Haymarket VA - Spring Tune Up

The lake at Millbrook Quarry is open April - November on weekends for local diving. This man-made lake is the perfect place to enjoy a day---or a weekend---of camping, picnicking and, of course, diving. The spring-filled lake is stocked with fish (no fishing, please) and is visited by migratory birds (geese, swans, ducks), turtles, beavers, deer and other wildlife. This private park is open only to divers and their guests. Facilities are limited to porto-lets. No food or running water is available on premises, but is available nearby. All persons five years old and up are required to purchase admission tickets. Daily admission tickets are available at local dive shops for $10 per day. Tickets purchased at the gate are $20 each. Camping on Saturday night is available between Memorial Day and Labor Day at a rate of $5 per person. Millbrook's camping areas are limited and will not accommodate large RV's. Out of respect for nearby residents and other divers, portable air compressors and generators are prohibited.

Click here for a PDF map of Millbrook.

Scuba Divers of all levels find excitement at Guppy Gulch! Water in the 15 acre spring-fed lake is specially treated for improved visibility making it easy to find the boats, trains, trucks & cycles sunk there for you to explore. There are 5 underwater platforms at 10-30'. Maximum depth is 80'. Parking is close to the dive site and there are pavilions, changing rooms and picnic tables for your use. Air fills are avialble on-site.
Guppy Gulch is operated by the Aquatic Connection of Baltimore

Photo by Steve Elliot

The Grand Strand is loaded with some of the best dive sites on the East Coast! Beautiful natural shipwreck sites range in age from the 1720's to the 1960's, with many from the Civil War era. Dive sites team with marine life, including angel fish, grouper, amberjack, butterfly fish, great Atlantic barracuda, sea turtles, and lobster. Lionfish are now abundant! On many of the sites you may find "sunken treasures" of brass artifacts that went down with the ship. You could find Civil War belt buckles, trigger guards, gun butt plates, bottles, china, small personal items and maybe a port hole.

The Rangers rented a 4BR beachhouse with pool for a full week starting Saturday May 28 with dives scheduled Sunday and Monday and optionally Tuesday. This year, we were aboard the Scuba Express, a 40’ custom dive boat [www.expresswatersports.com] out of Murrell's Inlet SC. We had planned trips to all natural wrecks including the Governor (80’), the Hebe (110’) and St. Cathlan (110’) and Vermillion (90-140’) and hoped for visibility in the 50-100’ range. Unfortunately, high seas kept us in-shore and although the water was warm, visibility was limitted.

Cape Hatteras - July 2-5^th

Over July 4th weekend, we were in Cape Hatteras for four days of diving aboard the Akyla, a 36' Sport Fisher out of Teaches Lair Marina [www.divehatteras.com]. The club rented a house for the weekend.

Beaufort - Aug 5-6^th
Beaufort - Oct 7-9^th

We book with Discovery Diving [www.discoverydiving.com]. Two days of wreck diving aboard the Sea Quest II, bunkhouse accomodations and air fills cost just $195-215. Sign up early next year, because these trips fill quickly.

Atlantic Beach - Aug 19-21^st

This trip was run by the Brass Anchor in Frederick MD. Contact the shop for more information.

Photo by Bernard Neurohr

Drift dive over reefs with insight of luxury homes in Palm Beach. Scuba dive or snorkel down the crystal clear waters of the 72 degree, spring fed Rainbow River! Discover fossils in the King Spring! Explore the depths of the Blue Grotto! Swim with our gentle giants, the manatees! Visit the world's largest and newest artifical reef.

The trip leaders will set up a recommended itinerary, but all dives on these trips are “a la carte”. Set your own arrival and departure dates; plan your own schedule. Join your fellow Rangers or explore on your own.

Sign up for local dives at any Atlantis Ranger meeting.

The waters off Delaware and Maryland are home to a variety of wrecks sunk by collisions with other vessels or action during World Wars I or II. When the tide tables suggest that conditions will be good, we'll plan to visit shallower wrecks such as the Elizabeth Palmer and H-Buoy (80’) and the Fenwick Shoals wrecks (25-35’). On other dates, we will visit deeper wrecks such as the such as the Hvoslef, San Gil, Northern Pacific or Moonstone. The deeper dives are restricted to experienced wreck divers with appropriate equipment (e.g. redundent air supply).

• Diving the Astra (85 fsw)
• Aboard the Tuna Seazure
• Overnight Satruday on the boat

We are diving aboard Northeast Scuba Suppy's Tuna Seazure, a 37 foot twin diesel powered Topaz . The Tuna Seazure carries just six passengers and is specially equiped for divers. She features acomplete downline setup and a long fins-on boarding ladder and heavy duty benches with oversize storage. She criuses at 24 knots making the trips out to the wrecks fast as wee as comfortable. The boat also has room to sleep up to 6 divers the night before the dive and a microwave oven and refrigerator in galley to ensure that you'll have breakfast the next morning.

This year, we dove the wreck of the Astra. The Astra was a 2700 gross ton, 330 foot long passenger freighter flying the Danish Flag. She sank in 1951 following a collision with the 5600 ton freighter Steel Inventor. Today the Astra sits in 85 ft of water on a sandy bottom. Her stern is intact and lists to port. The rest of the ship sits upright, her midsection collapsed. She can be easily penetrated, and is a great photography wreck. The stern has the greatest relief, coming 25 ft or so off the sand. Parts of automobiles are spread around the wreckage.

• Advanced dive in low viz and strong currents
• Day trip out of Piney Point MD
• 1^st opportunity June 10-11
  (wait listed)
• Additional opportunties in August and September
• Click here for U-1105 history

The U-1105 was a modified Type VII-C German submarine outfitted with an experimental synthetic rubber skin designed to counter Allied sonar devices. The black rubber coating earned her the name "Schwarz [Black] Panther." At the end of WWII, the Black Panther was surrendered to the British and eventually was turned over to the United States Navy for study and experimentation.

After studying her unique rubber-tiled skin at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, the Navy selected the U-1105 as a target for the testing demolition. She was towed to Solomons Island MD for the deep-water tests and final demolition of was scheduled for September 19, 1949. At 12:30 PM the U-1105 was lifted from the water by the explosion, and then again by the secondary shock wave. She went down in 20 seconds in over 91 feet of water, with 65 feet of water over her. She landed upright on the bottom, her pressure hull cracked open by the explosion all the way around to the keel; but otherwise intact. The Navy left little evidence to mark the test and for the next 36 years the U-1105 would be all but lost to history.

In 1985, the wreck was rediscovered by a team of sport divers and has been the subject of several archaeological survey expeditions. The U-1105 site is located approximately one mile west of Piney Point MD (38° 08" 10' N. - 76° 33" 10' W). Between April and December, a blue and white buoy marks the lower gun deck of the wreck. The conning tower rises to within 68 feet of the surface.