Just a brief check-in from NC for anyone who cares. We have had two great days of diving on great wrecks. We have also had the opportunity to share the water with plenty of sharks, HUGE stingrays, and 'cudas among others. Much more detail to come once I don't have to post from my cellphone.
North Carolina Wreck Trip Report
Started by
NJBerserker
, Jul 05 2008 07:32 PM
18 replies to this topic
#1
NJBerserker
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Posted 05 July 2008 - 07:32 PM
Proud Member of the Cooper River "A-Team"
#2
Starfish Sandy
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Posted 05 July 2008 - 07:57 PM
excellent!!!
Glad you are getting some diving in!!! I have NEVER been as sea sick as I was in NC about 2 years ago.
Vowed to never return - can't wait to hear your report. Perhaps I'll change my mind!!!
Glad you are getting some diving in!!! I have NEVER been as sea sick as I was in NC about 2 years ago.
Vowed to never return - can't wait to hear your report. Perhaps I'll change my mind!!!
Known puker
#3
BubbleBoy
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Posted 06 July 2008 - 06:32 AM
Glad you all are having a good trip. Sorry I couldn't make this one, but, just too much stuff happening at home for me to be away this time. I didn't even make it to Dutch Springs this weekend.
With any luck, I will be living in the Wilmington, NC area in a couple of years. Then you can all come visit and dive with me anytime.
Can't wait to see the full report. Hope someone got some pics.
With any luck, I will be living in the Wilmington, NC area in a couple of years. Then you can all come visit and dive with me anytime.
Can't wait to see the full report. Hope someone got some pics.
BB
When you make fish laugh, they can't bite you.
When you make fish laugh, they can't bite you.
#4
georoc01
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Posted 07 July 2008 - 01:43 PM
July 4th NC WreCK Trip
SingleDivers.com
I just returned from the NC Wrecks trip. This trip was through SingleDivers.com. We stayed at the Fisherman's Inn in Morehead City, North Carolina. We dove with Diver Down.
The trip was 4 nights, with 3 days of diving. We flew into Raleigh Durham and rented a van for the drive up to Morehead. Part of the highlights of this journey was to stop at wilbers for Carolina BBQ.
The next day we began the diving. DIving in Carolina is different than the other diving I have done. Each day started with a wakeup call at 5:30am. We were on the boat by 6:30am rigged up, ready to go for the 2 hour drive out to the wreck. The dives were deep, usually 100 feet+. After the first dive, we would move the boat to the 2nd dive site, do a second dive, then drive back to the to dock, arriving about 4:30. We would go to dinner around 6:30, head to bed afterwards and wake up and do it again tomorrow. Each dive went something like this. We would show up at the dive site and one of the dive masters would drop in and take the anchorline down and hook it to the wrecks. Then each of us would do a giant stride into the water a 6' drop. Once you are in the water, you would drop in negative and drop down to a line hung at 20'. We would then follow that line down to the wreck.
Day 1 we did two dives on the schurz (http://www.nc-wreckd...URZ/SCHURZ.HTML). This was a WW1 wreck. A german boat which the Russians chased to Pearl Harbor and the germans surrended the ship rather than get sunk by the russians. It sank in the Carolinas by a collision with the MMS Florida.
We had many large sand tiger sharks. And some very large sting rays. When you dive these wrecks, the visibility is about 60 feet, so you don't see the wreck till you are about 1/2 way down the line. When you hit the bottom, you find out that the boat is engulfed in bait fish. Lionfish have definitely taken over in this area.
Day 2 started with a dive of the U-352 (http://www.nc-wreckd.../U352/U352.HTML). This is one of the signature dives of the graveyard of the atlantic and lived up to the hype. When you realize how small these u-boats actually where, its amazing the damage that they were able to inflict during the way. The only downside was a strong current that you had to fight through to get back to the bow line.
After that, we went out and dove the spar. It is an artificial reef and a fun boat to dive. lots of swim throughs and plenty of fish and sharks. You could get down on the wreck and out of any current. A really fun dive that you could stay more shallow on after diving the U-boat earlier in the day. My highlight was swimming through the baitfish only to go face to face with a 4' barracuda. Really mean looking guy and quite the rush.
Day 3 started with thunderstorms that came through all night long. So we were about 45 minutes late leaving port as we waited for the weather to clear. Plus the seas were really worked up with the squalls that came through. Dive 1 was the Aoelus (http://www.nc-wreckd...LUS/AEOLUS.HTML). This dive was also sunk as an artificial reef and the marine life really showed as it grew on the top deck. But the promenade deck was also wide open so you had plenty of swim throughs. There was plenty to see at different depths making this a very fun dive. Our final dive of the trip was the Hutton (http://www.nc-wreckd...TON/HUTTON.HTML). Being an wreck closer to shore, it is in about 60' of water, and the visibilty was much less than the others (probably about 30'). The debris field for this wreck is all over and the dive masters were great at tying lines to lead us around the wreck. All sorts of marine life here. Saw dogfish and toadfish. It was a great way to finish off the diving on this trip.
As far as topside goes, the Fisherman's inn is a motel that really catered to our group. We grilled out on their back deck the 2nd night for dinner. The owners were fantastic, from bringing out fresh dive towels every morning and washing them for us every night. A nice touch. We had dinner at Floyds 1921 which was very good and a definite recommend for the area. The Watermark was good, but given the size of our group, we seemed to inconvenience them, as we were asked to vacate the tables as soon as the check was paid.
This was a fun singledivers trip. They have been doing this trip for a while now and it showed with how their contacts handled it. We were picked up at the airport and dropped off when the trip was over. If you haven't checked out the graveyard of the atlantic, its worth the trip.
SingleDivers.com
I just returned from the NC Wrecks trip. This trip was through SingleDivers.com. We stayed at the Fisherman's Inn in Morehead City, North Carolina. We dove with Diver Down.
The trip was 4 nights, with 3 days of diving. We flew into Raleigh Durham and rented a van for the drive up to Morehead. Part of the highlights of this journey was to stop at wilbers for Carolina BBQ.
The next day we began the diving. DIving in Carolina is different than the other diving I have done. Each day started with a wakeup call at 5:30am. We were on the boat by 6:30am rigged up, ready to go for the 2 hour drive out to the wreck. The dives were deep, usually 100 feet+. After the first dive, we would move the boat to the 2nd dive site, do a second dive, then drive back to the to dock, arriving about 4:30. We would go to dinner around 6:30, head to bed afterwards and wake up and do it again tomorrow. Each dive went something like this. We would show up at the dive site and one of the dive masters would drop in and take the anchorline down and hook it to the wrecks. Then each of us would do a giant stride into the water a 6' drop. Once you are in the water, you would drop in negative and drop down to a line hung at 20'. We would then follow that line down to the wreck.
Day 1 we did two dives on the schurz (http://www.nc-wreckd...URZ/SCHURZ.HTML). This was a WW1 wreck. A german boat which the Russians chased to Pearl Harbor and the germans surrended the ship rather than get sunk by the russians. It sank in the Carolinas by a collision with the MMS Florida.
We had many large sand tiger sharks. And some very large sting rays. When you dive these wrecks, the visibility is about 60 feet, so you don't see the wreck till you are about 1/2 way down the line. When you hit the bottom, you find out that the boat is engulfed in bait fish. Lionfish have definitely taken over in this area.
Day 2 started with a dive of the U-352 (http://www.nc-wreckd.../U352/U352.HTML). This is one of the signature dives of the graveyard of the atlantic and lived up to the hype. When you realize how small these u-boats actually where, its amazing the damage that they were able to inflict during the way. The only downside was a strong current that you had to fight through to get back to the bow line.
After that, we went out and dove the spar. It is an artificial reef and a fun boat to dive. lots of swim throughs and plenty of fish and sharks. You could get down on the wreck and out of any current. A really fun dive that you could stay more shallow on after diving the U-boat earlier in the day. My highlight was swimming through the baitfish only to go face to face with a 4' barracuda. Really mean looking guy and quite the rush.
Day 3 started with thunderstorms that came through all night long. So we were about 45 minutes late leaving port as we waited for the weather to clear. Plus the seas were really worked up with the squalls that came through. Dive 1 was the Aoelus (http://www.nc-wreckd...LUS/AEOLUS.HTML). This dive was also sunk as an artificial reef and the marine life really showed as it grew on the top deck. But the promenade deck was also wide open so you had plenty of swim throughs. There was plenty to see at different depths making this a very fun dive. Our final dive of the trip was the Hutton (http://www.nc-wreckd...TON/HUTTON.HTML). Being an wreck closer to shore, it is in about 60' of water, and the visibilty was much less than the others (probably about 30'). The debris field for this wreck is all over and the dive masters were great at tying lines to lead us around the wreck. All sorts of marine life here. Saw dogfish and toadfish. It was a great way to finish off the diving on this trip.
As far as topside goes, the Fisherman's inn is a motel that really catered to our group. We grilled out on their back deck the 2nd night for dinner. The owners were fantastic, from bringing out fresh dive towels every morning and washing them for us every night. A nice touch. We had dinner at Floyds 1921 which was very good and a definite recommend for the area. The Watermark was good, but given the size of our group, we seemed to inconvenience them, as we were asked to vacate the tables as soon as the check was paid.
This was a fun singledivers trip. They have been doing this trip for a while now and it showed with how their contacts handled it. We were picked up at the airport and dropped off when the trip was over. If you haven't checked out the graveyard of the atlantic, its worth the trip.
#5
NJBerserker
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Posted 08 July 2008 - 07:19 AM
Don't Think I can add anything to that ridiculously detailed and good report. I will say that it is definitely some excellent diving if you like wrecks or larger animals. I did get seasick on day one, but kamala's meds kept everything in my tummy on day two and 3. That is the one downside as was said previously. The captain himself takes a pill in the morning as it can get pretty choppy. 4 of us sat out the first dive of day 3 as the swells were a steady 4-5' with the occasional 6' wave coming by. I will definitely go back though as the experience was fantastic overall and I want to check out the U-Boat closer. A regulator malfunction only allowed me to get down 65' before I had to abort the dive. Though I technically did "see" it. I need to go back and "dive" it.
Proud Member of the Cooper River "A-Team"
#6
colinlong
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Posted 08 July 2008 - 09:33 AM
Don't Think I can add anything to that ridiculously detailed and good report. I will say that it is definitely some excellent diving if you like wrecks or larger animals. I did get seasick on day one, but kamala's meds kept everything in my tummy on day two and 3. That is the one downside as was said previously. The captain himself takes a pill in the morning as it can get pretty choppy. 4 of us sat out the first dive of day 3 as the swells were a steady 4-5' with the occasional 6' wave coming by. I will definitely go back though as the experience was fantastic overall and I want to check out the U-Boat closer. A regulator malfunction only allowed me to get down 65' before I had to abort the dive. Though I technically did "see" it. I need to go back and "dive" it.
I'm glad everyone had a good time. Hopefully Kamala can get a group together for next year. P.S. I hope hurricane Bertha doesnt mess up the diving for next weekend.
#7
georoc01
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Posted 08 July 2008 - 09:51 AM
Don't Think I can add anything to that ridiculously detailed and good report. I will say that it is definitely some excellent diving if you like wrecks or larger animals. I did get seasick on day one, but kamala's meds kept everything in my tummy on day two and 3. That is the one downside as was said previously. The captain himself takes a pill in the morning as it can get pretty choppy. 4 of us sat out the first dive of day 3 as the swells were a steady 4-5' with the occasional 6' wave coming by. I will definitely go back though as the experience was fantastic overall and I want to check out the U-Boat closer. A regulator malfunction only allowed me to get down 65' before I had to abort the dive. Though I technically did "see" it. I need to go back and "dive" it.
I'm glad everyone had a good time. Hopefully Kamala can get a group together for next year. P.S. I hope hurricane Bertha doesnt mess up the diving for next weekend.
Hey, nice to get one of our divemasters from the week online! It was great diving with you guys last weekend. Good luck with Bertha. I know WW is off on her way to the Tortugas this week or she would give you a SingleDivers.com welcome herself.
#8
Dive_Girl
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Posted 08 July 2008 - 10:16 AM
Colin! Welcome to SD!!!I'm glad everyone had a good time. Hopefully Kamala can get a group together for next year. P.S. I hope hurricane Bertha doesnt mess up the diving for next weekend.
Thanks for posting. You were one of the DMs when I visted NC with SingleDivers.com a couple years back. Excellent to hear you were with our group this year too! 
georoc01, wonderful dive report! Thank you for sharing!!!
It's Winter time - you know you're a diver when you're scraping ice off your windshield INSIDE your vehicle...!
Once in a while, it is good to step back, take a breath, and remember to be humble. You'll never know it all - ScubaDadMiami. If you aren't afraid of dying, there is nothing you can't achieve - Lao-tzu. One dog barks at something, the rest bark at him - Chinese Proverb.
Once in a while, it is good to step back, take a breath, and remember to be humble. You'll never know it all - ScubaDadMiami. If you aren't afraid of dying, there is nothing you can't achieve - Lao-tzu. One dog barks at something, the rest bark at him - Chinese Proverb.
#9
Bubble2Bubble
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Posted 08 July 2008 - 11:15 AM
Thanks for the Great Dive report with coments and everything!
I dove with Diver Down and WW off Moorehead City back in 2004 and I would love to go back there
again .
I really was impressed with Diver Downs safety standards and of course all those Cool Wrecks!
On the otherhand WW ? she deflated my BCD and threw me in the Ocean and said
"Your gona learn to scuba dive here or die trying"
Bubs
I dove with Diver Down and WW off Moorehead City back in 2004 and I would love to go back there
again .I really was impressed with Diver Downs safety standards and of course all those Cool Wrecks!
On the otherhand WW ? she deflated my BCD and threw me in the Ocean and said
"Your gona learn to scuba dive here or die trying"
Bubs
Dive into Life and Live for Diving!
no trees were harmed while posting any of my messages,
however a significant number of electrons were inconvenienced.
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no trees were harmed while posting any of my messages,
however a significant number of electrons were inconvenienced.
Buy Lawn Mower and Chain Saw Parts at...
Amazon.com
#10
Rocky_B
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Posted 08 July 2008 - 11:48 AM
In my opinion, this was a great trip. I thought the group we had was great. A bunch of very nice people that I wouldnt mind diving with again. While the seas are a bit different than the lake we usually dive in, it was worth the experience to tough it out. Bill (Fisherman's Inn) has a very clean operation and in talking to him, you'd think you had known him for several years. Captain Bob, Terry, and Collin were the best. They were a team in every sense. It's nice to make one of these trips and have it all planned out for you. As far as any problems with afternoon meals, you run that risk even if you do it yourself in your own hometown. In my opinion, the best was the cookout at the hotel. No crowds, no crabby waiter like the one at Watermark, and no rush to leave (again at the Watermark). Hope everyone made it home safely and the ones that went on to Key West make it back safely also.
I would like to add that with all of the sharks, rays, jelly fish, etc that the most dangerous creature was not in the ocean. He was sitting next to me or across the table from me at 2 of the meals. Luckily we didnt have hot beverages close by, instead we had ice water and toast. I'm not going to mention any names but I thought I heard he was a dentist. I think I'll brush 4 times a day so he doesnt get to put a drill into my mouth. LOL
Enjoyed the trip immensely!
Rocky
I would like to add that with all of the sharks, rays, jelly fish, etc that the most dangerous creature was not in the ocean. He was sitting next to me or across the table from me at 2 of the meals. Luckily we didnt have hot beverages close by, instead we had ice water and toast. I'm not going to mention any names but I thought I heard he was a dentist. I think I'll brush 4 times a day so he doesnt get to put a drill into my mouth. LOL
Enjoyed the trip immensely!
Rocky
#11
NJBerserker
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Meeting folks
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Posted 10 July 2008 - 03:56 PM
If anyone has underwater photos of the wreck(s) and whatnot I'd appreciate it if they would email them to me for my scrapbooking purposes. I will not violate anyone's copyright privileges if they wish to retain them.
Proud Member of the Cooper River "A-Team"
#12
scubafanatic
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Posted 12 July 2008 - 09:56 AM
Don't Think I can add anything to that ridiculously detailed and good report. I will say that it is definitely some excellent diving if you like wrecks or larger animals. I did get seasick on day one, but kamala's meds kept everything in my tummy on day two and 3. That is the one downside as was said previously. The captain himself takes a pill in the morning as it can get pretty choppy. 4 of us sat out the first dive of day 3 as the swells were a steady 4-5' with the occasional 6' wave coming by. I will definitely go back though as the experience was fantastic overall and I want to check out the U-Boat closer. A regulator malfunction only allowed me to get down 65' before I had to abort the dive. Though I technically did "see" it. I need to go back and "dive" it.
...reg problem....hmmm, can you share any info/details on what happened ?
Karl
#13
dustbowl diver
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Posted 12 July 2008 - 01:51 PM
Great trip report! Thanks for posting!!
"Yesterday's gone, tomorrow never knows, today will never be the same again!"-Jibe
#14
NJBerserker
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Meeting folks
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- Logged Dives:~75
Posted 13 July 2008 - 01:00 AM
Don't Think I can add anything to that ridiculously detailed and good report. I will say that it is definitely some excellent diving if you like wrecks or larger animals. I did get seasick on day one, but kamala's meds kept everything in my tummy on day two and 3. That is the one downside as was said previously. The captain himself takes a pill in the morning as it can get pretty choppy. 4 of us sat out the first dive of day 3 as the swells were a steady 4-5' with the occasional 6' wave coming by. I will definitely go back though as the experience was fantastic overall and I want to check out the U-Boat closer. A regulator malfunction only allowed me to get down 65' before I had to abort the dive. Though I technically did "see" it. I need to go back and "dive" it.
...reg problem....hmmm, can you share any info/details on what happened ?
Karl
It is about six feet from the deck of the boat to the water's surface. Upon my entry I remained looking straight out the whole time resulting in water shooting up my exhaust valves. The force of the water caused a pinch in my seal which lead to the exhaust and inhale merging. I inhaled saltwater for 65' until I decided it wasn't getting any better. I did not use the reg again until OTWDiver could take it apart and show me what happened. I have used it since and it works fine. Hope all of that makes sense, feel free to ask any follow up questions.
Proud Member of the Cooper River "A-Team"
#15
Cajun Diver
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Posted 15 July 2008 - 08:20 PM
If anyone has underwater photos of the wreck(s) and whatnot I'd appreciate it if they would email them to me for my scrapbooking purposes. I will not violate anyone's copyright privileges if they wish to retain them.
I have a few pics that I'll post when I get a chance - I would prefer to put them in the gallery but don't see one (hint hint admins...
) But while we are waiting here's two I've managed to resize:
Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed. Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin on the moon, Michael Collins in the command module orbiting - July 20, 1969
It looks like it’s going to be another fine day - John Wayne
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