From Tom Pritchard . . .
Jim Brown, Bryan Palmer, Chris Mayo, Chris Sander, Cindy, Darth Vern, Dave Barnhart, Frank Herring, GMan, JameZ, Joe and Earlene Dormer, Nate Brommer, Scott the Rock and Kathy, Sharon Slieker-Jones, Sean Bakst, and yours truly trucked down to the Seaquest II and Discovery Diving in Beaufort, NC to do some warm water wreck diving and see some sand tiger sharks. It was dormitory housing at its best! While The Chosen Few bunked upstairs and in the small room on the main floor, The Dirty Dozen bunked in one large room with 4 triple bunk beds and one small bathroom. What the lodge lacked in creature comforts, it made up with atmosphere - which was refreshed periodically with an aerosol. Day 1 was planned to be an in-shore dive on the Indra, a 300+ ft intact landing craft repair ship sunk as part of the NC artificial reef. Viz was 30 ft with a slight current. Even in my 5 mil wet suit, 64 degrees felt warm. GM and I swam almost the whole length of the ship inside the fractured hull, visiting two bathrooms and one kitchen along the way. Saturday's plan for an off-shore dive on the Papoose was scuttled by high seas so we hit the Indra again. This time 64 degrees felt damn cold and by the time I came up I looked like Papa Smurf, only bluer. I skipped the 2nd dive on the Titan, a large upright tug that most of the divers seemed relatively unimpressed by. Sunday we made it to the Papoose, a tanker sunk by U-boat 124 in 1942, turtled in 130 fsw. The Papoose made the drive down, the intimate sleeping arrangement, and the in-shore dives the previous 2 days worth it. Viz was 60-70 ft and the water temp was 72, which was toasty warm (and then some) in my dry suit. From our tie in near the stern, we were able to penetrate the HUGE gash in the hull made by the fatal torpedo. Inside the torpedo hole the fish were so dense they literally blocked your view of the wreck. Various sightings were made of a large sea turtle, a blue/purple moray eel, a few lion fish, a nudibranch, several large groupers, and, of course, the sand tiger sharks. Numerous 6-10 ft sand tigers cruised along the edge of the hull, ignoring the current and seemingly disinterested in the divers. Very Cool! Several shark teeth were recovered by divers, one with blood on it reminded you that those teeth are not ornamental. A great trip with a great group of divers.
P.S. It was great to see The Palm again, who was looking very DIR.
