4th of July. Perhaps it is the economy and perhaps it was just lots of barbecues. We make our 3.85 mile trek to the Veronica M and were happy to find that the site site was empty of boats. We hooked in with our wreck anchor on the second try, secured all our lines, put up our dive flags and started gearing up. Veronica and Wes helped us get into the water and waiting patiently for our return.

Beth entered the water first and made her way along the side of the boat to the anchor line. For those of you who have not dived in New Jersey, we get to the bottom by grapping into the wreck or artificial reef with a grappling hook wreck anchor and then follow the anchor line from the boat to the bottom. We use the same line to get back to the boat. I followed Beth and we both started for the bottom. The surface water was kind of yellowish and it was not very clear. I could only see four or five feet in front of me. Beth reached the Veronica M before I did and I could see her from a distance of about twenty feet. It was dark on the bottom but twenty feet of visibility is good. I knew that it would be a challenge for wide angle underwater photography.

The first thing that I saw was the tremendous amount of growth on the Veronica M since last season. The mussels were much bigger and Beth immediately started putting some in her mesh bag. The Veronica M was everything that my wife would want it to be. With multiple sclerosis, she cannot dive anymore and she has to settle with images that I bring back from her tug. I knelt on the back deck and got my camera and underwater flashes in their correct setting and positions. I started in the stern and worked my way forward shooting picture after picture. I stopped from time to time to admire that growth on the wreck and the abundance of fish life. Every surface on the tug was covered with life. There were frilled anemones, tubularian hydroids, sea stars and barnacles.

The fish population consisted of cunner (bergalls), black sea bass and tautog (blackfish) and there were lots of each. I wandered around and over the tug trying to take in as much as I could so I could fill Veronica in about the changes in the last year. I went to the sandy bottom and explored beneath the stern where the massive prop is still intact. For any of you that know my wife, Veronica, she is an incredible loving, giving person. She is a natural born caretaker and I am very lucky to be with her. I kept thinking throughout my dive how the tug was just like Veronica. It was providing a home and food for a diverse marine population. The wreck has become their caregiver. Veronica can be proud of her birthday present.

I reached a depth of 78’ on my dive and before I knew it, I had to start my journey to the surface.

Beth and I started up the anchor line with our cache of blue mussels and my digital flash card of images. It takes us about seven minutes to reach the surface (this includes a three minute safety stop at fifteen feet. Beth was up the ladder first and her knee held up great. She was a happy person. After getting all our gear off, we both proceeded to tell Veronica about what we had seen on the bottom. Veronica was thrilled to hear how much had changed in the last year.

The wind had picked up so we decided to only do one dive. Before leaving, we pulled apart our blue mussels and put them into two separate mesh bags. We dragged the bags behind the boat as we head for home. The mussels tumble in the bag and are incredibly clean when we are finished.

Our last chores for the day were to pack up our gear, wash the boat and make our stops on the way home to deliver mussels to our friends. What a great day on the water. Happy Fourth of July!!!

To see more photos of the Veronica M, click here.

© 2009, Herb Segars. All rights reserved.