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Adventures & Training Above and Below the Water!

NC Dive Trip, York Divers, July 19-20, 2008

For those with enough NC diving experience, it goes without saying that when NC diving is good, it is great; when its bad, it is still really good.  Our group of 18 commenced our road trip on Friday, July 18 to reach Beaufort, NC in a relaxed state of mind, and take care of the usual dive store and hotel business before settling in for a good night's rest before diving on Saturday morning.  This was Sherri's first NC trip as trip leader, and as a PADI OW Scuba Instructor!

Although the marine forecast left room for doubt, there was no question upon arriving at Discovery Diving Saturday morning that we were going diving.  With gear and cylinders loaded aboard the SeaQuest II, Captain Jerry Smith & Mate Mark took us through the Inlet and into open water.  The ride was lumpy but all dive boats were headed out.  We had a few get sick on the way out and upon arriving at the Spar at 23 miles out, our first destination.  The surface conditions prohibited even Captain George Purifoy aboard the 65' Olympus from continuing to the Papoose, 32 miles offshore.  With current on the wreck and a little surge to boot, Mark took a long time to get tied in on the bow.  Captain Bobby Cox of the Diver Down was already tied in on the stern section.  And so it was time to get in...blue, clear water greeted all divers down to about 55fsw where the thermocline and green water began.  Big sand tigers were cruising the current at 55-60fsw, just aft of the wheelhouse.  It appeared to me they were making a circuit of the Spar and Aeolus, just 400' away.  I got a few pics of divers, sharks, cuda and jacks.  My dive recorded 93fsw max depth, 58 minutes run time, with just a little deco to hang off (note to Jill - nitrox makes a difference!).

When I surfaced, there were four boats tied to the Aeolus, stem to stern, and the two of us on the Spar.  It was interesting to see how the two wrecks lay beside each other, separated by only 400'.  Our group was still not feeling too well but we asked to change places with one of the boats on the Aeolus, meaning our surface interval would be spent on anchor, and likely challenging even the most cast iron of stomachs; no one was budging, I suspect due to the bottom conditions and the amount of effort required to unhook, re-tie and re-rig.  I suppose if it was me, I wouldn't have moved either.  So Sherri and I conferred with Captain Jerry and we made the call to move inshore to the Indra, providing relief to those not well by burning our interval under way.  The ride to the Indra was easy going, pushing some big waves the whole way.

The Indra did not disappoint with its usual surge and just a touch of intermittent current.  We had about 30' of vis in the normal green, inshore water.  This is still a great wreck to dive and most divers reported getting inside to have a look around.  I went out in the sand to the limit of my 250' reel and was followed by a school of jacks.  They were especially curious and got closer to me than I've ever experienced before - pretty neat in the middle of nowhere!  I finished my dive with tour of the decks and penetration into the first two levels.  I kept the camera tucked in because of the surge and concentrated on keeping my head off the steel!  This dive recorded 66fsw max depth and 52 minutes run time, no deco.

Sunday was another story; tropical storm Cristobal, the first named tropical storm of the 2008 season, formed off the coast of South Carolina Friday morning.  It made its way north and removed all doubt for Sunday's ocean charters.  When we crossed the drawbridge into Beaufort at 5:45am Sunday morning, nary a boat could be seen leaving the Inlet, it was obvious.  Just in case there was a shred of hope remaining, our gear was being taken off the boat when we arrived at Discovery's pier.  The marine forecast called for 40knot winds, gusts over 50 and 10' seas, nuff said!

All in all a great trip, worth the effort as always and a great time with great people!  We stayed at the Comfort Inn in Morehead City, dined on burgers/pizza at Beach Bums in Morehead and again at the Ruddy Duck on the Morehead waterfront.  Seven of us tolerated each other for the round trip in the store van, towing all of our gear in the store trailer.  On the return trip we had to make emergency welding repairs to the trailer tongue due to broken welds and stress cracks forming, could have been interesting on the highway at 70mph!

Divers: Sherri S., Jill R., Brian W., Kevin B., Mark B., Christina B., Phil & Jake B., Mike H., Doug D., Ian & Chris, Josh S., Jeff S. & Sara A., Mitch & Cathy M., Jim B

Thanks York Divers and Sherri S. for running a great trip!

Here are the pics I took...please let me know if you want a HiRez version for printing...also please share any pics you would like added to this page...email to me the highest rez version you have.

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