It had been a few months since our last dive and boy were we ready!  So we packed the car and headed south to Nags Head, NC, for three days of diving with Outer Banks Dive Center.  Samantha was spending three days with family and we were free to dive!

Our first day of diving included two dives on the wreck of the USCG Cutter Jackson.  The 125 ft long Jackson was sunk in the great hurricane of 1944 with a loss of all men.  She is located approximately 8 miles NE from Oregon Inlet and lies in 80ft of water.  The stern is broken from the bow with a separation of 30ft. The stern sits upright with all sections exposed to the sea. The sand which had previously covered most of the wreck has been moved off exposing many features that had been previously covered.  The bow is sitting with a list to the starboard at 40 degrees the port side sea anchor is visible which still in its hawser.  The temperature was a little cooler than we were expecting - a brisk 55 on the bottom - and the visibility was 15-20 feet.  But, it was great to be back in the water. 

On day two we made our way to the U-85, type VII-B U-boat, 218 ft long.  She was sunk by the destroyer USS Roper on April 14th 1942, with the loss of all hands.  This is the first U boat sunk off the United States by the U.S. Navy.  The conning tower is at an approximate depth of 85 ft, with a maximum depth of 110 ft.  We did two nice long dives on the U-85 with a bottom temperature of 52 deg. and visibility of 30-40 ft.

The third day was a beach day as the trip to the York was blown out.  Oh well, we still had two great days of diving off NC!  We forgot the camera both days so we only have a couple topside pictures to share.