Jump to content

  • These forums are for "after booking" trip communications, socializing, and/or trip questions ONLY.
  • You will NOT be able to book a trip, buy add-ons, or manage your trip by logging in here. Please login HERE to do any of those things.

Photo

North Carolina Wreck Trip Report


  • Please log in to reply
18 replies to this topic

#16 deeper thoughts

deeper thoughts

    Getting started

  • Member
  • Pip
  • 16 posts
  • Gender:Female
  • Cert Level:Rescue Diver
  • Logged Dives:300

Posted 15 July 2008 - 09:43 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.


Thnx for the report

#17 Capn Jack

Capn Jack

    I spend too much time on line

  • Professional
  • PipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 1,994 posts
  • Location:DFW
  • Gender:Male
  • Board Status:Working to fund the next trip
  • Cert Level:YMCA in 65, dove till 79, returned in 2002... now will work for air and/or beer as a DM
  • Logged Dives:not enough

Posted 16 July 2008 - 04:48 PM

I can't add much to Georoc's great report. Bill (OTWDiver) did his usual stellar work in teaching us newbies the finer points of deco diving.

I would also like to thank the rest of the members who put up with us newbies as we (or at least me) struggled with double HP-130's and slung deco bottles and the rest of our gear. We took up extra room and time, so thanks for your patience.

We had a couple of marine mammals - porpoise of some variety - ride our bow wave returning to port one day. I managed to get a short video clip with my camera - not the best - but it was wonderful fun to watch these two have a great time with us.

Click here for video of Porpoise Surfing the Diver Down's bow wave
No aquarium, no tank in a marine land, however spacious it may be, can begin to duplicate the conditions of the sea. And no dolphin who inhabits one of those aquariums or one of those marine lands can be considered normal.
Jacques Yves Cousteau

#18 Terry

Terry

    Getting started

  • Member
  • Pip
  • 3 posts
  • Location:Frederick, MD
  • Gender:Male
  • Cert Level:DM
  • Logged Dives:1800

Posted 23 July 2008 - 08:37 AM

I'd like to thank all of you for diving with us on the Diver Down and hope to see you again next year. Also, thanks for the generous tips Colin and I received from the group.

Pictures Judy took while on the trip.
nc0408

#19 WreckWench

WreckWench

    Founder? I didn't know we lost her!

  • Owner
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 53,490 posts
  • Location:FL SC & Dallas, TX
  • Gender:Female
  • Cert Level:DM & Technical certs
  • Logged Dives:5000+

Posted 23 July 2008 - 09:38 AM

I'd like to thank all of you for diving with us on the Diver Down and hope to see you again next year. Also, thanks for the generous tips Colin and I received from the group.

Pictures Judy took while on the trip.
nc0408



Thank you Terry! You and Judy were quite fun to have on board! -ww

Contact me directly at Kamala@SingleDivers.com for your private or group travel needs or 864-557-6079 AND don't miss SD's 2018-2021 Trips! ....here! Most are once in a lifetime opportunities...don't miss the chance to go!!
SD LEGACY/OLD/MANUAL Forms & Documents.... here !

Click here TO PAY for Merchandise, Membership, or Travel
"Imitation is the sincerest flattery." - Gandhi
"Imitation is proof that originality is rare." - ScubaHawk
SingleDivers.com...often imitated...never duplicated!

Kamala Shadduck c/o SingleDivers.com LLC
2234 North Federal Hwy, #1010 Boca Raton, FL 33431
formerly...
710 Dive Buddy Lane; Salem, SC 29676
864-557-6079 tel/celfone/office or tollfree fax 888-480-0906




0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users