lv2dive
Formerly known as KatePNAtl
Background: I live in Atlanta and my parents live in Morehead City... this upcoming Memorial Day weekend, I've got several friends coming in from all over the SE and we're going out with Captain James of Tortuga Charters. *Last* weekend, April 30, I was at home with my parents to visit some family, and was able to convince my parents that I needed a test run with Tortuga Charters before I brought my friends in from all over on Memorial Day. Even though this would mean I'd need to spend the better part one of the few days I was in NC diving, I needed to be sure I was entrusting my friends to a safe and professional dive operation (that's my excuse, and I'm stickin' to it! 
actually my parents are as understanding and encouraging as they *can* be, of this passion of mine they don't quite understand )
So… the adventure begins Thursday night… direct flight from Atlanta to New Bern. Couldn't get simpler, right? (wrong). For the first time ever, my drysuit is taking a trip on a plane. Delta decided it should stay in Atlanta rather than join me in New Bern! I got off the plane and my regular suitcase (which was full of dive gear) was there but no drysuit bag (which also had fins and save-a-dive and meclizine etc). Well I filed a report and was told it should be there Friday NIGHT around 4 pm (that's when the next flight from Atlanta got into New Bern). Well it was a harrowing evening and day Friday, as I did NOT want to dive wet in my 5 mil, but in the end I did get my drysuit and fins. Kudos to SB btw - in addition to potential support from Captain James, I had another backup plan in the wings from a relationship developed *through* SB. (thanks to Cap'n and to Leslie for offers of fins and wetsuits for layering).
So Saturday dawned early
and I was SO EXCITED to get back in my home waters! I had remembered to take my meclizine Friday night and before I got on the boat, so I was not to be plagued by mal de mer… and would be able to enjoy the absolutely beautiful ride off shore. There were three divers from the Northeast (NE), one from VA, and one local diver on the boat in addition to our local Captains (we had TWO Captains on the boat!). (BTW - I like to think of myself as a local diver, who happens to live in Atlanta, but I don't dive in NC often enough to get away with that, except in my own mind! <G>)
OH.. lest I forget… before we left the dock I had to set up my kit. Now, how difficult can this be you ask? On the dock, not so much. But it had taken me about an hour and a half the night before to figure out how to reconfigure my BP/W/harness for singles. The part that was throwing me off was how to thread the cam bands so they closed correctly. And yes, in case you are wondering, the slots were numbered but they just didn't seem numbered CORRECTLY to me.
Anyways, after much ado Friday night, I did get the thing reconfigured (including cambands - and it turns out they WERE numbered correctly, just took me a while to understand HOW). So it's Saturday morning now and I am setting up my kit on the dock and i have to loosen up the cambands to fit the 120's… then I have to slide the whole thing on… WHY AM I DIVING SINGLES AGAIN?!?!? oh yeah, no one dives doubles except tek charters in NC. Except that these three from the NE have doubles - WTH?!?! In all truthfulness, Captain told me I could dive doubles if I wanted but I didn't want to be the only doubles diver on the boat and I knew the ladder could present some - shall we say, opportunities - if the waves were doing what the waves often do in NC. So where was I… oh yeah, I'm setting up my kit on a single 120 and that is ONE LONG TANK! Captain was kind enough to let me borrow HIS tanks that have H-valves so I could use my Tek3's and I didn't have to stress and rush to get my rec regs serviced.
Wow this is a long trip report and we haven't even left the dock yet!:shocked2:
So let's push off! We actually left a few moments ahead of plan and got underway. As previously mentioned the weather was beautiful, sunny, water was a bit choppy but not bad for NC. We were going offshore so there was quite a bit of settling in for a long trip.
When we got to the Papoose, Ryan (the mate) jumped in with the anchor. When he came up, he reported the viz was quite bad beneath 70 or so feet… we went back and forth for a while and decided to move forward since we were there.
The three NE divers splashed first then the VA diver (D) and I went in. Well, D went in and waited for me on the hang line while I finished gearing up and then I dropped in and met him. It felt great to be back in NC waters! We met the PA divers on their way back as we started out descent.
Our descent was fairly uneventful but once we got to about 60 or so feet, vis started to get quite compromised. The only way I could see my buddy was his light, and he was not very far ahead of me. We continued down to the wreck, poked around the tie-in, poked our head in, and when the viz was so compromised that we couldn't see each other six or seven feet away, the dive was called and we went back up to the surface.
We decided to scrap our initial plans and head to the Spar, which is the most inshore of the offshore wrecks. We figured we'd have a much better chance of better viz there, and we were right! On the way over to the Spar, I chatted quite a bit with the NE divers, and determined we knew a lot of the same people. The dive world is really quite small! The SI flew by with the great company on the boat.
At the Spar, D decided to skip the dive, so I ended up diving with my new Northern friends. It ended up that the woman and I dove together most of the time while the guys stuck together. I don't think I've ever met anyone who is willing to dive as slowly as I want to - I am used to speeding up to keep up - in this case, I needed to slow down to match her pace and I LOVED IT! It was one of the best dives I can remember. Although I was FREEZING… I should have worn thicker undergarments, I was concerned about weight (not being in steel doubles) and I didn't think to bring a weight belt, so I only had 8 lbs in addition to my backplate. Next time I'll remember a weight belt so I don't have to worry about my undergarments!
All in all, I had a great day! The viz could have been better on the Papoose, but hey, that's NC for you! At least we didn't get blown out! And the Spar delivered as always. The captain and mate were great, very entertaining and professional. I *loved* being on a six-pack and really enjoyed diving with the people on the boat. I look forward to bringing my friends on my next trip with Tortuga in May!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND TORTUGA!
(AND, in case anyone was wondering - I'm leaving that BP/W configured for singles and I have a dedicated BP/W for doubles. I don't want to go through THAT again!)
actually my parents are as understanding and encouraging as they *can* be, of this passion of mine they don't quite understand ) So… the adventure begins Thursday night… direct flight from Atlanta to New Bern. Couldn't get simpler, right? (wrong). For the first time ever, my drysuit is taking a trip on a plane. Delta decided it should stay in Atlanta rather than join me in New Bern! I got off the plane and my regular suitcase (which was full of dive gear) was there but no drysuit bag (which also had fins and save-a-dive and meclizine etc). Well I filed a report and was told it should be there Friday NIGHT around 4 pm (that's when the next flight from Atlanta got into New Bern). Well it was a harrowing evening and day Friday, as I did NOT want to dive wet in my 5 mil, but in the end I did get my drysuit and fins. Kudos to SB btw - in addition to potential support from Captain James, I had another backup plan in the wings from a relationship developed *through* SB. (thanks to Cap'n and to Leslie for offers of fins and wetsuits for layering).
So Saturday dawned early
and I was SO EXCITED to get back in my home waters! I had remembered to take my meclizine Friday night and before I got on the boat, so I was not to be plagued by mal de mer… and would be able to enjoy the absolutely beautiful ride off shore. There were three divers from the Northeast (NE), one from VA, and one local diver on the boat in addition to our local Captains (we had TWO Captains on the boat!). (BTW - I like to think of myself as a local diver, who happens to live in Atlanta, but I don't dive in NC often enough to get away with that, except in my own mind! <G>)OH.. lest I forget… before we left the dock I had to set up my kit. Now, how difficult can this be you ask? On the dock, not so much. But it had taken me about an hour and a half the night before to figure out how to reconfigure my BP/W/harness for singles. The part that was throwing me off was how to thread the cam bands so they closed correctly. And yes, in case you are wondering, the slots were numbered but they just didn't seem numbered CORRECTLY to me.
Anyways, after much ado Friday night, I did get the thing reconfigured (including cambands - and it turns out they WERE numbered correctly, just took me a while to understand HOW). So it's Saturday morning now and I am setting up my kit on the dock and i have to loosen up the cambands to fit the 120's… then I have to slide the whole thing on… WHY AM I DIVING SINGLES AGAIN?!?!? oh yeah, no one dives doubles except tek charters in NC. Except that these three from the NE have doubles - WTH?!?! In all truthfulness, Captain told me I could dive doubles if I wanted but I didn't want to be the only doubles diver on the boat and I knew the ladder could present some - shall we say, opportunities - if the waves were doing what the waves often do in NC. So where was I… oh yeah, I'm setting up my kit on a single 120 and that is ONE LONG TANK! Captain was kind enough to let me borrow HIS tanks that have H-valves so I could use my Tek3's and I didn't have to stress and rush to get my rec regs serviced. Wow this is a long trip report and we haven't even left the dock yet!:shocked2:
So let's push off! We actually left a few moments ahead of plan and got underway. As previously mentioned the weather was beautiful, sunny, water was a bit choppy but not bad for NC. We were going offshore so there was quite a bit of settling in for a long trip.
When we got to the Papoose, Ryan (the mate) jumped in with the anchor. When he came up, he reported the viz was quite bad beneath 70 or so feet… we went back and forth for a while and decided to move forward since we were there.
The three NE divers splashed first then the VA diver (D) and I went in. Well, D went in and waited for me on the hang line while I finished gearing up and then I dropped in and met him. It felt great to be back in NC waters! We met the PA divers on their way back as we started out descent.
Our descent was fairly uneventful but once we got to about 60 or so feet, vis started to get quite compromised. The only way I could see my buddy was his light, and he was not very far ahead of me. We continued down to the wreck, poked around the tie-in, poked our head in, and when the viz was so compromised that we couldn't see each other six or seven feet away, the dive was called and we went back up to the surface.
We decided to scrap our initial plans and head to the Spar, which is the most inshore of the offshore wrecks. We figured we'd have a much better chance of better viz there, and we were right! On the way over to the Spar, I chatted quite a bit with the NE divers, and determined we knew a lot of the same people. The dive world is really quite small! The SI flew by with the great company on the boat.
At the Spar, D decided to skip the dive, so I ended up diving with my new Northern friends. It ended up that the woman and I dove together most of the time while the guys stuck together. I don't think I've ever met anyone who is willing to dive as slowly as I want to - I am used to speeding up to keep up - in this case, I needed to slow down to match her pace and I LOVED IT! It was one of the best dives I can remember. Although I was FREEZING… I should have worn thicker undergarments, I was concerned about weight (not being in steel doubles) and I didn't think to bring a weight belt, so I only had 8 lbs in addition to my backplate. Next time I'll remember a weight belt so I don't have to worry about my undergarments!
All in all, I had a great day! The viz could have been better on the Papoose, but hey, that's NC for you! At least we didn't get blown out! And the Spar delivered as always. The captain and mate were great, very entertaining and professional. I *loved* being on a six-pack and really enjoyed diving with the people on the boat. I look forward to bringing my friends on my next trip with Tortuga in May!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND TORTUGA!
(AND, in case anyone was wondering - I'm leaving that BP/W configured for singles and I have a dedicated BP/W for doubles. I don't want to go through THAT again!
)
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