North Carolina Trip

[finstotheleft]

A few of us are going to Morehead City North Carolina for some diving on the 13th and 14th. We will be diving with Olympus Dive Center. Me and Dusty are leaving tonight, and should be back around the 16th. Jim and Cindy M. and Walter are also in the group.

According to one of the staff at Olympus, the dive sites have not been selected yet, but we're hoping to dive with some sand tiger sharks. Seas look to be around 5-6 ft., which should make for an interesting ladder ride!

Friday the 13th, dive boat is called the Midnight Express, sand tigers....Hmmmm.....

I am also planning an extensive tour of the outer banks lighthouses . It's gonna be fun!

Will let you know how it goes...

 

[jbd]

all have a great time and I'm looking forward to the trip reposrts from you and CTurtle. Hope you can post some pictures too

 

[CTurtle]

Planning on taking pictures...unless I have the same blonde moments that I had in Florida...Can't take pictures if you get caught up in the underwater sightseeing & forget to turn your camera on (imagine that)!
Will post a trip report when I get back!

 

[ckharlan66]

a great trip.

Chad

 

[Diversauras]

Have a good time and make sure you take any bad weather back to the mid west with you. We're there for the week after you, at Olympus.

 

[finstotheleft]

Well, the dive trip was pretty much a bust.

Weather was beautiful and sunny, but the wind would not die down. Seas were 5-6 ft., some 7-8 at times. Several people got seasick (not me thank god!). We made one dive on Friday, which didn't last long. We were going to go the the CaribSea, but couldn't make it around the shoals of Cape Lookout...too rough. So we went to the USS Indra, in 65 ft. of water. Current and surge were rough. The descent line whipped around and jerked my reg. out of my mouth on the way down. The vis. was about 5ft and I lost my buddy and had to end the dive. He got caught in the current and surfaced about 100-200 yards from the boat (he was a dot on the horizon...if that's any better estimate...) and mate Jordan had to take a line, swim out and retrieve him. Everyone else was not down much longer. We all decided to not do the second dive that day since so many people were getting sick and conditions were so bad. The dive was cancelled all together on Saturday, and Olympus is refunding some of our money. I know why it is called the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" now! It was a wild ride. :wacko:

SO...no sharks, although one of the mates said there were two resident sharks on the wreck...I couldn't see s--t (and I'm darn glad that one didn't pop into my field of vision considering the circumstances!) I was, however, down long enough to see a sting ray and a flounder. That was about the highlight.
AND...I did get a great tour of some lighthouses...Cape Lookout, Cape Hatteras, Okracoake, and Bodie Island. Love the lighthouses! We're told that it's better to come back in July and August, when weather is better and vis. is 100 ft. at times.


Olympus Dive shop was first rate...they can't help the weather. I stayed at the lodge and it was nice, despite my initial skepticism. We are going to try to get another trip booked next year in July or August. I will definitely return to conquer the Outer Banks! It was definitely a good experience...a good one for the log book and a great story. Until then, I have decided that my next dive trip needs to be somewhere clear and tropical!

 

[socaldiver]

But, on the other hand, glad to hear you were able to make the best of the situation and still have a good time. Better luck next year!!

 

[herman]

Sorry it did not turn out but it's about 50/50 around here, we learn to live with it. When it's rough on the ocean, it's not a pleasent experience but if you get a nice day, the diving is great. I have seen wrecks at 100ft that could be seen from the surface on some days.

The lights are great. Did you get to climb one of them? They are open to climb once in a while. I think Lookout is my favorite, just because it's harder to get to.

Better luck next time.

 

[finstotheleft]

I climbed Hatteras, but Lookout had a line of people at 9:30am and were selling tickets for the next day, so I didn't get to climb it. The ferry ride to the island was fun...we paid $10 round trip with "The Local Yokal". That man is an insane driver!

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

Looks like the first or second week of Aug. 2004 is the next trip planned to North Carolina.