PADI Undersea Journal....

THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST:

A WRECK DIVING MECCA

Along North Carolina's coast, Mother Nature has provided conditions for a diving experience unlike anything else in the world. The Gulf Stream flows unusually close to the state, resulting in abnormally warm and clear water for diving. Add more than 2,000 natural wrecks and you have a wreck diving mecca.

The conditions are excellent, but the wrecks are what make North Carolina so popular. Abnormally shallow shoals have contributed to the large number of wrecks along the Atlantic's bottom, due to wars, weather, and wary seamanship.

The variety of wrecks is what keeps drawing divers from around the world. Wrecks date from the Spanish fleets of the 1500s through today. Civil War ships, merchant marine boats from two centuries, wrecks from both world wars, commercial shipping casualties, fishing vessels, and much more await visiting divers. The Morehead City and Beaufort area truly deserves the nickname, "Graveyard of the Atlantic."

One of the close and more shallow wrecks provides a perfect introduction to North Carolina diving. For example, the W.E. Hutton is a freighter sunk by a German U-boat in 1942 just 14 miles south of Morehead City. Nearby, the Suloide struck the wreck of the W.E. Hutton in 1943 and sank about a mile away. Further afield, the U-352 is perhaps the most famous dive site north of the Florida Keys. This German submarine was sunk by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter.

There are many other diving opportunities all along the North Carolina coast. To the north, the most popular destination off Nag's Head is the U-85. Between Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout, check out the Proteus and the U.S.S. Tarpon. In the Cape Fear area, the dives of choice include the Normannia, the City of Houston, and the Cassimir. Of course, PADI Dive Centers serve all of these areas.