Tuesday 1st: Nice sunny day on the Zane Gray, about 80 degrees, sunny, with calm rolling seas and a light NW breeze. The surface water was 72 and bottom was a nice 70 degrees with very little current during the first dive. There were large schools of silver sides that surrounded divers as well as huge schools of spade fish that were visible even from the surface. True to form, there were also a few shark sightings. During the second dive the current picked up and visibility reduced as the tide dropped and a different lense of water moved in.

Wednesday 2nd: The GO-BETWEEN traveled out to day to the USCG Cutter Jackson, she and her sister ship the Bedloe were lost in the great hurricane of 1944. Mother ocean seems to have treated the Bedloe better than the Jackson as she is missing a section midships and she has been ravaged the last few years. On this day we had gentle rolling seas with a slight breeze from the NW. The surface temperature was a very nice 72 with a visibility of 50ft. The bottom had a very respectable 66 degrees with visibility ranging between 35-30ft. We had a visit from a Sand tiger being trailed by a Cobia while we were on the wreck. After diving here for about 8 years I've never actually seen one on the Jackson. We had the usual schools of Spades, the occasional Taugs, Sea bass and assorted Tropicals.

July 6th to the 19th: Well the last 2 weeks have been a challenge on the Outer Banks. Since Bertha formed and visited Bermuda plus Cristobal off the coast, the visibility and weather have become quite unpredictable. On average the conditions have been a far cry from what we were getting at the beginning of the summer. Over the last two weeks we've been diving in 5-15 ft of visibility with very comfortable temperatures averaging 68 from top to bottom. The surface water and storm systems had been unpredictable as well. We usually get a SW wind intermittently but since Bertha has come and gone it has been a pretty steady SW with some slight variations. On top of the wind we have had a variety of conditions on the surface for surface swells with a unique cross chop making the conditions a little rougher. Our main dive sites like the Jackson, Advance and the U-85 have been good to us by providing a great variety of fish for our divers to watch. All in all it will be good when these systems move away from us so we can return to normal. Even so the divers have been a hearty bunch and they've been great, coming to the task and having some fabulous dives despite the less than optimal conditions. A few have said they had found the wrecks to be much more interesting because the limited visibility forced them to slow down and pay greater attention to the details. The divers spotted schools of Spades, Amber Jacks, and bait fish. There were plenty of Triggers, Taugs, Sheeps head, Sea Bass, Oyster Toads and of course the Sand tiger Sharks. I'm glad the fish don't mind the limited visibility.

This week brings new weather a chance for the water to settle and return to normal conditions. More updates will be coming soon.

Wednesday 23rd: With the threat of a rising winds we set out this morning for the Jackson. The seas were very calm on the trip out which promised better dive conditions below. On site we were able to anchor in and in no time had the dives started. On the bottom we had a very nice 20ft visibility with no current and a bottom temperature of 67 plus two warmer layers of water above. On the wreck the divers spotted a very large school of Spade Fish, Taugs Triggers, Sheeps head and Oyster toads. We also had a visit from the sand tiger shark that has been on the Advance. It seems that he shows up whenever we are on either wreck. Very peculiar but it seems to be his way. On the hang bar our divers had a school of juvenile amber jacks and two Barracudas. Things seem to be getting back to normal.

Friday 25th: The U-85 treated us to a wonderful day today. The seas were calm with a slight 3 to 4 ft rolling swell from the E. The surface temperature of the water was around 75 and the bottom was a very comfortable 69. The visibility was hovering around 40-50 ft for both dives. We were able so see some of the NOAA survey work being done on the site. The sea life was plentiful as the divers spotted Triggers, Spades, Taugs, juvenile Amber Jacks, Queen Triggers, Conger eels, and some High Hats. All in all two great dives.

Saturday 26th: The calm beautiful waters were still with us today. We were originally slated to be on the Jackson but the Poppe was on the site so we moved to the Advance. The water was great with very the same conditions from the previous day except the swell was now 1-2 ft. The marine life was also very similar to the previous day with the tropical High Hats on the Advance as well. We had a couple of hungry Barracuda on the wreck and they were busy chasing the Spades around looking for an easy meal. They make this unique popping sound in the water when they flick their tail to pursue a fish. I heard it three times as I was diving my rebreather. It's amazing how loud the ocean becomes when you remove the sound of exhaust bubbles. The conditions this last week have been great.

Wednesday 30th: We traveled out to the Jackson today for two excellent dives. The surface had a very small swell of about 2-3 ft from the SW at a 10 second interval. We had four distinct layers of water from top to bottom, the top layer was the coldest with a warmer layer from 15-30 ft, from 30-50 we had cooler water and on the bottom we had 68. The visibility was the best on the bottom ranging from 20-25ft for both dives. The divers spotted all the usual fish on the Jackson including Taugs, Triggers, Spades, and Sheeps head. Our buddy the shark didn't make an appearance today but we will on the Advance very soon, hopefully he'll be there, The conditions appear to have stabilized some and the visibility is variable but holding at a minimum of 20ft. Of course we'll see how that really holds in the future.

More reports will follow.

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