9-17-2008 - Tug Venturo
Wednesday is a busy day for the Captain. That’s the day I head into Brooklyn, to take care of business there. It usually takes up about ½ the day. The problem is, the commute sometimes an hour, sometimes am hour to go the last 5 miles. This is the day that reminds me why I moved to NJ. Wednesday is also the traditional day for night dives. So I was hurrying home to scarf down dinner, before heading to the boat. Tonight, we had a night dive with RJ. From Treasure Cove Divers.

After a quick dinner, I gathered up my boys Nick, and Stephen, and headed for the boat. I had, had Captain Bill keep them from loading before I got there because I needed to add 10 gallons of oil to the port motor. I had done an oil change the day before, and run short on oil. We pulled up to a boat load of divers sitting on the dock. We added the oil, and got loaded to go in short order. We actually pulled out a few minutes early.

We sailed out the inlet on calm seas. The weather man had gotten it right, “ seas 2 foot or less” what a glorious afternoon. We headed north towards the Tug Venturo. Besides having the tug to dive on, there are several APCs (armored personnel carriers) scattered in close proximity to the wreck. After a short ½ hour ride, John jumped into set the hook. When the sun sets at the end of the summer, it sets fast. Today was a perfect example. It was dark enough to need the flood lights before the hook was set.

Once set up, we put the divers in the water. Conditions on the bottom were great with about 30 ft. of vis. Divers were able to find the APCs with no problem. The APCs were very productive and yielded the most lobsters. Alex found a ton of big black fish but had no spear gun. Not a mistake he is likely to make again. The depth of the wreck about 70 ft. made for long bottom times with no, or minimal decompression required. But long or not, all good things must come to an end, even bottom time.

One by one, the divers reluctantly returned to the surface. Every one was wearing a big smile as they climbed the ladder. North East wreck diving was working it’s magic, turning every one on board into believers. RJ. Pulled the hook for us setting us free to return to the dock . The big cats spooled up, and made short work of the trip home. We slid back into the slip before 10 PM. A happy group of divers unloaded and headed to Frankie’s for a burger and beverage.