Booked a week of diving with captain Matt aboard the Down Time in the outer banks of North Carolina, great guy & boat dose everything in his power to ensure a great dive. Anyway turns out we get blown out every day, poor Matt calls me 6 am every morning to say "sorry man maybe tomorrow". Well Thursday afternoon comes and Matt calls to say be at the boat 7 am were gonna try it.
Friday 7 am dockside it is spitting rain and the forecast is calling for a squall in the afternoon. After some discussion the divers and crew decide to try to get in 1 dive on the U-boat 85 then see what happens.
Power out to the sight grapple in, and a short dive to100 fsw proves 5 to 10 foot viz but it’s U boat after all.
Sitting top side discussing plans for a second dive and the weather, it turns out we are all in agreement to head to a closer wreck site. Captain Matt decides on the Jackson a 70 year old cost guard cutter lost in a hurricane. Powers the site grapple in and we get wet.
On arriving at the wheel house I discover the viz is good so I drop in to light up the nook and crannies of the debris. After 8 min I find a huge cavern, bow I presume overturned in the sand and start investigating when my light lands on a camera rig laying in the sand about 6 feet in. Startled I look for the diver attached but find none. After I blew off a couple hundred psi whoohooing I started to play with it. Light brushing proved to be in fine condition some scratches but all in all not bad. Flip of a switch and the dam thing powers up. I take some photos at 80+ fsw and ascend the line to show off my bounty to the others.
They were elated as the camera had been lost off of the Down Time some 2 months prior and the owner was beside him self for his loss. Turns out they were anchored off the other end of the wreck with a bad current running away from it when the slippery camera managed to escape. Some how in the 2 months of its freedom it longed to be put back on a shelf for a bit so it migrated to the opposite end of the wreckage and nestled in the bow for me to find.
Once at the dock a phone call was placed to its rightful owner, and a shocked and unbelieving, very grateful gent was on his way from an hour north to claim his prize camera again. We spoke in length of its journey and the odds of ever being found, let alone in working order. He told me captain Matt said "it would turn up, and it did."
So camera and owner reunited, me with some great photos and telling you about it, this dive goes in the books as (the best dive/ the one that got away). Hell of a story with a great ending. Hope you enjoyed it.
Ben