AevnsGrandpa
Contributor
Last week after the marriage of my oldest daughter in St. Augustine Florida, my wife and I drove up to and stayed in North Myrtle Beach for a few days. Being from the land of not a lot of waters (Illinois) I have wanted to do a wreck dive in the Carolina's and here was my chance.
I selected Costal Scuba from both comments on this board as well as their web site and location (about 10 minutes from my resort). The dive was a 2 tank morning dive to the Sherman, a barricade runner from the Civil War.
Arrived at 6:45a or so and they were already helping folks out, getting them signed in and rental gear assigned. This went real smooth and they (Nancy) was very friendly, getting the 12 of us organized. Once on board Russ the co-Captain and leader gave us the how to and info on the site we where going to dive. I buddied up with a new diver from Canada.
We got there in good time, it is about 6 miles off shore, and Russ went down and tied us off. Again Nancy was very helpful taking as much time as needed with the newer divers, which we seems to have a high percentage of for only having 12 divers on board, getting them situated for a back roll into the water. One we all were in, my buddy was last and had an issue with his weight belt, we went down to the line that runs from bow to stern (what's that called again?) We had a few observers... about 6 barracudas were staring at us as we went down. (they were waiting for us when we came back up fro the safety stop too).
The wreck is spread out but not a whole lot and the ocean was calm and a slight current so we could roam about the wreck without getting carried off. Plan was for a 30 minute down, 30 minute on board and another 30 minute down. Lots of growth, fish and coral on the wreck. Vis was 25' or so and temps where in the 80's I am guessing. The boilers, 2 of them, and the single engine cylinder (13' tall) provided a lot of places to look in and through as well as the ribs of the ship. only 52' deep so most everyone had a good amount of air on the return.
Over all it was a lot of fun. I didn't find any artifacts but enjoyed it greatly. The crew, Russ, Nancy, Thomas and a couple others whose names I cannot remember were always friendly and professional but still had fun and made everyone comfortable.
Look forward to going back at some point and hitting another one of the wrecks.
Jeff
I selected Costal Scuba from both comments on this board as well as their web site and location (about 10 minutes from my resort). The dive was a 2 tank morning dive to the Sherman, a barricade runner from the Civil War.
Arrived at 6:45a or so and they were already helping folks out, getting them signed in and rental gear assigned. This went real smooth and they (Nancy) was very friendly, getting the 12 of us organized. Once on board Russ the co-Captain and leader gave us the how to and info on the site we where going to dive. I buddied up with a new diver from Canada.
We got there in good time, it is about 6 miles off shore, and Russ went down and tied us off. Again Nancy was very helpful taking as much time as needed with the newer divers, which we seems to have a high percentage of for only having 12 divers on board, getting them situated for a back roll into the water. One we all were in, my buddy was last and had an issue with his weight belt, we went down to the line that runs from bow to stern (what's that called again?) We had a few observers... about 6 barracudas were staring at us as we went down. (they were waiting for us when we came back up fro the safety stop too).
The wreck is spread out but not a whole lot and the ocean was calm and a slight current so we could roam about the wreck without getting carried off. Plan was for a 30 minute down, 30 minute on board and another 30 minute down. Lots of growth, fish and coral on the wreck. Vis was 25' or so and temps where in the 80's I am guessing. The boilers, 2 of them, and the single engine cylinder (13' tall) provided a lot of places to look in and through as well as the ribs of the ship. only 52' deep so most everyone had a good amount of air on the return.
Over all it was a lot of fun. I didn't find any artifacts but enjoyed it greatly. The crew, Russ, Nancy, Thomas and a couple others whose names I cannot remember were always friendly and professional but still had fun and made everyone comfortable.
Look forward to going back at some point and hitting another one of the wrecks.
Jeff
