keesmon
Contributor
We just came back from a quick trip from NYC to Wilmington for a 3 tank dive on the Hyde, and thought I'd post a short report.
We arrived in Wilmington on Friday night without luggage, due to delayed flights in and out of ATL. Turns out we got blown out on Saturday anyway, so spent the day playing in the current and watching the beauty that is Wrightsville beach in the summertime.
Sunday morning, met up with Doug, captain of the Double D and 3 divers from the UNCW scuba club. What a difference a day makes! Perfect ocean conditions, basically a flat sheet to dive into.
The double D is a six pack, set up nicely for diving, and plenty spacious once organized. Doug is a great captain to dive with, good humor, and an overall great vibe. Jason the dive master was everything you would hope a divemaster would be, helped out where he could and let us do our thing the rest of the time. The ride out to the Hyde was super fast, maybe 45 minutes or so.
The Hyde was a great wreck dive. Littered with Sand Tigers, Barracuda's and a variety of other fish. Thermocline at 50' dropping the temperature from 80 to 74. Visibility was 50' above the thermocline, maybe 25' below. We stayed on the Hyde for all 3 dives and had some close encounters with the resident sharks, especially on the 3rd dive when we stayed on the anchor line at their depth (40') for 10 minutes while not moving. The sand tigers just hovered near us, and the up current ones just crept closer and closer until they were basically on top of us.
Flight back to the NYC area on Monday was a disaster again, with an unscheduled overnight in ATL, courtesy of some bad weather in Newark, which seemed to affect only our flight. I plan on coming back again next year, but will make sure to have some extra time for the expected blown out days.
Doug and the Double D can be found at:
divingcarolina.com
We arrived in Wilmington on Friday night without luggage, due to delayed flights in and out of ATL. Turns out we got blown out on Saturday anyway, so spent the day playing in the current and watching the beauty that is Wrightsville beach in the summertime.
Sunday morning, met up with Doug, captain of the Double D and 3 divers from the UNCW scuba club. What a difference a day makes! Perfect ocean conditions, basically a flat sheet to dive into.
The double D is a six pack, set up nicely for diving, and plenty spacious once organized. Doug is a great captain to dive with, good humor, and an overall great vibe. Jason the dive master was everything you would hope a divemaster would be, helped out where he could and let us do our thing the rest of the time. The ride out to the Hyde was super fast, maybe 45 minutes or so.
The Hyde was a great wreck dive. Littered with Sand Tigers, Barracuda's and a variety of other fish. Thermocline at 50' dropping the temperature from 80 to 74. Visibility was 50' above the thermocline, maybe 25' below. We stayed on the Hyde for all 3 dives and had some close encounters with the resident sharks, especially on the 3rd dive when we stayed on the anchor line at their depth (40') for 10 minutes while not moving. The sand tigers just hovered near us, and the up current ones just crept closer and closer until they were basically on top of us.
Flight back to the NYC area on Monday was a disaster again, with an unscheduled overnight in ATL, courtesy of some bad weather in Newark, which seemed to affect only our flight. I plan on coming back again next year, but will make sure to have some extra time for the expected blown out days.
Doug and the Double D can be found at:
divingcarolina.com
Glad you enjoyed your time in North Carolina!
