Me, Reggie Callander and Joel Brisco headed down Thursday afternoon in
order to get in a extra day of diving on Friday morning. Although we got there around 4 am, we were still able
to make it to the boat by 6am. The weather was great, there were blue skies and sunshine. There
was a film crew from the Discovery Channel to film the dive, but as we all know as open water divers mother nature can play a big part in recreational diving.
About 15 min from shore they told us the waves at the dive site were about 4-5 ft high and the dive
was cancelled. I believed the fact that a film crew was on board played in the decision to call off the
dive.
Back at the dive lodge I tried to get some much needed
sleep, I didn't. Unless you can sleep through a bombing I would not recommend staying at the Lodge. Later that
night we met for dinner at the Golden Correl for the Wreckfest reception. Best fried chicken I have every
tasted. The reception was well organized, there was speeches made about the next day dives and a representitive
from DAN was there to talk about safety. Many clubs were represented , the Atlantic Rangers, the Nubian Divers
of Charllote, AVSC and others from the Washington D.C. area.
The next
morning without any sleep, I met up with Reggie and Joel at the boat at 6 am and at first headed for the site
of the u-boat-352 wreck that has been promised. But mother nature raise here ugly head again and we was re-routed to
another dive site called the "Indra". Feeling a little quezey from lack of sleep and all you can eat
from the nite before, I Just wanted to dive any where.
Diving with
a 100 cubic ft alum tank, we dove to about 65 ft with the visabilty about 10 to 15 ft. It was quite
a large wreck. Saw quite a few baraccudas which came very close. My bouyency was very good I should say, also saw
many jellyfish, Reggie and Joel were stung but I kept my eyes open for them and the baraccudas. The second dive
of the day was the "Titan" a tugboat. I did my first penetration as I could see the exit on the other side
of the boat. Once inside I was surrounded by about 20 to 30, 5 to 6 inch fish with large eyes that kinda
look at me and said what the hell. Joel has a great shot of me exiting the wreck, he ask me how much
am I ready to pay for it.
Day two: This was the day that
we would dive the wreck the "Spar" and see the amazing sharks, but to no avail, we were told
the weather was a factor again and we returned to the wreck "INDRA" At the end of the dive almost invisable
and covered in the sand was a medium size stingray. The second dive we dove the "Suloide" wreck an tanker
that was broken up by the navy so it was all spread around and not much to see. There was a strong surface current
and the water temp was much colder and we stay aroud the anchor line for most of the dive.
As the weekend go, I was pretty disapointed not having swam with the sharks and not diving
the u-boat, but as most people who know me I just enjoy diving no matter what's down there.
By: Mark Pierce