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Dive Reports June 2008
Tuesday 3rd: The word for the day was Sandtiger! We rode out on nice calm water to dive on the old liberty ship, the Zane Gray. The bottom conditions were 30ft vis with 68 degree water. The anchor was tied in near the bow, and the divemaster had run a reel up to the tip of the bow and reported seeing "about a dozen" sandtigers. When we descended and began swimming along the line "about a dozen" turned into about 4 dozen. All sizes, from 3 feet up to some 12 footers! and to boot there was a solitary hammerhead hanging out in the group! Great dives!
Friday 6th: A cool overcast day was not enough to keep us from diving on the wreck of the USCG Cutter Jackson. Cloudy skies kept the visibility on the bottom around 20ft, but there was tons of marine life on the 125 foot wreck. Spadefish, largre tangs, and two Sandtigers made it a day worth diving!
Wednesday 11th: A full dive boat left Broad Creek at 7:30 with calm seas and lots of sun. The destination was the Jackson, however a group was fishing (and it looked like they were doing well there!) so we swithched over to dive the Advance. The water on the bottom was 69 degrees with 50 feet of vis on the bottom. The clear water provided a great view of the wreck as we descended down the anchor line, and true to form, the sandtigers showed up again. Also some amberjacks showed as well as a lone cobia!
Thursday 19th: The first run to the U-85 of the season was UNBELEIVABLE. The seas were calm, little to no current, and 60-70 ft. of visibility on the bottom! The temperature was a cool 69 degrees, perfect for cooling off with the warm sunshine back topside. There were very large schools of spadefish and triggerfish. This a great day of diving!
Saturday 21st: We went out to the Advance today for two wonderful dives. The water conditions were outstanding with a light breeze coming from the South and 1-3 ft swells. The conditions below the surface were even more outstanding. We had a surface temperature of 74 degrees with a bottom temp of 69-70. The visibility was a very nice 60-80ft. Of the fourteen on board we had 4 students, Austyn, Elizabeth, and Mark had their first open ocean checkout dives, Jessica, the fourth student completed her checkout dives with style and has finihed her OW course. We also had a group of divers from Chattahoochee Scuba, GA. Congratulations to Jessica and a job well done to Austyn, Elizabeth and Mark. It was great to have you all on board and we look forward to seeing you again. On the wreck today we had a n excellent varieatyof fish. The divers spotted some Sandtigers, Spades Fish, Amber Jacks, a Baracuda and a nice assortmnet of bait fish. The Taugs were hiding but the Oyster Toads and corals were there as always.
Sunday 22nd: The U-85 was our destination today, We had 8 divers on board and we had slightly more seas than the previous day. On the surface we had a 3-5 foot swell every 9 seconds, with no current. The top temperature was a very comfortable 70 with a bottom temperature of 60. The visbility on the top was around 60 ft diminishing to 30-40ft on the bottom. The dives were great and there was planety of marine life to see. Today we had a very large number of Spade Fish, Amber Jacks and Triggers. On the wreck itself we spotted two Conger Eels. On the boat today we had Josh, Kyle, Charles, James, and Irv from Chattahoochee Scuba and 2004 UWSS Rolex Scholar Joe Hoyt with his buddy ECU Maritime Student John Wagner, as well as Jamie and Curtis Price. Thanks for a great weekend of diving Josh and all the crew at Chattahoochee Scuba! Thanks also to Joe and Dr. Nathan Richards who is welcome to dive anytime his feet don't hurt. Although the surface was a little rougher we stayed on the U for both dives and a good time was had by all.