Cape Hatteras, NC Dives – SemDIVE!

Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

 



cape_hatteras_sunset


Last week we headed down to Cape Hatteras for a weekend of wreck diving in tropical conditions.  It was a long drive, but the four dives were worth every minute of time stuck in traffic.  We left Northern Virginia around 3:00 PM on Friday afternoon, frolicked in summer traffic on I-95 for a few hours, and finally made it our little beachside motel at 10:30 PM.  Up at 6:00 AM for breakfast and at the dive boat, ready to go, by 7:20 AM.

cape_haterras_diveFor those of you that aren’t aware, the Gulf Stream is warm water that comes out of the Gulf of Mexico and enters the Atlantic as it rounds the southern tip of Florida and then heads north along the U.S East Coast.  The current comes in close to shore around the Carolinas and brings a lot of energy to any hurricane already tracking up the coast.  But… it also means warm water – tropical condition diving.  The surface temperatures can exceed 80F and the bottom (130’ to stick to recreational limits) can easily exceed 75F.  Add visibility that is often 100 – 120’.  If that’s not good enough reason to dive, in the May – Oct timeframe, the Gulf Current is usually moving through shallower areas – which just happen to be home to many spectacular wrecks within recreational dive limits.


Okay… teaching moment aside….




cape_hatteras_dive_We dove with Dive Hatteras, LLC  on their excellent boat, the Lion’s Paw.  Saturday morning started out overcast and the ocean was a little rough, but we still made great time getting out to the first site, the wreck of the Proteus.  With 65 feet of visibility and 28% Nitrox in our tanks, we hopped in the water, pulled ourselves along the granny line to the anchor line, and the descended to 125’ where we were greeted by a 6-8’ San Tiger shark lazily patrolling the wreck with a small entourage of fish.  We tooled around near the stern of the ship looking at the wreckage and snapping some photos as we went.  After about 25 minutes our computers were letting us know our time was getting short, so we headed back up the anchor line to the boat.  The water was so beautiful that we just hung out on the descent line for an extra long safety stop before heading back to the boat.

Once on board, we switched out our tanks in preparation for the next dive, re-hydrated and had some snacks.  After a 3 hour surface interval and a slow, mellow boat ride to the next site, we were off again, this time to dive the wreck of the  Catherine M. Monahan.  Though the visibility was not quite as awesome, we still saw plenty of critters, got some good snaps and enjoyed every minute of the dive.  This time we got a little turned around on our way back to the anchor.  No worries, we executed a free cape_hatteras_sharkascent utilizing our computers to ensure a nice slow ascent rate, inclusive of a safety stop.  Upon completing the final 15’ ascent, we broke surface spotted the boat about 100 yards off, signaled that we were okay, grabbed onto the tag line and pulled our way against a light current back to the boat.  Thus ending day one of a great weekend of diving!


Sunday began even better; we were more rested, mellowed by a day of diving, the sun was out and the ocean was calmer.  Back on the boat at 7:30 AM and back to the Proteus we went!  This time on our way out to the first wreck we went right through a small storm cell.


When we came out on the other side we found the sun and got our dive on! 


Another great dive on the Proteus, even more relaxed than the day before!




DSCN0102For our last dive of the weekend, we headed to the Dixie Arrow – a U.S. merchant vessel torpedoed by the German U-71 in 1942.  There was a little surge around the stern of the wreck (where we anchored) so we chose to remain inside what was left of the open hull of the vessel.  This area was generally undisturbed by the surge and the different levels of the frame acted like shelves for small habitats of sea creatures.  There was a lot to see on this wreck, from peering through holes in the structure to searching for critters to capture in photographs.  This wreck was also shallower than the others, so between that and some Nitrox, we logged a little extra time in the blue.

All in all, we had a great weekend and can’t wait to get back to Cape Hatteras and dive with Captain Dave Sommers and the crew of the Lion’s Paw at  Dive Hatteras, LLC.  And, guess what DIVE! fans… we are going back!  We’re planning another trip in September while the weather is still warm.  So, let’s hope for a hurricane free season on the east coast this year.  Let us know if you’re interested in this trip!

 

Now… go make some bubbles!





SemDIVE!

SemDIVE!