Shark and wreck diving in North Carolina

[vondo]

Honestly, from a diving aspect I found the U boat the least interesting dive. Not much relief, not as many fish, deeper and shorter dive. Of course, from the historical aspect, definitely worth doing.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Honestly, from a diving aspect I found the U boat the least interesting dive. Not much relief, not as many fish, deeper and shorter dive. Of course, from the historical aspect, definitely worth doing.

I think (obviously no experience) the U-352 would be a bit of a one and done. We had planned 1 dive on that and then 2 on the Aeolus. It looks interesting, but not something that you need 10 dives to check out. I could be totally wrong.

 

[vondo]

I think (obviously no experience) the U-352 would be a bit of a one and done. We had planned 1 dive on that and then 2 on the Aeolus. It looks interesting, but not something that you need 10 dives to check out. I could be totally wrong.

That's my experience. In fact, I think even 10 years later I would have rather dived a ship wreck again rather than the sub.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

That's my experience. In fact, I think even 10 years later I would have rather dived a ship wreck again rather than the sub.

I know some people like to revisit after years just to reminisce, or maybe see how it's changed. I'd like to see it at least once.

Personally, I didn't like the Hutton all that much, it was underwhelming and I was in NC and I wanted to be "wowed" with sharks or something. It just reminded me of some of the wrecks off NJ where it's more of a debris field than a wreck and the day we went there wasn't a lot of life.

The Indra was pretty good, and that day had a lot (4-5) octopi on / around it, which was awesome.

 

[TravelGas]

My goal starting from May, 2022 is to get the proper training and dive the following U Boats within one year.

U-352
U-85
U-701
U-2513
S-16
U-853

 

[ScubaBadger32]

Operator was Discovery Diving. Olympus is the other big one out there. Both are supposed to be great, although I've never gone with Olympus.

Wrecks:
Hutton - 23m
Indra - 21m
Carib Sea - 28m (this one was so good we just stayed for the 2nd dive)
U-352 - 35m
Aeolus - 34m

Diving is usually on 28% nitrox. Long hangs at 5m where the barracuda will come check you out.

any opinions on WD-4 John Gill, or hyde/markham?

 

[Gene]

My goal starting from May, 2022 is to get the proper training and dive the following U Boats within one year.

U-352
U-85
U-701
U-2513
S-16
U-853

That's a good list. Add the 869 when and if you have deep/trimix experience. (Although the S-16 is deep right?)
I'm a u-boat fan as well, and to date my favorite wreck dive ever was on the 853. I also dove the 352 and almost got to dive the 2513, but had to stay on the boat as others dove it. I always wanted to visit the 85 and 701 too. Maybe sometime. There are a few others, but these are the main ones.
Hank Keatts' did a good book about u-boats years ago while on Long Island. And of course the two about the 869, along with that Nova documentary.
When I was growing up in the Tampa Bay area in the 60s and 70s, there was supposedly a u-boat off Tampa Bay somewhere floating around with the tides. There were even newspaper articles about it. But, only one guy that went on record found it, and it was never found again. I've been told through the years that it's just not out there, although the guy that says he found it was a family friend, and I talked with him about it before he died.

 

[TravelGas]

That's a good list. Add the 869 when and if you have deep/trimix experience. (Although the S-16 is deep right?)
I'm a u-boat fan as well, and to date my favorite wreck dive ever was on the 853. I also dove the 352 and almost got to dive the 2513, but had to stay on the boat as others dove it. I always wanted to visit the 85 and 701 too. Maybe sometime. There are a few others, but these are the main ones.
Hank Keatts' did a good book about u-boats years ago while on Long Island. And of course the two about the 869, along with that Nova documentary.
When I was growing up in the Tampa Bay area in the 60s and 70s, there was supposedly a u-boat off Tampa Bay somewhere floating around with the tides. There were even newspaper articles about it. But, only one guy that went on record found it, and it was never found again. I've been told through the years that it's just not out there, although the guy that says he found it was a family friend, and I talked with him about it before he died.

Is the U-869 formerly known as the U-Who, the one that is sunk 60 miles of N.J. and identified by John Chatterton ? I did not overlook it, not sure if I want to dive that one. I don’t have a dry suit. There has also been a bunch of fatalities on that site as well.

I am surprised that SB does not keep a pinned thread running tally on wrecks and their diver fatality figures. I guess the Andrea Doria has claimed the most lives of any U.S. wreck site ?

 

[GreggS]

I have done the Indra, etc when I was a newer diver WAY back in the late 90's. Great diving off the NC coast! I also love liveaboards and always wondered about a liveaboard out there and thought it would be a pretty awesome business venture....however, the seas can be "sporty" at times, so I wonder if that's why nobody has done it. There's time I don't necessarily want to be on the water off the NC coast for one day, much less five! LOL

This is absolutely true. And it can get that way in a hurry.

A few years ago, I and another guy went out fishing with our mutual friend that had a place at the coast. His boat was around a 28 ft center console boat that would run up to around 32 knots. We had gone out about 60 miles or so. Seas were only about 1-2 feet and put out our lines to troll. Things were very slow as for fishing probaby due to a school of spinner dolphins playing around nearby. After about an hour, we noticed the seas had gone to around 3-5 feet so we decided to reel in and head back to his house. By the time we got everything in and ready to head in, which wasn't but about 20 minutes, seas were at 5-7 feet.

As we were heading in we were keeping an eye on the radar and we could see the storm approaching which was causing the seas to get even rougher. By the time it caught us, seas were at 12-15 feet and we could only make about 12 knots as that was running with the seas and was beating us around the least. It had taken us around 2½ hours to get out to the fishing spot but around 5½ to get back in. Once, we dropped off the back of a wave that had no back and it seemed like we dropped a long time before we hit the water. When we did, the boat had rolled to the port side. It hit so violently that it knocked the boat owner off the bench seat into the other guy standing beside it. Had it not been for the curtain on that side, he would have probably gone into the water. By the time we got back to the dock, we all felt like we had been beaten, which I guess we had.

Oh, and there was a fishing head boat we were listening in on the marine radio that was behind us and could only make about 5 knots. I'd have hated to be on that boat.

This is one reason dive and fishing charters are blown out so quickly on the Carolina coast. Even if it's perfectly calm in the morning, there's no guarantee a storm won't blow up later in the day.

 

[DiveProKoko]

This is absolutely true. And it can get that way in a hurry.

For sure! I brought it up because when we dove the Indra, seas were fairly calm but building a bit by the time we reached the wreck. Around the time we completed the dive and it was time to get out of the water, seas were 7 feet and we all had to take the "ladder ride" to get back on board! Good times!