Ode to the teeth

Wild Rick

Ode to the Teeth

To God this morning I did beg

To let me find the biggest Meg.

For 40 miles we sailed about

To find the bottom hunted out.

We blew the sand all around

glancing at each other with a frown.

Finally, yes finally one turned up

a broken half with a shitty cusp.


Well it wasn’t that bad, Hell.. it was damn good. The sweet salty smell of the sea, the roar of the diesel and the bold flavor of a big ole Foster Lager at the end of the day. Many divers say the Meg Ledge here in North Carolina is hunted out, but it’s a big ocean and Wild Rick can sniff out teeth with the best.

A hand picked crew of 4 met up with Captain Highsmith in Surf city a few days back and... “By the looks of that flag it doesn’t look too good boys” said the Captain. “That wind is out of the Northeast and that means rough seas…… are you boys tough?”

Needless to say, like the Fabulous Thunderbirds we were Tuff Enough to go out in the choppy seas. Yours truly, Wild Rick, Bruce the Scientist, and Marine Taylor “Smells like a” Rose took some Dramamine and hopped aboard Littlefeet.

After 2 hours of spine shattering, bone jarring, teeth gnashing, surf splitting motoring, the seas calmed down a little for the final hour to Fry Pan. After 3 hours in the little boat I was ready to head down the anchor line and take a pee in the ocean. Upon jumping in the first thing to go wrong was my USMC Recon spare air let loose and dumped its air from the reg. Soon afterwards on the bottom at 100ft below the surface the expensive device was now somewhat buoyant it came out of its holster and is now lying on the bottom forever.....

Sweet Patho tooth is money in the bank!

However, the sea life as always was simply beautiful on the ledge with Lobster, colorful shrimps and the endless variety of small to large fish in the area. As you concentrate on fanning the bottom and throw around all the whale bones if you pause and look around the fish are all watching you to see “What’s up? & what he hell’s going on? Diving in this fishbowl takes your mind off your f’ups real quick.

Oh yeh, I forgot to mention that Wild Rick sent me to Beaufort to get his ass a Dive scooter for the trip and this mad scientist from Durham used it 3x and each time sucked up any and all dive lines and reels in his underwater location. It was unreal but he is now a certified Dive propulsion specialist and can be reached via email for any fix it jobs. Everyone had a successful trip except Sergeant Rose who after spearing a couple grouper was visited by a Tiger Shark. This undersea greeting prompted Sgt Rose to drop his junk and shoot a line to the top which screwed up his dive computer and put him out of commission on the 2nd dive.

Captain Highsmith

The Captain soon jumped in looking for our gear during our interval time and picked up 2 five inch Megs to show us how its done “Thar jus layin thar by the anchor line!” said the NorthCarolinian. My second dive netted a sweet 4+ pathological and 3 5inchers while Rick was on his way to and I’m guessing here 10 + 5 inch teeth and 10 or more smaller ones. The best tooth of the day seemed to belong to Bruce who was not getting much the first two dives but happened to spy a 6 inch tooth in nice shape under the unsuspecting Rick as his dive fin blew its sandy blanket away. - Good Times