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2003
Dive
Reports
March 2003
A trip was made to the Indra earlier this week: (3/11) 52 degrees and
clear water.
The Hutton was a few degrees warmer.
Surface water temps at the Naeco (40 miles out) were 77 on Mar
14.
May 2003
| |
Location |
Visibility |
Temp |
Comments |
| May 3, 2003 |
Indra |
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| May 9 |
Aeolus
Indra |
45
60 |
68 |
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| May 10 |
Schurz
Suloide |
70-80
60 |
68
69 |
|
| May 11 |
Caribe Sea |
40 |
68 |
|
| May 15 |
Radio Island |
15 |
68 |
Night dive on the Jetty was interesting. It was a rainy
night, so we missed the lunar eclipse. There are big shrimp out at
night! |
| May 16 |
Suloide
Indra |
60+ |
68 |
Excellent visibility on the in-shore wrecks, lots of fish
and activity on the Indra. |
| May 17 |
Hutton
Parker |
70
25 |
68 |
Awesome vis on the Hutton, crystal-clear water. Even the
Parker offered better-than expected visibility! |
| May 25 |
Schurz |
15-20 |
77 |
Beautiful ocean today, but stirred-up conditions underwater
made it quite murky. (But who needs vis on the Schurz, anyway?) |
| May 26 |
Schurz |
25 |
75 |
Slightly better vis today, choppy topside. A big stingray
came to visit as the divers were headed back to the anchor line. |
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June 2003
| |
Location |
Visibility |
Temp |
Comments |
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| June 6 |
Papoose Rocks |
70' |
72 |
Nice ledge, lots of fish and a few lobster. |
| June 7 |
Duhamel |
8-10' |
70 |
Tough seas, limited visibility.... |
| June 9 |
Schurz
Sub |
60' |
72 |
Reverse vis: murky on top and clear on the bottom. |
| June 10 |
Manuela
Proteus |
70' |
67/70 |
Excellent day: flat seas and great dives. Lionfish spotted
on both wrecks. Jewfish, turtles and sharks too! |
| June 11 |
Rocks
Cassimir |
60' |
73 |
Nice rock ledge down SE, many lobsters had eggs though.
Great dive on the Cassimir: the blue-spotted Coronetfish are back! |
| June 12 |
Normannia
Lobster Wreck |
70' |
72 |
Lobster on both wrecks, good vis and sea conditions. The
Lobster Wreck had lots of action: big fish, little fish and bugs. A great
dive! |
| June 13 |
Atlas |
40' |
67 |
Murky on top, then it cleared to about 40' of the bottom.
Noticeable thermocline. Lots of big sharks!! Did someone get lost
and ascend on another boat's anchor line?? ; ) |
| June 14 |
Atlas |
35' |
68 |
A tad less visibility: a brown layer of murky water mid-way
down made it darker on the bottom, but still fairly clear. A few sharks
were spotted. |
| June 15 |
Papoose
Schurz |
60' |
74 |
Good conditions on both wrecks, fair seas and only one
rainshower all day! We swam with dolphins at the surface after the 2nd
dive. |
| June 20 |
Fishing Trip |
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Lots of Dolphin (mahi) caught today- a great day fishing! |
| June 21 |
Papoose
Schurz |
60 |
76 |
We found some flounder on both wrecks, and saw sharks on the
Papoose. The vis is still not as clear as it should be. |
| June 22 |
Papoose
Schurz |
60 |
76 |
Ditto. |
| June 23 |
Proteus
Dixie Arrow |
60
50 |
75 |
We took the boat up around the shoals, and did 2 dives
before going into Hatteras for the night. The next day we did two more up
there and headed back home. Great dives up there. |
| June 24 |
Manuela
Tarpon |
100
70 |
78 |
The Manuela was the best dive of the year so far...blue
clear water from top to bottom. The Tarpon has 13 lionfish on it. Great
diving! |
| June 25 |
Box Wreck
Bedfordshire |
50 |
74 |
Tons of fish on the Box Wreck and the Bedfordshire. |
| June 26 |
Lobster Wreck
Cassimir |
50 |
74 |
The Lobster Wreck is always a good dive, complete with
lionfish.
Herds of grouper on the Cassimir. We saw a big stingray swimming in
mid-water at 60'- that was cool. Did someone get lost and then safely
ascend on an up-line/lift bag? ; ) |
| June 27 |
Schurz |
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Double dive day on the Schurz. |
| June 28 |
Papoose
Schurz |
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Good vis on both wrecks, but some idiot shot another
sandtiger shark. |
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July 2003
| |
Location |
Visibility |
Temp |
Comments |
| July 2 |
Schurz |
60 |
76 |
Nice dive on the Schurz |
| July 4 |
Papoose
Suloide |
50
10 |
76 |
One shark on the Papoose, disappointing vis on the Suloide. |
| July 5 |
Hardees |
60 |
72 |
Great dive on the Hardees: good vis, flounder, lots of fish
schooling around.... |
| July 6 |
Sub
Hutton |
60
40 |
75 |
Lionfish on the Sub, good vis on the Hutton |
| July 7 |
Schurz |
60 |
76 |
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| July 8 |
Duhamel |
20 |
72 |
Flounder! |
| July 9 |
Bedfordshire
Ashkabad |
60
40 |
72 |
Great conditions on the Bedfordshire: lots of stingray
"prints" in the sand, but none were seen lurking around. The
Ashkabad is slowly sanding up again. |
| July 10 |
Duhamel |
15-20 |
72 |
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| July 13 |
Hardees |
50 |
73 |
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| July 15 |
Schurz
Sailboat |
80
100 |
75 |
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| July 16 |
Box Wreck
Bedfordshire |
50 |
78/72 |
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| July 17 |
Hardees
Duhamel |
40
20 |
72 |
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| July 18 |
Schurz |
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66 |
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| July 19 |
Indra |
20-25 |
74 |
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| July 20 |
Papoose |
80/40 |
70 |
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| July 21 |
Caribe Sea
Askhabad |
60/5 |
75/66 |
Great vis until you get to the boilers/engine. Then it
dropped to 5' vis. But the sharks were cruising around in the clear water,
as well as sneaking up on divers on the bottom. Tried the Portland, but no
vis. about 45' on the Ashkabad, with a mild current. |
| July 25 |
Rockpile
Hardees |
50
30 |
70 |
Nice conditions on both wrecks: TONS of fish on the Rockpile. |
| July 26 |
Naeco
Rocks |
60
40 |
71 |
Good dives, (not the best visibility), but better than
what's been going around these days! You CAN hear thunder while
underwater! |
| July 27 |
Rockpile
Hardees |
50
20 |
70 |
Where is the Gulf Stream, anyway??? |
| July 28 |
Atlas |
20, + |
75/66 |
Murky and cold on the bottom, but the vis cleared up to at
least 30/35' on the 2nd dive. Lots of sharks hanging around the high
parts. |
| July 29 |
Caribe Sea |
30 |
75/65 |
Significant thermocline, but lots of sharks hanging around
the bow. The water near the top of the engine was warmer. Barracuda were
everywhere! |
| July 30 |
Naeco |
60 |
77/63 |
Great dive on the Naeco- it was chilly: the lionfish were
wearing sweaters!! |
| July 31 |
Lobster Rock
Cassimir |
50
20 |
77/62 |
Lots of Lobster, but all had eggs. Hog snapper were around
as well!
Strange & poor conditions on the Cassimir. |
August 2003
| |
Location |
Visibility |
Temp |
Comments |
| August 1 |
Far East Tanker |
100 |
78/62 |
Great vis but still cold. An awesome dive, one of the best
of the year. |
| August 2 |
Bedfordshire
Fenwick Isle |
40/15 |
65/75 |
Limited visibility, and still chilly on the Bedfordshire.
Warmer on the Fenwick, a moderate current. |
| August 3 |
Schurz
Indra |
50/25 |
63/70 |
Good dive on the Schurz: somewhat warmer on the Indra. |
| August 4 |
Schurz
Aeolus Bow |
60
80 |
77/63 |
Great dives on both wrecks, the Bow had great visibility! |
| August 5 |
Aeolus Stern |
60 |
77/63 |
Good dive, a shark was inside the wreck and a band of
barracuda hung around the boat. |
| August 6 |
Sub |
50 |
77/65 |
Lots of fish activity on the wreck, but choppy seas with
constant SW wind. |
| Why is it so cold on the bottom? Cold
water upwelling. Check
this out... |
| August 8 |
Hardees |
50+ |
77/65 |
Nice dive on the Hardees: good vis and no current. |
| August 9 |
Aeolus |
50-60 |
77/65 |
We couldn't go any further than the Aeolus: nice dive, but
chilly on the bottom. Paula took some readings of the water on the bottom
to research the Upwelling effect. Never before has this happened!! |
| August 12 |
Schurz |
60 |
77/63 |
Good dive on the Schurz today, but chilly on the bottom. WOW!! There are lots of
things left to see on this wreck, just pay attention. |
| August 13 |
NaecoBridge Schurz |
100
50 |
82/72 |
Smoking current on the Bridge, but phenomenal vis. There are
new sea urchins in our waters: very large (12"+) with very long dark
black spines. A cluster of about 8 was on the bottom. |
| August 14 |
Naeco Stern |
80 |
82/72 |
Less current today, but still noticeable. Warmer water was
nice, but the lionfish still had sweaters on. |
| August 15 |
Far East Tanker |
80+ |
80/65 |
Good conditions on the top and bottom: chilly but clear. A few sharks were
hanging out in the wreck. |
| August 16 |
Manuela
Atlas |
100+
50 |
80/68
77/63 |
Awesome dive on the Manuela, spectacular visibility, but
darker because a layer of hazy water soaked up the light. 3 lionfish
spotted, one was quite large. Good vis on the Atlas as well, but cold. |
| August 17 |
Duhamel |
30 |
77/69 |
Choppy seas kept us close today, good vis and warmer water. |
| August 18 |
Papoose
Duhamel |
30
30 |
79/68
77/69 |
Vis on the Papoose dropped close to the bottom. The high
part of the wreck was pretty clear. Mild current on both wrecks. Calm
seas. |
| August 19 |
Atlas
Duhamel |
60/20
30 |
77/66
78/68 |
Variable visibility on the Atlas: if you don't like the vis,
wait about 5 minutes and it changes. Strange. Great topside conditions,
but an unexpected closely-spaced swell kept us from going south this
morning. Another great dive on the Duhamel. |
| August 20 |
Naeco Stern
Naeco Bridge |
80/50
80 |
78/68 |
Nice dives on both wrecks, excellent topside conditions. A
new type of sea urchin was seen on the Bridge section. 4-5 colonies of
about 10-15 urchins were seen on the wreck. These urchins are huge, and a
deep scarlet red color. (Photos on the main home page). |
| August 21 |
Schurz |
100/30 |
82-70 |
Welcome to "Lake Atlantic," Slick seas and glassy
water. Great vis and warm until you got to about 100'. Then you hit a mild
thermocline and the visibility dropped to about 30'. Could we be near the
end of the cold and dark summer?? |
| August 23 |
Schurz
Duhamel |
20 & variable |
70 |
The Schurz had awesome vis just until you got on the wreck.
Then it dropped to about 20', and even less on some sections. Nicer
conditions on the Duhamel, believe it or not!! |
| August 24 |
Indra |
50 |
76 |
Like diving in an Aquarium! Lots of fish, rays, turtle,
& a sand tiger too! |
| August 30 |
Naeco Stern |
80 |
82/73 |
Mild current on the wreck, but lots of wildlife, and many
danforth anchors were salvaged! Much warmer than it has been!! Calm
seas! |
| August 31 |
Far East Tanker |
80 |
79/73 |
Great dive on the Tanker: great vis, but a moderate current.
Good bottom temps, and flat seas. |
"New" Urchin found off the coast of NC
8/20/03
August 2004 update: unfortunately we have not
seen these urchins again so far this year. If/when we do, we will let you know!
August 2005: We saw a lonely big urchin out in the sand about 500' off of the
Naeco. It looked a lot like the ones we saw in 2003!
September 2003
| |
Location |
Visibility |
Temp |
Comments |
| September 1 |
Sailboat
Schurz |
60
50 |
78/68 |
Great topside conditions again today: and great dives.
The sailboat is a small old wreck, with lots of fish and even some
seashells! |
| September |
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| September 24 |
Papoose |
70' |
78 |
Warm water all the way to the bottom. The vis has cleared up
and is back to what it should have been all summer!! |
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