Press Release
Received from: DAN

Help Make Diving Safer: Work at DAN!

DAN

As diving continues to pick up post-pandemic, DAN is stronger than ever and needs qualified professionals in several key areas to serve our growing international membership.

DAN offers competitive salaries, company subsidized health insurance, a generous 401k program, and other employee benefits that show we value our employees. Open positions include the following opportunities to work at DAN headquarters in Durham, North Carolina:

Shipwreck uncovered on North Carolina beach

During a very high tide known as a king tide, a shipwreck believed to be from the 1800s was discovered on the beach in front of the Shoals Club on Bald Head Island.

American painting of a 19th century schooner
Dive Industry News and Matters

The club is located in Brunswick County to the south of Wilmington, North Carolina, USA. An archeological team visited the site. They determined that the wreckage was part of an old ship. Excited about the news, the Shoals Club posted on Facebook:

Divers Alert Network (DAN)

The world’s most recognized and respected dive safety organization, Divers Alert Network (DAN) has remained committed to the health and well-being of divers for 40 years.

The organization’s research, medical services and global-response programs create an extensive network that supports divers with vital services such as injury prevention, safety and educational programs and lifesaving evacuations.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of divers around the world look to DAN as their dive safety organization.

Press Release
Received from: Discovery Diving Team

42nd Annual Underwater Treasure Hunt

This event is a true ‘treasure hunt’ where divers get to scuba dive off the rock jetty at Radio Island in Beaufort, NC. They seek treasure in the form of numbered oyster shells.

After numbered oyster shells have been found and collected, we then return to the dive shop for a pig pickin’ feast and the drawing for prizes. It’s all very exciting and makes for a really fun day! This event is one of the largest single-day gatherings of divers and like-minded people in North Carolina.

Fish thrive on WWII shipwrecks

NOAA exploration of North Carolina wrecks offers detailed glimpse into unexpected “islands of habitat.”

Ecology & Science

In 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) undertook a closer examination of the wrecks of the German U-boat U-576 and the Nicaraguan freighter SS Bluefields, using glass-domed submersibles. The two historically significant and deep (200m) shipwrecks sank near one another on the continental shelf of North Carolina, USA, during World War II.

Sea turtles to spend more time house-hunting in the future

Research shows that climate change, rising sea levels and coastal development will decrease the amount of suitable nesting habitats for sea turtles in the future.

Ecology & Science

In the future, sea turtles in the US will find it harder to find suitable nesting habitat, due to climate change, rising sea levels and coastal development.

A team led by Florida State University came to this conclusion after their research which modelled the suitability of coastal habitats in the eastern United States by 2050 for sea turtle nesting, after considering predicted sea-level rise and future climates.

Their findings were recently published in the Regional Environmental Change journal.

X-RAY MAGAZINE FEATURE

Sand Tiger Sharks of North Carolina

There I was, off the coast of North Carolina at a depth of about 20m (60ft) when the shadowy shape of the WWII wreck Caribsea came into view—but it looked almost as if it was moving! Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a cloud of tiny bait fish completely covering the wreck. As they moved, the ship seemed to move with them; and then, out of the swarm, a massive, tank-like, gray silhouette emerged. It moved at one speed and in one direction, not altering its course an inch. I smiled so much my mask began to leak—it was a sand tiger shark.

Words:
Brandi Mueller
Images:
Download the full article as pdf ⬇︎
Travel & Trips

Sand tiger sharks (Carcharias taurus) look mean but in reality, they are quite docile. As I watched, at least 12 sharks crisscrossed the Caribsea wreck; they almost seemed to be in a perfect state of Zen. Easily identifiable by their pointy, cone-shaped heads (and also by their jagged and fierce-looking teeth, which show even when their mouths are closed), the tops of their bodies are a dark gray with darker colored spots, and their undersides are bright white. Their tails also have the unique characteristic of a notched upper lobe.

X-RAY MAGAZINE FEATURE

Graveyard of the Atlantic: Wrecks of North Carolina's Outer Banks

One of the problems with the proverbial bucket list is that whenever you tick a dive trip off the list, it seems that you add at least three more destinations to it. This is exactly what happened to me. I had never considered North Carolina as a dive destination, much less one of the top wreck diving locations in the world. But, after running across other wreck diving enthusiasts who frequented the “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” yet another destination was added to my list.

Words:
Brandi Mueller
Images:
Download the full article as pdf ⬇︎
Wrecks & Archaeology

Wreck diving is one of my favorite types of diving because I love the history of how the wrecks came to be underwater, and North Carolina has plenty of that. The history of more than 2,000 wrecks lie in the waters off this eastern state and the stories range from pirates, the Civil War, World Wars, hurricanes, storms and other maritime mistakes that took down good ships. The Graveyard extends along the entire North Carolina coast.

X-RAY MAGAZINE FEATURE

North Carolina: Wrecks & Sharks

The waters off the coast of the US state of North Carolina are treacherous. Bad weather, rough seas, heavy current and inlets that are difficult to navigate are common. So why do underwater explorers consider this area to be a world-class dive destination? Because when you do get offshore, it is extraordinary.

Words:
Larry Cohen & Olga Torrey
Images:
Larry Cohen & Olga Torrey
Download the full article as pdf ⬇︎
Travel & Trips

Visibility varies but can be more than 30m (100ft). The best diving conditions are between June and October, with late June to early August being the best.

Because of the sea conditions and the German “artificial reef program” of World War I and II, this area is nicknamed the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” More than 1,000 vessels have been confirmed in the shipwreck inventory conducted at the Outer Banks History Center on Roanoke Island. There are many more wrecks that have not been discovered or identified yet. Many of these wrecks are in diveable waters.

Thanks go to Atlantis Charters and Olympus Dive Center.

Shipwreck dating to the American Civil War found off North Carolina

A large iron-hulled Civil War-era steamer has been discovered in the Atlantic Ocean near Oak Island off the coast of North Carolina. The vessel is believed to possibly be the remains of one of three blockade runners used to penetrate the wall of Union naval vessels blocking the port of Wilmington during the Civil War.

A sonar image of the newly-discovered Civil War-era shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina
Wrecks & Archaeology

The goal of the Union blockade was to keep supplies from reaching the Confederacy through one of its most important ports and to prevent the export of cotton and other marketable items by the Southerners.

Archaeologists discovered the shipwreck 44 km (27 miles) downstream from Wilmington near Fort Caswell, at the mouth of Cape Fear River — making it the first Civil War shipwreck uncovered in the region in decades, said Billy Ray Morris, deputy state maritime archaeologist and director of the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology's Underwater Archaeology Branch.

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