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> Conditions don't need to be perfect but they do need to be good and they > usually are on the U-352. The charter outfits around here won't dive if > they aren't. I'll second this, the first time I tried to go to the 352, we made it out (only 3' seas) only to be turned around back to the Aeolous as the currents were judged to be too strong at the 352. > If the risk were that great more people would be dying on the U-352, and > the other wrecks in the area. I haven't heard of any dying or even getting > bent on that wreck in a long time, and it is one of the most popular dives > around here. Ditto. Check out Rodales from last year some time, it was either rated as one of the "best" or most "popular", can't remember which (but there is a difference). Its the place "everyone" wants to go, and I agree its worth doing once, but I don't plan to go back unless (see below before you flame) I can tour the inside, or Rick lets me borrow his camera again and shoot more video. > The only diving fatality we had this season in the area was a guy who > bolted to the surface from 60 feet on the Aeolus and embolized. I don't > know the details but that guy didn't seem to be prepared to dive at any > depth if he couldn't handle an emergency at 60 feet. That's the first > fatality I remember in the last few years around here. Supposedly out of air, and I had heard rumors that even a 2nd person was out of air at the same time. The early part of the summer was bad (7 divers bent I think off the NC coast), none on the 352, but then the 352 isn't that different from many of the other "rec" wrecks in the area as far as depth goes. I think many of the others are much more interesting. > I think a penetration dive at 30 feet is orders of magnitude more > dangerous than a recreational dive to 120 feet. Ditto. > I can tell you that none of the people I dived the U-352 with had any > desire to go in. Hey Rick, what about me? :-) I admit it, I'm very keen to check out the inside, I've been wanting to for the past 2 years, but I also know that I still am not ready and won't be until at the earliest late next summer, but (much) more likely (at least) the year after that. > I don't dive to 100+ feet just to go deep. It's just that the wrecks within > recreational limits around here are between 60 and 120 feet. If you want to dive > offshore here, that's where you have to go. People here are trained for it from the > beginning. To some extent this is true. Divers in NC are more likely to be trained with some inclination to the wreck diving. This means that we wouldn't know what to do with a dry suit if someone took us to Lake Michigan, and we think the warm(er) water to our south is pure heaven since the waves always seem smaller on the boat ride out :-) Viz is usually good (relatively) and to an extent most NC divers aren't that keen about drift diving and currents (guess its the giving up of control, personally I love drifting, but...). But again, that whole idea of jumping off a boat, going down an anchor line, circling a wreck, and coming back up, is pretty well ingrained here in anyone who wants to do more than vacation dive in the Bahamas once a year. As for the Ohio fatalities, I first attempted going to the 352 a few months after moving back to NC from grad school in Ohio. George (the boat captain) asked me where I was from, etc etc, and said/warned that those Ohio divers (we're stereotyping here, I dove with some very good divers there) are too used to cold water and no viz, and when presented with such (relatively anyway) good conditions, act as kids in a toy store, forgetting to check air and not realizing how deep they are [I mean if you can see the surface you can't be depper than, what, 20fsw? :-) ]. I made it a point that day not to become one of those statistics. Some rambling thoughts on NC diving fro my point of view anwyay. Mike -- Mike Zimmerman < zimmmt@au*.al*.co* > Alcatel Network Sytems, Ral, NC *My opinions, not Alcatel's* [\] NC Diving: http://www.vnet.com/scuba/ A is A. Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it.
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