Forums » North Carolina, USA

• James Rosemond

  

  • 3 posts
  April 26, 2011 3:23:35 PM EDT

  Since I asked for this section to be created, I will get it started. It is not a common known fact among international diving circles that some of the most prolific wreck diving in the world is just a boat ride off shore of the sandy beaches of North Carolina.

  The seabed off of the Outer Banks is the final resting place for thousands of vessels that have become victims of the forces of war, pirates and the wrath of the ocean. Frequently called “The Graveyard of the Atlantic”, North Carolina has one of the highest densities of shipwrecks in the world, and is one of America’s most important maritime historical areas. The history of these shipwrecks range from America’s colonial days to the present. Rumors abound of Spanish Galleons laden with gold and silver that are yet to be discovered. The wreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, the boat that Blackbeard used during his reign of terror lies, on the sandy bottom just outside of Beaufort inlet.

   

  North Carolina can be classified into 3 specific regions that correspond with the 3 dangerous shoals that jut into the Atlantic from Capes. They are Cape Hatteras with Diamond shoals, Cape Lookout and her shoals and Cape Fear and Frying Pan shoals. Dive operations run out of Oregon Inlet and Hatteras on both sides of Diamond Shoals, Beaufort Inlet (Morehead City and Beaufort) just west of Lookout Shoals and out of Wilmington on both sides of Frying Pan Shoals.

   

  Hurricanes, wicked winter storms, dangerous shoals, maritime accidents and casualties of both world wars have contributed to this wreck diver’s paradise. Every year thousands of divers come to North Carolina to scuba dive the wrecks. Diving off the coast of North Carolina is incredibly rewarding, but it can have it’s challenges. A minimum level of training and experience, coupled with a degree of physical fitness is required to be safe.

   

  If you have any questions about diving North Carolina, please feel free to contact me directly.

   

  Captain James Rosemond

  dive@tortugacharters.net

   

  This post was edited by James Rosemond at April 26, 2011 3:23:35 PM EDT"
• Kenneth Roop

  

  • 43 posts
  April 26, 2011 7:10:24 PM EDT

  The diversity wrecks and marine-life of the area off North Carolina is wonderful. I have visited many of these in the mid 1980s. Most of them were ships I visited were sunk by U-boats in WWII, with the exception of the Shurtz and U-352. To say that it is incredibly rewarding is an understatement. I want to go up there and dive many of them again but getting a dive charter has been problematic.
• James Rosemond

  

  • 3 posts
  April 26, 2011 8:38:58 PM EDT

  The Shurz was a confiscated German war boat named the Grier that was recommissioned as the USS Shurz under US control that sank after a collision with the tanker Florida in 1918. That is why fishermen call it the WWI wreck. The U boat was not a US casualty of WWII but was a German submarine sunk by the USCG Cutter Icaras in 1942 after firing on the cutter by mistake and missing thinking she was a tanker.
• Mike Nelson

  

  • 4 posts
  October 26, 2011 8:32:21 PM EDT

  NC has some of the best diving within driving distance on the east coast. Went there for the 1st time last June did 9 dives in 5 days has a great time! We had 100'vis on 2 of the dives! I'll be going back there every year. This post was edited by Mike Nelson at October 26, 2011 8:32:21 PM EDT"