Our NC trip, report and photos!

[robint]

We had a great time in NC, only did 2 days of diving and wished we had booked more. I think this is another destination you RMO divers should check out.

here is the link to our trip report: http://www.rnrscuba.net/2010_NC_wrecktrip/2010NorthCarolina.html

just photos: NC Dive Trip, July 2010 Photos

and my videos: North Carolina on Vimeo

I plan to add a few more videos later.

robin

 

[Jrock1062]

i cant read the links

 

[reddiver970]

cool pics, looks like fun!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I am glad you liked the trip but it was only average by NC standards.

Odds are good all involved would have enjoyed the day 2 dives better if you had in fact gone to the Carribsea rather than the U352. Wind, waves and current dictate where you go in NC and a good captain can usually find good viz, and is then smart enough to stay in the area. It annopys me when divers on the boat start bitching and prevent the captain from doing what he does best.

The U352 is nice - once - but it is essentially a sewer pipe teeming with lionfish and little else. If you dive NC a lot you invariably waste a lot of dives on it as boats seem to go there each and every time, menaing you waste half your two day trip on the U352 and Spar. The U352 is often paired with the Spar due to their proximity, and while the Spar is nice enough as artificial reef wrecks go, it lacks any sense of history and, sharks aside, usually lacks the diversity of fish found on other wrecks like the Carribsea or Atlas.

Had you went to the Carribsea you probably could have also done the Atlas. And when the viz is great, the diving on those wrecks is epic, especially wth lots fo sharks, baitballs, tropicals and the occassional dolphin.

So if you go again, be up front with the other divers on board and if weather permits, just say "no" to the U352. If you are on a smaller 6 pack, try the Bedforshire or one of the smaller less frequented wrecks.

I am not a fan of the Indra. I have never been there when the viz is good but that may be because the Indra seems to be the convenient inshore wreck where you dump divers when the conditions are marginal.

Also feel free to try other operators. Nothing against Olympus, but they are not my favorite and I'll leave it at that. Bobby Cox on the Diver Down has in contrast never disappointed and tends to give good rides even in marginal conditions.

1-3 ft seas are, in my experience, rare in NC, so 1-3 ft is very good, 3-4 if fine and 5-6 is marginal but still do-able. How fast the waves are moving however makes a major difference as does where the captain is trying to go. It is often a much better ride if the captain runs into or with the waves to a more distant offshore site than to try to roll in between them on the way to a close in site, even when the seas are rough.

In NC, the diving is also dramatically different depending on whether you are actually out in the gulfstream (think warm water, 100' viz, in beautiful cerulean blue waters teeming with tropicals) versus inshore where the water is cold, brown and has fewer tropical fish.

 

[joe8mofo]

Thanks for the report, it sounds like you had a great time!

 

[robint]

DA Aquamaster - I totally agree with you. It would have been so much better if conditions had allowed us to go out to the WWII wrecks. Yes, we still want to do the U-352, but probably only one time as others have said. We will go back. I really wanted to do the Caribsea, it was on my list at the very top for wrecks I wanted to dive, but ALL the wrecks were new to us, so no problem really.

And yes, we are open to trying other dive ops (I have links for Olympus and Discovery and DiverDown at the bottom of my Trip Report). All 3 of those ops would work well for us as they have space for our cameras. Most 6-packs just won't work for that reason. Nothing against a 6-pack, I just won't use one there most likely when there are bigger boats with camera tables available to me.

The sea conditions, rolling waves and rocking boat did not bother us at all... we sat and ate our sandwiches on our SI while people were feeding the fish over the side. We are used to boats so it wasn't a problem. I just mentioned the details in our report in order to give readers a little insight into conditions (I know several people who will never go there as they get seasick easily) and the fact that the boats are out ALL DAY LONG. If you have a problem being on a boat that long, NC is not for you! The inshore wreck trips are shorter, some Dive Ops run 1/2 day (1 tank afternoon) trips there and those would be okay for some people.

As I said, we are planning a return trip. I MUST dive the U-352, Caribsea, Aeolus, Shurz, and any other WWII wrecks in that area. They fascinate me, I don't mind the long boat rides, or the lower vis and I love doing a bit more advanced diving. Clear warm Caribbean water is okay sometimes, but it isn't what I want to do at this point in my life.

robin

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Hi Robin,

I finally was able to view your video's and all the pictures. Fantastic job as usual. Sorry you hit the bum weather. You did show enough to tempt me to make a trip out there in a year or so.

Thanks for sharing.