On the morning of May 30, 2009, a day that did not look promising, as the sky was heavy with cloud cover, our intrepid group led by Norman Berhannan assembled at  the 7-11 off the Long Island Expressway.   Our shore-based group consisted of Judy Berhannan, Zelda and Mel Betty, Margaret Low, and Charlie Davidson; our divers were Terry Klug, Joe Muratore, Juan Medina, Bob Willis, Ivan Donovan, Mark Pierce and Norman Berhannan.   As we stopped at the dive shop, the sun began burning the clouds away.

After receiving our pre-dive briefing from Norman, we suited up so that we could be in the water by the 2:00 pm slack time.  We were divided into two groups; led by Joe and Norman.   At 52 degrees, the water under the Ponquogue Bridge was like tepid ice tea in my seven-mil wetsuit.   Initially weighted at 28 pounds, I had to take on an additional four pounds before I could successfully descend.  At approximately 2:06 pm we started our dive.  Surprisingly, the visibility was at thirteen feet as we leisurely kicked down a slight grade of rock and sand.  As we approached the base of the east bridge, I was taken aback of the abundant number of starfish that were gorging themselves on mussels.

Since I was diving without my camera, at twenty minutes into the dive, I tapped Bob Willis, my dive buddy, to take out his camera from the pocket of his BC.  While he was getting his camera, I checked his air and found he was getting low (due to a short fill and his struggle in the beginning of the dive to descend.).  Norman came swimming up to us and determined that it was time for Bob to return to shore.  Juan decided to return to shore with Bob.

Joe, Mark and I spent the rest of the dive exploring the east and west bridge supports.  I fired off a few photos, but by then there was silt that cause backscatter to the photos.  Other than observing the seafloor of starfish on mussels and horseshoe crabs resembling miniature World War I tanks, we saw juvenile pollock, rockfish, blackfish, and a singular sea bass.  From the time we descended (at 2:06 pm) to approximately 2:36 pm when we felt the first vestiges of current breaking east, our dive was idyllic.  During that brief period, I had to crawl along the bottom using heavy rocks as hand holds.  Fortunately, we were at the back end of completing our dive and after 49 minutes we surfaced near our point of entry to see a light blue sky with wisps of clouds.  Watching the sky while swimming on my back to shore, I could not help to hear in my mind the lovely refrain of a Bill Withers song “It’s A Lovely Day.”  Of course, since it was a song playing in my head, I substituted the line to ‘t’was a lovely dive.”

Before we headed back to our respective homes, Norman led a caravan of cars to Shinnecock Inlet in Hampton Bays to the area where Sujohn Low’s Memorial Bench would be placed.  I think Margaret as well as the rest of us were happy with the site selection and I felt Sujohn would be elated. 

Ravenous from the sea and air, we invaded the local eatery “Tulley’s” and dined, socialized, and the song, “It’s a lovely day” was still playing in my head.

By: Ivan Donovan