- Messages
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The weather on both days was absolutely unbelievable. It was sunny and 75-80F on both days. Water temperature was 73 on the surface and 63 at depth. Visability at all three wrecks we visited was somehwere between 50-60 feet.
We dove with Discovery Diving on Saturday. The first wreck we dove was the USS Schurz. The wreck as in 110 fsw, to the sand. It seemed like a very interesting wreck. There were a couple of boilers rising from the middle of the wreck and you could see the boiler tubes inside through holes that had erroded through. You could also make out piping, large gears, and parts of a shaft, indicating that we were in the engineering spaces. The only bad part of the dive was that the wreck was completely covered in bait fish. Where the visiblity would have been great, it was hard to make out many details of the wreck because the vis was limited by the number of bait fish. There were also quite a few lionfish all over the wreck and some of them were quite large. Also making their way through the bait fish were 2 or 3 sand tiger sharks.
The second dive was on the USCG Spar, an artificial reef. This was an absolutely amazing dive. On our initial descent, we noticed several amber jacks above the wreck. As we made out the outline of the wreck, we started seeing bait fish and several sand tiger sharks. The sand tiger sharks above the wreck were about 3-4 feet long. As we hit the deck of the wreck, it seemed as if the sharks got bigger. I would estimate 5-6 feet at the deck of the Spar. We swam up the port side of the wreck and noticed that below us the sharks got even bigger. Most of the sharks at the sand were greater than 7 feet and they were huge. We never went below 93 feet, and our bottom time was about 20 minutes. If I didn't mention it before, the sharks were AMAZING.
On the second day, Sunday, we dove with Olympus Diving. This day we dove the U-352 first, followed by the USCG Spar. The dive on the Spar was the same as the day before...and we were glad to dive it again. Being among the sand tiger sharks is unbelievable.
The pinnicle of the trip, however, was diving the U-352. We tied off on the aft port shaft of the boat. Once the sub was in view, I became very excited. Our dive plan, that we did stick to, was to go up the starboard side and back down the port side. We stopped along the way to look at the conning tower (looking inside), the deck gun mount, the torpedo tubes, and then back down the starboard side. The outer hull has pretty much erroded away but the boats details were unmistakeable. By the time we made our way back to the ascent line, we were at our no-deco time limit (with 1750# left) and had to head up. Our bottom time was about 20 minutes. When I do go back to Morehead City, I will definately want to dive the U-boat again.
On the second day, I was able to take a few pics and a couple of videos. I have posted the links to the videos (on You Tube) below. I'm not a professional videographer, but I hope you enjoy them anyway. I have also added some of the pics to my picture gallery.
If anyone has any questions, please give me a shout.
YouTube - Scuba Diving U-352, German U-Boat.
YouTube - Scuba Diving with Sharks on USCG Spar
We dove with Discovery Diving on Saturday. The first wreck we dove was the USS Schurz. The wreck as in 110 fsw, to the sand. It seemed like a very interesting wreck. There were a couple of boilers rising from the middle of the wreck and you could see the boiler tubes inside through holes that had erroded through. You could also make out piping, large gears, and parts of a shaft, indicating that we were in the engineering spaces. The only bad part of the dive was that the wreck was completely covered in bait fish. Where the visiblity would have been great, it was hard to make out many details of the wreck because the vis was limited by the number of bait fish. There were also quite a few lionfish all over the wreck and some of them were quite large. Also making their way through the bait fish were 2 or 3 sand tiger sharks.
The second dive was on the USCG Spar, an artificial reef. This was an absolutely amazing dive. On our initial descent, we noticed several amber jacks above the wreck. As we made out the outline of the wreck, we started seeing bait fish and several sand tiger sharks. The sand tiger sharks above the wreck were about 3-4 feet long. As we hit the deck of the wreck, it seemed as if the sharks got bigger. I would estimate 5-6 feet at the deck of the Spar. We swam up the port side of the wreck and noticed that below us the sharks got even bigger. Most of the sharks at the sand were greater than 7 feet and they were huge. We never went below 93 feet, and our bottom time was about 20 minutes. If I didn't mention it before, the sharks were AMAZING.
On the second day, Sunday, we dove with Olympus Diving. This day we dove the U-352 first, followed by the USCG Spar. The dive on the Spar was the same as the day before...and we were glad to dive it again. Being among the sand tiger sharks is unbelievable.
The pinnicle of the trip, however, was diving the U-352. We tied off on the aft port shaft of the boat. Once the sub was in view, I became very excited. Our dive plan, that we did stick to, was to go up the starboard side and back down the port side. We stopped along the way to look at the conning tower (looking inside), the deck gun mount, the torpedo tubes, and then back down the starboard side. The outer hull has pretty much erroded away but the boats details were unmistakeable. By the time we made our way back to the ascent line, we were at our no-deco time limit (with 1750# left) and had to head up. Our bottom time was about 20 minutes. When I do go back to Morehead City, I will definately want to dive the U-boat again.
On the second day, I was able to take a few pics and a couple of videos. I have posted the links to the videos (on You Tube) below. I'm not a professional videographer, but I hope you enjoy them anyway. I have also added some of the pics to my picture gallery.
If anyone has any questions, please give me a shout.
YouTube - Scuba Diving U-352, German U-Boat.
YouTube - Scuba Diving with Sharks on USCG Spar
