Beaufort 8.04.2002

Finally I made it again to the ocean. I didn't had to much time to go diving at the coast this year... Training dives, certification dives, students, moving friends. Just not enough time anymore. Oh well, fortunately I made it to Beaufort last weekend and it was great as usual.

Day 1

My regular coast trip started with a busy couple of days on Wednesday when I left work at 10pm and on Thursday when I left work at 12pm. Fortunately Friday I left by 6 so plenty of time to prepare and to plan the trip. What's to plan ... not much, get air, put the scopolamine patch 12 hours earlier, pack the scuba gear and make sure I didn't forgot anything.

I tried to get to bed as usual by 10 ish but probably I felt asleep by midnight. All my alarm clocks including my cell phone started ringing at 2.30 am sharp. No, it is no fun to get up in the middle of the night and to drive 3 hours when the people are just leaving the bars ... but is worth it. Anything for a good dive right?!!!

So here I am with everything packed and in the car by 2.35 - 2.40 (yes, I am that fast). The road was OK and amazingly enough it didn't rained me on the road as usual... I got at the dive shop by 5.30 and I got some sleep until 6 in my car. At 6 I started dragging all my gear on the boat I was on this time. This time the lucky winner was David with his boar Outrageous VI. This is not one of my favorite boats because is so darn slow but the owner (David) is really nice and the captain and mate are funny and knowledgeable.

We started the regular 2 hours trip toward one of the wrecks. I couldn't convince the other 5 divers to go to the Rock Pile wreck where I have never dove. Oh well, they wanted to see sharks so we headed East toward CaribSea. Caribsea is a wreck where you will find allot of sharks which is OK but with the vis we were expecting I knew I can't get any great pictures of sharks (actually if you can imagine I didn't shoot any sharks).

The ocean was rough 4-5 ft waves... Probably he was angry I haven't see it for a while. ... Hhhmmm, now that I think about it, I think the ocean is a SHE. It makes me sick each time but I keep coming back thirsty for more...

We got to the wreck, we anchored pretty fast and there we went. Fortunately solo diving so I was able to take my time chasing all the fishes and to take all the pictures I want. It was my 136th dive, 91 ft deep and I stayed down for 37 minutes. True, I could have done better.

The wreck was as I remembered it but the marine life was unexpected: butterfly fish, damselfish, african pompano fish, cubbyu (I finally got myself a fish book to be able to identify all of them) and even a turtle followed by a bunch of remore fish when I was doing my deco stop.

As soon as I got out of the water I realized something is wrong with me. The sea sickness which was under control until 40 minutes ago was acting BAD. I tried to reach for my patch to readjust it and tragedy - my patch was not there. It took all my power to be able to hold myself down not to show everybody what I ate yesterday.

Fortunately I was able to fell asleep before my second dive and as soon as I got up I changed my tank and got ready for the second dive. The second dive site was Senateur Duhamel, a wreck I haven't see before. Hurra, the crowd screams, finally something I haven't dove before.

The wreck was fantastic, second world war ammunition everywhere, live grenades, cannon projectile, old leather boots with names still on, empty shells... Great. Visibility about like the previous dive, about 30-40 ft so not to famous but not bad. I stayed down at 67 ft for 57 minutes and I had a blast. Did my deco stops and got on the boat to head toward the shore.

On the shore I remember that a Gypsy Divers group was here to so I want to see them to make dinner arrangements.

We had dinner at The Icehouse in Morehead. Great sea food, great fun with friends ... incredible attractive waitresses...

Day 2

No scopolamine patch left (this thing is good for 3 days) so I had to figure something out since I knew Sunday the seas will not be better. I reverted back to the bonine. I bought myself a pack of bonine and I started taking them around 6pm on Saturday. I took two at 6pm, three after dinner ant the rest of three on Sunday morning.

Sunday the seas were REALLY rough. If Saturday I got flipped back 6ft from the ladder on 4-5 ft seas, well, today Sunday the seas were 6 ft or I am even guess more than that... But the bonine worked fantastically. Hhhhmmm, maybe I am just to big for normal dosage, maybe I just need more of that stuff. I need to try this again.

We were shooting for something far out like the sub but after about one hour and 20 minutes the boat slows down... Hmmm, no way we got to the sub in 80 minutes... No, we didn't. The captain decided to stop and dive Suloide since the seas were to rough.

We all suited up, me feeling amazingly good on 6 ft waves, and we got in the water. Vis was not to good, I shoot a couple of pictures but I am not even sure if I will develop the film. I don't think I got any good shots. I stayed down at 72 ft for 40 minutes. ... What? 40 minutes? Yes, I had a dive buddy and I had to baby-sit her...

We decided the second dive site to be something closer to shore so we went and anchored down to the Hutton wreck but as soon as the anchor guy got out of the water the captain decided to abort the dive. The seas were getting rougher and the vis was down at about 15 ft so no fun there. We turned back and we got back to the dock at about 1.30 so I made it to Raleigh by 5 ish.

When I got home I had to get through all the routine of rinsing all my gear and download and log my dives. You have to, if you don't do it immediately you are never doing to turn back.

This is it. It could have been better but it was not to bad. Sennateur Duhamel worth the trip and the rough seas. I don't have any pictures from the Senateur but I got some good shots from Caribsea.

Pictures

Her are the pictures:

• Caribsea 8.04.2002