ALaskowski
Registered
Dive Report for Wreck Diving NC
Forgive me if this is a little long winded, but I write these for myself as well as for posting. I was looking for a long weekend getaway from work for my birthday weekend and, after considering several destination, I decided to finally check out all the wreck diving I read so much about. I had little time to plan my trip, but after a few hours on the internet, I elected to go with Discovery Diving in Beaufort, NC. I contacted them first by email and finally by phone. They were most friendly, accommodating and professional. For lodging, I stuck with what the facilities I found listed on the Discover Diving web site. As I said, I did all this rather last minute and while they had many beautiful Bed and Breakfasts listed and such, many were booked (the Air Show was the same weekend I learned) and rather high priced. While I do not mind paying for such places when I can be there to enjoy them, I decided that I was going there to dive and that this would be a waste of money. All I needed was a clean reasonably priced room with TV and AC. So, I elected to go with the Core Creek Lodge with their highest level room at $65/night. Also, due to the prohibitive cost for last minute booking, I elected to fly into Raleigh-Durham instead of the closer airport and drive the remainder of the way.
The flight down was uneventful except for the surprise $60 fee that US Air banged me with for the audacity of actually checking baggage. I then proceeded to drive to my destination and noticed the abundance of Baptist churches and giant billboard signs along the roads! Anyway, after two and a half hours, my GPS had me arriving at the lodge. I must admit that on first sight, I was beginning to question the wisdom of my lodging decision, but once I saw the room, I was pleasantly surprised. It was very tasteful and had everything I needed along with a mini-fridge and microwave to boot. The owner(s) obviously took pride in their establishment.
All checked in, the next stop was locating Discovery Diving and checking in with them. My trusty GPS had them and town itself at about 10 minutes away. The operation itself had a nice rustic feel and upon entering, I was immediately greeted by a friendly and rather humorous staff I knew we were off to a good start. We sorted out my rental suit, weights, and tanks. As I was diving Nitrox, they had me go through the testing which was nice as many of the recent places Id been didnt think it important enough to bother. They also use a 30 mix to give you a max depth of 120. As all the dives are relatively deep, Id recommend going with LP100 tanks. All done filling out paperwork and asked what time I should be back in the morning. 6 am. Ughh, I hate getting up before dawn. Finally, I asked about where to go locally for the evening to kill some time and grab some food and drink. Just up the block from them was the strip I guess youd call it, the touristy row of stores and restaurants and bars right along the water. Very pretty with its own boardwalk section. I had a little trouble finding a meal as I do not eat seafood and this is definitely a seafood town, but I eventually found something that fit the bill just fine.
Day 1: We met up at the dive center and immediately began loading the boat. Boat itself was very spacious. It was one of two going out that day. They have 3 boats total. About an hour later after sign in, we were off. They were also very quick to buddy me up with someone else. As many of the sites are about 35 miles off shore, the ride out can be up to 2 hours. This may be long to some, but I see nothing wrong with a nice extended ride out to sea. The first wreck was the USS Schurz. Their method to prep is to send a diver down to anchor off from the bow to a particular point on the wreck and then to run a line at 15 from the anchor line to the stern of the boat. They also drop an air supply with 2 regs in case you are short on air for your safety stop. All very well done. They then gave a quick briefing on the dive, then sent you overboard and youre pretty much on your own from this point on.
Now I should mention that I run hot and thus wear a lot less thermal protection than most and for these dives with the water between 65 and 70, I went with just a 3 mil farmer john. Upon descending to the 15 line though there were a number of purple stinging jellyfish on this site as well as every other. I found them fairly easy to avoid so long as you stayed aware of your surroundings and they were only at the surface and not a problem at depth. Still got clipped by a couple by the end of all my dives, but not that big of a deal. Just be aware there might be a trade off if you decide to go with less than complete covering. There are lionfish here too.
Anyway, back to the dive. We descended to the wreck and vis was real good around 50-60 as I remember. The entire thing was covered with baitfish and looked like a giant baitball! Lots a larger guys here too like jackfish and what looked to be very large angelfish (but I am sure were not) as well as many other species I was unsure of. The wreck was from about 90 to 110 at its deepest. Towards the stern of the boat, saw the biggest lionfish I have ever seen. As my buddy was only diving air, he was fast approaching his NDL at that depth, so we started going up a bit so as to give him some more time where we could still look down on the wreck. As we were going up, I was looking at a baitball when I saw a large pointy finned shadow in it and got closer and yes, its my first sand tiger shark! I get my buddies attention so he can see it too. Anyway, we continued at this depth until it was time to go up.
We then made a very leisurely stroll to dive site 2 in order to give a nice hour and a half surface interval. In that time, there was lunch and the very entertaining stories of a dive instructor checking out some AOW students. Also when we were almost there, we spotted an amphibious carrier (USMC?) in the area seeming to leave the area we were approaching.
The second dive was on the USCG Spar, and I was told that this is THE dive for sand tigers and a great wreck to boot. Unfortunately today at this site, there was a bit of a current and vis was real poor at about 15 20 max, depending on who you asked. We began our descent down the anchor line and thru the jellyfish and vis stared getting worse. Upon hitting the wreck, I knew that it was impressive and wished that we could see better. Depth started around 65 or so and again went to 110. Lots of large openings and possibilities for penetration if that is your wish. As we made our way to the midship region, we went off the port side and descended to the bottom sand adjacent to the ship to look for sharks and were not disappointed. There were tons of them when you could see them. Also they tended to stay a bit off the wreck where it was easy to get disoriented in the bad vis. I was wishing I had the forethought to run a line from the anchor bringing along a reel as well as a surface signaling device of some sort is well advised for these dives. Anyway, I found repeatedly that I was looking for sharks and not seeing any and then turn around to find two of the big suckers right next to me! We then made our way back to the wreck and to the bow, where again my buddy was approaching NDL, so we decided to return to stern to ascend. Unfortunately, he was trying to stay higher where the current was a real problem, so I elected to stay closer to the wreck, but he continued to stayed higher and must have been burning through air. We got back to the stern and I was trying to spot the anchor line in the bad vis and I soon did and got to it, but in that short time, my buddy was gone! I looked around and waited as long as was safe and then ascended to the 15 line and there was my buddy fortunately safe and sound. After the fact, I learned that he was nervous about his air supply and not being able to spot the anchor line in the bas visibility, he decided to ascend on his own without telling me. Not exactly by the book, but at least it all worked out alright. I must say though, even with the bad vis (I am told it was 70 the day prior) and the missing diver at the end, that this is a great site and should be visited. We then proceeded back and were again treated to great stories by the boat captain who, amongst other things has worked with divers suck as Kohler in the past.
Day2: We started just as the day before, but this time I was teamed up with a more experienced rescue diver as well as a diver from Germany. The first wreck was the USS Carabsea, which was a WWI era freighter. The captain told us that if we wanted to see a LOT of sand tigers, this was one of the best places to do so. Also, that if we looked, we were sure to find sand tiger teeth on the bottom. Anyway, we arrived and they sent someone down to anchor us off and when he surfaced, he reported 20 or more sand tigers, but poor visibility at the bottom. We descended thru more jellyfish and relatively clear water to poorer water with about 15-20 vis, depending on where you were on it and who you ask. I think my max depth on this dive was 87. We got to the wreck at midship and proceeded in one direction alongside that I think was the bow. Much of the hull on this side was intact and, as you swam a bit away from it, they were right there were a LOT of sand tigers here. And, unlike the previous day, I got the opportunity to have them swim right up to me. It was pretty amazing and only detracted from by the silt in the water.
We got all the way to the end of the boat and proceeded back up along the other side and it was considerably more broken down here. We also did not see any sharks on this side. I imagine they were there, just a little further out from the wreckage. There was a lot of other kinds of life though that made it just as interesting. Anyway, we made a full circuit of the wreck, and then proceeded out a bit at midship to the sandy bottom to look for shark teeth. We didnt find any, but a lot more sharks. At this point, one of our divers liked to be conservative with his air, so we proceeded back to the anchor line when he was at 1000 psi and made our ascent.
We then had a nice long surface interval just like the prior day while we ate lunch, made our way to the second site, and swapped great stories. And I got entirely too sunburned.
And we began the second dive. This one was called The Portland and was a freighter from the 40s. We were told by the captain that this was about a 60 dive and that the vis is never great and there arent really any sharks there. Bummer. Anyway, we descended and man was he wrong! The vis was like 50-60 I could see the wreck the whole way down. This wreck was largely broken down, but there were tons of corals, anenomes, sponges, and whats this?? sharks! Not a ton, but enough and you could see them at a distance finally. Some of my best photos were taken at this site and was a great dive overall. Our air conservative buddy was running low again and signaled us that he was ascending solo and we should continue the dive without him, so we saw him to the anchor line and continued on. I got some great shots of sharks right next to me and tried a video, but screwed it up. Overall the best dive of the 4 and a great way to wrap up the weekend. When we returned to the boat, the captain told us how lucky we were and that the conditions are almost never like this here. A total win!
To conclude, this was a great little weekend dive getaway. Discovery Diving was a top notch operation and this is the best diving I have done to date in the continental US especially for wreck diving and the abundance of species. I will definitely be returning soon. Due to the depths involved, Id recommend you have at least your AOW and preferably a Nitrox certification.
If I have my Facebook settings correct, you should be able to see my pics here: http://www.facebook.com/alaskowski#!/album.php?aid=2065779&id=1333993296&ref=pb
Forgive me if this is a little long winded, but I write these for myself as well as for posting. I was looking for a long weekend getaway from work for my birthday weekend and, after considering several destination, I decided to finally check out all the wreck diving I read so much about. I had little time to plan my trip, but after a few hours on the internet, I elected to go with Discovery Diving in Beaufort, NC. I contacted them first by email and finally by phone. They were most friendly, accommodating and professional. For lodging, I stuck with what the facilities I found listed on the Discover Diving web site. As I said, I did all this rather last minute and while they had many beautiful Bed and Breakfasts listed and such, many were booked (the Air Show was the same weekend I learned) and rather high priced. While I do not mind paying for such places when I can be there to enjoy them, I decided that I was going there to dive and that this would be a waste of money. All I needed was a clean reasonably priced room with TV and AC. So, I elected to go with the Core Creek Lodge with their highest level room at $65/night. Also, due to the prohibitive cost for last minute booking, I elected to fly into Raleigh-Durham instead of the closer airport and drive the remainder of the way.
The flight down was uneventful except for the surprise $60 fee that US Air banged me with for the audacity of actually checking baggage. I then proceeded to drive to my destination and noticed the abundance of Baptist churches and giant billboard signs along the roads! Anyway, after two and a half hours, my GPS had me arriving at the lodge. I must admit that on first sight, I was beginning to question the wisdom of my lodging decision, but once I saw the room, I was pleasantly surprised. It was very tasteful and had everything I needed along with a mini-fridge and microwave to boot. The owner(s) obviously took pride in their establishment.
All checked in, the next stop was locating Discovery Diving and checking in with them. My trusty GPS had them and town itself at about 10 minutes away. The operation itself had a nice rustic feel and upon entering, I was immediately greeted by a friendly and rather humorous staff I knew we were off to a good start. We sorted out my rental suit, weights, and tanks. As I was diving Nitrox, they had me go through the testing which was nice as many of the recent places Id been didnt think it important enough to bother. They also use a 30 mix to give you a max depth of 120. As all the dives are relatively deep, Id recommend going with LP100 tanks. All done filling out paperwork and asked what time I should be back in the morning. 6 am. Ughh, I hate getting up before dawn. Finally, I asked about where to go locally for the evening to kill some time and grab some food and drink. Just up the block from them was the strip I guess youd call it, the touristy row of stores and restaurants and bars right along the water. Very pretty with its own boardwalk section. I had a little trouble finding a meal as I do not eat seafood and this is definitely a seafood town, but I eventually found something that fit the bill just fine.
Day 1: We met up at the dive center and immediately began loading the boat. Boat itself was very spacious. It was one of two going out that day. They have 3 boats total. About an hour later after sign in, we were off. They were also very quick to buddy me up with someone else. As many of the sites are about 35 miles off shore, the ride out can be up to 2 hours. This may be long to some, but I see nothing wrong with a nice extended ride out to sea. The first wreck was the USS Schurz. Their method to prep is to send a diver down to anchor off from the bow to a particular point on the wreck and then to run a line at 15 from the anchor line to the stern of the boat. They also drop an air supply with 2 regs in case you are short on air for your safety stop. All very well done. They then gave a quick briefing on the dive, then sent you overboard and youre pretty much on your own from this point on.
Now I should mention that I run hot and thus wear a lot less thermal protection than most and for these dives with the water between 65 and 70, I went with just a 3 mil farmer john. Upon descending to the 15 line though there were a number of purple stinging jellyfish on this site as well as every other. I found them fairly easy to avoid so long as you stayed aware of your surroundings and they were only at the surface and not a problem at depth. Still got clipped by a couple by the end of all my dives, but not that big of a deal. Just be aware there might be a trade off if you decide to go with less than complete covering. There are lionfish here too.
Anyway, back to the dive. We descended to the wreck and vis was real good around 50-60 as I remember. The entire thing was covered with baitfish and looked like a giant baitball! Lots a larger guys here too like jackfish and what looked to be very large angelfish (but I am sure were not) as well as many other species I was unsure of. The wreck was from about 90 to 110 at its deepest. Towards the stern of the boat, saw the biggest lionfish I have ever seen. As my buddy was only diving air, he was fast approaching his NDL at that depth, so we started going up a bit so as to give him some more time where we could still look down on the wreck. As we were going up, I was looking at a baitball when I saw a large pointy finned shadow in it and got closer and yes, its my first sand tiger shark! I get my buddies attention so he can see it too. Anyway, we continued at this depth until it was time to go up.
We then made a very leisurely stroll to dive site 2 in order to give a nice hour and a half surface interval. In that time, there was lunch and the very entertaining stories of a dive instructor checking out some AOW students. Also when we were almost there, we spotted an amphibious carrier (USMC?) in the area seeming to leave the area we were approaching.
The second dive was on the USCG Spar, and I was told that this is THE dive for sand tigers and a great wreck to boot. Unfortunately today at this site, there was a bit of a current and vis was real poor at about 15 20 max, depending on who you asked. We began our descent down the anchor line and thru the jellyfish and vis stared getting worse. Upon hitting the wreck, I knew that it was impressive and wished that we could see better. Depth started around 65 or so and again went to 110. Lots of large openings and possibilities for penetration if that is your wish. As we made our way to the midship region, we went off the port side and descended to the bottom sand adjacent to the ship to look for sharks and were not disappointed. There were tons of them when you could see them. Also they tended to stay a bit off the wreck where it was easy to get disoriented in the bad vis. I was wishing I had the forethought to run a line from the anchor bringing along a reel as well as a surface signaling device of some sort is well advised for these dives. Anyway, I found repeatedly that I was looking for sharks and not seeing any and then turn around to find two of the big suckers right next to me! We then made our way back to the wreck and to the bow, where again my buddy was approaching NDL, so we decided to return to stern to ascend. Unfortunately, he was trying to stay higher where the current was a real problem, so I elected to stay closer to the wreck, but he continued to stayed higher and must have been burning through air. We got back to the stern and I was trying to spot the anchor line in the bad vis and I soon did and got to it, but in that short time, my buddy was gone! I looked around and waited as long as was safe and then ascended to the 15 line and there was my buddy fortunately safe and sound. After the fact, I learned that he was nervous about his air supply and not being able to spot the anchor line in the bas visibility, he decided to ascend on his own without telling me. Not exactly by the book, but at least it all worked out alright. I must say though, even with the bad vis (I am told it was 70 the day prior) and the missing diver at the end, that this is a great site and should be visited. We then proceeded back and were again treated to great stories by the boat captain who, amongst other things has worked with divers suck as Kohler in the past.
Day2: We started just as the day before, but this time I was teamed up with a more experienced rescue diver as well as a diver from Germany. The first wreck was the USS Carabsea, which was a WWI era freighter. The captain told us that if we wanted to see a LOT of sand tigers, this was one of the best places to do so. Also, that if we looked, we were sure to find sand tiger teeth on the bottom. Anyway, we arrived and they sent someone down to anchor us off and when he surfaced, he reported 20 or more sand tigers, but poor visibility at the bottom. We descended thru more jellyfish and relatively clear water to poorer water with about 15-20 vis, depending on where you were on it and who you ask. I think my max depth on this dive was 87. We got to the wreck at midship and proceeded in one direction alongside that I think was the bow. Much of the hull on this side was intact and, as you swam a bit away from it, they were right there were a LOT of sand tigers here. And, unlike the previous day, I got the opportunity to have them swim right up to me. It was pretty amazing and only detracted from by the silt in the water.
We got all the way to the end of the boat and proceeded back up along the other side and it was considerably more broken down here. We also did not see any sharks on this side. I imagine they were there, just a little further out from the wreckage. There was a lot of other kinds of life though that made it just as interesting. Anyway, we made a full circuit of the wreck, and then proceeded out a bit at midship to the sandy bottom to look for shark teeth. We didnt find any, but a lot more sharks. At this point, one of our divers liked to be conservative with his air, so we proceeded back to the anchor line when he was at 1000 psi and made our ascent.
We then had a nice long surface interval just like the prior day while we ate lunch, made our way to the second site, and swapped great stories. And I got entirely too sunburned.
And we began the second dive. This one was called The Portland and was a freighter from the 40s. We were told by the captain that this was about a 60 dive and that the vis is never great and there arent really any sharks there. Bummer. Anyway, we descended and man was he wrong! The vis was like 50-60 I could see the wreck the whole way down. This wreck was largely broken down, but there were tons of corals, anenomes, sponges, and whats this?? sharks! Not a ton, but enough and you could see them at a distance finally. Some of my best photos were taken at this site and was a great dive overall. Our air conservative buddy was running low again and signaled us that he was ascending solo and we should continue the dive without him, so we saw him to the anchor line and continued on. I got some great shots of sharks right next to me and tried a video, but screwed it up. Overall the best dive of the 4 and a great way to wrap up the weekend. When we returned to the boat, the captain told us how lucky we were and that the conditions are almost never like this here. A total win!
To conclude, this was a great little weekend dive getaway. Discovery Diving was a top notch operation and this is the best diving I have done to date in the continental US especially for wreck diving and the abundance of species. I will definitely be returning soon. Due to the depths involved, Id recommend you have at least your AOW and preferably a Nitrox certification.
If I have my Facebook settings correct, you should be able to see my pics here: http://www.facebook.com/alaskowski#!/album.php?aid=2065779&id=1333993296&ref=pb
