Coming down in Sept.

[Lurch]

A group of us are coming down in September for 5 days of diving out of Olympius. Can I get any wreck recommendatios for people who have been/ live in the area. What are the waters like in September (temp. roughness etc.) Any info would be helpful.

 

[Diversauras]

For weather anyway, but in Sept, except in the case of hurricanes blowing through, the weather is usually great. Seas should be 2 or less, temp still in the 80's and viz in the 80-100 range. It can change drastically because the storms they get can be awe inspiring to say the least, but USUALLY is is calm and very nice in Sept. I leved ther for 9 years and worked with Olympus the whole time, you'll have a great trip.

There are no bad wrecks but the best ones, IMHO, are the Schurz, Carib Sea, Papoose, U-352 and depending on the weather there is the Atlas, Normannia and the Cassimir.

 

[finstotheleft]

I was just there June 13/14. Dove with Olympus. The staff is great, the Midnight Express is the boat we were on and it was very nice. Christmas tree ladders made getting back on the boat much easier than I was afraid of!

Some guys from New York were leaving as we were coming in...they dove the Carib Sea and said that the sand tigers were everywhere...this appears to be the wreck that they are hanging out at now. One guy came up with a handfull of shark teeth.

We didn't get so lucky, cause' of the weather, we couldn't make it out there. You should have better vis./weather than we did (hopefully!). From what I'm told, July/Aug/Sept. is the time to dive there. PRAY for good weather, because it will muck your dives up real quick...and also makes for an interesting boat rideuke: !
Good luck!

 

[BradfordNC]

I dove out of Moorehead City in August on the Carib Sea, The Nancy Lee, the Schurz, and the Aolus.

only time we didn't see sharks was on the Schurz. On the other three dives you couldn't turn your head without coming face to face with a sand tiger.

Also dove out of Wrightsville Beach on the Markham. Again, lots of good sized sharks.

In both cases, the water temps are lower than normal this year, and the vis isn't as good as it usually is.

am used to NC waters being in the 80s with vis of at least 50 feet.

for some reason the water was between 67 and 72 degrees this year. depending on the wreck, the vis was between 15 and 30 feet.

 

[Lurch]

So we went down for the week but because of these dam hurricanes we were blown off all 5 days, a little disapoining to say the least. Olympius was great and tried to keep us busy with things to do. Will go back but not in September!

 

[NauiDM2593]

Sorry to hear you couldn't make it out. The Diver Down ( www.diverdownscubadiving.com ) made it out for a 3 day weekend just in time to beat the impending arrival of Isabel and the warm, blue water is back!!!!

We dove the the Suloide on Friday with a few lingering swells from Fabian and the seas were only around 2-3 feet on this inshore wreck. Bottom temp was 75 and vis was 20- 30 feet.

On Saturday we made it out to the Papoose with only 1-2 foot seas. Visibility was around 40 feet at the bottom of the wreck and well over 100 feet of vis just above the wreck. The water on the bottom was still a little hazy from the surge earlier in the week. But the most amazing thing is that the water temp was 80 degrees from top to bottom!!! Just 2 weeks ago we had temps in the mid 60's. Absolutely beautiful.
Our second dive was on the Schurz with 80 degrees on the surface and 79-80 on the bottom. Vis was between 30-40 feet on the wreck.

On Sunday we made 2 dives on the German sub U-352 with seas only around 1 to 2 feet. Surface water temp 80 and bottom temp 79-80. When we first tied in, vis was about 40-50 feet on the wreck. Vis just above the wreck, was well over 100 feet, I could see other divers on the wreck from the 10 foot hang line.... The beginnings of the building swells from Isabel, about 1-2 feet every 150-200 feet, were enought to create a surge on the wreck that dropped the vis to less than 5 feet within the 3 hours we were anchored up there; however, everyone had a great time and really enjoyed the warm water.

Let's hope things will clear back up after the coming storm so we can get back out there soon.

 

[Lurch]

Lucky you, they cncelled our friday dives and had cancelled Sat and SUnday to as we thought about staying. 16 hours is a long drive to not get any dives in. Now I am really Jealous

 

[wateronbrain]

Greeting frorm Morehead city!!!

Yes, I'm in morehead and just got back from diving the day after the Hurrican Isabel hit....Vis was a milky green 15 ft but the water was warm. We dove the Shurz and the U-352 from the Diver Down (www.diverdownscubadiving.com). We were the only boat to leave the inlet today....sea's were a nice rollin 8-12 "inches". We're heading for the Paposse and the Schurz again tommorow...The blow turn up the schurz enought that it looked like a new wreck...

I'll report more on Monday


Randy