We had our 9th non-competitive New England meet under the remnants of the hurricane Ivan on September 18th, 2004. The location was King's Beach, Newport, Rhode Island. Luckily, although there was heavy wind and rain, the coastal waters were divable along the south shore due to mostly northerly winds. When I arrived at the location at 10:00, understandably only few people were there. After having quick handshakes and a very quick raffle under torrential rains, people put on their wetsuits and swam out, to meet back at King's Beach around 14:00. Totally soaked in 1 minute under the horizontal rain, I waited for Tom to show up. Since King's Beach was saturated with divers and we did not want to take the kayak out to the Seal Rock, we checked out a couple of other dive spots, which turned out to be no good due to choppy seas and bad visibility. After taking a couple of pictures of the M.S. Queen Mary 2 of Cunard, which happened to be in Newport, we decided to take shelter in a gloomy Irish restaurant (guess where!) since it was already 12:30 in the afternoon. Warmed up (and partly dried) with a glass of Guiness and Shepherd's Pie, we decided to head back to King's Beach around 13:45. At the beach, Catfish was out of the water, but he was pretty cold from the wind and the rain, so cold, in fact, that he left his dive computer on top of his car, all the way to Aidan's. Luckily, the computer got stuck and he did not loose it. All the others started to show up with their tautogs. Reports said that there were large scup, schoolie stripers and tautogs everywhere with rather nice visibility. Olivier told us about the bonito that he shot but could not lay his hands on. Joe, who claims that he rarely sees black sea bass, bumped into three legal ones in shallow water on this less than perfect day. The irony is that these sightings corresponded with the "closed season" for black sea bass, so he could not shoot them! Black sea bass fishery is "open" all summer except for two weeks and there were still four more days left to the opening date on the day of the meet. Sorry Joe, maybe the next time! Noone saw legal bass. When everyone was out and dry, a trip to Aidan's was in order. After a short drive and quick search for a parking space, we were relaxed again. Even the rain stopped and the sun started to show up a little while we were in there. The surprise of the moment was Mike Jette showing up and telling us a story about two 39 and a 51 pounders in the trunk of his car! Noone wanted to believe him, but it was true. Going out to Watch Hill reef by boat, he was able to cross paths with these two beautiful stripers. When the lunch at Aidan's was over, everyone had their moment of fame by having their pictures taken with the bass. Good job, Mike!
By the time we got out of Aidan's, the wind was still blowing strong and skies were cloudy but the rain had stopped. That was all that Tom and I needed as an excuse to go to the Fort Getty campground in Jamestown and put up our tents. For some reason, Mike decided to join us. Catfish, following the path of the wise, decided to head back home. Tom and I quickly went to the campground and after puttinp up our tents, we headed to Beavertail to take a picture of the Queen Mary 2 leaving Newport and to fly Tom's kite. Instead, we saw the M.S. Grand Princess leaving and crashed Tom's kite, sometimes pretty badly into the bushes! When we got back to the campground, it was dark and still windy. Mike joined us soon with a bottle of you know what and a nice salmon fillet. A quick rearrangement of the fire pit according to the wind, and we were back in business. The evening extended into the night with salmon sandwiches cooked on fire, 4 bottles of you know what and Tom's sweet corn. Several stories were told, ranging from divers followed by Great Whites at Sakonnet Point to kiteboarders refusing Coast Guard help and several ideas were shared ranging from what kind of tip should be on a speargun shaft to weird things such as Tom's statement of "liking to shoot at ducks but not liking to kill them because they remind him of Donald Duck!". Go figure! Mike left for home when we found out that we had no more of you know what! We crashed into a windy night!
Next morning, when we woke up, neither Tom nor I remembered when we opened the fourth bottle of you know what! We were pretty dehydrated, my stomach was in move and it was quite cold in the wind so we did not feel much like diving. However, we were in Rhode Island and we had to do it! We took it easy, relaxing under the sun in the shelter of our tents. After a breakfast in Jamestown, during which Tom questioned why octopuses die when we overturn their heads, we were both feeling better and ready to go diving. The destination was King's Beach! Quickly gearing up, we were in the water by 13:30. It was pretty calm with occasional swells and great visibility. Togs were in 7-8 meter of water and they did not ask for much to join our stringers! I saw some nice sized scup but was only able to take two. The trick was to dive directly on sand and swim up hugging the rocks looking for scups. We saw a school of sublegal stripers that circled us and begged "shoot us, shoot us", but we told them to come back when they grow up. It was a very good dive overall with lots of life during which I spent almost half of my time underwater. We got out around 16:30. After the ritual of cleaning and sharing some meat with the seagulls, we were ready to head back. I drove up to South Portland, ME, for a meeting the next day, while Tom headed back to the warmth of a Boston restaurant with Vanessa.
I am looking forward to October!
Conditions:
The remnants of hurricane Ivan caused heavy rains and 20-35 knot North winds. The Bay was pretty rough but King's Beach was flat, suitable for diving, due to North winds. Rain ceased around 17:00 and wind slowed down around 22:00 that same day. Sunday was cold and windy but sunny, making for better diving conditions. Water temperature was mid 60's. Visibility was good, approaching 20 feet at some locations.
Participants (in alphabetical order):
Ata Bilgili
Thomas Campbell
Mike Jette
Joe Klinger
Vince Lambert
Olivier Paugeois
Constantino Rago
Matt "Catfish" Richards
Fish Taken:
Tautogs and scups.
Raffle Winners:
- Joe Klinger won an OMER buoy donated by Mark Laboccetta of OMER USA.
- Thomas Campbell won an OMER t-shirt donated by Mark Laboccetta of OMER USA.
- Vince Lambert won a $75.00 gift certificate donated by Roger Yazbeck of Picasso USA.
- Constantino Rago won a $75.00 gift certificate donated by Roger Yazbeck of Picasso USA.
Other Stories from the Meet:
- None
The following are some photographs from the meet taken by Ata Bilgili and Joe Klinger. High-resolution versions may be available for specific photographs.
Conditions at King's Beach. Seal Rock is in the background.
From left to right, Joe Klinger and Matt "Catfish" Richards.
Feeling good! Catfish gearing up in the rain. He did not smile much when he got out and took his wetsuit off under the cold rain and wind!
From left to right, Vince Lambert, Tino Rago and Olivier Paugeois gearing up.
Vince Lambert and Tino Rago. "Striped Cod" team from Mass!
Olivier Paugeois. "Thumbs up" for a long swim!
Olivier Paugeois heading out.
Joe Klinger, Vince Lambert and Tino Rago ready to go.
Catfish in the drink. Notice the rain!
The OMER float that Joe won in the raffle. He calls it the "QE2"!
Olivier back at the beach.
Another Olivier back at the beach.
Joe Klinger showing Olivier's tautog in his party dress!
Tino during "Operation Togzilla"!
Tino still during "Operation Togzilla"!
Vince Lambert back at the beach.
Vince proudly standing against the rain and wind.
Thomas Campbell and Mike Jette showing 39 and 51 lbs bass respectively.
Mike speared these at Watch Hill reef!
Please, let's not miss the photo opportunity with big bass! Vince, Mike and Tino.
Fort Getty campground in Jamestown on Sunday morning. Quite empty
for Fort Getty, wouldn't you say? Notice abandoned and ruined tent (not one of ours, luckily!)
Tom Campbell with his tautogs after Sunday's dive at King's Beach.
Ata Bilgili with his Sunday tog and scup catch. One of the togs is Tom's!
Ata Bilgili and two unlucky scups.
Underwater scenery.
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