﻿Coming up! The Bird family goes on a local dive in Massachusetts, and meets some friendly locals!
Welcome to Jonathan Bird’s Blue World!
So, a couple of days ago, we dropped his sister at college.
And we’re kind of depressed because we miss her. Yeah. And we needed a little picker upper,
so we’re here in Cape Ann, with Captain Fran, and we will see what we can find today! We’re diving
Cape Ann, Massachusetts, my local stomping ground, where I learned to dive all those years ago.
We depart from the marina in Gloucester and head out to the north through the Annisquam river.
Eventually we pass the Annisquam lighthouse. Liam and Christine are ready for some cold water
fun! We cruise around the north side of Cape Ann to reach a bunch of rocks called the Dry
Salvages, memorialized in a T.S. Eliott peom by the same name, where they were made to rhyme with
“assuages.” As a result, many people today still call them the Dry “Salvuages.” Whether Salvages
or Salvuages, these rocks likely got their name originally from causing a shipwreck that needed
salvaging. In the fog at high tide, they are easy to miss. But they certainly are
popular with the local Gray seal population. At low tide they haul out to rest and warm up,
but at high tide they hunt for fish in the surrounding waters.
Captain Fran pulls up and throws anchor a ways off,
while Christine, Liam and I suit up for a dive. Do we go on three or do we go on four? Is it 1,
2, 3, go on 4? 1, 2, 3, go? 1, 2, 3, go. Okay, everybody ready ? One, two three…
Down on the rocks below the boat we find lots of algae and a healthy sea star population.
There is no way to sneak up on seals with noisy scuba gear, so the only way to see them is to
wait for them to get curious. So we look for other things to film. Liam finds a rock crab. There are
lots of rock crabs, apparently feeding on the prodigious quantities of mussels on the bottom.
Looks like Liam has himself a new pet.
I find a lobster hiding under a giant boulder.
It’s definitely not coming out with the bright lights in its face.
Then a seal takes a pass by to check us out.
Seals are really curious. If they think they’re missing out on something fun, they definitely
come over to have a look. So we need to look like we are having fun. I’m hunting around looking for
a good spot to hang out, not too deep and not too shallow. A little gulley makes an ideal place.
A seal makes another pass. We didn’t get the best visibility today, and the shallow water
has a lot of loose stuff in it, churned up by waves. But at least we can see him!
If we tried to chase the seals, they would be frightened and swim away.
They have to come to us. So our mission is to be patient, and look like we are doing
something really interesting. The seals like to float above at the surface and look down at us.
When the temptation gets too high, they swim down to have a closer look.
Christine doesn’t even realize she has a seal nibbling on her fins.
The seals seem fascinated with our fins.
Finally one seal develops a curiosity about the camera lens.
Then Liam uses the secret weapon. Fins. For whatever reason,
seals just love to investigate fins. So we sit and flap them around.
After a while, having had our fun and starting to get cold, we head back to the boat.
The Salvages are just a bunch of rocks barely poking above the surface of the Atlantic ocean.
They are responsible for more than one shipwreck over the years.
But they make an ideal place for seals to climb out of the cold water to rest and warm up.
And if it’s not too rough, a great spot for a family dive
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