TRIP REPORT MAY 15-16
On Friday, May 14th, we all gathered together to put the finishing touches on the MUTINY prior to our annual US Coast Guard inspection. Routine maintenance is the necessary, but not so much fun part of running a diving charter boat. Some fresh paint, some minor repair work, and a good cleaning from top to bottom was all finished up in time for the annual “shake-down”/crew training trip on Saturday.
Saturday, May 15th found us with blue skies, a moderate 10-15 knot SW wind and manageable sea conditions. The Mutiny was ably steered south by Capt Al to the wreck of the Papoose while I went over some boat procedures and safety training with the newest member of the MUTINY crew, Scott Eckes. Scott hails from the Norfolk/VA Beach area and will be an able and welcome addition to the MUTINY crew. Scott followed me and the hook to the first break aft of the bow where I tied in under the watchful eyes of Scott and then began my 2010 quest to harvest a few slow, dumb grouper. With vis in the 25 –30 foot range, I headed toward the bow to start my quest. Not two minutes into the debris field and the first candidate gave me a rare but welcome broadside shot on a still target. My aim was true and one “stoned” grouper was destined to the table…….or so I thought. While removing the grouper from the shaft, I felt an odd swoosh of water over my head which I fully expected to be another diver’s fin coming a little close to me but when I looked up, Scott was a good 25 feet away and no other divers were around. Scott was staring right at me and gave me the shark sign several times and pointed out into the murk. Over the ten plus years of diving the NC wrecks, I have been “buzzed” by countless sandtiger sharks as they come over to investigate what all the commotion is about. Typically, when their curiosity is satisfied, they slowly swim off and go about their normal business, but this time it was not a sandtiger shark. Within a minute, an 8 ft. sandbar shark swam quickly and deliberately right at me and turned about 5 feet way and started the infamous figure-eights. Suddenly it just swam off giving me the needed time to put some distance between me and the dead grouper. I quickly ran a stainless stringer through the hole the spear shaft made and with a little wishful thinking, I tied it to the wreck hoping the sandbar would leave it alone. My wishful thinking lasted all of about a minute when the shark reappeared and made haste right to the dead fish. With the first bite, the entire back half of the 3 foot grouper vanished and a return pass (with a little effort on the shark’s part) caused the stainless to snap and the other half of my grouper became lunch for the shark. As quickly as he appeared, he then vanished into the haze to digest what could have been a great beginning to a crew cookout. Every year it seems that early in the season, a shark teaches me a season long lesson about hunting in their presence. While sandtigers can generally be persuaded (by the butt end of the gun) to leave you alone, I would be remiss to admit that I don’t have the guts to teach any sandbar a lesson. Their demeanor is quick and deliberate and strike a bit of fear in me any time I see one. After the sandbar incident, I checked my supply of back gas and as I had figured, the anxiety and commotion had caused me to exhaust my supply significantly more than usual and I thought it best to make a slow ascent back to the boat in hopes of catching a passing rainbow runner or African pompano in the topwater where the sharks will generally leave you alone. Once onboard, the entire crew compared notes on the dive and the one overwhelming comment that was made related to the lack of lionfish sightings. Normally on a dive to the Papoose, and most other wrecks for that matter, dozens of lionfish are spotted but this trip was totally devoid of any sightings on all three sites we visited. During the long surface interval we were treated to a loggerhead turtle sighting and as the 3+ foot loggerhead sunned himself on the starboard, we saw a very large animal breach the surface on the port side of the MUTINY. The large dark dorsal fin appeared twice more on the surface and then the animal breached again on the starboard side and then just disappeared. No positive ID was made but whatever it was, it was huge!
Entering the water for my second dive, with the sandbar incident still fresh in my mind, I had to wonder if the speargun in my hand was there out of habit or for a purpose. I surely had no intentions of shooting another grouper with that crazy sandbar shark in the vicinity. Of course with no real intentions of even cocking the gun, Sandy and I swam forward toward the bow section and saw literally hundreds of grouper of all species gathered in the sand. Three foot gags and two foot scamps and yellow mouth grouper didn’t even bother to swim away, seemingly safe with their newly found “bodyguard”. I did manage to snag a slipper lobster from the underside of a piece of plating and I felt safe in the fact that I have never had a shark incident while carrying a lobster in the bag. The trip back to Beaufort inlet was uneventful and with a promising forecast for Sunday, the entire crew retired early so we could start all over again in the morning.
On Sunday May 16th, we were fortunate enough to have two last minute passengers aboard the Mutiny. Two of America’s finest, Rich and Dan were in town with two purposes, to dive the U-boat and to see some sharks (as if being in the infantry and flying planes off an aircraft carrier were not enough excitement for these two). The seas had calmed down considerable since yesterday and the trip to the U-352 was uneventful. Tommy Meeks tied us in just forward of the conning tower while I ran Scott through the procedures topside to secure the boat and drop the assist lines. Capt Al entered the water shortly before the other divers returned and was not privy to the numerous reports of flounder all over the inner hull of the sub. The baitfish ball surrounding the sub reminded me of the best day on the Schurz and the wreckage seemed to pulsate with life. Visibility was in the 35 foot range but the thick cloud of baitfish often obscured visibility to almost zero at times. Upon retrieving everyone, Scott and I entered the water and began our descent. I had one thing in mind, a successful flounder harvest with not interventions by sharks. The reports were indeed correct regarding the numerous flounder, but they were very hard to see owing to the massive schools of baitfish. Seven keepers made it into the bag and the return trip to the boat was uneventful sharkwise. Again, this wreck usually harbors numerous lionfish, but their stark absence was evident. Our honored guests could not stop smiling or talking about the wonders and history they had just witnessed 110 feet below the surface of the Atlantic. As frequent visitors to the wrecks, we as crew sometimes take for granted the fact that we are of a select few people in the overall population who have ever witnessed first hand the amazing assortment of life and history off the coast of Morehead City, NC. Our second dive was spent on the Spar in hopes of seeing the numerous sharks that normally patrol the wreck. Although a few sharks were seen by our servicemen and crew, the normal population seemed to have diminished (very much to my liking as I put two gags in the bag with not so much as an investigatory passing by the resident sandtigers). Visibility was agin in the 35 foot range and the water temp was a constant 64 degrees on all the wrecks we visited.
The Mutiny will again be in service to the diving community over Memorial Day weekend as we host Piotr K and his able group of divers. Come join us and we will be sure to show you everything the Crystal Coast has to offer its divers. Thanks to Rich and Dan who made the trip all the more enjoyable and thanks to Al, Wade, and Amy for providing an able platform from which to refine our crew skills for the coming season.
