Gill & Hyde Wreck Diving on Sep 3-4, 2017, Trip report

[Dan]

I made a short trip to Wilmington, NC, during the Labor day weekend for family visit and evacuating from Harvey. This was my first visit to the area, so I did some reading about diving around Wilmington and Aquatic Safaris Diver (ASD) is highly recommended to go diving with. So, I booked 2-boat dives with ASD for Sunday (9/3/17) and Monday (9/4/17). Both boat-diving trips were simply awesome, especially on Monday, with flat sea surface, like glass.

On Sunday, I picked the Hyde / Markham trip with the smaller boat. It was full and packed with 20 divers (not much elbow room). The waves were about 2 feet. After the first dive, the wave became worse, so the captain decided to stay put and we made the 2nd dive in the same site. That was fine with me as I have never seen sand-tiger shark before, so it was a treat to see them swimming around the wreck. However, bobbing on such waves during an hour surface interval made me a bit of sea sick.

On Monday, I got lucky to get to go with the bigger boat with 18 divers (more elbow room) to Gill & Hyde. Originally I booked for the same smaller boat to Hyde, as the bigger boat was full and I was on waiting list. One diver had to cancel his Gill & Hyde spot 2 days before the trip, so I got in . Monday turned out to be much better than Sunday. The sea surface was so flat like glass, as shown, below.

Here is a video I took in Hyde Wreck on Monday dive

A barracuda hanging on the Hyde wreck

Sea bass?

Some shots of the sand-tiger sharks with my point & shoot camera.

Sting ray hanging around on the bottom of the Hyde wreck

This mantis shrimp was almost got whacked by a diver's fin, so I couldn't get a good shot of it

Luckily it's home is deep enough for it to duck into.

The lead diver (guide) was nice enough to show me a toad fish in Gill wreck. That was my first time to see one, ever. So that was a cool treat.

 

[DiverDownD3]

Nice report, glad you had a good trip. Since you enjoyed the sand tigers so much you need to dive the Caribsea, Atlas Tanker, or Aeolus on your next trip to NC

 

[WinfieldNC]

Hi Dan_T,

You certainly picked a good weekend to come to NC. Monday was the best day I've seen all year. My girlfriend and I were on the Gill & Hyde dive with you on Monday. You can actually see us in the background of your video. We are outside the Hyde looking in when you were inside with the sand tiger. Great pictures and video!

Come back to NC soon. The visibility on the John D. Gill is about as good as it gets. You must be good luck .

Win

 

[Dan]

Hi Dan_T,

You certainly picked a good weekend to come to NC. Monday was the best day I've seen all year. My girlfriend and I were on the Gill & Hyde dive with you on Monday. You can actually see us in the background of your video. We are outside the Hyde looking in when you were inside with the sand tiger. Great pictures and video!

Come back to NC soon. The visibility on the John D. Gill is about as good as it gets. You must be good luck .

Win

Cool! You are now a movie star!

Lucky star must be on my side . After reading the % of blown out dives, especially on the last several Saturdays, what are the odds of going diving in Wilmington for the first time and getting 2 out of 2 day dives? Originally, I was planning to do for one, just on Sunday.
Then I got an email from American Airlines that my return flight to Houston on Monday was cancelled due to Harvey aftermath and put me on to the next day, Tuesday. I didn't complain as my office also was still closed for business on Tuesday anyway. So, that meant I have another day, Monday, to dive, which turned out to be, as you say, the best day you have seen all year.

 

[Dan]

Nice report, glad you had a good trip. Since you enjoyed the sand tigers so much you need to dive the Caribsea, Atlas Tanker, or Aeolus on your next trip to NC

Thanks!

I have grown to like those sand tigers. They may look mean, but they are not as shy as the hammerheads. I had to hide behind a rock before I can get a close up picture of one of those hammerheads. As soon as I snapped a picture with a flash, the hammerhead just jetting out like it had seen a ghost. On the contrary, the sand tigers just looked at me and swam by, as if no big deal.

On my next trip, in addition to those wrecks you mentioned, I'd like to also see those U-boats.

 

[drrich2]

Some nice pics, and good to see a report out of North Carolina. I miss the sand tigers; really enjoyed the diving (I dove out of Morehead City when I went).

Richard.

 

[Dan]

Some nice pics, and good to see a report out of North Carolina. I miss the sand tigers; really enjoyed the diving (I dove out of Morehead City when I went).

Richard.

Thanks!

I read your detailed trip report a while back. Next time I may stay longer, may be about a week, to do 2-3 days of diving in Morehead City too.

 

[Dan]

Interesting tidbits about Sand tiger sharks being closely related to Makos & Great White, mean looking and yet they are like pussy cat. They were just glancing at me, swimming by or around me carelessly as seen in the video posted above.