Trip report: Indra wreck and NC Aquarium at Roanoke

[DukeAMO]

We had a great weekend on the NC coast. On Saturday we did our first NC wreck dive, on the Indra. We went on Down Under's charter with Discovery Diving, on the Outrageous V. That's a nice medium-sized boat. We had 18? divers, mostly newbies, except for Denise the DM and the ship's mate. The weather was great; just some small rolling waves (2-4 feet). The visibility below water was not great (10-20 feet), but it's a cool wreck anyway, and the low visibility meant that it just kept surprising us! It felt like a very large wreck because of that; we were down for about 45 minutes and only saw about half of it. The water temperature was 80 degrees - nice! Highlights included the wreck itself, a school of about six large (3-6 foot) barracuda within arm's reach near the surface, and a wide assortment of fish. My favorites were the many thousands of small silvery fish that hang out at deck level and synchronize their movements - what are those? There were three ships anchored on the Indra that afternoon, and we followed the wrong anchor line up - oops! No big deal, happens all the time. We just had a workout on our little surface swim back to our boat.

On Sunday, we dove in the NC Aquarium at Roanoke shark tank. I'd recommend that to anyone; they take excellent care of their guest divers, and the photos are great. We got to interact with our family and other kids on the other side of the glass, pick up shark's teeth to take home, and of course, swim right next to lots of SHARKS! Both dives were about 45 minutes.

I can come back later and add my notes from my log book.

A few photos from the aquarium:

 

[Paladin]

Is it too late in the year for sand tigers on the Indra? Sounds like you had a good time.

 

[DukeAMO]

Is it too late in the year for sand tigers on the Indra? Sounds like you had a good time.

I hear it's more that the sharks prefer the offshore wrecks, and the Indra is pretty close to shore. *shrug* Maybe next time.

---------- Post Merged on August 7th, 2012 at 12:26 AM ---------- Previous Post was on August 6th, 2012 at 11:54 PM ----------

OK, here are my dive notes:


Dive 21, August 4th
Indra wreck, off of Beaufort NC
Depth: 66 feet (multi-level), Time: 43 minutes
Boat charter with Down Under Surf and Scuba, operated by Discovery Diving Co, on the Outrageous V
Air temp 89 F, surface temp 86 F, bottom temp 79 F, visibility 10-20 feet
It was a calm day, with small rolling waves, 2-4 feet high. Very slight current.
I used a 3mm full wetsuit, which was just about right. 22 lbs of weight was close to correct;
20 might have worked if I could relax more on descent. We also tried AL 100 tanks. I liked
the extra bottom time, but disliked how large the tank was, especially the length.
We started out with weight checks. I had to get out to add weight, and botched the giant stride the
second time, banging the tank on the deck. Fortunately it didn't get my head! I'm not quite sure
what happened there, but I think the boat hit a big swell just as I stepped off.
There were three ships anchored there; one at the bow, one at the stern, and us in the middle.
The wreck itself was about 360 feet long, upright, with the highest point at about 35 feet and the
sandy bottom at about 70 feet. The wreck seemed very large underwater, especially with the low
visibility. We were repeatedly surprised by new sections of wreckage. In addition to the
Indra, we saw a smaller boat and a large section at a 45 degree angle.
We didn't see the oyster cracker toad fish that some others saw, but we did see a school of very
large (3-6 foot) barracuda next to our boat, near the surface. There were many thousands of silvery
fish schooling and darting around in unison - lovely. We also saw blennies, urchins, amberjack,
and damselfish, I think. Our small dive lights were useful for picking up colors and trying to
look inside the wreck (we didn't go in).
At the end of the dive, we found an anchor line and followed it up, and did our safety stop on the
line below the boat. It didn't look quite right, but we had been warned that could happen, so we
just finished our safety stop and surfaced. Yep, wrong boat. We had an aerobic surface swim back
to the Outrageous V. I actually had more air left in my tank than DH this time, yay!
This dive was extra cool. I can't wait until we get to dive on another NC wreck.


Dive 22, August 5th
NC Aquarium at Roanoke, Shark Tank
Depth: 15-20 feet, Time: 44 minutes
Air, surface, and bottom temp: 80 F, visibility 80 feet
I used a 1mm dive skin, and I was too cold. DH was not cold. 16 lbs was enough weight.
After our orientation, we started out in a shallow entry tank and did a quick weight check.
Then we dropped into the main tank, and stayed on the side for a few minutes so the fish could get
used to us and our smell. The sharks stayed away at first, but eventually got close enough to
touch, in theory. (We weren't allowed to touch any of the fish or sharks.) The main feature of
the shark tank is a replica of the wreck of the USS Monitor. There was 1 large nurse shark sleeping
in the wreck, 1 large mature female sand tiger shark (about 350 lbs and 9 feet long), 3 smaller
sand tiger sharks, and 8 sandbar sharks. There was a very friendly hogfish, a sheep's head fish
(also friendly), yellow porkfish cleaning our hair and hoses, a beautiful and territorial queen
triggerfish, striped seargent majors, jacks, and tarpon.
We had lots of fun waving to our girls and other kids outside of the tank. We drew messages and
pictures on a slate, and gave high fives and fist bumps. We got to find and take home several
sharks' teeth (recently shed, in the coral sand). We also got a DVD with some photos and videos,
and T-shirts, to take home with us. So fun - highly recommended!

 

[Searcaigh]

Nice write up, I have always been tempted to dive NC wrecks when I used to travel frequently to RTP a few years ago but timing was never right, maybe one day as we still have a plant operating at Clayton.

Might be useful if there is some marker is tied to the anchor in order to identify the boat it leads to, does anyone do this?

 

[DukeAMO]

Might be useful if there is some marker is tied to the anchor in order to identify the boat it leads to, does anyone do this?

Well, they did try to mark the anchor lines, but our nav skills apparently need some work. There wasn't anything as obvious as a sign saying "hey this is the Outrageous V anchor line", but it did have a couple of pink ties on it, and it was near the center of the wreck. Also, the ship's diving mate supposedly ran an orange wreck line across the top of the Indra's deck to the anchor, but we never found that line. Instead, when we were getting close to 1000 PSI, we found some other orange wreck line and followed that to the wrong anchor. We were pretty sure it was the wrong one since it was on the stern. We tried to swim along the wreck to find the other anchor, but we couldn't find it within a few minutes. So, we swam back to the anchor we could find and followed that line up. Better that than try to ascend in blue water and end up missing the boats entirely!

 

[Searcaigh]

Well, they did try to mark the anchor lines, but our nav skills apparently need some work. There wasn't anything as obvious as a sign saying "hey this is the Outrageous V anchor line", but it did have a couple of pink ties on it, and it was near the center of the wreck. Also, the ship's diving mate supposedly ran an orange wreck line across the top of the Indra's deck to the anchor, but we never found that line. Instead, when we were getting close to 1000 PSI, we found some other orange wreck line and followed that to the wrong anchor. We were pretty sure it was the wrong one since it was on the stern. We tried to swim along the wreck to find the other anchor, but we couldn't find it within a few minutes. So, we swam back to the anchor we could find and followed that line up. Better that than try to ascend in blue water and end up missing the boats entirely!

You definitely made the right decision

 

[lsorenson]

We were diving the Hyde this weekend out of Carolina Beach and the Sand Tigers were pretty thick... Several dozen maybe as it was hard to count. Vis was pretty good but you could see where the vis was a bit lower closer to the wreck. Saturday was a great day to be out on the water and one of the best days I have had diving off NC and I have more than 75 dives off the coast.

Here is a video one of our divers took if you care to watch... Diving the Hyde Aug 4th

 

[DukeAMO]

Here is a video one of our divers took if you care to watch... Diving the Hyde Aug 4th

Wow! That video is epic. So many sharks, and I love the ray hanging out. I also found it surprising that there are so many fish on the wrecks. It's like the water is packed full of them. It's very cool to watch.

Did you have a red filter on there? Our videos always look so blue.

Well, we're hoping to do another trip in September, to the Hyde and Markham. It's a matter of whether Grandma can watch the kids or not. Fingers crossed.

 

[lsorenson]

Thanks Duke... As I said, it was a very good day to be diving the Hyde! I have never seen it that busy before but then again, I am not diving it every other week either...

My buddy from Scuba Adventures Dive Shop (Valdese NC) shot the video with his Sealife Camera and I do not believe he used a filter but I will check with him tomorrow...

September should be good and I hope you get the same show as we did!!!

Best of luck to you and remember, bribe Grandmother with a bottle of white wine...!!!

lee

Wow! That video is epic. So many sharks, and I love the ray hanging out. I also found it surprising that there are so many fish on the wrecks. It's like the water is packed full of them. It's very cool to watch.

Did you have a red filter on there? Our videos always look so blue.

Well, we're hoping to do another trip in September, to the Hyde and Markham. It's a matter of whether Grandma can watch the kids or not. Fingers crossed.

 

[lsorenson]

Wow! That video is epic. So many sharks, and I love the ray hanging out. I also found it surprising that there are so many fish on the wrecks. It's like the water is packed full of them. It's very cool to watch.

Did you have a red filter on there? Our videos always look so blue.

Well, we're hoping to do another trip in September, to the Hyde and Markham. It's a matter of whether Grandma can watch the kids or not. Fingers crossed.

Thanks Duke... As I said, it was a very good day to be diving the Hyde! I have never seen it that busy before but then again, I am not diving it every other week either...

My buddy from Scuba Adventures Dive Shop (Valdese NC) shot the video with his Sealife Camera and I do not believe he used a filter but I will check with him tomorrow...

September should be good and I hope you get the same show as we did!!!

Best of luck to you and remember, bribe Grandmother with a bottle of white wine...!!!

lee

Duke,

To follow up regarding the Red filter, Mike was using the camera's red filter setting but not the attachable red filter...

lee