Trip Report - Triangle Wrecks June 25

[BabyDuck]

what a fun time! in the truck with jeff (harleyrider) & paula (mrs prages), went to gypsy to pick up denise (jeff's gf, a fun person), then to nags head friday afternoon. ok, a snag. even though they had taken my reservation for steel tanks, they didn't have them ready and it took 45 min to get one, not the two i had requested. on to the hostel & campground - nice. great weather, set up camp, glenn (ncknightdiver) & melissa & their daughter & her friend were there, chris (kriterian) was checked in but off doing stuff. the four of us went to get dinner, and mel (suthnbelle) was coming as we were coming back to the campground. she set up quickly while we ate, then we all sat around for a while chatting. chris came back & joined us for a while, and we went to bed around 11 or so. lots of mosquitos.

then a bit of trouble - a group was up talking very loudly. paula asked them to tone it down, jeff asked a bit later, but they were drunk and obnoxious. jeff called the cops and there were threats and paula nearly got into a fight, but things did settle down a bit around 2:30 or so. i'm sure they'll have more to say about that.

up at about 6:30. mel & i went for coffee, we had bagels and doughnuts and we sat around a bit and woke up good and headed to the beach access. toting all that stuff to our spot was tiring. (maybe i should get a cabana boy before many more shore dives.) jason (jason b) and cassie-puppy came, gary (jgarysmith) and larry and larry's family came, we were set up and started in.

i only fell once going in, but it was a pretty good one. got helped back up, and swam out to the buoy on the wreck. that was a bit tough - took about 500 psi since i kept my reg in. after hanging on the buoy a while and catching our breath, mel and i went down.

viz was about 2 ft. mel and i held hands the whole time, and one of us had to hold onto the wreck due to the surge. she found some great shells, i found a small one. we saw lots of starfish. there were two small fish going down the buoy chain, but they were the only fish we saw the whole time. i know the ideal is to not touch the wreck or the bottom, but that was pretty much out the window for this dive - i was hugging both and holding mel's hand to stay on the wreck. very good dive experience, though not a great dive. while actually down, i went from about 2000 to 1250psi over 26 min with about 25ft max depth.

then came the fun of getting out. the swim in was of course easier, and i could use my snorkel since i wasn't trying to go against the waves. but the bottom wasn't a smooth slope up, it was deeply rippled, like small sandbars. it went from a few feet to about 5 or 6 feet several times, so it was very hard to stand up and walk in in the surf line. only glenn, gary, and larry managed. i was rolled over & over several times, which was great fun. jason, denise, paula, and melissa were 'surface suppport' by then (paula and chris had already come in) and could hear me laughing through my reg. lots of people (ok, actually jeff, glenn, and chris! ha ha! i told!) had puked out there, but mel had taken bonine and i'm not susceptible to motion sickness.

we swam and drank water for a few hours, i tried out my new springs (they can stand to be a bit tighter still...) then hauled all the crap back to the cars. mel, jason, & i got subs & headed for the campsite. weather was perfect all day - fairly cool and not too humid. the others got sandwich stuff and brought that back and made lunch. we rinsed gear, showered, then lazed around. jason & cassie left. mel & i went to get her a fill & shop a few minutes at kitty hawk kites. then we had a grill-out, with the guys cooking. it was yummy! and apples with caramel dip for after! i went to bad around 9 or so, but the others stayed up playing bocce. better sleep, nobody being rowdy. i slept really well & woke up to the gentle rain.

ick. thank goodness we thought it might be coming and had put our gear & most of our belongings up in cases. broke camp, which took only about an hour & a half for us, the biggest tent with the most people, and everybody went to breakfast. another yummy meal, then hugs all round and on the road. even though i had slept so well, i slept for another few hours. and so did paula and jeff! thank goodness denise was driving and not one of us!

and now i'm putting off cleaning gear by typing a trip report!

 

[suthnbelle]

We had such a good time on this trip! The lodging recommendation (Outer Banks Hostel) was perfect, except for the first night and some will explain later , and the dive was lots of fun (and tons of laughs). I hope everyone will be posting soon. I know we've all just returned home so everyone is probably getting settled in. I'll put my report in a little later. I'm waiting to see what the rest of ya write.

Mel

 

[LindaBluedolphin]

Marci,

Welcome to the world of "How to get sand in places you did not know you could get sand 101" I am a graduate of that program LOL, geez I could probably teach that class!

Glad you all had fun.

 

[BabyDuck]

well, linda, this is the beach we went to every year while i was growing up. i'm very very used to sand in interesting places. my daddy used to put serious thought into inventing a 'crotch shovel' to get sand in that area! i just hope there's none in the piercings...

 

[suthnbelle]

My trip started out with a bang. On Friday, I fall out my brick doorsteps while carrying my BC. Of course, I kept it far from any injury, but I can't say the same about my left knee. Ouch! Me and the kiddos load up in the minivan and head to VA. I have to drop them off in Chesapeake for a week long visit with their grandparents & dad. I need to make a mental note to never let them have caffeine AND chocolate chip cookies at the beginning of a four hour drive. Lets just say it was LOTS and LOTS of energy in my car. :yl2jump: After dropping them off, I head to Kill Devil Hills, NC, and arrive around 8:30pm. I set up quickly and join the others for some catching up while letting the mosquitos feast on our exposed body parts. We turn in around 11pm but I’m awakened around 1:30 a.m. by a car alarm blarring. I rip my ear plugs out (I’ve camped before and have learned my lesson) and frantically search for my keys thinking it is my car. Then I hear some cuss words outside from a guy, and then I think I hear Paula’s voice too. I’m thinking “those sound like my people out there...maybe I need to help." I peek outside and see Paula crouched in a karate kid pose

and know she has things under control. It seemed like some young guy was trying to give her attitude when she calmly asked them to turn down their radio. (I bet you guys will bring some ear plugs on the next trip.) I start drifting off to sleep then hear the squawk of a cop's radio. Yikes! Who called the police? Turns out Jeff did to get these kids to settle down. After that they did settle down, and we all tried to get some sleep. We’re up early and at the beach at 9 to meet Jason and Gary. We suit up and head into the surf. Marci and I make it out to the bouy (note to self….START DOING MORE CARDIO!) rest, then descend. We heard vis was 4 foot, but I’d say it was more like 2 in most parts. Current was rough so I had told Marci on the surface to do touch contact so we wouldn’t lose one another in the low vis. We get down below and decide the heck with it, and just hold hands like the good friends we are. I kept us on the wreck making our way around to look for conch shells. Current was strong enough that it could whisk you right off the wreck if you weren't careful. Couldn’t really make out too much of the wreck if your mask wasn’t plastered a few inches from it. I found a great big conch shell, and some smaller ones. Couldn’t see any fish which was disappointing. Even though it was crappy vis and the current was bad, I did enjoy the dive. We surfaced and made our way back in. Here comes the part where I really wish I was a spectator on the beach watching. As I’m paddling in, I decide that I’m going to swim in and just do a shore exit by crawling out. It sounded good but when I went to execute, it was a different story. I get up the beach and a wave turns me on my back. I’m trying to flip over (dang that tank is heavy) and praying Jason is nearby to help my butt up. He gets in front of me to help me up (and unhook gear) and a wave knocks him right on top of me.

I’m on my back and he is laying on me. Too funny. As I'm walking up the beach, I casually look around to make sure the 50 or so beach goers didn’t see that graceful exit.

A couple of us were going to dive again this morning but we woke up to rain, and had to break down camp before 10am. The ride home was bad because of the heavy rain. Took 3 1/2 hours to get home with the rain, so without a bad storm I should be able to do it in less time. I definitely want to do this trip again sometime soon! I had a great time with everyone, and I want to thank Gary for showing us the spot and helping out!

Stats: The wrecks are shallow so are deepest was 23ft and water temp was 73F. It was great to finally break out the 3mil !


Mel

 

[Kriterian]

This was my first time at the beach in about 10 years, and my first time in the ocean in about 15 years. After leaving Gypsy's at noon with my tanks (thank good too, see Marci's report) and arrived around 4pm. I didn't see anyone that I knew on the Hostel's register so I decided to go explore...

I checked out the beach for an hour or so and saw the buoys for both wrecks, and the waves didn't seem bad at all. I went out to eat and then headed to the movies (Mr. and Mrs. Smith), it was so-so. There's only so much you can do with an un-naked Angelina Jolie. When I got back I didn't want to go around tents saying, "PSssssttt, diver?" so I decided to lie down early and get some sleep. It wasn't long before I heard someone yelling my name and when I opened my door Marci was there in all her glory. We hung out for awhile until the mosquitoes were done eating and then we all headed to bed early. I was in one of the private rooms so all I heard was a doggie barking, no fighting/drinking/yelling/car alarm stuff.

Saturday morning we headed out to the beach and that's when I learned:

The Rules of Shore Dive Suckage:

1) Getting the gear to the site. I had picked up a nice rolling gear bag at Gypsys before leaving, envisioning myself rolling it easily to the tarps. Oh helllll no, that doesn't work of course. So we lug everything down there through the sand that doesn't like to be walked on.

2) Briefing: Gary showed up and gave us a very good briefing. We watched a spearfish guy swim out to the far left of the buoys and he drifted right to them. We decided to split every one up in pairs and go separate, there was no way for us to stay together in that vis. Glen + Jeff, The M & M twins, Paula and I, Gary and Larry (Brother Darryl was absent)

3) Waves are the enemy, they carry salt water and doom. I needed my Wonder-Buddy's help getting my fins on as I rolled around. Despite keeping my regulator in my mouth I swallowed approximately half the ocean and started puking just past the first breaker set. It worked! I figured I would be the one person out there that couldn't puke through a reg but I managed it anyway. I got a cramp on the way out and my buddy helped yet again.

4) Distance is futile. It took forever to get out there, or what seemed like it anyway. I kept my reg in the whole time and went through about 1000 psi before hitting the buoy. I puked some more as we hung out and had issues with my weight belt. I told the understanding Paula that I'd like to try going down to see if it made the nausea better. I felt much better underneath as we dropped down...in the middle of nowhere.

5) Two feet of vis or not to vis I couldn't see S%$T, literally. There was no boat, no sand, no nothing. We decided to head back up and get our bearings again, but that didn't work either. Being on the swelling surface made me start puking again, and we decided to head back in. Paula took a heading for the shore and we sank to the bottom to swim back.

6) Hydration Wars: The Cramps Strike Back I couldn't tell how far we had swam, but all of a sudden I got a huge cramp in my left calf. I couldn't grab my fin or do anything, and Paula told me to lay back and float. It didn't help that I was still puking and more salt water was going down my gullet. I didn't realise it at the time but my buddy was towing me and telling me to relax. I was trying my best to kick with just one foot but that didn't help much, and before I knew it both legs had an extreme cramp. I'm not sure if any one heard me but I was screaming through my leg with each pulse of the pain. I also didn't tell any one after but I was in a full blown panic at this point, or maybe it was embarrassment. The only thing that kept me sane was my buddy Paula, the best buddy ever. She rightly insisted that we hold hands the entire time and her constant reassuring squeezes kept me focused.

7) Back to the shore...the waves still hate me I guess the ocean was still pissed at me for drinking so much of it and then puking it back up. As we were swimming back I felt a surge go overhead and I was looking at my computer. We shot from about 15 feet up to 4 feet in under a second, I felt the air in my ears expand and it freaked me out. The next thing I know I'm on the beach and all these people are running around. I think they thought I was seriously hurt (as I found out later), Jason, a stranger (diver), and a life guard came running to help my fat arse up. My cramps were still going strong and I couldn't do anything, the first wave knocked me face down in the sand and I started laughing. The next one knocked me on my back like a turtle and I just couldn't get up. Jason and the stranger helped me up to my feet and I promptly fell to my knees again, Jason took my fins and eventually someone got my BP/Wing and that helped alot. The lifeguard thanked me for not being really hurt, and I tried to thank every one as best I could.

To top it all off, as far as the buddy of the year award nominations go, Paula ended up carrying my bp/wing back to the car when we were packing it up. I didn't notice until she was about half way back and she wouldn't hear of it when I tried to get it from her.

To sum everything up:

Paula: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! There was a toy during the 80's called "My Buddy", and that's you! You were the best ever (please don't let your husband read that!)

Mel: Thanks for putting it all together, and being a trooper by coming after you hurt your knee.

Jeff and Denise (sp?): Thanks for coming and doing the cooking for our dinner that night, it was gooooood.

Marci: Thanks for dragging me out my air conditioned room to come meet everyone out at the Mosquito Farm. It was a blast...seriously!

Glenn, his wife and the kids: Thanks for coming and bringing the kids so Paula would have some one to play with during the down time.

Jason: Thanks for pulling my fat butt out of the surf and bringing Cassie (our dive gear guard dog and crab connoissseur). She deserved some bacony treats.

Last but not least: Thanks to the door guy / usher at the Kitty Hawk movie theatre. Sure you cleaned out my wallet that was lost Friday night, but at least I got it back and was able to get home!


All in all it was the friends and conversation that made this trip a good time. I like diving but you got to have something (or someone) to do during the surface interval. Muhahaha.




PS: All the dark skinned fellas send Marci a PM about how she likes her hot dogs and men!

 

[Jason B]

Great reports by everyone. Chris, you are funny..(Two feet of vis or not to vis).
Here goes a few pictures I snapped off as they were preparing to enter.

 

[harleyridernc2003]

All in all the weekend turned out to be a wonderful time shared with those who are fast becoming dear friends. As previously posted the dive itself was a difficult one from the vis and surge standpoint. In addition, the 200 yard swim (proported to be 100 yards) was a grueling endeavor, just trying to retain all of ones body fluids was a feat in itself.
When we finally got to the bouy, the fight to not purge through our regs was apparently very much on many minds. Personally, if I had something to "give" I would have been more than glad to share. But alas, all I could contribute were some painful retching resulting in nothing but abdominal contortions and more queasiness. It's an interesting thing, when you are actually hoping to spew... now I know why I volunteer for this sport and am proud to hold my C card :-o
The dive at c. 22' was really turbulent and the surge was tossing us around pretty good. The couple of times I tried to drift I found myself getting pushed and pulled so decided (wisely) to hang on and hand walk the wreck. About 25 minutes of this was enuf for me to develop dry heaves. Now, I like many have mastered the "fine" art of spewing thru my reg, but never attempted the drys before. After 20 or so minutes of this agony, I signaled to Glenn my buddy that we needed to surface. All in all I believe everyone of us learned a great deal and deserve to log this one.
Many thanks to Denise, Jason, Paula, and Melissa who came to my rescue as I was exiting. I was feeling pretty secure (tho weary) and thinking "dry land" (at least firm ground) and was on my kness and about to stand in c. 3' of water as the surge was going out. Paula shouted for me to get down, one's coming. The next thing I know I'm slammed in the back and doing a (very UNgraceful) face plant in the sand. As I lay there daze and confussed getting slammed by yet more they helped me up and out. I spent the better part of the next hour in a chair trying to maintain and regain. Again, Thanks! You're certainly very worthy and I proud to be in you circle!
Now for the real fun of the weekend... to expond, clarify, and enlightened. First off time is irrelevant, let's just say it was late (very) we were tired (very again), and they (aka the perps) were loud, obnoxious (obx?), and intoxicated (very on all fronts). Suffice it to say that when they were requested to quite down (initially twice by Paula, I recollect) they were unreponsive at best. Eventually I had enuf and knowing better and realizing where my approach was destined to lead, I opted not to confront them (yet). What I tried at first was locking my car doors with the fob, this turned on my lights which were directly in their faces. I did this a couple times, but (of course) the melee continued. Then I decided to hit the panic button which resulted in the lights flashing and the horn beeping. However, this only caused escalation on their part which ensued in my exiting our tent. As I was walking up to the horde, I looked at the 15 or so partiers left and knew I'd have to confront the "large" one. He being 6'3" ish 200 + and 20 ish (me 5'8" 175 pushing 50). As I was exiting the tent I realized Paula was not far behind me and Denise behind her for they both knew as I what a foolhearty move this was. Which I quicky realized as I approached, young mr. large. I told him (and his posse) that were were at an impasse and they needed to quiet down and let us sleep. At which point he basically told me to leave and they had all the right. I quickly pointed out that there was no alcohol consumption allowed (smart, no!?) and that if they didn't chill was going to have to call the cops. The next bit is unclear, but the next highlight is quite vivid as it will remain for many years. Paula starts "reasoning" with this boy who dwarfs her and I see him get closer to her and grip his beer bottle in a defensive manner. Next she puts both her hands on his shoulders and I see her leg cock back. All I could think at that point is Paula if you hit put him down otherwise I've got your back but...
Needless to say no fists, bottles, or weapons were presented and I called the local cops to take care of this which they did in the only way they seemed to be able to, that being make a presence and leave. The next morning much of the crowd decided to leave and those who stayed including the "ring leader" got specific instructions from the management. Saturday nite was so quite, one had to wonder whether everyone else had left.
Greg... (Mr Prages) rein this one in!!!

 

[suthnbelle]

Chris, you are so funny with that report. You did awesome out at the beach! Don't feel embarrased a bit about anything. My first shore dive was a very big lesson, which I learned from. My first shore dive, I did the puking at surface, falling down AND rolling around (worse than this time) during the exit. Every dive is a learning experience and each dive gets better. I want to head out there again so we'll have to plan another group trip. This time you have to camp out with us!

 

[herman]

I really hated I could not make this trip.....ya know the quarry was not so had afterall.
Great reports all ....when you going again?