I'm heading to the beach and thought I might get a dive or two in with Scuba Express. I should be in the area Aug. 18-23. My normal dive buddy is not diving this time, so I will need to find an instabuddy. Is anyone else planning to be around and feel like getting wet?
Murrell's Inlet/Myrtle Beach Aug 18-23, 2012
- Thread starter SC_Hoaty
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Dive Ranger
Registered
I'm diving with Express Water Sports on Wed. Aug 22nd, my first dive charter- the dive is the "Copper Pot" I'm also doing a "Boat Specialty" at the same time. I'm using the DM doing my specialty as my Dive buddy.
You should have a great time - they are a top-notch operation. I'm still not sure which day(s) I will be diving, so maybe I will see you on the boat!
Dive Ranger
Registered
If you see a short, chunky guy in his mid-40's & starting to gray, make sure you say "Hey", thanks for the feed back about Express Water Sports, So far, I've only heard good. Thats really reassuring
You mean what the mirror looked like 10 years ago?
---------- Post Merged on August 18th, 2012 at 01:27 PM ---------- Previous Post was on August 17th, 2012 at 01:26 PM ----------
I'll be on the Sunday, 8/19, trip to the Civil War Wreck. Still looking for a buddy!
Dive Ranger
Registered
Hey, if you were on the boat, I missed you. Had a great dive!!
Did not make the Wed. boat. Glad you had a great dive. Did any of those afternoon showers chase the boat around? We had an exciting ride in on Sunday.
Here is a copy of a trip report I posted elsewhere on the board:
Dove with Express Watersports out of Murrell's Inlet on a Civil War wreck. It is not know exactly which ship this wreck is, but some believe it it the Governor. Folks dive on this to hunt artifacts or spear fish. I dove it just for fun, and 'cause thats where the boat was going.
All that is left is a 10 foot pile of metallic debris, mostly covered with sand brought by 150 years of Atlantic storms. One if the avid treasure hunters found a few metal bits that were from the end of the barrel on the old muskets or whatever they called the long guns of the day. Kind of a semi-circular clip to hold the wooden stock to the barrel. He later found a piece of a trigger guard. The spearos took a bunch of flounder, who were hiding in the sand.
The site sits in 80 FSW. I had approached a photographer about buddying with him, but later the DM asked me to be part of trio. The trio was a newly minted AOW diver and one of the shop's DM-in-training (and me, of course). I told the DM-in-training, Anthony, that I would try not to challenge his rescue skills. I also let them know that I anticipated issued clearing my right ear (it is a bit problematic) and that one I was a depth it should be OK. Since we were tied into the wreck, and the boat had a "Carolina Rig," there was no reason to rush the descent. Just work your way down the line.
First dive went great - I took my time getting down, and the ear did protest but eventually complied and equalized properly. Once on the wreck, I saw a lot more starfish than I would have expected (mostly less than 6 inches) and schools of small fish. Anthony tied off a wreck reel (viz was about 15-20 feet) and we started exploring around. At one point Anthony saw a flounder and went to spear it with his dive knife. He dropped the reel and it started getting caught up in his fins. I picked up the reel and started winding it up, and eventually got him untangled and handed it back to him. We turned the dive at the agreed upon pressure, and worked our way back up the line to the boat without incident.
After a nice SI, we splashed for a second tank on the same wreck. My right ear was less cooperative this time. Anthony was hanging back with me, while the newly minted AOW was heading on down to the bottom. After a few minutes I signalled Anthony to buddy up with the other guy, and I headed back to the boat. Thus my second dive was only about 10 minutes at 26 feet.
One of the spearos had an adventure on the second dive. He was at his safety stop and speared a blackfin tuna from a school that had come swimming past. Out of nowhere (or out of the murk) a dozen baracuda arrived and started stealing mouthfuls of the tuna. He tried to fend them off with the spear, and ended up with only the head, which he proudly brought on board the boat. His girlfriend caught most of the 'cuda feeding with her GoPro.
The boat ride back was OK until we ran into a lively thunderstorm. That added about 45 minutes to the return trip, and added quite a few bumps also. At one point it was about 3 seconds between the flash and the bang of the lightning. However, by the time we made it to the dock it had passed through and the rain had stopped. Mrs. Hoaty came and picked me up, and I had her wait around a few minutes so we could watch the premiere screening of the GoPro 'Cuda Classic.
All that is left is a 10 foot pile of metallic debris, mostly covered with sand brought by 150 years of Atlantic storms. One if the avid treasure hunters found a few metal bits that were from the end of the barrel on the old muskets or whatever they called the long guns of the day. Kind of a semi-circular clip to hold the wooden stock to the barrel. He later found a piece of a trigger guard. The spearos took a bunch of flounder, who were hiding in the sand.
The site sits in 80 FSW. I had approached a photographer about buddying with him, but later the DM asked me to be part of trio. The trio was a newly minted AOW diver and one of the shop's DM-in-training (and me, of course). I told the DM-in-training, Anthony, that I would try not to challenge his rescue skills. I also let them know that I anticipated issued clearing my right ear (it is a bit problematic) and that one I was a depth it should be OK. Since we were tied into the wreck, and the boat had a "Carolina Rig," there was no reason to rush the descent. Just work your way down the line.
First dive went great - I took my time getting down, and the ear did protest but eventually complied and equalized properly. Once on the wreck, I saw a lot more starfish than I would have expected (mostly less than 6 inches) and schools of small fish. Anthony tied off a wreck reel (viz was about 15-20 feet) and we started exploring around. At one point Anthony saw a flounder and went to spear it with his dive knife. He dropped the reel and it started getting caught up in his fins. I picked up the reel and started winding it up, and eventually got him untangled and handed it back to him. We turned the dive at the agreed upon pressure, and worked our way back up the line to the boat without incident.
After a nice SI, we splashed for a second tank on the same wreck. My right ear was less cooperative this time. Anthony was hanging back with me, while the newly minted AOW was heading on down to the bottom. After a few minutes I signalled Anthony to buddy up with the other guy, and I headed back to the boat. Thus my second dive was only about 10 minutes at 26 feet.
One of the spearos had an adventure on the second dive. He was at his safety stop and speared a blackfin tuna from a school that had come swimming past. Out of nowhere (or out of the murk) a dozen baracuda arrived and started stealing mouthfuls of the tuna. He tried to fend them off with the spear, and ended up with only the head, which he proudly brought on board the boat. His girlfriend caught most of the 'cuda feeding with her GoPro.
The boat ride back was OK until we ran into a lively thunderstorm. That added about 45 minutes to the return trip, and added quite a few bumps also. At one point it was about 3 seconds between the flash and the bang of the lightning. However, by the time we made it to the dock it had passed through and the rain had stopped. Mrs. Hoaty came and picked me up, and I had her wait around a few minutes so we could watch the premiere screening of the GoPro 'Cuda Classic.
Dive Ranger
Registered
Nope, a few sprinkles on the way to the boat, an awesome mellow day, will a few nice patches of sunshine for the ride. Can't say enough good about the crew. I worked with Andrew Raak to knock out my "boat diver speciality" Really nice guy that knows his stuff. A real pro. Can't say enough good about my first dive charter. Didn't start to rain, thunder and lightening flashes until I got back to the hotel room for a nice afternoon nap. "Life is Good"
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