North Carolina trip report - June 2-6 2005


On Thursday Dan Martinez and I departed for the 10 hour trek to Morehead
City, North Carolina. We met up with Dan Pevear down by the waterfront and
prepared for what turned out to be a fantastic weekend of wreck diving.
This was my first trip to North Carolina, so I didn't let the rain on the
way down dampen my spirits. After hearing all the stories about the viz,
water temperature, sharks, and great wrecks I couldn't wait to hit the
water. In the morning we headed to Olympus, our operator for the trip, and
set sail on the Midnight Express. For those of you who haven't dove with
Olympus (or NC for that matter) I must say I was thoroughly impressed by the
smooth operation these guys run. We quickly loaded our gear onto the
Midnight Express and set sail. The Midnight Express is Olympus' smaller
boat, and is a 48' aluminum crew boat. I have grown quite accustomed to and
spoiled by diving on the Tuna Seazure with only 6 people, so when I heard
that the Midnight Express would be taking out 18 divers, I was a bit
skeptical. But the boat is set up very nicely and it was pretty
comfortable.


Our first destination on Friday was the Schurz. The Schurz was a WWI gun
boat that sank in a collision in 1918. The Schurz lies in 110 fsw and is a
good ride offshore. The seas were a bit bumpy as there was a large ground
swell running, so I couldn't wait to get to the site and get off the boat
which was definitely trying its hardest to ruin my enthusiasm. On the
descent down the line to the wreck I thought I must be narced because the
wreck appeared to be moving. As I got closer I realized it wasn't the
wreck, but huge schools of baitfish that covered every part of the sunken
ship. Even though the visibility was about 40' it was hard to see the wreck
at times with all the fish. We did a tour and checked out the four large
boilers which were home to some very large grouper which left me wishing I
had a spear and a portable grill. On the way back to the anchor line I
suddenly heard someone calling my name so now I'm really thinking I lost it.
I looked up and Dan P. (on his Inspiration rebreather (hence the talking
capability which was new to me) was pointing at a good sized sand tiger
shark swimming by. After that excitement died down Danny managed to scoop
up a rifle cartridge. As we began our ascent another sand tiger cruised by
and waved goodbye. I couldn't have asked for a better first North Carolina
dive.


Due to the good conditions and reports of poor conditions elsewhere, we
opted to stay and do another dive on the Schurz. Our plan for the next dive
was get down and dirty and do some digging for artifacts. During the
surface interval I managed to score some intel from Capt. Bobby and my
mission objective was to raid the ammo locker. Back on the bottom I headed
right to the target and sure enough, as soon as I started digging I started
finding small arms rifle cartridges, and even found an intact clip of five.


Saturday brought a light drizzle but better seas so you didn't hear me
complaining. For our first dive we headed to the U-352 which was one of the
wrecks I was really looking forward to diving. The U-352 is a 218' Type VII
C German U-boat and was the first German U-boat depth charged in WWII in
1942. The deck gun was recovered by George Purifoy in 1978 is actually
sitting on the dock at Olympus. The sub now rests in 115 fsw and is a
really cool dive. Once again the marine life on the wreck was impressive.
There were fish all over the wreck, and moray eels peeking out of the inside
of the wreck through the open hatches. There was even a nurse shark resting
under the stern of the sub. Penetration is possible but it's a tight
squeeze and most of the interior is silted in anyway so I was more than
content exploring the exterior.


For the second dive we were going to hit the Papoose, but upon arrival found
several other boats already tied into the wreck, so we headed back to the
Schurz to do another dive there. On this dive we did some digging around
the boilers, and Danny spent some time whacking away with a crowbar on
encrusted chunks, hoping to find something cool inside. Meanwhile Dan P.
kept a watch out for sharks since he didn't have any pesky bubbles to scare
them off with. No treasures were brought back, but an excellent dive was
had by all none the less.


Sunday came and brought with it much better conditions than the previous two
days. The sun finally managed to push away the clouds. We headed straight
to the Papoose and did two dives there. The Papoose is a tanker that was
torpedoed in WWII and sits upside down in 120'. This is a very impressive
wreck to see as you come down the anchor line as it rises in places to as
high as 85' and has large partially intact areas. There were huge schools
of jacks and bluefish around the wreck chasing schools of baitfish which
were outside and inside the wreck. On the first dive we headed towards the
bow and checked out some areas inside the wreck. On the second dive we
headed to the stern where the sand tigers were reported to be hanging out.
The large rudder is the most distinguishing feature of the stern and is very
photogenic. Once again we were not disappointed as there were lots of
sharks out in the sand off the stern, I guess they're not called "sand"
tigers for nothing. Even though they are docile sharks it was still a
little creepy being surrounded by 20+ of them, some of which were pushing 10
feet. They are also very curious and will approach you if you kneel in the
sand and wait for a while. While Danny was doing this I got bored (ADD) and
headed back to the wreck and found a large frogfish hiding in a hole which
was pretty neat.


The original plan was to stay Sunday night and drive home Monday. However
the conditions were so good on Sunday, and only looked to improve into
Monday so Danny and I got our arms twisted into diving another day. Dan P.
however had to be back at work Monday morning so we bid him farewell back at
the dock, and left our gear on the boat for another day. It sure must suck
to have a real job ;-)


The conditions on Monday didn't quite turn out to be as good as Sunday, they
turned out to be much better! The seas were practically flat and it was
sunny and warm, and we couldn't have had a better day so we both agreed that
it was a good choice to dive the extra day. We headed back to the Papoose
for 2 more dives as some of the guys from Shark Diver magazine were onboard
and wanted to be guaranteed sharks. We didn't have a problem with this as
the Papoose is a huge wreck and probably has enough to see for a couple
hundred dives, not to mention all the sharks (no surcharge).


The late drive home was a little rough but the extra day of diving was well
worth it and a perfect cap to a great extended weekend of diving. Many
thanks to the crew of Olympus and the two Dan's for making my first trip to
North Carolina a memorable experience. It was truly a great trip. There
were plenty of interesting marine creature encounters and the same share of
interesting people encounters. I didn't mention the food but it was pretty
awesome too. My personal favorite was Mrs. Willis', it was just unfortunate
we didn't eat there Thursday night for all you can eat oyster night (up to a
bushel). I'll just have to make it next time.


-Brandon