OP
El Tiburon
Contributor
A little late but here is my dive report from my May NC trip. It was awesome. I went with Tortuga Charters, top notch operation. Only got blown out one day out of five.
Well, its back to the salt mines. Im sitting here at work but my mind is on the Tortuga trying to snag the hook on the U-352. It was a great trip, which included some great diving, some adventure diving, a German U-boat, 5 other great wrecks, sand tiger sharks, clouds of bait fish, great bunk mates, awesome dive buddies,. Beer Can in the Butt Chicken, a visit to the Swamp House, mud buggying and an unforgettable taste of Southern Hospitality.
We dived for 4 days out of 5, which in the context of North Carolina diving in May is beating the odds. 3 out of 5 would have been the average. Dancing with the squalls was certainly an adventure, but with Captain James at the helm, the squalls were only a minor inconvenience.
Captain James promised us he would get us to the U-Boat, he not only kept his promise but he got us to U-352 twice. We started the adventure on U-352 as the first dive and ended the adventure on U-352 as our last dive. By the second dive of the U-352 we had seen a DVD I purchased on her history and discovery, which made the last dive of the trip so much more meaningful.
All our dives were at about 110 feet except for the Indra which was at about 65 feet. She might have been at a shallower depth but aside from the U-352 was probably the most enjoyable dive. She stands upright after being cleaned and prepared as an artificial reef and scuttled in 1992, providing relatively safe penetration opportunities.
Diving the Papoose was also a step back into history as she was sunk by the U-124 in1942. She is so big that we chose to dive her as our second dive on the same day.
The Aeolus is teeming with sand tiger sharks and was a fun dive. Mark (The Okie from Muskogee) did his Titanic dance off the stern, which we originally thought was the bow.
The Shurz was an interesting dive. On the way down the ascent line, at 65 feet I saw what I thought was sea grass swaying back and forth in the current, I looked at my depth gauge and thought, why is there sea grass at 65 feet when the sand is at 110 feet? Am I narced? As I got closer I realized that the sea grass was actually bait fish, that actually covered and obscured the view of the ship. As we reached the end of the anchor line where it was hooked to the ship, Ted attached a strobe to the chain, and we swam for several yards before we saw metal, the cloud of bait fish was so thick. It was challenging to navigate her because you couldnt orient yourself on the ship, because you could not see it with so much bait fish. At one point I swam right into a bait ball and as the ball opened up for me I came face to face with a huge sand tiger shark in the middle, which I later found out is a regular denizen of the Shurz.
Well, its back to the salt mines. Im sitting here at work but my mind is on the Tortuga trying to snag the hook on the U-352. It was a great trip, which included some great diving, some adventure diving, a German U-boat, 5 other great wrecks, sand tiger sharks, clouds of bait fish, great bunk mates, awesome dive buddies,. Beer Can in the Butt Chicken, a visit to the Swamp House, mud buggying and an unforgettable taste of Southern Hospitality.
We dived for 4 days out of 5, which in the context of North Carolina diving in May is beating the odds. 3 out of 5 would have been the average. Dancing with the squalls was certainly an adventure, but with Captain James at the helm, the squalls were only a minor inconvenience.
Captain James promised us he would get us to the U-Boat, he not only kept his promise but he got us to U-352 twice. We started the adventure on U-352 as the first dive and ended the adventure on U-352 as our last dive. By the second dive of the U-352 we had seen a DVD I purchased on her history and discovery, which made the last dive of the trip so much more meaningful.
All our dives were at about 110 feet except for the Indra which was at about 65 feet. She might have been at a shallower depth but aside from the U-352 was probably the most enjoyable dive. She stands upright after being cleaned and prepared as an artificial reef and scuttled in 1992, providing relatively safe penetration opportunities.
Diving the Papoose was also a step back into history as she was sunk by the U-124 in1942. She is so big that we chose to dive her as our second dive on the same day.
The Aeolus is teeming with sand tiger sharks and was a fun dive. Mark (The Okie from Muskogee) did his Titanic dance off the stern, which we originally thought was the bow.
The Shurz was an interesting dive. On the way down the ascent line, at 65 feet I saw what I thought was sea grass swaying back and forth in the current, I looked at my depth gauge and thought, why is there sea grass at 65 feet when the sand is at 110 feet? Am I narced? As I got closer I realized that the sea grass was actually bait fish, that actually covered and obscured the view of the ship. As we reached the end of the anchor line where it was hooked to the ship, Ted attached a strobe to the chain, and we swam for several yards before we saw metal, the cloud of bait fish was so thick. It was challenging to navigate her because you couldnt orient yourself on the ship, because you could not see it with so much bait fish. At one point I swam right into a bait ball and as the ball opened up for me I came face to face with a huge sand tiger shark in the middle, which I later found out is a regular denizen of the Shurz.
