Narragansett Pier Dive Shop » Uncategorized

Kayaking on a salt pond

pierdive — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:07:07 +0000

The South County coastline has “a string of coastal lagoon estuaries formed after the recession of the glaciers 12,000 years ago.” Kayaking these is one of the best ways to discover them. They are protected from the surf and harbor a variety of wildlife.

“These salt ponds are called estuaries because they are where the fresh water (rivers or brooks) meets the sea. Ecologically they are a nursery ground for many fish and serve as a habitat for shellfish, migratory fish and birds. For humans, they are an important source of seafood and recreation.”

The Salt Pond Coalition offers a beautiful map of these salt ponds in South County and we rent kayaks that you can easily put on the top of any car (form pads included).

http://www.saltpondscoalition.org/Resources/SPC%20Kayak%20Guide.pdf

Yellow lobster makes the Journal

pierdive — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:10:12 +0000

David Ingram pulled up one of his pots this week and found in it a lobster that looked a little different… It was yellow. Scientist say yellow lobsters are about 1:30 million. David plans to donate the little guy to a local aquarium.

http://bit.ly/bfUG9L

Old Wooden Ship Discovered

pierdive — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:04:11 +0000

ProJo reported yesterday that an old wooden ship has been uncovered not far from East Matunuck State Beach. It is lying on her side and “seaweed drapes much of the eroded woodwork — timbers nine inches square extending from keel to gunwale and still covered in part by strakes, wooden planks that run from stem to stern. Here and there a green stain betrays the occasional metal pin, perhaps of copper, but the hull is held together mostly by wooden pegs.”

http://bit.ly/8XLIJF

Andrea Doria Bell – Rings Out Again

pierdive — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:09:01 +0000

Captain Dave Sutton rings the bell of the Andrea Doria for the first time since the ship sank in 1956. The bell rings out with wonderful tone. Recovered June 26, 2010 by Ernie Rookey and Carl Bayer on the Silverstein/Sutton 2010 Andrea Doria Expedition.

Andrea Doria History

pierdive — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:02:40 +0000

Andrea Doria Bell Recovered

pierdive — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:55:05 +0000

The famous oceanliner shipwreck Andrea Doria that sunk in 1956 in the Atlantic Ocean still gives up treasures. Today aboard the R/V Explorer on the Silverstein/Sutton 2010 Andrea Doria Expedition divers Ernest Rookey and Carl Bayer located and recovered a bell from the Andrea Doria.

This particular bell is suspected to be the “crows nest bell.” The divers searched the debris field in 240 feet of water while diving on untethered mixed gas scuba gear, and located a small portion of the bell exposed from the sand.

On-board this expedition was noted Andrea Doria historian and popular author Gary Gentile. Gary was the lead diver in the 1985 recovery of the stern bell. Other attempts to locate the forward bell in 1993 were unsucessful. “There was never any proof that a crows nest bell existed until today.” said Gentile who has been diving the wreck since 1974 and has more documented dives on the Andrea Doria than any other diver. “This is an outstanding and historic find,” said expedtion leader Joel Silverstein. “In my 18 years of of diving the Doria this is probably the most significant artifact found,” he added.

“Ernest Rookey (Jackson, NJ) and Carl Bayer (Hillsborough, NJ) are both experienced deep mixed gas divers. This was their first expedition to the Andrea Doria.” said Captain David Sutton. “Andrea Doria expeditions are hard core adventures; a discovery like this one just makes it all that more special,” he added.

Expedition participants include: Captain David Sutton, Joel Silverstein, Gary Gentile, Chris Gini, Kathy Mallon, Laila Richard, Carl Bayer, Ernest Rookey and Ric Simon.

The Andrea Doria is located 55 miles off the coast of Nantuket in 250 feet of water. It’s been called the Mt. Everest of Diving due to its location, depth and extreme conditions.

Joel Silverstein
928-230-3680
Tech Diving Limited, a subsidiary of Scuba Training and Technology Inc.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau, 100 years

pierdive — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:54:41 +0000

The Cousteau Society is launching a year-long celebration in Paris commemorating the birth of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. As part of this celebration they will be “re-launch of iconic vessel Calypso for marine education tour; new Cousteau Divers program”; and broadcast The Golden Fish, the film that won an Oscar in 1960 for Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects.

Watch some Cousteau videos at YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/cousteauenglish

Can James Cameron save the Gulf?

pierdive — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:13:22 +0000

DotEarth at The NY Times reported last week that James Cameron has engaged a team of specialist to help with the BP oil disaster in the Gulf.

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/why-cameron-is-diving-deep-on-gulf-oil/

My favorite from the comment section is “You can criticize Cameron for his ego, however, I trust him with the cleanup more than anyone else.”

We agree with Gizmodo “Diving is by definition otherworldly”

pierdive — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 14:57:25 +0000

Gizmodo’s Joel Johnson posted a great piece yesterday about Why you should Scuba Dive. Here is a quote…

“But anyone can learn to dive in the relative shallows, spending a long weekend getting a certification that will let them drop into the waters of a tropical reef and simply lounge, watching the fish dart around coral heads or follow bigger animals attend to their rounds.”

Underwater Photography Made Easy

pierdive — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:40:34 +0000

David Pogue has an interesting article in the NY Times today called Underwater Photography Made Easy where he reviews two cameras (Sony’s Cyber-shot TX5 and Panasonic’s Lumix TS2) and two undersea camcorders (Panasonic’s SDR-SW21 and Sanyo’s Xacti VPC-WH1.