Sherman (1)

General Sherman, Myrtle Beach SC			N 33° 43.7', W 78° 32.4'
Dive Number 90		Buddies Matt, Ron	Surface temp 19°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 50ft	Visibility poor	Time 32m	Water temp 23°C	Ending pressure 1650psi
Notes:	Since I was taking a week's vacation in Myrtle Beach with my family, I decided to check out a local outfit called Coastal Scuba, situated in North Myrtle. I had been looking for a couple aluminum 80 tanks, and they saw fit to sell me a couple at a significant savings (relative to Canadian prices), as well as place me on a charter today for two dives to try them out. I arrived at 8am as directed, in time for the 8:30 am departure. The sky was overcast and the seas were a little choppy, and our original plan to travel to "Barracuda Alley" was changed to the wreck of the Sherman, a civil war era blockade runner which sunk while in use as a merchant vessel after the war. There were five basic water students on the boat finishing their basic water certification, as well as two divemasters and one divemaster candidate. My two buddies were the two other licensed divers: Matt, a sheriff's department officer from Virginia with twenty something dives in cool or cold fresh water in the past few months, and Ron, a radiologist from North Carolina who finished his basic open water 18 months ago, and had not been in the water since. We managed it down the line ok, but promptly lost the wreck at the bottom. Figuring we had to find our way back or bear the shame of having lost the wreck and make a free ascent in the choppy waters, we reversed direction and took a compass bearing. After about a minute we found a big school of spadefish, figured we couldn't be too far off, and since we all had ample air, we followed them back to the wreck. We found the line up just in time - Ron was down to about 1000 psi, so we ascended and boarded the boat. We had thought our dive was adventurous enough, but more adventure followed.