Weekend in Cape Hatteras UNDER PRESSURE

[RAD Diver]

Got a chance to dive in Hatteras with Capt JT (beenaround on this site) this weekend .

Trey (tknox on this site) had a couple of people pull out of a charter, so Trina & I decided to fill the void, even though our recent trip to Key Largo kind of wiped the dive budget a bit. We like diving in Hatteras & this was our chance to finally get on the Under Pressure & meet the infamous JT.

We drove down Friday afternoon with forecasts of 5-10 knot winds out of the SW & 5-6ft swells with long intervals.Definitely doable. We met Tommy the mate on board & introduced us to JT. Then we loaded the boat & waited for the rest of our group which included Kristine (K-Rae here) & Andy (Drewski here) & of course Trey.

Saturday morning we wake to 15-20 knot winds out of the NE, weathermen were wrong, go figure. JT makes the call, a no-go. Of course I give him some grief over it, but respect the decision & it was the right 1. So we all head off for breakfast at Sonnys.

After that a few of us decide to head for the beach, so we load up the Expedition & head out, drive right on the beach & find a nice spot by some breakers. Andy & I were going boarding. After a grueling push out there & some decent rides we were way down the beach from our group so we walked back. The beach is pretty boring after that so we decide to check out the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. Closed on the weekends, WTF.

We get back to the boat & decide lunch should be on Ocracoke Island. 4 of us make the decision to go & again load into the Expedition, as we get to the Ferry the rest call & have decided to go so they load into Kristines truck & met us there. We had a blast, ate too much.

After returning to the boat everyone showered & it was time to eat again, man not diving makes you hungry. There is a good restuarant right at the dock which was good since it was closing in on 9pm & everything in Hatteras closes pretty early.

Sunday breaks & the wind has calmed a bit & changed directions so JT announces we will make a go of it, but no promises of where we will head. The inlet was pretty rough, but the further out we went the better it got, so we went all the way out to the Proteus. This was our primary goal for Saturday & a site I have never been to so I was happy.

The 1st dive was nice, as soon as we splashed there was a 8ft Sandtiger leading us to the wreck like he was following our line. Then we get to the bottom & Trina gets my attention from that lone Sandtiger & points toward the surface off to our left. I was floored, there was a school of Sandies, at least 30 maybe more. It looked like the scene from the Galapagos of the schooling Hammerheads we have all seen.

We pushed to the stern into the current, getting to the prop we were again surrounded by Sandtigers. We wrapped around the stern & floated with the current back to the bow area. All to soon our time was up. I had a 30 minute BT run with a total RT of 66 min. I did all Deco on backgas since this was Trinas 1st time running into Deco & I wanted it to be as simple as possible. Our computers put us into the green at 60 min & I let her surface at 64 min. She did great at all stops, her bouyancy has really improved rapidly now that she is diving more, which is even more impressive since we rarely dive the same configuration twice in a row. At least as far as thermal protection goes.

Vis wasn't great, but not terrible at 30-40 ft. Bottom temps were 72.

2nd dive we were set to run in & hit the Dixie Arrow, but JT had heard on the radio Johnny at Outer Banks Diving was there, but vis was below 20ft. JT asked if we minded staying here at the Proteus for our 2nd dive. Lots of smiles on the boat. We just needed to make the 2nd dive a bit shorter. I did a 20 min BT & total RT of 45 min. & again the computer was green & happy upon our return to the surface. I use V-Planner with a +4 & it seems to coincide with my Oceanic Pro-Plus 2 pretty close.

By the time we started our run back to the dock the seas were flat, what a beautiful way to finish up the weekend.

JT & Nancy were great hosts, they took extremely good care of us. Went to Okracoke with us & were just part of the crowd everywhere we went. It was great. They keep a very clean & well run boat & allow divers to stay on board during the dive trip so no hotel room. I must warn you though if you go bring a blanket, a warm 1 as the AC on board works real good.
JT is a trip & will rip on you any chance you give him, but is extremely serious when it comes to diving & diving safely.

Looks like Trina & I will be on Treys August trip also as it seems a few must also drop off the trip. It is a trip I am looking forward to.

[Drewski]

Hey RAD, now THAT was a GREAT trip report! Well done! Pics?

Yep, I think I gained 5 LBS on that trip, LOL. Dag gone RAD, gonna make me get fatter... That's why that "cabin clearer" happened, LOL!

I was the first down the anchor line and dropped right into the middle of that "flock" of sharks. Not a school, mind you, a "flock." I stopped counting at 20. I had about 30 seconds of being surrounded by them before they broke up. It was SO cool. Unfortunately, I hadn't white balanced yet to get the video and the current was an issue.

JT actually convinced Kent to go spearfishing on this wreck during the second dive and to use a bag to put the fish in. Now Kent hadn't speared in years and brought along 3 guns to make one. Stalking down his dinner, he shot himself about a 15 LB grouper. He then put it in the bag attached to his waist.

For those who doubt the gentle politeness of the Sand Tiger (Carcharias taurus) shark, consider this - the 10 FT shark that decided to share Kent's catch bit carefully through that bag without putting a tooth mark on Kent's wetsuit. Kent, being somewhat ungreatful, argued with the shark about who owned that fish, eventually convincing her to leave it to him, LOL. Personally, I'd have given her at least half the fish, or maybe shot her another, just for being polite, but that's just me.

No one else saw this encounter, but when he exited the water yelling about fending off man-eating 15 footers to keep his fish, most of us believed him. BTW, I'm thinking someone has a picture of that bag.

Anyway, everyone on board was GREAT to dive with and I look forward to August!

Andy

[fpsndiver]

Man..............great report. Proteus is big time on my hit list, and it sounds like y'all had a pretty good day.

How was the surge with Bertha churning out there? Video Andy?

Tom

[beenaround]

Hey Rad, you forgot about that guy who scared the crap out of you during the ferry ride back Nancy and I had a blast hanging with you guys. BTW the inlet was easy.... you should see it when it's bad. So Andy admits "HE" was the cabin cleaner............see you next time.

[RAD Diver]

Sandie showing us the way

[RAD Diver]

The "flock"

[RAD Diver]

Sandtiger cruising the Proteus prop

[RAD Diver]

Keeping an eye on us at our 40ft stop

[RAD Diver]

Did I mention there were a lot of Sandtigers on the Proteus that day?

[packman]

The "flock"

that is freaking awesome

[RAD Diver]

You think that's something Bob. I got another picture of the front of the flock. That was just the back half.
The front half wasn't as crowded but it made the entire sight amazing.

[tknox]

Nice report Bobby. I'm glad you put all of the trip info together 'cause I was slammed when I got back to work. Even though we didn't get a dive in on Saturday, I had a great time hanging with everyone on Saturday. It's been great this year getting a good core group of people that are diving regularly. Lot's of great stories were told Saturday and I don't think that there was a period of more than 5 minutes without the group laughing hysterically. Plus it gave us a little bit of time. Sunday's dives were great, and I have never seen a site like all those sharks schooled together like that. I'm glad you got the picture, 'cause it's hard to explain how awesome that sight was.

JT and Nancy, thanks for another great weekend. I'm getting pretty spoiled running with you. Great operation you are running, and for those that haven't been out with you, they don't know what they are missing. Thank Tommy for mating for us also.

I'm really looking forward to the August trip.

[Scotttyd]

The "flock"

that is freaking awesome

wow, I would have loved to see that

[Drewski]

The "flock"

Now THAT is a GREAT picture.

I enhanced and expanded it and counted 23 (23!) sharks in that one frame...

We saw more teeth in 2 minutes then 4 out of 5 dentists see in 2 months!

I really wish we could get that up in VA Beach...

[anytime]

I have shot some fish in sharky water but my hat is off to the guy who pulled the trigger on a grouper on that wreck!