Chesapeake Bay Diving and VA Marine Science Center
Over the past weekend, the crew of the Mutiny welcomed a group of divers from the Virginia Beach area led by Chesapeake Bay Diving’s Bob and Malena. It was good to see some old faces as well as some new ones in the group they had assembled for three days of diving the “Crystal Coast”.
On Friday June 11, with a forecast of hot and humid, 5-10 knot winds, and pleasant sea conditions, we plugged in the wrecks to the SE, namely the Hardees and the Box Wreck. The 2 hr trip to the Hardees was quite uneventful and as usual, Capt Al dropped me right where we had planned as I tied in to the starboard side of the site just aft of the bridge. Immediately, two slow and curious gag groupers found their way into my catch bag, and with a total lack of any shark activity and great visibility, I toured the wreck to find any other dumb ones before Capt Al splashed in. Our old friend, Polycera chiluna, or the “butterfinger nudibranch” was also quickly located and photographed by Sandy. As a bit of background, Polycera was first identified in the waters of NC after Sandy submitted pictures on various internet sites in an attempt to identify the sea slug. After several weeks, the photo was finally viewed by a Dr. Rudman in Australia and positively identified after several more photos were submitted to him for review. As the world’s leading expert on sea slugs, Dr Rudman informed us that Polycera is native to the Spanish coast in the Mediterranean Sea and had not been thought to have established itself in the coastal waters of the US. Several more sightings were recorded and more photographs were provided to the sea slug expert including pictures of egg casings and juveniles. Sandy was permitted to establish the common name for the seas slug and it was forever forth known as Butterfinger nudibranch. On my way up the ascent line, I marveled at witnessing yet another “jack attack”. For anyone who has never seen this activity before, it is a sight to behold. Massive schools of amberjack and other jack species travel in giant wolfpacks surrounding the massive schools of bait fish and the synchronous slaughter begins. The cloud of bait fish rhythmically turn to flee only to be intercepted by an arm of the wolfpack. Bait fish number diminish rapidly as the ballet of hunter and hunted plays on with fish parts and scales raining down through the water column. Often times, the cloud will envelope a diver, and it is a miracle that neither prey nor predator ever contact the diver. The entire attack is over in minutes as the jacks quickly get their fill and the remaining bait fish school up again in an attempt to avoid another attack. As a synopsis of the dive: vis 60+, warm water in mid 70’s, no thermocline, and a slight but noticeable surface current with no current on bottom (and Capt Al got no fish J ).
After successfully retrieving all our divers, we plugged in the Box Wreck on our second dive. Due to the nature of the wreck, there are very few reliable places to tie in, but Al dropped me on the bow anchor of the wreck and with a little difficulty and team effort, we got tied in securely. Immediately, I spotted a pair of African pompano, the first sighting this year. Unable to get off a shot due to no-deco time constraints I passed the throng of excited divers descending the line. Various sightings included jacks, eels, flounder etc., but still no lionfish. Visibility was in excess of 60 feet with warm water and slight surface current. Just after Scott splashed in to untie, several of us saw quite a commotion on the surface and as the splashing and occasional fin break got closer, we realized we were witnessing the feeding of possibly one of the ocean’s strangest creatures, the mola mola or ocean sunfish. Feeding mainly on jellyfish, the waters around the Box Wreck were a smorgasbord for the gentle ocean wanderer. If you have never seen one, you owe yourself to google mola mola. On the way in, although not personally seen by me, several passengers saw a breaching of a whale in roughly the same area where we got reports from Atlantis IV that they had seen one on the way out. Quite a day!
Day two of our planned three day trip was perhaps the best weather-wise. The seas had no chop to speak of and only an occasional swell to remind us that we were indeed 25+miles offshore. After some morning chatter on the VHF radio with other local dive operators, we determined the best plan for our dives today would put us on the Spar and the Papoose. The Mutiny crew strives to put our divers on the best available wrecks and we try to cater our itinerary to that end. For that reason, we chose the Spar as our first dive since it was vacant. I splashed in and tied us into the port bollard on the stern and immediately began to see sharks everywhere. The sandtigers were back and in great numbers. This artificial reef is becoming more and more encrusted with growth every year and is becoming a favorite dive of many of our guests owing to easy navigation and frequent shark sightings. I did not get to harvest any fish on the dive which was probably a good thing since a guest onboard had a picture of 6 (that’s right……SIX) sandbar sharks cruising the wreck in midwater. Although sandtigers can be a bit of a nuisance to spearfisherman, the sandbars with their erratic movements and purposeful antagonism of spear-wielders has earned them a reputation not to be taken lightly. I have been personally robbed by them of my catch on three different occasions in the past two years.
As a synopsis of the dive conditions…..60+ ft of vis, warm water, manageable current, and no thermocline to speak of. As we motored out to the Papoose, the water became even bluer and we new that our second dive would be a good one. After tying in to the rudder post, I waited for my favorite dive buddy Sandy to join me. Although the wait was short, I did manage to harvest a yellowmouth grouper at a cleaning station. Totally still and seemingly unafraid in it’s trance during the cleaning, I actually had to wait for it to swim off a bit in order to not penetrate the hull of the wreck with my shot. Sandy and I swam forward and found a large southern stingray in the sand with a wingspan of about 8 ft. that was content to just lay in the sand and watch the dives go by. Having stashed my catch bag with the grouper in it under the wreck close to the anchor point in order to avoid a catch stealing act by the resident sandbar shark, I had no real intentions of shooting anything else until I hit the first break and saw literally 25 or 30 groupers of all species gathered just under the hull. Some were in excess of 3 feet long and my fear of the sandbar was quickly overtaken by the desire to harvest such a big fish. Long story short, I landed not a single fish. A lionfish was spotted near the debris field and several of our guests got some nice groupers. Again, Scott plunked in to untie and shortly thereafter, an entire school of 25-30 spotted dolphins swam by the boat surfacing and playing as they passed by us.
Day three called for less than ideal sea conditions, but our timing and a little luck had us tied into the U-352 by 9AM. There was a very noticeable surface current but down at 115 ft. the current was very easily managed. With vis in the 50+ ft. range, our guests were treated to a dive on one of the few German submarines in clear warm waters. Several flounder were harvested and the normal cast of characters were seen on the sub. Many guests were treated to the sighting of a huge purple hued pufferfish which is now calling the sub its home. Dive number two had me tying the Mutiny to the stern section of the Aeolus near the break. Several large groupers as well as a few stray flounders were seen and harvested. Visibility was 70 ft and the water was warm with a slight surface current.
The Mutiny family would like to invite you to come join us this summer while we explore the wrecks and dive sites along the NC coast. Charter dates are still available and the best is yet to come.
Randy Glaze says: 