North Carolina diving -- Lions and Tigers and Bears.....Oh my!!!

Okay, there were no "bears", but we did have lots of lion fish and sand tiger sharks. I just got back from several days of diving the wrecks off North Carolina on my Sport Kiss rebreather. There were four of us all on a Sport Kiss -- myself, my daughter, Walt Stearns, and Alan Studley. We hit the U-352, the Schurz, and the Carib Sea. It was a great trip. The lack of bubbles and prolonged bottom times were great for photography.

There are more photos here:

http://debersole.com/layout/0001/gallery_view.cfm?g=110

Doug

wow, lots of great shots in there! nice job... what depths were most of the photos taken at?

thanks for posting,

Scott

Nice shots Doug!

I don't know if its just an illusion but that stingray looks huge!!!

Herb -- thanks for the kind words. Hope to dive with you again soon!

The depths were around 80-100 feet and, yes, that was a huge stingray (I think it was called a "rough-tail" or something like that). There is some distortion but it was much bigger than the largest southern stingray I've seen around here.

Nice shots Doug! Hope to see you in Bonaire this February.

Imasleeper

Nice Doug!!

I've always wanted to do N Carolina and now I'll just have to get up there!!

What a great place for rebreathers!!

Great shots!! You must be really proud of your daughter too.....

I've dove on a boat with Walt several times, he is very knowledgeable...., did you say who your charter was? Let me know, I'm interested.

Also I can't tell if that is a roughtail ray from your photo angle, could be?? They have very, very obvious spines all the way down to the end of their tails (which I thought looks like a kind of a "mace"....)! I hear the roughtails are more numerous up there but we also have them in South Florida - I saw a 7 ft. span one (as you say bigger than any southern stingray I've ever seen) under Commercial Pier when they still used to fish there and we were doing a cleanup several years ago. Also friends of mine caught hold of, actually "freed", three roughtail stingrays from a power plant intake gate in South Florida. One of my dive buddies who said his job was to hold a rag around the large 7' span female's stinger said it was an extremely wild ride and one that he knew whatever happened he could not let go of that rag (as there were several others grasping her from the front and wings)!!

We have such interesting fish and creatures here in Florida and the Atlantic don't we??

Thanks so much for the post and pics, Best, Carol

...I've always wanted to do N Carolina and now I'll just have to get up there...

I did my wreck cert there one weekend while on business inland.

We were at the dive op on Sunday AM around 7. Apparently the fishermen head out an hour earlier and the dive boats call them for a sea report (in return the dive ops tell the fishermen where the fish are).

That morning the fishing boats didn't go out because apparently the seas were a bit much.

But.... the 6 guys form Ohio wanted to dive the sub so the captain said he would try...

I have never been seasick before but this trip was different. You can imagine a Pelican 6850 going airborne as the boat dropped into each trough

I see why this is called wreck alley!

The moral of the story is... go when the weather is good because when it is bad it is bad.

I did my wreck cert there one weekend while on business inland.

We were at the dive op on Sunday AM around 7. Apparently the fishermen head out an hour earlier and the dive boats call them for a sea report (in return the dive ops tell the fishermen where the fish are).

That morning the fishing boats didn't go out because apparently the seas were a bit much.

 

But.... the 6 guys form Ohio wanted to dive the sub so the captain said he would try...

I have never been seasick before but this trip was different. You can imagine a Pelican 6850 going airborne as the boat dropped into each trough

 

I see why this is called wreck alley!

The moral of the story is... go when the weather is good because when it is bad it is bad.

These pictures are terrific. Also an awesome wreck combo - the U352 and Carib Sea are two of my favorites, great for sand tigers with no reservations about getting close (one time, one came so close a remora left the shark and stuck to my hip), and dense schools of baitfish. Personally I'm more into the wreck side of things - "fish? there were fish?" - but the rest is nice too.

I live near Raleigh and have been diving the coast for years - I still get sick sometimes, price you pay I guess. I've seen a fair number of very experienced divers who "NEVER get seasick" leaning over the side, so no shame in it. The only trouble with NC is the weather can change, and fast - I would NOT recommend going out when the captain doesn't want to, and you should have a backup plan to do topside stuff. There are two main departure points, Morehead (central) and near Wilmington (south). I like Discovery Diving out of Morehead, personally, but most are pretty safe and experienced. Check out ncdivers.com for lots more info and a forum.

Wow Great photos! I'm curious to know what the behavior of the sand tigers is like? Are they accepting of divers? Aggressive at all? It appears they either let you get very close or are coming close to you.

Looks like alot of fun...thanks for sharing!

My Gallery here: http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19987

... I like Discovery Diving out of Morehead...

This was the operation and I was impressed with their desire to please.

The fish in NC are indeed well fed by topside divers.

The great news about my "experiance" is that, as you said, the weather changes quickly and by the time we pulled anchor the weather was much much nicer for the ride back closer in shore.

Wow Great photos! I'm curious to know what the behavior of the sand tigers is like? Are they accepting of divers? Aggressive at all? It appears they either let you get very close or are coming close to you.

 

Looks like alot of fun...thanks for sharing!

In my experience, they pretty much ignore divers, mostly they just circle the wreck, or circle just off the wreck - they'll sometimes swim in for a closer look. To get close, I just get near the path they're on and wait - they'll occasionally swim by close enough to touch (or leave a remora). I've rarely seen aggressive behavior (humped back, jerky swimming, etc.) and just stayed clear when I have - usually a wounded fish nearby. They also come into the wrecks to breed; never seen that, but you'll see females all bitten up, and can find teeth in the sand if you're lucky.