BabyDuck
Contributor
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!
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!