Beaufort 11.03.2002

Day 1

Pretty much my regular going out Friday except I went out this time with Kittie, Randy, Ed, Joyce, Mark, Cynthia and Amanda. We had a great time at Greenshields downtown Raleigh and then we went to the Art Space next door to look at some art since was the First Friday (this is the first Friday of each month when the art galleries are open to the public so you can go look at art). Of course at usual my favorite artist was an oriental looking guy who works only charcoal and his paintings are not paintings ... are photos. I have never seen something like it.

After the Art space since it was the 1st of November it was Peter's birthday so we HAD to go join him for some partying. Of course I couldn't drink since I was going the next day to the ocean but I can have a good time without drinking too.

I went home probably around 1 - 1.30 AM and I went to bed after I put together all my scuba gear. The main attraction was my brand new digital camera Canon, 4MP with underwater casing...

I got up at 3.30 as usual and head out to the coast to meet with the guys. This time I went with a great group of guys and we had a blast. You can see their pictures in the pictures paragraph.

I got to the dock on time and we all started loading for out long day of diving. Long day means 3 tanks, two dives off shore and one in shore. Unfortunately the weather was not good enough so we had to pack and go for Indra.

The weather was cold and windy. VERY cold and windy! We froze our behind out!

We did two dives on Indra on a day way less than perfect: about 15 - 20 ft. of visibility and cold water (67 F). The dives were nice though. I have seen a turtle - Ibet is the same as last year which I have seen 11th of November -, a bunch of sting rays, allot of tode fish, one yellow tang. Not too bad for an in shore wreck.

We shouldn't have done the second dive but ... oh well, the other group decided we should...

We got back on the shore probably around 1-2 PM and we went to out hotel.

The sleepy boyz, Joe and Al went in for a nap and Lane, Eric and I - the party animals - went cruising around in bars and pool halls. It was pretty cool. They had a couple of drinks to ... me, I was again with my scopolamine patch so ... no banana for me.

Al and Joe joined us for dinner at the Ice House in Morehead. Great place for dinner. Fantastic food. Not so many nice servers like the last time though :-).

We went back to our rooms at about 10.30 and as tired as we were we got asleep in a blink.

Day 2

Although my scopolamine patch went off the first day, I had some replacement this time so I was OK.

Today we went off shore since the weather was very nice ... well, still excruciating cold but nice weather. The wreck of choice was Papoose. Now the nightmare begun.

Since today was nice and we went off shore, I decided to take with me my brand new digital camera so I tested the case, I tested the camera in the case in the camera bucket and then I attached the strobe on the case. Unfortunately after I attached the strobe I haven't tested the camera again, I just dumped it in the camera bucket on the boat. ... Bad choice!

After the normal 2 hours of boat ride, we prepared to go down. The wreck is pretty deep (124ft) so Joe made Al carry his pony tank since Al is a little bit of air piggy...

Everybody went in and me just before jumping in the water I told Terry, The captain to give me the camera. Terry said: "It is flooded" ... Of course after taking my regulator out of the mouth I started laughing since there is no way a camera will flood in the camera bucket ... but the laugh transformed in a grin when I took a look at the camera which was completely flooded! Oh well, I opened undone the strobe, take the battery and CF out and grab my other camera and went in for the dive.

Although I had my mind set on my new and expensive camera flooded, the diving was great. I have seena bunch of tropical fish, a squirl fish which I have never seen before in North Carolina and the legendary Lion Fish. You can try to spot them on the pictures but trust me it was not easy to spot them under water either.

Great dive! Nice warm water and about 80 ft of visibility.

The second dive of the day was on Aeolus where it was a little bit colder and the visibility was pretty bad. ... I don't think I have ever seen the visibility that bad on Aeolus. We had about 15-20 ft of vis. and about 67 deg. temperature.

The dive would have been great if the visibility would have been better. There were probably at least 20-30 sharks (sand tigers) on and close to the wreck so it was great to just sit and contemplate those amazing animals.

We got back on the shore at about 5PM! I don't know why we got in so late, but since it was so late we went to have some pizza at the local pizza place "No name pizza" and we found there all the captain and mates of the boats. We all had dinner until about 6 PM and then I drove back to Raleigh.

So what's the moral of the trip? Well, great diving even in November on the coast. I am glad I meat some new cool friends and I am very very glad I have seen the famous lion fish. ... The weekend could have had passed without me flooding the camera but ... oh, well, it was not meant to be!

Check out the pictures, some are pretty good. I offer a price for whoever finds the lion fish in the pictures (I can find it) :-)

Pictures

Her are the pictures:

• Beaufort 11.03.2002