What a great weekend of diving we had! ABD welcomed back some friends from the northern VA area, and as usual, they brought capable divers to enjoy all that Morehead City has to offer. Mother Nature continues to toy with us, pushing the warm water north one day and taking it back the next. Regardless, we had a great time and saw some unusual sights. The newest addition to our crew, Scott Eckes (pronounced ECKIS), exceeded our lofty expectations by leagues. In addition, his wit and sarcasm were duly noted, and I hope one day he will prove to be my worthy adversary.
On Saturday, we headed south to the Schurz in bumpy seas and southeast winds blowing 10-15 knots. Scott tied us in at the davits near the bow, and we could see him clearly for most of his ride to the bottom. The water temperature was an agreeable 73 degrees from top to bottom and we were treated to 60-70’ of visibility at depth with very little current. The wreck was teeming with the marine life routinely found there, including the biggest toadfish I have ever seen. That critter was 8” across the head. The grouper were also there in large numbers, amberjack chased the baitfish back and forth, a small sandtiger shark made an appearance, and two very large stingrays engaged in a fly by as well. An awesome dive!
The Aeolus was our second stop of the day, and we managed to snag a good place on the bow while keeping our distance from the additional four vessels that were diving the Spar and other sections of the Aeolus. The water was a bit green and visibility on the bottom was limited to approximately 30’. We were surprised by a reverse thermocline at 66’, giving us a nice bottom temp of 74 degrees. While my own dive was truncated by equipment problems, I did see one of Sandy Smith’s colorful sluggy things (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31189407&id=1425747561#!/photo.php?pid=31189408&id=1425747561&fbid=1452193911263), and a couple of sandtigers were spotted patrolling the area. On the trip back to Beaufort, the Mutiny was chariot to two divers utilizing the “any anchor line is a good anchor line” policy that we encourage all our guests to embrace. They were released on their own recognizance back at the dock.
Sunday brought us fair winds and cooperative seas, and the Papoose was the unanimous choice of wrecks. As expected, the conditions were fantastic with warm water and visibility of 80’ or more. My dive was one of the best I’ve ever had in Morehead, even though I didn’t stray anymore than 30’ from the anchor line. The grouper were plentiful but plenty darned speedy. I noted a good sized Danforth anchor in the sand but decided not to send it to the surface since there was so much else to see and do. Sandtiger teeth littered the hull (along with a few sandbar teeth), and I collected 30 or so over the course of my dive. While doing so, I spied two picture-worthy scorpion fish ready for their close up, and the usual sharks who were oblivious to my good time. As I joined other divers on the hang line, a lone remora circled and I hoped I didn’t resemble a stingray as he passed within 10’ of me. A small sandbar shark darted about without coming too close, something I’ve never seen before so close to the surface. And then…a first for me: a manta ray cruised into view and decided we were interesting enough for a few more passes before collecting his remora and heading off into the great beyond. Luckily, one of our divers caught the manta on video (yay Simon!!) and I’ll post a link when it becomes available. What. a. great. dive.
The U-352 was our second stop of the day, however the conditions were less spectacular compared to our first dive. The water was murkier and much cooler, 70 degrees top to bottom. One sandtiger swam in for a look, and again the grouper were plentiful (I kept picturing one big blackened hunk on my dinner plate…thank you Kent Winquist for dat fish).
It was a great weekend, thanks to Simon Poplawski and Piotrek Kulczakowicz for arranging the charter and introducing us to some new divers. Good friends, good weekend.
Submitted by Captain Amy Broughman
