Porta Allegra aka "Lobster Wreck"

This wreck is known as the '�Lobster Wreck'� because, on the first day of the old lobster season, a dive boat would always make the long trip to the site and would come back with at least a dozen large spiny lobsters. The wreck is now visited less often partly because the lobster season is now year-round and partly because there is now a two per diver limit on the lobsters. The wreck seems to be some sort of a dredge although it has not been formally identified. A date of 1909 was read on a steam gauge recovered from the wreck and this is the only clue as to the date of its sinking. The wreck is contiguous and the site is rectangular in shape. The wreck is quite small, with a width of less than 100 feet and a length between 150 and 200 feet. A large steam engine and four boilers are still present on the wreck and these parts of machinery provide the highest relief on the wreck. Two large posts (used to support the dredge derrick and deck structure) rise up from the wreck, aft of the engine. The auger of the dredge extends out from the stern of the wreck and lies in the sand, much like a propeller shaft. This wreck can easily be circumnavigated in one trip. Even though the site is small it is well known to be one of the most beautiful dives off North Carolina. In the last few years a fish usually only seen in tropical waters has been present at this site - the Pterois volitans (lionfish). It is unknown how the fish arrived at the site but there is a more or less constant resident population of lionfish at the wreck.