Heading out of Manasquan inlet the air was a little crisp, with clear skies and the slightest hint of wind. With mirror flat seas, it was another day on lake Atlantic. There was a clear consensus among the divers: This sure beats work! Some of the divers had 32% mix so we stayed inshore and hit the Pinta.
The Pinta was a freighter carrying a cargo of hardwood. She collided and sank in 1963. We arrived on site quickly, and the crew expeditiously tied in. Obviously every one was excited to dive as they hit the water as soon as the pool was open. The clear surface water of last week, has been replaced with a tea brown soup. However, this was only on the top 20 ft. Once below this layer the vis opened up to a dark 20 ft. Once we switched on our lights, it was actually quite bouncy castle for sale nice (in a Jerseyesque way). There was little to no current on the wreck and the bottom temp was up to a toasty 43 Deg.
The wreck’s structure has opened up since my last visit. We spent our time checking out the inside, poking in every crevice we could find. We scared a few fish off in the process. A few large tog were about, with an occasional seabass. Lobsters, on the other hand, were few and far between. On the way back to the anchor I noticed a large brass valve above the diesel engine. I’ll bring tools on the next dive. Our hour was up, and we ascended the line. The safety stop was a warm 58 degrees, but we were in the tea water. You could barely see your gauges.
The surface interval was spent talking about the dive, the areas everyone had checked out, and how much the wreck has deteriorated. Before long everyone was ready for round two.
This time I jumped in with a few tools in tow. I passed Capt Mark on the way down the line. He was signaling something that I could not quite make out. I was pretty sure it involved a crowbar (one tool I did not have). I signaled OK, and continued my decent. After a false start locating the engine, I arrived there just in time to see Mark approaching, crowbar in hand. I guess we are committed now. The two of us proceeded to work on the steel bolts that were now weakened by rust and time. Video of the event might have been humorous: watching divers try to stand on a crowbar at depth. Between all the prying and pounding, the valve finally came free, and I nearly drained my bailout filling the lift bag to coax it off the bottom. On the way up we did an extra long hang to compensate for the work at depth.
Once on the surface we found that other divers had also found mementos of the day: s
