New Jersey Scuba Diving

Mole Crab

Mole Crab

The Mole Crab or Sand Bug Emerita talpoida lives on ( or rather in ) ocean beaches, burrowing in the surf zone, and at times free swimming. It is totally harmless and grows to 1.5". These odd and somewhat comical little creatures seem to do everything in reverse - they dig backwards, walk backwards, and swim backwards. Fishermen dig them up for bait.

Mole Crab

Mole Crab

Sand Bugs filter feed with their long feathery antennas, which are withdrawn into protective sheaths when not in use. Not the long eye stalks that allow the animal to remain completely buried, and the short powerful limbs. They are unable to walk in any conventional sense, but are powerful diggers, and also surprisingly swift ( if somewhat random ) swimmers.

Exposure Suits - Wetsuits

wetsuit

The minimum exposure protection you should plan on for New Jersey diving is a full 6 or 7 mm neoprene wetsuit, with equivalent hood, gloves, and boots. A common misconception about wetsuits is that the water inside keeps you warm. This is absolutely false - the less cold water that gets in, the warmer you will be. ( Some folks actually bring jugs of hot water and pour it into their wetsuits just before the dive. ) Once the suit floods and the water inside warms up, you do feel better, but that water got warmer because you got colder. The trick is to keep as much as possible of this warmed water inside the suit, but almost every motion you make will pump out some warm water, and bring in more cold.

Two things will reduce this pumping tendency. The first thing is a properly sized and fitted suit. A wetsuit should be snug, without crushing you, and there should be no large empty spaces inside when you put it on. Many people have a hard time finding a wetsuit that fits just right. The second thing is a well-made suit. Features of a superior wetsuit include:

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