http://njscuba.net/sites/site_vizcaya.html

On Sunday my buddy Art G and I went to the wreck of the Vizcaya. It was
my first time on this wreck, and we had excellent conditions.

NOAA predicted 5-10 kt winds and flat seas, but there was notable
bumpiness as we cleared the inlet and headed out into ocean. We made the
run south to Vizcaya in about an hour. The crew got us tied in pretty
quickly and the pool was open.

I got geared up, and waited for Art to do his prebreathing and checks.
We splashed into 65 drgree water and did a bubble check at 20 ft.
Everything looked good, so we headed down to the wreck. The water
temperature stayed the same all the way down, and we had 20-30 ft of
vis. I could immediately see that we were tied in near the engine, which
is huge, so navigation was going to be easy. We settled in to a nice
easy swim and headed toward the bow. We immediately passed the 4 huge
boilers and proceeded forward while keeping an eye out for lobsters. Art
signalled me with his light and pointed at antennae poking out of a
hole, and we went after it. We were not quick enough, and the bug had
retreated to where we couldn't get at it, so we resumed our swim. It
wasn't long before Art signalled again, and this time there was a
lobster we could get at. As he backed up away from Art's light, I could
see his tail through another hole, and I just barely was able to get my
arm in and get a finger on his tail, which drove him out of his hole and
right past "Flash". He disappeared and we never saw him again.

We continued our swim to the bow, often stopping to look at features of
the wreck and into holes. We turned around, asnd swam towrd the stern on
the other side of the wreck. Again we tried for a lobster, and this time
I got my hand on it, and it clamped down on my finger whth its claw and
I instinctively let go. I wore my thin gloves on this dive because the
water was warm. The northern lobsters seem to be a little smarter than
the spiny ones in SC, plus they have claws and are willing to use them.

We spent a little time poking about the boilers and engine, and were
headed toward the stern when we saw that our time was almost up. We had
given the crew a run time of 60 minutes, and it was obvious that after
our ascent, we would be a few minutes late, so we headed to the anchor
line and ascended. We had no deco to do, so after a short stop we were
back on board.

It looked like the wind was subsiding and the seas were laying down, so
the surface interval was comfortable. After eating perogies, brownies
and assorted other goodies, we geared up and went back in. After the
bubble check at 20 ft, we descended to the wreck and headed to the
stern. After looking around the various machinery there, we headed back
towrd the bow. We saw a big tog inside of a pipe, and someone later got
him with a speargun and took him home for dinner. We tried for another
lobster, and got my finger clawed again. It was lobsters 3, Art/Al 0. We
spent a little more time at the bow, and then went back to the boilers.
It was all too soon time to go again at 50 minutes, and we again
ascended and got back on the boat. The seas had flattened out nicely,
and we had a nice ride back to the dock, except for a little bumpiness
when we went through a rain shower.

This is about as good as NJ diving gets. If you live up here and want to
dive, now is the time.

I was out on Long Island a couple of weeks ago with that notorious
spammer John C and his group, and we had warm water and decent vis there
also, although the seas were a bit bumpy.

Thanks to Art G for a couple of great dives. I look forward to a few
more before we're done for the season.

al