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It was in the fall of 1998, Hurricane Bonnie had just hit us down here in Wilmington, NC about a month prior. The underwater visibility was beginning to recover from the violence of the hurricane, however, it was still very poor. Desperate for some bottom time, me and my buddy Dave set out to go scuba diving. The ocean was a little rough that day, seas were running 3-4 feet and choppy. The sky was ominously overcast, the weather had a creepy feel to it that sent chills down your spine. It was one of those days you find yourself asking, "Should we be out here in the ocean today?"
We could not get very far offshore due to the inclement weather and harsh sea conditions. Dave and I settled on diving a shipwreck known lovingly as "the dredge". Nobody around here knows too much about the wreck, except it has been down there since the 1920s, and it was hauling a load of fire bricks. The wreck is known, however, for being a prime habitat for flounder. After searching for the wreck on sonar....aka depthfinder......and tossing around in the rough ocean until you are half ready to puke, we finally set an anchor into the wreck. We then race for the wetsuits and gear. We always try to suit up and get into the water as quickly as possible. The longer you stay on a boat(that isn't moving forward) in rough seas, the worse you will feel. So, I am sitting there putting my booties on, looking at the gray sky and thinking, "Maybe this isn't a good idea." Dave must have been reading my mind, because he looked over to me and said, "Man....I just want to get one dive in, and then get outa here." I replied,"yeah, its a little rough out today."
Dave got suited up and dropped in. I finally got my BC and other gear on my back, and fell backwards into the pitching seas. Once in the water, I immediately flipped over to check the visibility, and the news was not good. The water was full of all kind of suspension (colloidal suspension for the bio buffs), and vis was maybe 4-5 feet at the surface. The water also had a slight brown tint, when normally it is crystal clear and blue. Dave and I met at the anchor line and made our descent to the dredge wreck. Once we got on the bottom, the visibility cleaned up a little, maybe 10-15 feet occasionally. We set out to swim around the bottom of the wreck. What does one do when visibility is horrible, they are leary about diving that day, and a little seasick?........Spearfish!!!! Setting sights on a 5 lb. flounder seems to erase your troubles. But still in the back of your mind, your conscience warns," Yeah, let's add some blood and fish wiggle to the colloidal suspension. The predators won't like that at all." So, I ignore my conscience, and spearfish anyway. I got a good flounder on the bow of the wreck. After I bagged the fish, and was catching up to Dave, he speared a flounder amidships. I was sitting there watching Dave bag his fish (that was really squirming), when all of the sudden I felt like we were not alone. I felt like.......... something, probably not human (taking into account our current location), was definitely interested in what Dave and I were up to. I slowly turned around, and saw something I really didn't want to see. A very large fish, a fish with a cartilaginous skeleton, a fish with very large and protruding teeth, a fish known as a Sand Tiger Shark. He (saw his claspers up real close) was about 8-9 feet long, and cruised right between Dave and I. Now I know that Sand Tigers really have never been known to attack people, and are a relatively docile species, however, this guy came out of nowhere on a day we should not have even been in the water. Needless to say, we decided to ascend. I did however, attach my catch bag (containing 1 dead and bleeding flounder) to the anchor line. I was not about to become a statistical first for the Sand Tiger Shark. Dave and I ascended to our safety stop and never saw the shark during our trip to the surface. The vis was real bad though, and I am quite sure he was there, just watching us. At 15 ft. deep, and the boat in plain view above our heads, we waited. It is necessary to do a safety stop for 5 minutes at a depth of 15 ft. after returning from any deep dive (to keep from developing the Bends). I definitely thought my watch broke, and that was the longest damn 5 minutes that ever elapsed. The time did pass, and we made it to the boat. I was very elated at the fact I made it all the way back into the boat without seeing him (the shark) again.
We pulled up the anchor line (and flounder bags), put the fish into the coolers, took the dive gear off, stowed all the loose stuff, and began heading home. Neither Dave nor I said a word to each other on the trip back to the boat ramp. Once we arrived at the ramp, I got off the boat, backed the trailer in, and stood there waiting to tie the boat on the trailer. Dave powered the boat up on the trailer, I connected trailer to boat, and snugged the connection. Dave then cut the engine, walked up to the bow of the boat, looked down to me (standing in the water), and finally spoke the first words since our return to the surface. He said, "I don't know about you, but that scared the sh*t outa me!!!!!" We both laughed, and I assured him that I too was not amused by our run in with the shark.
So, we do not dive in low vis anymore, and we definitely do not spearfish if vis gets even the slightest bit cloudy. Lessons learned. Normally when we see sharks on dives, it makes the dive a memorable one. Seeing that Sand Tiger come out of nowhere on that low vis miserable day, was just a real surprise. No horror movie, bungie jump, rollercoaster, or anything else can spike the adrenalin as much as it was spiked that day by Mr. Sharky.
