Imagery captured off Morehead City

[ascottj]

Hello,

I came across your club listing and thought some of you might be interested in viewing images I captured during three short trips to Morehead City in September, October and November 2004. The weather and u/w viz. were ... um ... challenging during each visit, but I am now a fan of the diving there, especially the marine life. The shots are posted at: http://www.seascapesimages.com/northcarolina/2004/northcarolina2004.html
(*the various galleries are towards the bottom of the page)

An article is slated for Scuba Diving Magazine's April issue, with another piece on U-352 scheduled to appear in Alert Diver later this year. If anyone has any interesting story ideas regarding other locations off North Carolina and wants to share them, I would be interested in your thoughts. I hope to return to NC for diving in 2005 when there is a decent chance for sunny skies and good viz.
Best wishes,

Scott Johnson

 

[dwright]

Scott, I would love to talk to you about some of the dives here in NC. I have about 100 dives on the U-352...give or take Any time you want to come diving here let us know and we'll get some folks together and charter a boat or something.

Edit: I just looked at your pics...I'm jealous. I've only found dishes and forks...that pocket watch is amazing. I'd love to see it.

 

[GrierHPharmD]

Great photos! I'd love to hear the story behind the watch in the U-352 set.

Dale, when are you diving the 352 again? I've never done it and want to go with folks who know the site.

-Grier

 

[Allison Finch]

Nice pics!!! You really pissed off some of those sand tigers. A couple were giving classic "back off" postures to you. The last time I saw a posture like those, I backed off almost too slowly.

 

[dwright]

I was thinking about doing an "anniversary" dive on the U-352. She went down on 5/9/1942, so maybe the weekend of the 5/7-8 would be a good time. The U-352....63yrs later

 

[Jason B]

I was thinking about doing an "anniversary" dive on the U-352. She went down on 5/9/1942, so maybe the weekend of the 5/7-8 would be a good time. The U-352....63yrs later

Great idea Dale.

Jason

 

[ascottj]

Hello Dale, Grier and Allison,

Thank you for taking the time to respond. In terms of the watch, below is an excerpt from my final draft of the article:

Safely back aboard the Midnight Express, I secure my gear and try to recall all that took place over the past :40. Meanwhile, after surfacing from his dive, George (Purifoy) clambers up the ladder, plops a net bag on the rear deck and excitedly proclaims, “I think I might have found a watch.” Once free of his BC, he opens the bag to reveal a collection of items that look to be a mixture of crusty rocks and really old trash.

George proceeds to use the handle of his dive knife to carefully chip away at one of the objects. In just a couple of minutes, what once appeared to be a non-descript rock now clearly resembles a pocket watch. Call me amazed and a bit jealous. How did George go inside the control room (a place he estimates he has visited 1,500 times before), stick his hand in silt up to his elbow, feel around in the dark, pull-out something that looked like nothing and know he had found a watch? Upon more careful inspection, the back of the watch displays a German eagle and swastika. The U-352 is still giving up its dead.

And so, it was not me that found the watch. It was George Purifoy, owner of Olympus Dive Center.

As for the sharks, I usually get along with any species of shark, except loan sharks, of course. There were times when the viz. was so poor and the silversides so thick that I had more than one collision with a shark. Needless to say, each shark won right-of-way.

It would be my pleasure to meet and visit with you and some of your other club members during an upcoming trip.

Scott

 

[dwright]

It is amazing what George can find...I recall a trip to the Schurz a couple years ago. It was after storm season and the group I was with spent several dives on her. That same weekend, George found a fully intact china cup.....he just knows where to look