NC Dive Reports

[diveh3]

My family took me down to the Outer Banks for vacation last week. I decided to take along my gear and visit a few of the wrecks off the Nags Head coast.
Tuesday I booked a leisurely dive to an artificial reef wreck called the Advance. The wreck lies in about 60’ and was a nice uneventful dive.
The dive master teamed me up with another diver wearing doubles. A very nice guy but I was petrified!
As the diver boarded the boat with his gear I spied his set of doubles with a widow bar manifold, a small horse collar as a BC and a small pony bottle attached in between the doubles as a bail out bottle.
I laid out my dive plan to my newfound buddy and explained how I would be donating in an oog situation. In return for my offer of a 7’ long hose with plenty of gas I would be receiving his 9 or 13cf pony mounted to the back of his tanks in the event I had a problem (comforting huh).

One of the wrecks I really wanted to do was the U-85 on Thursday. So I booked the charter again hoping to have a more conventional buddy. Wed night I said a little prayer that I would be blessed with a good buddy for this deeper dive.

Thursday morning I pull into the dock and await the orders from the crew to board the boat. Other divers are arriving including my Tue buddy. When to my surprise a diver pulls in wearing a scuba shack T-shirt. I said to myself “Scuba Shack, that sounds familiar” I introduce myself and explain that I have met a few people from the Scuba Shack at Dutch Springs and that I was a fundamentals student with Bob Sherwood.
A smile broke on this divers face as he introduced himself as Joel (aka) Joel2e. Joel said that he also was a fundamental student who could not complete his class due to hurricane Ivan cutting the class short. (Sounds familiar?)
I immediately begged Joel to be my buddy and he obliged. We had two great dives on a nice U-boat with and interesting story of its demise.
http://uboat.net/boats/u85.htm
and
http://www.eclipse.net/~dhamer/u-85.htm

After stopping at the shop for fills I stopped in to MM7 to spy the Triangle wreks site.
2 divers were just getting ready to battle the surf so I wished them a good dive and watched as they tumbled and rolled thru the breakers. Once past the breakers the current seemed to fight any progress they were making so I decided to leave my gear in the truck and pass on this site.
On Friday we were scheduled to dive the Zane Grey but tried to hook the wreck 3 times and finally moved back to the advance due to a stiff 1-1/2 knot surface current.

OBX dive shop is very accomidating and a well stocked shop. The Go Between is a roomy and comfortable boat. Vince and Matt, had great knowledge of the wrecks and were able to brief us and answer our questions completley. They use the DAN tag system as well as roll call with pressures and times.

I wanted to share this story as I have always wondered at what point- depth limit, complexity, and experience- would I call a dive due to not having a squared away buddy. I must admit that I had already decided the night before that if I were not satisfied with my buddy selection I would simply enjoy the boat ride and sit the dives out.
Here are a few pics from the U85

 

[Tanked Monkey]

Dan,

It's good to hear that you found a good buddy. I've heard the U-85 is great. Cool pics.

Mike

 

[fpsndiver]

8/29/2005 my buddy Jeff and I headed for the Cassimir in Jeff's vessel. The seas were still pretty rough in the morning.....courtesy of that darn hurricane. It was a little too rough for the Cassimir, and the waves were head-on. So....we altered course to head for the Gill (WR4). Sargassum and flying fish and azure blue water all the way out. We anchored in....and when I looked down the anchor line.....it went on forever.

John D. Gill-----84 degrees on the surface....went through a layer and slight thermocline at 80 fsw....vis was unlimited above that layer. Below the layer vis was 50-60 ft temp was 79 at 95 fsw. Saw 2 really big nurse sharks....really big. Saw 4-5 Sandtiger sharks, but they were really skiddish....couldn't approach them at all. The Gill seems to have decayed even more since I dove it earlier in the summer.. As we surfaced/decompressed from this dive, and ascended above the layer at 80 fsw, there were hundreds...maybe thousands of big barracuda schooling just above that layer. They were acting a little weird, and were braver than normal. They were really acting wierd.....scary weird. I could see the boat 70 feet above us.

Once we broke the surface we saw that the seas had laid down, I mean the ocean looked like a mill pond. We did some figuring and calculations, and figured we could run to the Cassimir, and still make it home on our fuel load. So... we pulled anchor and hauled to the Cassimir.

Cassimir----84 degrees on the surface....went through a layer and major thermocline at 90 fsw....vis above the layer was unlimited. Below the layer vis was 30-40 ft. The temp dropped to 71 degrees at 120 fsw. Very cold, a shocking thermocline in a 3 mm.
We swam the whole wreck, didn't find anything. My computer....brand new.....went wacko on me....so had to revert to backup plan on tables.....and ended the dive early. Barracuda were acting weird here too, and many more than I have ever seen on either wreck. Tons of them! Got home last night at 6:30 after our grand tour of the Atlantic Ocean......oh forgot to say that we were searching 3 sets of new NOAA numbers between the sites......no luck yet

Tom

 

[DrSteve]

Five minutes into the dive I see antennae and I think to my self "I'm 110ft down without a catch bag I don't want to go back up". I go to investigate to see it is a BIG lobster. I swim down and grab him he puts up a fight but he is as good as dinner by this point. I swam him back to the boat and went back down to complete my picture taking goal.

Just curious - when you see a bug like that, do you bring them up live or stick your knife in and immobilise them that way (no chance of hitting the brain I know)

 

[flounderer]

Just curious - when you see a bug like that, do you bring them up live or stick your knife in and immobilise them that way (no chance of hitting the brain I know)

The bug must be brought back to the dock alive so you can't stick them with anything. The one that is pictured just gave up struggling when I got to about 100ft, I guess it accepted it's fate. Some people do spear them and that is highly frowned upon.

Pat

 

[DrSteve]

The bug must be brought back to the dock alive so you can't stick them with anything. The one that is pictured just gave up struggling when I got to about 100ft, I guess it accepted it's fate. Some people do spear them and that is highly frowned upon.

Pat

Really? Once again just curious why it must be brought back to dock alive. Dad always brough back live crabs for later cooking. But in the Bahamas on a live aboard we were told to spear the lobster through the body.

 

[fpsndiver]

Really? Once again just curious why it must be brought back to dock alive. Dad always brough back live crabs for later cooking. But in the Bahamas on a live aboard we were told to spear the lobster through the body.

That is in the Bahamas.......In North Carolina, the North Carolina Wildlife and Fisheries commission regulates the taking of lobsters by divers. They must be taken by hand, alive, and kept alive until they are brought to land. If Marine Fisheries or Wildlife officers discover you with a dead lobster, you are subject to arrest and/or fines. Don't try shooting them through the mouth either, they look for that as well. It is a little more sporty to catch them by hand don't you think?

Tom

 

[jdh]

That is in the Bahamas.......In North Carolina, the North Carolina Wildlife and Fisheries commission regulates the taking of lobsters by divers. They must be taken by hand, alive, and kept alive until they are brought to land. If Marine Fisheries or Wildlife officers discover you with a dead lobster, you are subject to arrest and/or fines. Don't try shooting them through the mouth either, they look for that as well. It is a little more sporty to catch them by hand don't you think?

Tom

I've never heard the "alive" part. Spiny lobster are covered under 50CFR-640.
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_01/50cfr640_01.html

I've never seen a legal spiny in state waters. Is there some NC regulation that supersedes federal fisheries regulations?

a) Prohibited gear and methods. (1) A spiny lobster may not be
taken in the EEZ with a spear, hook, or similar device, or gear
containing such devices. In the EEZ, the possession of a speared,
pierced, or punctured spiny lobster is prima facie evidence that
prohibited gear was used to take such lobster.

John

 

[DrSteve]

That is in the Bahamas.......In North Carolina, the North Carolina Wildlife and Fisheries commission regulates the taking of lobsters by divers. They must be taken by hand, alive, and kept alive until they are brought to land. If Marine Fisheries or Wildlife officers discover you with a dead lobster, you are subject to arrest and/or fines. Don't try shooting them through the mouth either, they look for that as well. It is a little more sporty to catch them by hand don't you think?

Tom

I'll let you know about the sporting aspects when I actually see one in these waters! but thanks for the info on the local law. I wonder if the same rules apply in VA.

 

[fpsndiver]

I've never heard the "alive" part. Spiny lobster are covered under 50CFR-640.
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_01/50cfr640_01.html

I've never seen a legal spiny in state waters. Is there some NC regulation that supersedes federal fisheries regulations?
John

My mistake on the alive part....here is the NC statute that covers Spiny Lobster

15A NCAC 03L .0302 SPINY LOBSTER
It is unlawful to:
(1) Possess a egg bearing spiny lobster or a spiny lobster from which eggs have been stripped, scrubbed or removed;
(2) Possess spiny lobster with a carapace length less than 3 inches;
(3) Possess aboard a vessel or land more than two spiny lobsters per person;
(4) Possess aboard a vessel or land detached spiny lobster tails; or
(5) Take spiny lobsters with a gaff hook, spear or similar device. Possession of a speared, pierced, or punctured spiny lobster is prima facie evidence that prohibited gear was used.
History Note: Authority G.S. 113‑134; 113‑182; 143B‑289.52;
Eff. January 1, 1991;
Amended Eff. March 1, 1996.