Dive Trip Pics

Main >> Sports & Recreation >> Other Recreational Sports

Dive Trip Pics

Me getting ready to go in at the Gill

New double rigs, that is 2 PST HP120 CU tanks banded with isolation manifold, with a 40 CU FT Aluminum deco tank filled with EaNX 41%-100%.

This is Frying Pan Shoals Tower. This is a NOAA C-Man weather station about 40 miles SSE from Carolina Beach, NC. I did my first ocean dive here. This place rules!!!! Visibility has always been good, and the fish and sea-life out here are pretty awesome. There are lots of ledges and crevaces. The only thing about Frying Pan, is that you have to be prepared to see sharks. Two of the last three times we were there, we observed reef and nurse sharks. The day this picture was taken we were hanging around a 8-9 ft. nurse shark. I never knew they got that big, but this guy was a monster. I say he was a guy, because he had claspers.(we were close enough to pet him) Lots of ocotpus out here too, everytime I have been here, including June 2003 we have seen Octopus. Very cool place, the only drawback is the long ride offshore.

Frying Pan Tower, Aquatic Safaris Day June 28, 2003

This is a stingray we spooked at the foot of the tower. Big, beautiful ray.

Photo by: Tom Tilmon

This is a Sandbar Shark we saw on a ledge near the tower, he was about 5 feet long.

Photo by: Mike Tilmon

This is my brother Mike, Erik, and myself at Frying Pan Shoals C-Man Tower

NOAA C-MAN FPSN7

Lawrence and Tilmon Bros at the Tower

Mike and Tom during ascent from the John D. Gill 10/02

Photo: Tom Tilmon :)

Me with a piece of the bounty from the Keys.

Me with a piece of the bounty from the waters of my home!!! Where would you rather go?

When the ocean is too rough to go offshore, we get stuck on the Liberty Ship (Alexander Ramsey). The visibility stinks, the dive is shallow, it is overfished, but it does hold tons of Spanish Mackerel. Spearfishing for Spanish from the anchor holds can be quite a good time. The only thing is you have to fight the Barracuda over your fish. A barracuda once hit my retrieval line and tore it in half. I have also seen them swoop in and take a fish right off the spear, and leave me only the head.

Spanish Mackeral from the Liberty Ship

Josh going over board at the Elbow in Key Largo.

Me getting ready to descend on a FPSN Tower Ledge Reef.

(No, the engine wasn't running!)

All Smiles

This is my brother Michael. He use to be a diving instructor/Divemaster in the US Virgin Islands at Chris Sawyer Dive Center in St. Thomas. He is then went to work for Ocean Divers in Key Largo. Mike is now back in NC, and working locally. We hope to someday start some sort of diving adventure business here in Wilmington. According to Mike, while he was in the islands and Florida, he was basically a lifeguard for those who didn't have as much experience as they claimed to have. Diving once a year doesn't cut it. You have to keep current on your skills to stay safe. This sport has a tendency to be unforgiving on errors and equipment malfunctions.

This was a Grouper he nabbed on the John D. Gill. Although, according to Mike it was actually on a ledge near the Gill. The Gill is an oil tanker that was sunk off the coast of Wilmington by a German Submarine in World War II. The visibility there is incredible, and so is the wildlife. This dive can be dangerous though, as the wreck is old and crumbling, and is at a depth of 60-105ft. My closest call came on the Gill.

If you would like more info on the John D. Gill, click here-->Gill

Mike with grouper at the Gill