Akyla
Contributor
November 21 & 22, 2010
The weather moderated from two weeks of heavy gales; the prediction for the weekend was light winds and slight seas and the weatherman was right! We sailed with a group of divers that had been waiting for just this type of opportunity to dive Hatteras just once more before the long cold winter sets in. The need to put just one more memorable dive under your weight belt is a strong one and they were not disappointed - they got four.
The surface conditions were excellent; just 5 knots of light breeze and less than a 2 foot sea but we knew that from the last two weeks of hard North wind that it would be best to head as far south and offshore as we could. So we set a course for the Manuela and ran the 28 miles to the wreck site to find that the water changed from the cool 60's to the 70's just inshore of the site.
Maneuvering around prior to anchoring the wreck we saw several large loggerhead turtles and then we were swarmed by a large pod of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins. The Dolphins swam with the boat for more than ten minutes and video and photos were taken by several divers. Just as we began to anchor up one of the divers, Bruce, spotted something big splashing about 25 yards from the boat. This turned out to be not one, but two Manta Rays. These rays were right on the surface and were flapping their "wings" making some big splashes. However, we couldn't get the boat over to them in time to take any good photos. They continued to frolic in the area for some time, but never came right next to the boat so no manta rides or good pics. Unfortunately, the Mantas were not seen during the dives.
We anchored the wreck in the debris field right at the wheelhouse and the divers were able to easily swim the entire midsection of the site. The water conditions were very good with only a very light current and the top water a bit cool at 68 and a little green with about 35 ft of vis. Going down the line the water warmed to 78 and the vis popped open to around 75 ft or more. 40 foot from the bottom, which is 155 to 160 feet, there was another thermal layer and the temp dropped to 72.5 and the vis dropped to about 45 ft. After all, it is the week before Thanksgiving and not the middle of our summer season so lower vis should be expected.
The wreck site had a number of large fish there to include big Gag and Scamp groupers and several of the large Cubera snappers. The invasive lionfish were everywhere as were the Sandtiger sharks. The dive was so good we decided to stay for a second. After a long SI we did another dive and found that the water conditions actually improved to the point that the surface water was now 78+ and had about 60 foot vis. At the bottom the water vis had increased to around 60 foot. Close to the end of his dive, diver John Ratay spotted a huge Scamp and took a clean shot that stoned it.
At the end of the dives, the last three divers pulled the anchor and rode the anchor line off the wreck. During the drift off, the boat pulled them through what Diver Bruce Novak described as "a big cloud of sharks". At about 80 feet there was a "herd" of large Sandtigers that numbered at least 80 to 100 and the divers went right through them middle of them. The sharks politely moved just slightly aside as the divers drifted through. It was a cool thing to experience.
On Sunday, dawn came with absolutely no wind and a light patchy ground fog that vanished as the sun rose while we were motoring out. The sea conditions were even better than Saturday's and we again went South and offshore. Nearing the Proteus, our original destination, the water was still mixed green and in the 60's, so we decided to continue out to the Manuela again. This decision turned out to be the right one as the water had improved from the day before and the surface was 78 with over 60 to 70 foot of vis. There was a mixed layer during the descent that had lower vis, but at the bottom it opened up and the vis was between 80 to 100 ft. It is interesting how the conditions can change so from day to day, and even between the dives.
Many of the same type of creatures were seen again, but today there were many more turtles swimming around or tucked into holes sleeping. I saw at least 6 different ones during my near 20 minute BT. During the SI, they kept popping up all around the boat until we almost got tired of watching them but by then it was time to join them in the water for the second dive.
The second drop to the Manuela was limited in time due to the RNT from the previous dives here, but the few minutes you got to spend on the bottom was well worth the effort and the deco time.
Overall, not too shabby diving for the weekend just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Now is it appropriate to substitute Grouper and Scamp for Turkey?
The weather moderated from two weeks of heavy gales; the prediction for the weekend was light winds and slight seas and the weatherman was right! We sailed with a group of divers that had been waiting for just this type of opportunity to dive Hatteras just once more before the long cold winter sets in. The need to put just one more memorable dive under your weight belt is a strong one and they were not disappointed - they got four.
The surface conditions were excellent; just 5 knots of light breeze and less than a 2 foot sea but we knew that from the last two weeks of hard North wind that it would be best to head as far south and offshore as we could. So we set a course for the Manuela and ran the 28 miles to the wreck site to find that the water changed from the cool 60's to the 70's just inshore of the site.
Maneuvering around prior to anchoring the wreck we saw several large loggerhead turtles and then we were swarmed by a large pod of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins. The Dolphins swam with the boat for more than ten minutes and video and photos were taken by several divers. Just as we began to anchor up one of the divers, Bruce, spotted something big splashing about 25 yards from the boat. This turned out to be not one, but two Manta Rays. These rays were right on the surface and were flapping their "wings" making some big splashes. However, we couldn't get the boat over to them in time to take any good photos. They continued to frolic in the area for some time, but never came right next to the boat so no manta rides or good pics. Unfortunately, the Mantas were not seen during the dives.
We anchored the wreck in the debris field right at the wheelhouse and the divers were able to easily swim the entire midsection of the site. The water conditions were very good with only a very light current and the top water a bit cool at 68 and a little green with about 35 ft of vis. Going down the line the water warmed to 78 and the vis popped open to around 75 ft or more. 40 foot from the bottom, which is 155 to 160 feet, there was another thermal layer and the temp dropped to 72.5 and the vis dropped to about 45 ft. After all, it is the week before Thanksgiving and not the middle of our summer season so lower vis should be expected.
The wreck site had a number of large fish there to include big Gag and Scamp groupers and several of the large Cubera snappers. The invasive lionfish were everywhere as were the Sandtiger sharks. The dive was so good we decided to stay for a second. After a long SI we did another dive and found that the water conditions actually improved to the point that the surface water was now 78+ and had about 60 foot vis. At the bottom the water vis had increased to around 60 foot. Close to the end of his dive, diver John Ratay spotted a huge Scamp and took a clean shot that stoned it.
At the end of the dives, the last three divers pulled the anchor and rode the anchor line off the wreck. During the drift off, the boat pulled them through what Diver Bruce Novak described as "a big cloud of sharks". At about 80 feet there was a "herd" of large Sandtigers that numbered at least 80 to 100 and the divers went right through them middle of them. The sharks politely moved just slightly aside as the divers drifted through. It was a cool thing to experience.
On Sunday, dawn came with absolutely no wind and a light patchy ground fog that vanished as the sun rose while we were motoring out. The sea conditions were even better than Saturday's and we again went South and offshore. Nearing the Proteus, our original destination, the water was still mixed green and in the 60's, so we decided to continue out to the Manuela again. This decision turned out to be the right one as the water had improved from the day before and the surface was 78 with over 60 to 70 foot of vis. There was a mixed layer during the descent that had lower vis, but at the bottom it opened up and the vis was between 80 to 100 ft. It is interesting how the conditions can change so from day to day, and even between the dives.
Many of the same type of creatures were seen again, but today there were many more turtles swimming around or tucked into holes sleeping. I saw at least 6 different ones during my near 20 minute BT. During the SI, they kept popping up all around the boat until we almost got tired of watching them but by then it was time to join them in the water for the second dive.
The second drop to the Manuela was limited in time due to the RNT from the previous dives here, but the few minutes you got to spend on the bottom was well worth the effort and the deco time.
Overall, not too shabby diving for the weekend just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Now is it appropriate to substitute Grouper and Scamp for Turkey?
