Charter Recommendations - Northern OBX

[Cixelsyd]

Hi all,

Just got back from my trip and I dove with RIO while I was out there. I had a good experience and found everyone at the shop, on the boat, and supervising the diving to be experienced, competent, and fun to dive with. Gear was in good shape and the boat was comfortable. Thought I would get back on here and pass along the review so the information is available. I'll definitely use them again the future.

I dove the U-85 and the Advance on this trip and had great dives on both. I've done the Advance three times now (always a fun one), but the U-85 was new to me. Very cool to see history lying on the bottom like that. I was a bit shocked at just how small those old u-boats actually are. I can't imagine what life was like on patrol for them.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Hi all,

Just got back from my trip and I dove with RIO while I was out there. I had a good experience and found everyone at the shop, on the boat, and supervising the diving to be experienced, competent, and fun to dive with. Gear was in good shape and the boat was comfortable. Thought I would get back on here and pass along the review so the information is available. I'll definitely use them again the future.

I dove the U-85 and the Advance on this trip and had great dives on both. I've done the Advance three times now (always a fun one), but the U-85 was new to me. Very cool to see history lying on the bottom like that. I was a bit shocked at just how small those old u-boats actually are. I can't imagine what life was like on patrol for them.

U-85 was part of the third wave of subs sent to the US coast; the Kriegsmarine had already committed all of its available large-displacement Type IX boats and started sending the smaller Type VII subs like the U-85. In order to reach the US east coast they had to cram all available spaces with provisions, fill some of the fresh water tanks with extra diesel, and run on one engine during the transit. The pickings were so easy that it was worth the effort - the score by August 1942 was Germans 609, US 22. They didn't call it the "American Shooting Season" for nothing.

Sounds like a good trip; after five years of west coast diving I've pretty much hung up my cold-water suit so I went farther south to Hatteras. The Lion's Paw took us out to the Dixie Arrow and Keshena yesterday; both were absolutely coated in young-of-the-year grunts. There was a bit of a thermocline and the viz dropped below that; on the Dixie Arrow we had about 40 feet on the bottom. Apparently while I did see one sandtiger that sauntered up from my side I missed about another five near the stern. Between that and a bit more current than we bargained for the second dive was diverted to the Keshena​, where the conditions were considerably better.