North Carolina Dive Trip Report - U352 and Sharks!

BDub · Post by **BDub** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:12 am

Me and 2 friends had 2 incredible days of diving with Olympus Diving in Morehead City, North Carolina last week. I was hoping for some great dives, but the diving we experienced was beyond anything I had expected.

Thursday morning we woke at 5:30am (Eastern!!!), grabbed some breakfast in the hotel and headed over to Olympus. By 7:15 we were on our way out past the Outer Banks towards the wrecks.

Our first dive was the U352, the wreck we wanted to do the most. I had mixed feelings on doing the U-boat first. I was incredibly excited because I had wanted to do this dive for so long, but I was also a little hesitant because I was afraid the other dives we did would never compare to the U-boat. I have to say, every dive was awesome in its own way.

The U352 was sunk by the USS Icarus, a USCG Cutter, on May 9, 1942, after it had mistakenly fired a torpedo at it (and missed), thinking it was a merchant ship, doh! 15 sailors died in the ensuing battle. The sub lies in about 115fsw with a list to starboard. We had about 80’ of vis when we dived it, and watching the sub come into view on the descent is amazing. I’ve dived many of the wrecks in British Columbia, and enjoy them all, but diving on a wreck with this kind of history is an experience I’ll remember my entire life. In addition to the history, the amount of life on the wreck is amazing. It is carpeted with life! Big schools of baitfish, providing lot’s of food for the resident jacks. I found a lionfish as well as a small octopus on the bow and even a small yellow margin moray eel. Lot's of beautiful purple and red corals as well.

Our next dive was the Spar; a USCG buoy tender sank as part of NC’s artificial reef program. I admit at first I was a little disappointed we were diving an artificial reef, I can dive those at home. But I was impressed with this dive. Again, LOT’S of life. When we first descended on the wreck I found a small stingray that I immediately pointed out to my buddies. Then, after a few seconds one of them screams my name through his reg (man you can hear a lot better with no hood). I immediately look at him and he points to an enormous stingray swimming just behind us. He “landed” about 10’ away on the sand. This thing had to have a wingspan approaching 6’ and wasn’t spooked by us in the least, allowing Mark to take several pictures before swimming off after a couple of minutes. We then ascended to the deck of the wreck and were greeted by a couple of sand tigers, along with some more huge schools of baitfish and the jacks that make the bait balls dance around. After exploring the wreck a couple of times it was time to start our ascent....sigh. When we hit our 30’ stop I noticed something below me, just on the fringe of my range of sight. Pretty soon there were a couple more and a couple more. Pretty soon it became evident that these long, sleek, silvery objects were barracuda. I absolutely love to see sharks underwater, and have seen 6 gills, Tigers, Galapagos, as well as white tip and grey reefs, (and now sand tigers!), but barracudas make me very nervous. I know they rarely attack divers, but their unpredictable nature does make me a little uneasy, but I could handle seeing a couple of them 50’ below. We finish our 30’ stop and head up to our next stop when I notice the barracudas ascending too, seems they like to do lot’s of stops on their ascents as well. Next thing I know, I’m counting all these long silvery objects that are now maybe 20’ below and I stop at 32! We had planned on 3 minutes at 20’, 2 at 15’, and another 3 at 10’ as this was our second dive of the day...who made that plan???!!!! Turns out, barracuda aren’t out to eat you as I’m still alive to type this today!

After surviving the previous day’s close encounter with the barracuda we again awoke at an obscenely early hour in the morning and trotted back to Olympus. This day we were going to do the Papoose first. The Papoose was torpedoed and sunk by U124 on March 19, 1942. It sank upside down so the hull is primarily what is exposed. I had been hoping we’d do this wreck as well. The descent was awesome! The Papoose was enormous....412’ long with a 54’ beam. It seemed like it took an eternity to descend on the wreck. It actually came into view fairly quickly, but it is so large, it just kept getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Finally, we arrived and were met by...screaming current. We actually experienced enough of it on the way down I decided to hang on to the descent line. I rarely hold onto a line, opting instead to stay a few feet off and out of the congestion, but I had no choice on this descent! We moved over to a protected area of the wreck to “relax” a little and I found a couple of lionfish again! Meanwhile, while Mark was taking pictures, Gunter and I saw a couple of sand tigers swim by...this was going to be a good dive! We made our way along the port side of the hull, which looked more like a wall than a boat hull due to it’s size, taking in the vastness of the wreck and the sheer amounts of life that had taken up residence in the past 62 years...red and purple corals, lot’s of nudibranchs (couldn’t find a North Carolina marine life ID book anywhere), cucumbers, etc. We also saw lot’s of sand tigers! They would casually swim right alongside, or right in front of you, sometimes within reaching distance! As we hit the stern of the ship we swam though the rudder area and were immediately greeted by the strongest current I think I’ve encountered. We swam against for, oh, 30 seconds...”Let’s go back the way we came”. We did just that, and took in the scenery again from a different angle. Why waste our gas fighting against current on the only chance we’ll get to experience this wreck? We made our way back to the anchor and played around close to the anchor for several more minutes until we hit our turn pressure. Within a few seconds we quickly realized that the current was only getting stronger. We made a brief (key word being “brief”) attempt to ascend without holding onto the line. After fighting our way back to the line we decided it would probably be best to hold on. We felt like flags in a windstorm! The wreck was in 125fsw and we had about a 15 minute ascent. When we hit 30’ we were greeted by guess who? Yep, the man-eaters, they had followed us from yesterday. Only this time I had to contend with my buddies trying to fool me into thinking there was one right behind me getting ready to strike. And, even worse, the barracudas didn’t have to hold on to the line! They just pointed directly into the current and barely even swam, just staying there perfectly still! That was just salt in the wound. Here we are a bunch of rag dolls in the wind and they are hanging out like it’s perfectly still.

Our last dive of the trip...the Aeolus, an old cable layer that was sunk as an artificial reef. It lies only 300’ from the Spar, but it was sunk before the Spar. This is an unusual wreck because it was sunk intact, but a hurricane actually broke it apart into 4 “pieces”. Made no matter though, this wreck was known for 1 thing...sand tigers! The 3 of us geared up quickly so we could be first in. We wanted to get to the wreck and penetrate it before all the other divers (there were 25 on our boat, as well as another boat of 15 or so, tied onto the wreck) silted it up inside. We dropped down, were greeted by a couple of small sand tigers, and immediately made our way to the entry point. Once inside, we traveled through a corridor before arriving at a large open area. In the open area were 5 – 6 sand tigers, one of which had to be 6 – 7’ long! We just relaxed and stayed in that part of the wreck for 6 or 7 minutes before heading out to allow the other divers come through as they were just arriving. We explored another part of the wreck before coming back to our old exit point. I was somewhat hoping to go back through and reverse our path, but vis inside the wreck had now been reduced to 2’ at best...we’ll stay outside. It was a good decision as the sharks had decided to go outside the wreck as well and we got to spend the next 15 minutes or so watching 15 or so sand tigers! As we made our way back to the anchor we were engulfed by the largest bait ball I’ve seen. It literally got darker inside it. It even became disorienting it was so thick. Then...swoosh! The ball started dancing around violently, then we were engulfed in another school...of jacks! The feeder fish and the jacks were all bumping against us! What a way to end a trip huh? We were enveloped in this for a couple of minutes until the melee moved elsewhere. Now it was time to get to the anchor and prepare for our ascent. We had a lone sand tiger swim with us all the way to anchor, and then stayed with us for a few seconds after we arrived, as if to say goodbye, then we started our ascent. Only one man-eater on our stops this time, but by now I had pretty well convinced myself that I would probably make it through another ascent without being eaten, and actually kind of hoped to see some more barracuda.

The trip far exceeded my expectations. I hadn’t expected to see the sheer density of life that we experienced. The topography explains the reason for the amount of life though. We were 30 miles out past the Outer Banks and we were still in only 100 – 140fsw. The bottom was a sand desert, totally barren. The wrecks were like an oasis of sorts. Sand, sand, sand...wreck which has provided residence to some form of life in every nook and cranny, then...sand, sand, sand. Visibility easily averaged 70 – 80’ on the sub and Papoose, and 50 – 60’ on the Spar and Aeolus. Water temps were 80 degrees at the surface, with a definite thermocline at about 40fsw, dropping the water temp to 73. The deckhands said that August and September are definitely the best conditions for diving.

I will definitely go back, and can’t wait to go back. It was way beyond what I had hoped for. Some of the best diving I've done.

Brian

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 12:03 pm

Great Report Brian!

Thanks for sharing, and for whetting our appetites for more!

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 12:32 pm

I agree - thanks Brian. Your description was fantastic! Sounds like a great trip and the best part was warm water and vis. I can't imagine 30 miles of 110-140fsw!!! That's neat that the only reason to dive there is the wrecks and that the rest is sand.

Please post pictures!!!

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 1:45 pm

wow!!! that sounds like a fantastic trip! that could totally change my current opinion of north carolina. SWEET report, brian!

BDub · Post by **BDub** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 8:13 am

Just added a page to http://www.frogkickdiving.com with photos from the trip.

Mark took all the pictures, but he didn't have a strobe (at the factory being repaired), but he was still able to pop off a few decent shots.

Check them out!

Brian

Nwbrewer · Post by **Nwbrewer** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:21 am

Brian your Pics don't seem to be there.

BDub · Post by **BDub** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:27 am

Hey Jake-

I just checked and I'm seeing them...

Enter the site and click on the N. Carolina Wreck Trip tab on the left.

Is the page not coming up or just the pictures?

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:33 am

they're there; i saw them. you gotta check out the head-on shark pic!!!

Nwbrewer · Post by **Nwbrewer** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:38 am

Seems to be working for me now. Strange....

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:09 am

thelawgoddess wrote:you gotta check out the head-on shark pic!!!

Oh My Goodness! "Fish are friends, we are food!"

Great pics!

dsteding · Post by **dsteding** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:24 am

Nice report BDub, you just put NC on my list of dive destinations when I get the experience and training to do those dives . . .

BDub · Post by **BDub** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:52 pm

Nice report BDub, you just put NC on my list of dive destinations when I get the experience and training to do those dives . . .

Doug, the diving was far better than I had hoped for. I didn't expect to see the amount of life we did. Definitely worth the trip once, but I'm looking forward to go back for a second trip.

dsteding · Post by **dsteding** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:56 pm

BDub wrote:
Nice report BDub, you just put NC on my list of dive destinations when I get the experience and training to do those dives . . .
Doug, the diving was far better than I had hoped for. I didn't expect to see the amount of life we did. Definitely worth the trip once, but I'm looking forward to go back for a second trip.

No kidding-your pics make it look like a blast. Between that, the warm water, and the fact my buddy just called from Virginia Beach letting me know he'd gotten excellent surf, alone, two blocks from his house, I may have to relocate. Who knew?

Seems like a relatively easy trip logistics-wise as well, no crossing borders, no long plane flights, sounds like a great commando mission, long weekend type trip.

BDub · Post by **BDub** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:05 pm

Seems like a relatively easy trip logistics-wise as well, no crossing borders, no long plane flights, sounds like a great commando mission, long weekend type trip.

It is a fairly easy trip, logistically, and pretty inexpensive. RT plane tickets to Raleigh can be had for $350 or so. Morehead City is about a 3 hour drive from Raleigh and lodging was very reasonable. There are restaurants in all price ranges as well. Diving was about $100 per day (2 tanks), which isn't bad when you figure the amount of fuel they're burning to get that far out there.

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:08 pm

What did you do for a rig? Ship your doubles? Rent some?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

BDub · Post by **BDub** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:17 pm

What did you do for a rig? Ship your doubles? Rent some?

They didn't have any doubles Bob. We actually ended up using 119's with H valves and some VERY good fills.

They do typically rent them I guess, though they didn't have any that weekend.