Trip Log for North Carolina Wreck Diving
Day 1:
Arrived at Olympus Dive Center at 6am to an already busy scene. Checked in in the shop and signed our waivers.
Olympus offers 100cf/3300psi alum tanks with EAN30 for all the dives with MOD of 121fsw. Most of their intended sites are about 110fsw or above, so the mix will work just nicely.
There are twenty-three divers on board today on the Olympus with 26 spots. The boat has a double center rack and seats with one on the outboard sides as well with a lockable storage bin below each seat so the gear can be left onboard overnight. The Olympus is at 55 ton, 65’ long dive boat with bench seating in the salon, additional seating and lounging area above the salon amidships.
The boat has the divers entering the water on each side, amidships with two T-ladders at the stern scaleable with fins on. Divers use double line system from each corner of the stern weighted with a 35# weight connecting to another weighted vertical line a amidships which then connects to the anchor line at the bow of the boat. Between each weighted line on each side is a connecting line for the safety stop at 15fsw. A regulator is hung from each stern side for divers running low on gas. The shop fills the 100cf tanks to 3400-3500psi which is appreciated.
Day One
Weather was partly cloudy with light rainstorm on the horizon
Dive site 1: The Schurz; a 250' long German wooden ship taken by the Americans in World War I, sunk in 1908 by collision lies on the sand at 115fsw. The wood is mostly gone, eaten by salt-water worms and torn asunder by hurricanes. Visibility was approximately 40 feet showing the boilers, condensers, two cannons on the sand. We dropped down around the anchor line with minimum current and swam through the debris field of the wreck. Lots of bait fish, grunts, spade fish and several Queen Angels as well. A few grouper seen on the wreck, with some barracudas hanging around watching us at the anchor line. Mike and I did a 40 minute dive with a max depth of 107fsw. Managed to stay out of deco by a minute, with a mid water stop for 2 minutes as well as a 5 minute safety stop. Water temps ranged from 80 degrees at the top to about 74 degrees at the wrecks.
Back on board, we relaxed and ate a sandwich we brought and ate some fruit. The boat offers use of two microwaves, a convection oven and small refrigerator. Maybe tomorrow, we'll bring something that we can cook!
Dive Site 2: The USCG Spar; a 185' long recently sunk buoy tender sunk as an artificial reef. Wreck is up right, sand is 110fsw and has a multi leveled profile between the sand and the top of the wheelhouse at 75fsw. The wreck is starting to get sea life growing on it and is home to schools of baitfish, grunts lizardfish, grouper and a squad of Sand Tigers that are incredibly friendly (for sharks). There were plenty of opportunities to take photos of the sharks as they continually swam by around the wreck. Great dive!!
Max depth of 103fsw with a run time of 42 minutes
Day Two
Double Dip on the Caribsea, a 261’ long Cargo ship carrying Manganese ore. Torpedoed with two fish from the German U-158 on the starboard side and sunk in three minutes, all but seven sailors went down with the ship or died afterwards in the water waiting for rescue.
Ship sits at about 90fsw with a relief of the engines at about 75fsw. The wreck is laid open from the amidships are with the engine and both boilers exposed. The bow has a massive anchor chain piled up on the deck and rusting with the anchor in the sand below with the windlass on the deck, which is the anchor spot for the dive boat. The stern has fallen apart with the rudder sticking upright in the sand about 15’ from the rear portion.
Visibility was approximately 30’ dropping to a couple with all the baitfish in the waters, with a light current running across the ship from starboard to port. Visibility got a bit better the second dive. Bow was a great place to watch the ballet of baitfish, large Amber Jacks and Sand Tiger Sharks followed by schools of spades and a few barracudas. Dove along the sand and manganese ore remains on the bottom and picked up several sharks teeth for souvenirs.
First dive max depth of 93fsw for 51 minutes total run, second dive max depth for 87fsw for 47 minutes total
continued...... next post