Photo by J- Foster Scott 



TAKING 



THE 

 PLUNGE 



Amberjack, barracuda, spottail and 

 cod are a few of the warm- and 

 cold-water species of fish found 

 around the reefs and wrecks off 

 the Tar Heel coast. 



For those who scuba dive, there's nothing Hke 

 it. The weightless feeHng. The beauty of the 

 unfamiUar. The sense of adventure. It's all 

 there for those who sink into this final frontier. 

 Bob Eastep, a dive instructor and dive boat captain 

 with EJW Sport Shop in Morehead City, says diving 

 is on the increase in North Carolina. "It used to be 

 that I had the only charter boat in this area that 

 strictly took out divers," Eastep says. "Now there are 

 10 dive charters in the Beaufort-Morehead City 

 area." 



It's not just North Carolina divers who are flocking 

 to our coast. Eastep says divers from Virginia, New 

 York, Florida, Maine, Alaska and even Germany 

 have chartered his boat. 



What attracts these undersea enthusiasts? For the 

 most part, it's the hundreds of wrecks that litter the 

 state's continental shelf. They range from Civil War 

 blockade runners to German U-boats (see story, page 

 5). 



But the wrecks provide more than a history lesson 

 or the lure of artifacts. They're a study in underwater 

 biology. The wrecks become encrusted with barnacles 

 and corals that attract baitfish, which in turn attract 

 larger fish. The diver might see amberjacks, 

 barracudas, triggerfish, groupers, filefish or spottails, 

 says Jim Murray, president of the N.C. Wreck Divers 

 Association and the director of Sea Grant's Marine 

 Advisory Service. 



North Carolina's offshore waters house species of a 

 warm and cold nature. The cold-water Labrador 

 currents and the warm-water Gulf Stream meet along 

 the coast, attracting species from opposite climates. 



Eastep, who has been diving since 1957, says most 

 divers see a wreck once or twice and don't want to go 

 back again. "I've been on some wrecks 70 or 80 

 times," he says. "And I always see something dif- 

 ferent. 



"I've seen a cobia following closely behind a ray, 

 picking up the crabs the ray stirs up as it flaps its 

 wings," he says. "Near the Gulf Stream, I saw a cou- 

 ple of whales. And a shark is a majestic thing to see 

 underwater." Eastep enjoys watching the interactions 

 between fish, examining the colorful corals and 

 collecting shells. 



For a more natural setting, divers can locate one of 

 the state's natural reefs. "I'm trying to convince more 

 divers to try the natural reefs," Eastep says. "They're 

 not overpopulated with divers like many of the 

 wrecks." 



Murray agrees that the natural reefs are a favorable 

 alternative to wreck diving. "You get the feeling that 

 you are the first one to dive there," he says. In addi- 



