Smokeys Divers Den - Dive Reports

Last May in NC, the sharks were about 10' long. The water was crystal blue and you could see 100' easily. There were turtles, dolphins, lionfish, eels, nudibranchs, corals, sponges, WWII wrecks, and ...oh, and did I mention the sharks were 10' long? Early last week, I was chomping at the bit to get back down there, and NC didn't let me down ...

We ran this trip on the SeaQuest II, through Discovery Diving in Beaufort, NC. The shop is a blast to hang out in, their staff is a ton of fun, the boat is run well, and the boat captain (Jerry Smith) and crew (Justin) are TOP NOTCH. ((www.DiscoveryDiving.com))

We arrived Thursday evening after driving 8 1/2 hours from PA. Instructor Ray "Beach Bum" Becker, his son Josh, "Darth" Vern and James were already there. I led the rest of the contingent down which included Josh B. and Steve (who rode with me), John S. and John K., and George.

After unpacking, we went straight to the Dockhouse (waterfront restaurant) to grab a quick bite after the long drive. Alas, the kitchen had closed, and all we had for Thursday's dinner was ... beer. (Mmmmm, beeeeerrrrr.)

Friday morning had us walking back toward the waterfront shops around 8:30 in the AM to hit the little breakfast diner at the end of the row. After filling ourselves up on an appropriate meal, we went back to the lodge for a final check on our gear and set off for the boat; which was set to depart around noon for the afternoon dive.

We wanted to get out to the Indra, as we had heard that hurricane Ophelia had torn the pilothouse and part of the superstructure off and placed it "neatly" in the sand earlier that summer. Unfortunately, this was not to be, as the weather did not cooperate. Instead we stopped about 2 nautical miles out on the Novelty / Atlantic Bridge Wreck. You see, you have to call it both. The Novelty was scuttled as an artificial reef, and the Atlantic Bridge was to be dropped as an artificial reef as well, right next to the Novelty... However, a section of the Atlantic Bridge was dropped ON TOP of the Novelty. Viz wasn't real good and considering the choppy seas, I figured this weekend wasn't going to be what NC diving is known to be. We were running reels in 15'-20' viz, simply because it was going to be good practice to do so if the rest of the weekend was going to be much of the same. Surge was a factor too, and I wanted the people I was leading to be sure that they knew how to follow the line, and find it if they somehow got off it. The top section of bridge where we tied the anchor line in was the best part of the dive for spotting sea life for the new guys, and I spotted a few rays and a hogfish hiding out in the sand. Friday's dive ended up being what I like to call a "good tune-up dive" with bottom temp @ 64*, max depth 54'.

Saturday we wanted to get off shore... see the Papoose, the Atlas, the Aeolus, or the Sub.... we got 12 nmi out and made it to the Hutton. Mother Nature was NOT cooperating with us thus far. Diving the Hutton was much like diving "the kiddie pool" at the quarry ~ but with strong surge and a medium current. There was no discernable wreck, just piles of sh*t spread out over a 400' area. We tied in on the only two parts of the wreck that even resemble parts of a boat... the boilers. George ended up a bit low on air ~ a bit sooner than I had anticipated, due to a loose tank strap. He and I went up and left Josh and Steve to their own devices. They surfaced about 50' from the boat and had to do the topside swim. (Sorry Gents!)   Don't think they'll do that again. Max Depth 75', bottom temp 58*, bottom time 39 minutes.

Our afternoon dive of the day was on the Indra, about 8 nautical miles off shore. As mentioned earlier, I really couldn't wait to dive the Indra "post renovations." Viz here was better. 15'-20' or so. Current wasn't as bad either. Lots of BIG Amberjacks on the wreck and tons of blennies and other fish life. Big groupers, Atlantic Spadefish, and Sea Bass everywhere. Coral covers this wreck; and you could easily get into it before the hurricane damage; now, you could penetrate it in several areas. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my light, and I had inexperienced divers with me in medium surge, so I skipped over penetrating the hull for safety's sake. Max depth 65', temp. 62*, bottom time 43 minutes.   I mentioned how disappointed I was at this point that we hadn't made it off shore, but the guys seemed to really like the experiences they had encountered at this point... but still no SHARKS. We just needed to make it off shore.

Sunday morning came. Morning brought cold temperatures, and the skies are still overcast, but the wind had settled down from the day before... Could this be the day? Captain Jerry came out from the cabin to greet his passengers for the day. When asked if we are "getting out today" he quietly sighs and says...... "Yes... we are going south and head straight for the Papoose, and I don't believe Mother Nature will stop us this time..."

The divers on the boat all smile... the Papoose is in DEEP water.... the Papoose means one thing to us; the one thing we came down here from PA for ~ the ONLY thing that would save this dive trip and make the 8-hour drive worth while ......   SHARKS!!!

Even though waves are 3'-5', the feeling on the boat is very optimistic. Our newer divers were still a bit hesitant to get too excited until they were in the water. Topside temps were still kind of chilly, with the air only about 48* at this hour of the morning. The weatherman said that the day's high temps were barely going to reach the mid 50's. It was still overcast, but the winds had died down; which meant the waves had subsided too. I really felt we were going to make it!

"Dolphins!" Off the Starboard deck, about 20 yds. out... playing in the waves and wake of the boat! The first one of which came full out of the water! This caused a bit of a ruckus for those who were topside. The dolphins didn't stay long, and none of the others really breached like the first one did... but they tried to hang with the boat for a while. Capt. Jerry had us moving at a pretty good pace, so it didn't take long for the pod to loose interest. With our new found excitement, I took it as a positive omen, and an opportunity to revisit our dive plan.

As Capt. Jerry pulled up and gave Justin the nod, Justin dropped the anchor overboard and jumped in behind it to follow the hook down. After five minutes of getting situated and tied-in on the wreck, Justin came back onboard. He looked at me and smiled. "It's not like May, but I think you'll be happy. 50' Viz and 68*. Oh, and you 'might' see a shark ~ or two..."

The knowing look was all I needed. He confirmed what I brought the guys here to see. We made our plan to drop in and meet at the tie-in, some 120' down. After Steve, George and I were all together, we set off.

The Papoose is in "three sections." Relief is as high as 85' with the sand @ 126'. There is a huge hole where the torpedo hit it (U-124, March 18th, 1942) and it broke into two. On the bow side, if you go to the torpedo hole, part of the hull has collapsed a bit lower than the rest, giving the wreck a "three section look." Justin had tied-in just the stern side of the break.

Immediately getting down the anchor line, we realize there is a ripping current on the Papoose today. No surge here, and the viz was the best we had all weekend long. I lead the guys into the current and down as low to the sand as we possibly can to find relief. We aren't on the sand a full minute, when I spot off in the light blue haze a bit of a shadow, gliding along the bottom... then another... finally a third shadow ~ and it breaks the fog and comes into our visibility. Atlantic Sand Tiger. 8' in length. Then the second shark comes into view, this one larger, about 10'. The third comes into view almost immediately afterward; another 10'-er. Now there are another four shadows silently gliding at the end of our viz. I check my divers, to be sure they were not missing this. As I look into the masks, their faces reveal dinner-plate eyes that give away their excitement. "FIVE" is the hand signal Steve repeatedly gives me... He's counted five... so far.

I turn to George. "Three" he shows me... and I have to tell him something somewhat urgent ~ but I have to tell him without scaring him... He sees three... but the FOURTH is about 9' long no more than five feet away from him over his left shoulder; silently gliding, about to come into his view a bit sooner than he would like.

I show him "FOUR" and give him the "calm down ... THEN ... look over your shoulder" sign. The shark had come within two feet of George's head. George pulls back a bit, and the Sand Tiger shoots off into the blue haze. The smile on George's face says it all. He is a happy, happy diver right now! I turn back to Steve who is also excited beyond explanation. It is time to head back.

There were a half dozen sea turtles on the wreck, 4 good-sized lionfish (very poisonous), "about" 20 Sand Tigers, a moray eel, and unbelievable coral and other fish life. The guys shot through their tanks quick because of the depth, and we ended up topside sooner than anyone wanted. What a great dive! Dive Stats: Max Depth 122', TBT :25min, temp 69*, viz 50'-70'.

Getting back on board, the guys tell me that this dive alone was worth the trip down. (I knew it would be.)

Capt. Jerry tells me that we are heading to the Aeolus in lieu of taking a second dive on the Papoose. Mom nature was nice enough to let us out here this long, but we'd been blown around the wreck about three different ways, and the skies had turned seriously darker than what they were just a half-hour before. Off we go.

We arrive at the Aeolus not 45 minutes later. The Aeolus sits about 22 nmi off shore in about 110 fsw. However, when Justin comes up this time, the report isn't as good. 8' Viz, strong surge, heavy current. I am going to have to keep the guys close to the wreck. No problem...

We descend down the line to the tie in. We are tied in just ahead of the starboard side breezeway. I immediately start heading for the bow, into the current in hopes that we can use the ship as relief after we get "behind her." Surge was strong, shifting us up to 10' at a time. This proved to be a bit of a hazard. As I was kicking into the current on the deck of the boat, I turned to look behind me to make sure my divers were behind me. Josh greets me with a "yahoo!" look on his face. As I turn back to continue to kick into the constant pressure from water, there is ~ just at the end of the 8' viz, an Atlantic Sand Tiger facing me. Then, the current stops, and the surge pushes me forward. Did I mention the surge was moving us 10' at a time? Did you remember me saying that viz was only 8'? ...

The shark and I were so close to each other that when he turned and SHOT off, I actually heard the "crack" of the water. Naturally, I called out for "Mommy." Diving physics state that if you let all the air out of your lungs while screaming for your mom, you become more negative in the water column. For the record, the diving text books are right. I realized that I was sinking at an alarmingly fast rate, as the surge that had pushed me face-to-face with an animal that was a good 4' longer than I was tall, and had ..... WELL ALOT MORE TEETH, I had missed the fact that I was no longer over the deck of the Aeolus. I was now about three feet off the hull, and sinking to the sand. Upon realizing this, I started to fin back up to the guys. It was at that moment that I felt the end of my fin hit what I thought was a coral head. Mortified that I could have been so stupid as to not pay attention to what I was doing, I started to look down to inspect the damage of what I did... and I made yet another startling discovery... I was still a bit too far off the boat to have hit any coral... and I was still too high in the water column to have hit the sand... My head darts down now and I see the second dorsal fin and tail of another Sand Tiger. Luckily, this one was just an 8' shark, and he decided that it was in his best interest to shoot off into the muck. I had no problems with his decision at this point, and thought to quickly get back up on to deck, where I could still make out the guys.

Upon getting the gunwale of the boat, I see Josh. He is holding his regulator in his mouth, and has his other hand firmly on the rail. Through his mask (and the cloud of bubbles around his head) I can see that he is heartily laughing ~ at me.  I gave him a hand signal.... one that is NOT specific to SCUBA diving, and he gave me the "OK."   These are my friends here...

A quick shot around the bow of the boat brings us to some much needed relief from the current. There were still a lot of fish on this wreck, but I'll be honest when I say that I wasn't much in the mood for checking out the coral at this point. We toured half the boat and came back up to the main deck. Steve, Josh, and George all perused the deck for shark teeth, and we all found our fair share. The teeth were a subtle reminder of what else was in the water on this wreck. They had to have gotten here somehow, right? Since the surge was kicking, stayed on the deck near the anchor line at the tie-in. When everyone hit their air limits, we called it. Dive Stats: Max depth - 105', bottom temp 66*, TBT :36 minutes, viz 8'.

Over the course of the weekend, we took in a bunch of the "primo" nightlife that Beaufort has to offer.   We ate at five different restaurants, and visited a few of the local hangouts. The viz wasn't the best... hell, it wasn't even good. Yes, conditions pretty much sucked, and the veterans on the trip had seen NC in FAR better weather; but that wasn't the reason we came. We came because there were four new divers in the Smokey's family that wanted to see SHARKS. They wanted to go deep, dive with these exciting animals on WWII wrecks, and experience SCUBA diving in a way that was something other than the confines of the quarry. In that regard, there is no doubt that this dive was a success. Will the viz and conditions be better the next time we head out to NC in May and July? Sure they will! Will I be on that trip? You better believe it! Will our new divers be along with us too......Well, you'll have to ask them, but if the stories and recollections on the way home of our trip are any indication, I'd say that you'd have a pretty good chance of finding them ALL on the next carpool caravan out of Smokey's Divers Den ~ south to Beaufort, NC.

Oyster Diving

JB didn't come home and immediately write a dive report as we expect ALL of you to do, so I lifted this report from the Atlantic Divers e-mail list from the Captain...

We took a group of divers out Saturday for a beautiful day on the water and another fine oyster dive. We first jumped in on the bar we hit the weekend before where we caught a limit of large fat oysters but after a week of crappy weather the vis was less than what we hoped for. You only need 3-4 feet to do well but at first we only had 1-2 feet. This bar is also loaded with "oyster size" rocks and its pretty hard to tell a rock from an oyster since both are covered with mussels. So we got everyone back onboard and moved to another spot. It wasn't very far away but it was a whole different story. The vis had cleared up a bit and this bar was just loaded with oysters. I was grabbing one almost every second. We ended up with our limit of one bushel each and ate oysters on the half-shell with some fantastic hot sauce one diver brought the whole ride back to the dock. The water temp is down to about 48 deg now so dry suits are the way to go but we did have 2 or 3 this weekend in wetsuits and no one was complaining.

Our next trip is with JB on December 10th!! Sign up now!! Remember, JB is also hosting our Christmas Tree Decorating at the quarry on December 11th Good food, and tacky decorations!!

Some Thanksgiving Diving Reflections From The Old