Trip Report Carolina Beach August 10-11, 2002
By O-ring
My buddy Tommy and I were on a chartered trip with Down Under Surf and Scuba (http://www.downunderscuba.com) in Raleigh, NC to Carolina Beach. We dove with Seaduced-N-Sea (http://www.seaduced-n-sea.com) but since their regular boat was out for repairs (they hit a whale!) we were on the Spearit (small six-pack, 400 hp twin outboards). We stayed at the Dive Dive, which was billed as a bunkhouse but reminded me more of home since we had the whole place to ourselves (2 to a room) and had a full kitchen, living room, and satellite TV. The dock and boat were right out the back door and Dennis had a compressor and nitrox fills available right on the dock.
Day 1 the seas were too rough for our little boat to go out so we reluctantly returned to the dock and spent the day at the beach and the NC aquarium (hey, at least I got to see some sharks!).
Day 2 - Our group was made up of myself, Tommy, Matt (from NC), Kenny (from NC), John (with Down Under), and Keith (an instructor with Down Under). We pitched the idea of getting in a third dive since we got blown out the day before and the captain and crew were very open to the idea. We decided that we wanted to do 2 dives on the City of Houston, which went down on October 23, 1878 when it foundered. Most of the wreck is composed of exposed ribs since the majority of the structure has collapsed and deteriorated. The engine is the largest part of relief on the wreck and aquatic life was abundant (a spotted eel and lots of barracuda) although we did not see any sharks. Tommy and Keith were my buddies for dive 1 and we dove EANx31 with a max depth of 98 and a bottom time of 42 minutes. Visibility was in the 60-80 range (absolutely beautiful) and temps were in the low 80s/high 70s at depth. We recovered some broken china, old shoes, and assorted glass objects (all broken) by digging amongst the exposed ribs of the hull. Some of the pieces still bore the crest of the manufacturer. The Spearit gives new meaning to the term extended offshore, since we were able to get to the wreck in about an hour and a half and it is 40-50 miles offshore.
Our second dive was on the same wreck and we again spent the majority of the dive digging for artifacts and tooling around the wreck looking at the aquatic life. We managed to recover some artifacts that were similar to the ones we pulled up earlier. We kept the same buddy team and dove EANx31 with a max depth of 97 and a bottom time of 37 minutes. There was a slight current on the wreck and a host of barracuda and angelfish.
For dive three, we pulled the hook and went to the Frying Pan Light Tower in the hopes of seeing some sharks. Tommy and I buddied up as a twosome this time and were diving EANx31 again. We had a max depth of 48 and a bottom time of 61 minutes. We experienced strong surge on this dive and some current, so we headed into the current and around the towers submerged superstructure at the beginning of the dive. We circumnavigated the tower and saw a couple of pretty decent sized (4-5) eagle rays cruising through the area. We spotted a large anchor, but neither of our lift bags were large enough to get it to the surface so we continued on. There were large barracuda everywhere (4-5) and the majority of them were just hovering in the current and watching us. There was tons of life on this site Bluefish, angelfish, barracuda, rays, and assorted baitfish. Again, the vis was amazing and the water in the low 80s. I recovered some fishing weights which I gave to one of the local fisherman when we docked.
Lessons Learned: Although these dives were pretty uneventful, a couple lessons could be gleaned from them. First, it is extremely important to maintain close buddy contact and communication while buried between the ribs of a ship looking for artifacts. It is easy to get distracted in the search and lose track of your team (we didnt, but it would have been easy). Secondly, always check your SPG frequently. At these depths, and especially at these depths while digging in the wreck, it is easy to lose track of your gas supply and overstay your allotted time on the bottom (both in gas supply and remaining NDL).
By O-ring
My buddy Tommy and I were on a chartered trip with Down Under Surf and Scuba (http://www.downunderscuba.com) in Raleigh, NC to Carolina Beach. We dove with Seaduced-N-Sea (http://www.seaduced-n-sea.com) but since their regular boat was out for repairs (they hit a whale!) we were on the Spearit (small six-pack, 400 hp twin outboards). We stayed at the Dive Dive, which was billed as a bunkhouse but reminded me more of home since we had the whole place to ourselves (2 to a room) and had a full kitchen, living room, and satellite TV. The dock and boat were right out the back door and Dennis had a compressor and nitrox fills available right on the dock.
Day 1 the seas were too rough for our little boat to go out so we reluctantly returned to the dock and spent the day at the beach and the NC aquarium (hey, at least I got to see some sharks!).
Day 2 - Our group was made up of myself, Tommy, Matt (from NC), Kenny (from NC), John (with Down Under), and Keith (an instructor with Down Under). We pitched the idea of getting in a third dive since we got blown out the day before and the captain and crew were very open to the idea. We decided that we wanted to do 2 dives on the City of Houston, which went down on October 23, 1878 when it foundered. Most of the wreck is composed of exposed ribs since the majority of the structure has collapsed and deteriorated. The engine is the largest part of relief on the wreck and aquatic life was abundant (a spotted eel and lots of barracuda) although we did not see any sharks. Tommy and Keith were my buddies for dive 1 and we dove EANx31 with a max depth of 98 and a bottom time of 42 minutes. Visibility was in the 60-80 range (absolutely beautiful) and temps were in the low 80s/high 70s at depth. We recovered some broken china, old shoes, and assorted glass objects (all broken) by digging amongst the exposed ribs of the hull. Some of the pieces still bore the crest of the manufacturer. The Spearit gives new meaning to the term extended offshore, since we were able to get to the wreck in about an hour and a half and it is 40-50 miles offshore.
Our second dive was on the same wreck and we again spent the majority of the dive digging for artifacts and tooling around the wreck looking at the aquatic life. We managed to recover some artifacts that were similar to the ones we pulled up earlier. We kept the same buddy team and dove EANx31 with a max depth of 97 and a bottom time of 37 minutes. There was a slight current on the wreck and a host of barracuda and angelfish.
For dive three, we pulled the hook and went to the Frying Pan Light Tower in the hopes of seeing some sharks. Tommy and I buddied up as a twosome this time and were diving EANx31 again. We had a max depth of 48 and a bottom time of 61 minutes. We experienced strong surge on this dive and some current, so we headed into the current and around the towers submerged superstructure at the beginning of the dive. We circumnavigated the tower and saw a couple of pretty decent sized (4-5) eagle rays cruising through the area. We spotted a large anchor, but neither of our lift bags were large enough to get it to the surface so we continued on. There were large barracuda everywhere (4-5) and the majority of them were just hovering in the current and watching us. There was tons of life on this site Bluefish, angelfish, barracuda, rays, and assorted baitfish. Again, the vis was amazing and the water in the low 80s. I recovered some fishing weights which I gave to one of the local fisherman when we docked.
Lessons Learned: Although these dives were pretty uneventful, a couple lessons could be gleaned from them. First, it is extremely important to maintain close buddy contact and communication while buried between the ribs of a ship looking for artifacts. It is easy to get distracted in the search and lose track of your team (we didnt, but it would have been easy). Secondly, always check your SPG frequently. At these depths, and especially at these depths while digging in the wreck, it is easy to lose track of your gas supply and overstay your allotted time on the bottom (both in gas supply and remaining NDL).
