Diving for MEGA Lo Dons

wilkere

Full Member
Sep 11, 2007
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Jacksonville N.C.
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
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Minelab Excalibur, Tesoro Silver Sabre
Yeh, We’re still alive for anyone that gives a sh*t. But just barely… Yours truly, Meghead and Wild Rick hit the murky erMinreh River this weekend for a fossil hunt to remember. Oh yeh in case your wondering I’ve taken the liberty to letter scrabble the river name to comply with the FossilFinders Guild to keep exact information off the web. Yes my friend, you are extremely lucky that I was even able to keep a few photos of the hunt for you to eyeball as pictures of fossils and landmarks were erased by the secretive Guildmembers who met us at the dock before we left….

DSC00921.JPG Canoeing in style with the guys from Raleigh! (with a tow rope)


Now back to the story, Me and Meghead have been talking about doing this for the past few years, and after meeting Wild Rick (WR) thru www.blackriverfossils.org we came up with a plan which was executed on the 23rd of May. Previously, Wild Rick did some reconnoitering and extensive research on where we need to go, and since he’s a for real deal scientist I didn’t disputed his information as he showed me the massive ******** in the bed of his pickup truck from his canoe trip upriver the evening before.

Fortified with a McDonald’s breakfast we headed to our entry point and paddled upriver against the tide. However, we soon had this figured out as Meghead’s 100hp Jetski towed our canoe caravan the miles we needed to cover in recorded time. Disembarking at WR‘s first site, soon had me donning my scuba gear in record time as the Chesapeake shell layer littered the high banks and crunched underfoot in the river.

DSC00912.JPG Wild Rick playing around with sticks.

WR and I went in first with Meghead providing over watch on the Jetski. The river dropped off steeply to the bottom where it was dark as sh*t. My new Intova dive light was doing it’s best to give me some vision in the murk. Additionally, as you went out towards the middle of the river the current was pretty bad too. WR didn’t have much problem with this, but yours truly does not like freefall descending in a swift current in zero visibility. I mainly stuck to the bottom of the ledges and poked and fanned the fine slit which hid underneath countless shell remnants, bone and hopefully *********.

DSC00913.JPG Meghead ready to go under after signing his will.


The scariest thing was all the trees & logs in the river. Near shore was the worst but even in the middle you’d be startled and your fear level jacked up to new levels by bumping into solid objects, i.e. entanglements as you fought to maintain your sanity on your quest for the Megalodon.

DSC00914.JPG Lookit dem fossils!

On our second dive, I did have a scary moment when I found I could not ascend towards the surface. With my mask a few inches from the shell bed I moved upwards, and something solid hits my scuba tank, “Thump, W.T.F? I move a little bit to the left, “Thump, Holy sh*t! I move a little bit more, “Thump”! Now due to the stress everything seems darker and your mind races “Which way outta here”! I was able to find a gap between the two logs and swam thru it head first, bumping gear along the way. But even as I raced towards the safety of the reddish light above I was chastising myself for doing such a risky move as getting stuck that way was a surefire end of the dive trip… forever.

So to wrap it up.. Fossils = Good Camaraderie = Excellent Trees in water = Bad

Until next time, - Bob

http://okinawarelics.com/default.aspx
 

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