Trip Report - The Dykes

Saturday August 4th The Scuba Connection chartered the dive boat Stingray for a planned trip to the Alex Mac. The Alex Mac is a 64-foot scallop boat that was lost at sea in July of 2006 after an accident with a barge. Regrettably, two lives were lost from the Alex Mac in the accident. For more information about the Alex Mac and the accident, check here: http://njscuba.net/sites/site_alex_mac.html

The Alex Mac sank in about 80 feet of water about 6 miles off the coast of Manasquan. Sailing out of Belmar on the Stingray we left the dock at about 7am. After several failed attempts to hook into the Alex Mac we decided to head to an alternate site. Most likely the Alex Mac has broken up since it sank. In any event we gave up on it and headed for the Dykes.

The Dykes is a 306 foot long steel hulled five masted schooner built in 1919. The State of New Jersey sank it intentionally in 1983 to create an artificial reef. There's a great write up on the Dykes here: http://njscuba.net/reefs/site_nj02sg_dykes.html

On the way to the Dykes we were visited by a pod of dolphins. This is the second time in as many trips that we've encountered a large pod of dolphins. I hope the trend continues. I'd love to see them while I was under water. We arrived on site at the Dykes and prepped for dive one. I splashed at 11:36am with Bob Muckin as my dive buddy. We quickly dropped down to the bottom at 66 feet and got ourselves oriented. We first headed aft to the stern then doubled back and headed forward to the bow. Most of the Dykes is lying very low, offering about 5 or so feet of relief. The bow and the stern are still somewhat intact and offer about 20 feet of relief.

From left - Scott, Bob and Craig onboard the Stingray.

The visibility was about 15 feet or so and it was relatively dark. There was a slight current on the bottom. Bob and I were looking for lobsters - though we knew this wreck wasn't famous for giving up lobsters. This is a much better wreck for mussels. I don't much care for mussels - so I didn't bother collecting any. I did collect a few sand dollars 'cause I thought the kids would like to see them. Unfortunately Bob and I didn't find any lobsters, so after 45 minutes on the bottom in 55 degree water - we headed up for our safety stop.

During the surface interval we were visited by a large leatherback turtle - something I've never seen off of NJ before. He looked to be pretty large and he didn't stick around long. There's another marine animal I'd love to see while I was underwater.

Unfortunately for Bob, during our first dive his drysuit leaked and his undergarments were pretty soaked so he opted to sit out dive two. I geared up and splashed with Stephan and Alex. Stephan was returning to a spot that he saw a large lobster in hopes of bagging him. After watching Stephan try to dig out his prey for a while, I signaled that I was heading back to the anchor line. Back at the anchor line I ran into Mike and I stayed around there with him for a while while he snapped pictures. He took one of me, but, since it was pretty dark and the vis only so-so, there isn't much to see except the beam of my HID light.

That's me back there, behind the beam of the HID light.

Mike signaled to me that he was heading up and I waved goodbye - I was collecting more sand dollars and generally just enjoying view. After a few minutes Stephan and Alex returned from their hunting trip and Alex headed up the line. Stephan and I hung together by the anchor line for a bit then decided to head up at about the 30 minute mark. While hanging on our safety stop I watched as an endless supply of small comb jellies drifted past us in the current, catching one on my gloved hand every so often and watching them phosphoresce. These jellies are very abundant in NJ and they are bioluminescent.

Stephan and I were the last ones back to the boat so the mate quickly jumped in to pull the hook and soon we were on our way back home.

Unfortunately for Bob he lost his wreck reel somewhere down on the Dykes - most likely while rolling over the side of the Stingray to start the dive. So, if anyone diving the Dykes finds a Halcyon Pathfinder reel with "Muck" written on the handle, shoot me an email and I'll see that it gets back to the owner.