Apparitions

Descending through the blue towards the looming dark mass that indicates the wreck of the former 200' dredge hopper known as the Hyde, apparitions can be seen gliding across the old steel decks as if haunting this oasis of life on an otherwise sandy bottom. Sunk intentionally as an artificial reef, it has become a magnet for life 18 miles off of the Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina coast. Every surface is coated in corals, anemones, bivalves and myriads of other clinging life forms. The headliners though are the sharks, lots of sharks. Toothy and lumbering sand tigers and sleek torpedo shaped sandbar sharks swim along the decks and sandy bottom, moving in and out the visibility. 

Few locations in the world offer interactions with these animals so reliably. As shark populations are being depleted globally by commercial long line fishing and the shark fin trade, the Hyde offers a glimpse into a healthy population of apex predators.

If one is very lucky, on occassion another vulnerable species, a close cousin of the sharks may appear. Flying through the water on giant graceful wings, Manta rays materialize from the edges of the visibility like phantoms come to play.