Aeolus and Ario/Hutton with Discovery Diving Co., August 9th

[DukeAMO]

DH and I were excited to get back to the NC coast after a long time away in California. We decided to go with a full day offshore charter with Discovery Diving Company out of Beaufort, because we've been diving with them before and knew it was a good operation. The offshore weather report was 3 foot waves with a period of about 9 seconds and some rain, and that was accurate.

Dive 1: Aeolus wreck, stern section
Temps: air 75, surface 81, bottom 77
Visibility: 50 ft
Depth: 97 fsw, Time: 33 minutes, Nitrox 30, AL 80s
This is a cool wreck. It was purpose-sunk, and the sides were cut away, so it has some large "rooms" where sand tiger sharks like to hang out. We saw about 5 sandies, some within arm's reach, so that was awesome. We also saw many amberjacks, some of which must have been 4-5 feet long. There was lots of nice coral, some colorful reef fish, tons of baitfish, and a large school of barracuda (20 or so). Getting back onboard was a challenge with the waves and current.

Dive 2: Ario/Hutton wreck, stern/boiler section
Depth: 67 fsw, Time: 39 minutes
Visibility: 10-20 feet
This was a nice, lazy dive, with much less current on the wreck. This wreck was sunk by a U boat in WWII. It's pretty well broken up, with lots of torpedo damage. The boiler was still intact and upright. There was 1 sand tiger I didn't see. Lots of interesting coral, shellfish and starfish. A large triggerfish and a cute arrow crab. Anemones and urchins. Sooo many baitfish swimming in sync. Getting back onboard was difficult here too, but that didn't take away from a great day of diving.

 

[hroark2112]

Dixie Arrow is out by Hatteras. You might want to ask Discovery which wreck you were really on.

 

[DukeAMO]

Dixie Arrow is out by Hatteras. You might want to ask Discovery which wreck you were really on.

Well, here's what I heard, with the caveat that it was noisy on deck: The wreck we were on is the one formerly known as the Hutton, but now the wreck that used to be called the Papoose is considered the Hutton, and the one we were on is now thought to be the Arrow. So... what would you call it? The Hutton?

Edited to add: I think now that they were saying it was the Ario instead of the arrow, so I'm fixing my text. I can't fix the heading myself, though. If a mod can fix it, cool.

This wreck: http://www.nc-wreckdiving.com/WRECKS/HUTTON/HUTTON.HTML

 

[hroark2112]

That makes sense

Last time I was on the Hutton/Papoose/Ario I went up the wrong anchor line to someone else's charter. Terrible vis every time I've been on it.

 

[yardpro]

Viz has been great every time i have gone there... luck of the draw.....

indra however i always get the 5-10 foot days.

 

[tomfcrist]

Indra is a love/hate for me. I will tell you though that it is a beautiful wreck on 100'vis days. The Hutton/Ario is a cool little wreck, but I'd rather dive the schurz since they were already at Aeolus. I really despise shops offering offshore trips and doing the second dive inshore....especially since quite a few of the offshore wrecks are so close to one another.

 

[DukeAMO]

We could have opted for a second offshore wreck, but enough people had trouble with seasickness and/or getting back up the ladder in the waves at the Aeolus that we decided to see if it was a little calmer inshore. It wasn't any better, though. Oh well.

I thought the Hutton/Ario was a cool wreck. Low vis gives shipwrecks a ghostly feel that I enjoy, as long as it's not too bad. We definitely needed to keep the wreck line in sight, though. Especially with that wreck being as scattered as it is, you could easily get lost in that cloudy haze.

 

[yardpro]

tom, if you have not dove the indra lately it had collapsed...

most of the deck caved in in the last hurricane.

 

[tomfcrist]

tom, if you have not dove the indra lately it had collapsed...

most of the deck caved in in the last hurricane.

This happened this year?

 

[Tortuga James]

The wreck formerly known as the Hutton, is now thought to be the Ario. The wreck formerly known as the Papoose is now thought to be the Hutton. We generally go with old school names and call them the way we always did. The Hutton (Ario) was sunk by U124 in 1942 and came to rest on the bottom in 60' of water. The Suloide ran across her hull one year later and sank 2 miles to the north. Both wrecks were depth charged and cable dragged because they were a hazard to navigation. That is why they are both iron debris fields.

The wreck we call the Papoose (Hutton) is 36 miles south of Beaufort Inlet, also a casualty of U124. She is upside down in 120' 0f water.