Rick and I drove to his boat this morning and met up with his father, Eric. Today we will be diving two wrecks! The original plan was to head to the wreck of the Volund but since itwas pretty overcast and the wind was supposed to pick up, we decided the wreck of the Onondaga in Watch Hill Rhode Island was a better decision. This wreck is in about 50 feet of water, and usually has better visibility. Rick and Eric had put a mooring off of the Onondaga so that it was easier to find this season. When we got to the mooring above the wreck, we waited a little bit until the tide was closer to switching and becoming slack as it would be an easier dive for me. I haven’t dove a wreck in New England, so I was very excited! Eric went down first for about a 30 minute dive. Before he surfaced, Rick and I got into our drysuits and were ready to go so that once Eric was on the surface we could hop right in. The current was still moving pretty strong at this point (or at least strong compared to what I have dove in before). We back rolled off the side of the boat while holding a rope so we didn’t float away, and then transferred over to another line that was hanging from the stern to the bow of the boat so we could safely make our way down the mooring line. We descended holding on to the mooring line since the current was strong and we would have had trouble finding the wreck if we had just descended with no guidance. The mooring was attached to the boiler of the ship. I tied off a reel to the end of the mooring and Rick tied off a flashing light. This light was for safety. If we were to get separated, and couldn’t find each other after a minute of searching, we would head back to the mooring line and surface. If the light is there, you take it with you, so that if your buddy comes to the anchor line they know you have surfaced. It is just another form of safety and communication underwater.
With the reel in hand, we headed to the stern of the Onondaga. This is a wreck that you can take artifacts from, so Rick was showing me how to fan the sand to reveal things, as there is over 100 years of sand and mud piled on top of the artifacts. We found a lot of broken china at first. And then, after fanning a spot like Rick showed me, I found a bobbin that would’ve been used for sewing! It is wooden, and can fit in the palm of my hand. Rick got a video of me finding the bobbin too. In another area I found the sole of a shoe, and Rick found a full intact shoe. It was like a mens size 14. It looked like a clown shoe. 
Nobody died in this wreck. The Onondaga ran aground on the reef, and all its crew were able to evacuate before the ship went down, but it took all its cargo with it. We kept searching until we reached the end of our dive and used the same mooring line to surface. Eric helped us out of the water and we headed to the next dive site. This was going to be the wreck of the Atlantic. The wind had picked up quite a bit though so it was hard to get our anchor to stay in one place. Rick and I got suited up and went to the anchor line and descended. Rick moved the anchor into a place where it would hold well for us, and then we tied off our reel and headed to the wreck. It was a little swim away since we couldn’t get the anchor to stay. As we were swimming there, the reel came to the end of its line, which is 185 feet of line. We had decided to use the reel for navigation, so we couldn’t go farther than it would reach, so we didn’t make it to the wreck. We explored the substrate and saw a lot of starfish and looked for lobsters underneath rocks. We headed back to the boat by reeling the reel in and using the anchor line to surface the same way we did on the previous dive.
That was it for our day of diving so we brought the boat back to the slip. Rick let me drive a little bit on the way back, but I couldn’t dock, made me nervous. We unloaded everything and headed back home but made a pit stop at New England Dive Center in Wallingford Connecticut. Rick said he needed to pick something up, so I looked around the shop at all their gear and hung out with their really cute dog. The piece of gear Rick had to pick up was actually for me, and it is something that I had debated upgrading as I had been borrowing Ricks for the dives today. I was shocked and so happy and grateful that Rick got this piece of gear for me, and it will serve me well in all my diving endeavors! Thank you Rick! 
Back at the house I helped do chores (basically petting their dog and donkey, I wasn’t super helpful), had a really great dinner at a local restaurant, and then unloaded and prepped all our gear for tomorrow. I had a great day of diving with Rick and Eric, and am sad that tomorrow is my last day here.