East Coast U-boats

[herman]

No Problem Pete, it's for all to learn from. We get a lot of press on how great our wreck diving is but I almost never see a mention of the level this diving actually is. I don't mean to turn anyone off to our diving, just want them to have a realistic idea of what it's like. For the most part, it's long range(20 to 40 miles off shore), deep, possibly rough seas and wrecks are in and of themselves hazardous if not respected. You know what a surging dive ladder looks like, it is intimidating and can be down right dangerous, not the thing a new diver needs to have to deal with. We do have some good 50 ft dives and the seas are glass smooth on some days but these are the exception. As for the yack club, I too am a member, luckly a part time member and getting better. This is also another reality that needs to be understood...saw 2 people turn a lovely shade of green and lay on the deck for about 7 hrs the other week, not exactly the dive trip they had planned. I have seen more than one diver miss one or both dives due to seasickness. When you comming up to dive with us?

 

[TexasMike]

Herman....am I inferring that you are one of the folks going on Kamala's trip?

 

[herman]

No Mike, I have no plans to be on the trip. Since I live in Raleigh and spend a lot of time on the ocean, I am just familiar with the diving and sea conditions around here and thought the info might be useful to Steve. Which weekend is it, I may be down at the coast fishing, if you get blown out, give me a call, maybe we can do some fishing or at least got together and tell lies....I mean dive stories, face to face. I will buy the first round.

 

[TexasMike]

It's the weekend of October 5-9. And there is some sort of Sea Food festival going on too for the town we are based out of, so I expect some good food.

Check the website for more details of where we are going to be.

btw, My dad's a tarheel. Born in Broadway, NC (his dad used to own the flour mill) and schooled at East Carolina St.

 

[large_diver]

The U-853 off of Rhode Island is on my "list" but I have not been diving on it yet. It is a very advanced dive. Surface sea conditions are often rough, since you are in the open ocean. Depth to the conning tower is typically about 90 feet, 110' to the deck and 130' to the bottom. Visibility is notoriously poor on this wreck, often only about 10 feet. Currents are variable and often strong. A friend of mine who has been diving for 20 years and who has been on this wreck about 20 times has said that it is a dive for which your skills need to be "finely tuned".

All that being said, it is a historic wreck, especially being the last U-boot sunk during WWII.

Here are a few informative web sites:
http://www.wahoo2001.com/wrecks/u853page.htm
http://www.nedive.com/thedives.htm
http://www.uboat.net/boats/u853.htm

 

[CajunKelpi]

Hey Herman,

Thanks for the info. I've been trying to do my homework on the diving off N.C. before making any solid plans to go up there (hence my original question). I'm an experienced AOW diver with wreck penetration cert. I love to poke around the innards of dead ships! I'll admit tho that most of my diving has been in the Gulf rather than the Atlantic. I'm a WWII buff and find war wrecks especially facinating. Y'all have some great wrecks up your way and diving on the U-boats has been a long time dream of mine.
The long boat trips don't bother me, tho I agree that the ladder rides can sometimes give you more excitement than anything at Disney World. More bruises too

Safe diving y'all,
Steve

 

[CajunKelpi]

Originally posted by Ontario Diver
Let us know TM. Diving on the NC U-Boats is one of those Life Dives

I second OD on that!

Definately let us know how it was TM.
Safe diving y'all,
Steve

 

[carlislere]

Wow, guys, talk about a coincidence. I was looking at one of the websites from large_divers post regarding the U853. It states that the sub was repeatedly strafed by planes from the USS Croatan. My Dad was a radarman on the USS Croatan from the time it was built till Sept of 1945!

RonC.

 

[large_diver]

That's cool Ron -- thanks for passing on your personal "connection".

 

[CGoheen]

26 August U352 with Olympus Dive Charters. $100 a day, 2 dives (second dive that day was on "Schurze"). Be sure and reserve your tanks ahead of time, some of our tour waited until the night before, and there weren't enough tanks -- yes they have nitrox. The Charter does not provide food or snacks. They do have water on board.

Cloudy, 78 degrees, 3-5ft swells. Olympus uses "flippers on" ladders and they instruct you to leave your mask on, regulator in, and flippers on as you board the boat. My first time in the deep blue, and their instructions got me on the ladder and on the boat the first time.

The U352 is at 110+ feet, the temperature was 62 degrees with the thermal cline at 70 feet (5MM was fine for my cold blood), visibility only 20 feet, minor current.

For a relatively novice diver this was a great dive even with only 20 feet max visibility (The quarry usually only has 15 feet). My air let me stay down almost 15 min, what a hog. I need more bottom time, means more practice.