6 replies to this topic

[WreckWench]

I had a wonderful first trip of the year to Morehead city to dive with our very own Bobby Cox for Memorial Day Weekend. This was not a SingleDivers.com charter but rather a Red Wet and Blue charter...my other diving venture! The surface conditions in Morehead City were typical for the Spring with a 3-4 foot average for seas but the diving conditions are well ahead of schedule for temperatures and visibility. The average 2 hour boat rides to each destination just flew by watching the majestic ocean I love so much! We didn't see our usual flankings of dolphins this trip so I'm sure they will be out in force in July when we dive on history again!

Saturday, May 29th, we dove the USS Schurz WWI wreck sunk in 1918: Visibility was a solid 90 feet vertically and 50-60 feet of horizontally but as is common with this wreck, the baitfish limited your actual line of sight vis directly over the wreck. The bottom temperature was 76 degrees. There was a large Southern Stingray hanging around on the starboard side and a huge Horse Conch that had a shell that must have been nearly 14 inches seen near the boilers. There also lots of Morays I lost count at 15 of them but many seemed to be injured in some way. Must be mating season for them too! I found my usual assortment of floor tiles, bullets and even some unusual china shards. Saturday, May 29th, we dove our second dive of the day on the U-352 the second U-Boat we sank in 1942: Visibility on the Submarine was at least 70-80 foot and the bottom temperature was a balmy 77 degrees. There were lots of different fish and a large variety of Eels present on the wreck. It was as usual an awesome dive. One of our divers found an electrical cord and light fixture...Sweet!!! I spent most of the dive just taking her in and seeing how she had changed from last year. Sadly more and more of her pressure hull is disintegrating. And fortunately she weathered yet another horrendous hurricane season off the Eastern Seaboard.

Sunday, May 30th, we dove the Papoose a WWII victim and the original breeding ground for Atlantic Sand Tiger sharks!: On the Papoose the bottom temperature was 76 degrees with a surface temperature of slightly less. There were plenty of sharks around but most were out in the sand just off the wreck. In fact the divemaster saw the largest male he'd ever seen (at least 14 feet) and another 7 footer came up the anchor line to see him off when he unhooked and drifted off the wreck. He was making a pretty good speed until he saw that the DM was as big as him and then he just casually cruised off into the blue like the DM never existed. (The amazing thing about these sharks is that they are NOT aggressive but they sure can give you the whole shark experience without the danger!) Our second dive on Sunday, May 30th, was the Aeolus an early artificial reef which has been torn into 3 parts due to a number of hurricanes and provides some awesome diving: The visibility was 40-50 feet with a bottom temperature of 76 degrees. Here too there was a shark or two cruising the bow section. There were also lots of Bar Jack, Amber Jack and Atlantic Spade Fish.

Monday, May 31st, we dove the Indra an inshore wreck that provides LOTS of bottom time and loads of fun: After a significant amount of discussion we decided we would try and run out to the South and see how far we could go due to steady winds and a building sea. After a short time we determined that off-shore would be less than fun so we opted for the In-shore wreck Indra. The visibility was 35-40 feet in most places (vis is usually less inshore the further you get from the Gulf Stream and abit cooler as well). There were plenty of fish to see but most were younger fish looking for a place to hide. We found an awesome octopus that provided almost 20 minutes of fun as he was more then happy to play out in the open and swim around...truly a rare occurrence! The bottom temperature was 74 degrees and a few degrees higher at the surface. We actually did two dives on this wreck and I found some crevices deep inside her I've never seen before. I was able to get 72 ft of depth by digging around inside down a level or two...ok maybe 3 or 4.

Our boat capt has a new home and dive shop for his operation and the new home is still a work in progress but Captain Bob is steadily preparing for the heart of the season. The boat is now located about a block from the hotel rather then right outside the hotel. It is still an easy walk and does not require driving at all. Captain Bob has his NITROX/AIR Fill Station fully operational and is pumping a 30% mix which is the best mix for the diving in this area.

Spring means one thing in Morehead City, "Great Diving". It means 50-60 feet of visibility and 65-70 degree water. It means lots of turtles, lots of sharks, lots of big stingrays and millions of fish. It means a higher probability of that "once in a lifetime" encounter with some of the more mystical creatures of the deep such as Ocean Sun Fish, basking sharks, manta rays or even a whale is not out of the realm of possibilities. BUT SUMMER will be even better with temps in the 80-85 degree range and vis steadily improving from 70-150 ft!

See you on the July 4th trip...4 full days of diving...all trips include the U-352 and the USS Schurz....we may even try to dive some wrecks rarely dove in the area due to group limitations and distance. That would be awesome!

P.S. For those of you who missed the annual "Top Dive Destinations" issue of Rodale's Scuba Diving, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2004, North Carolina once again placed high in several categories including: #3 Over All Dive Destination in North America #5 Top Value in North America #4 Top Visibility in North America #1 Top Big Animal Encounters in North America #1 Wreck Diving in North America #5 Shore Diving in North America (I'm not sure where that might be but I'd like to find out.)


Hope to see you all in July or August if you can't make July!

-Kamala aka Wreck Wench (yes this is how I got my nickname!)

[Marvel]

Wow! Great report WW! Well worht the wait but Man! The temptation.....

[zendiver]

Sounds like a blast and some awesome diving WW. Wish we ALL could have made it with you.

-ZD

[Bubble2Bubble]

Stop Teasing Me WW :dltears:
You I have fond memories of NC and I really wanna go back soon! Bobby ans Crew where the Bestest and seeing some new wrecks would be Great also.

B2B

[triggerfish]

so come with us, mikey (she says with that evil grin...)

there's always room for one more....
and there's that sophia thing, too....

[Latitude Adjustment]

Great report, I was on most of the same wrecks a week later and dispite a front coming through the vis offshore was still 80' and about 50' on the W.E. Hutton inshore. I can't wait to do the Oct. SD trip
This img is from the Schurz.

Attached Images

• 

[Bubble2Bubble]

TF and Latitude Adjustment are you both going to NC in Oct ? and Sophia to

Here's a pic of NC dive trip last year.

B2B

Attached Images

•