"New" Diver in NC

[went_postal]

Hi. New diver here. I live in North Carolina.

About a year or so ago my wife, daughter, and I all got OW certified. We all recently did our Advanced class as well.

hoping to do Nitrox, Deep Water, and Wreck as my specialities.

Currently I've only gone diving in a quarry and looking to perhaps do some diving in the Bahamas while on a cruise in November.

 

[tracydr]

Where are you located? I’m in Laurinburg which is SE.

 

[Chrisk919]

Hi. New diver here. I live in North Carolina.

About a year or so ago my wife, daughter, and I all got OW certified. We all recently did our Advanced class as well.

hoping to do Nitrox, Deep Water, and Wreck as my specialities.

Currently I've only gone diving in a quarry and looking to perhaps do some diving in the Bahamas while on a cruise in November.

Welcome aboard. Raleigh area here. Try some inshore dives off the coast as well, weather permitting. We have some great wrecks here its just usually harder to plan for the weather.

 

[bdives85]

Welcome! NC is pretty welcoming to new divers. Depending on where you are, hit up a couple of local dive shops, find some people you click with, and have fun!

 

[went_postal]

Where are you located? I’m in Laurinburg which is SE.

South of Raleigh.

Welcome! NC is pretty welcoming to new divers. Depending on where you are, hit up a couple of local dive shops, find some people you click with, and have fun!

So... in my ramblings we've found that Gypsys is likely going to be "our shop." to go to. We've had some challenges with other shops in the area.

 

[JakeDiver]

Congrats on the Advance classes.

 

[Chrisk919]

Gypsys is likely going to be "our shop."

Gypsy is a good shop with good people, and the proximity of AirTech inside is icing on the cake for service. I bounced around shops when I started getting back into diving and settled on them as well.

 

[went_postal]

Congrats on the Advance classes.

Thanks. I got the digital card yesterday... my daughter's physical card showed up but mine didn't yet. =(

We've graduated from Nemo to Flipper

Gypsy is a good shop with good people, and the proximity of AirTech inside is icing on the cake for service. I bounced around shops when I started getting back into diving and settled on them as well.

Yeah... that's been my read on Gypsys as well.

I won't name shops... but there was at least one shop where they never answer the door or the phone. Not super sure how they stay in business but I just didn't want to deal with it anymore. I don't think people should jump whenever I want... but when you cannot get a hold of anymore multiple times over 12 months... time to move on.

I am actually testing out some new equipment at Gypsys this week. They have their outing at the quarry this weekend but I am on call so I can't go. =( Work is getting in the way of my goofing off.

 

[JakeDiver]

my daughter's physical card showed up but mine didn't yet. =(

We've graduated from Nemo to Flipper

"the check is in the mail"....lol Maybe it will show up soon.

Any dive trips planned outside of the cruise? I've done a couple of cruise line dives and learned...don't book through the curise line. Find a shop in the area and book through them.

 

[went_postal]

"the check is in the mail"....lol Maybe it will show up soon.

Any dive trips planned outside of the cruise? I've done a couple of cruise line dives and learned...don't book through the curise line. Find a shop in the area and book through them.

We've not actually booked anything with the cruise yet.

I have a friend that used to live in the Bahamas so I was going to quiz her and her husband about shops in the area that would work out. A lot of what happens there is going to depend on how my wife does on the next couple of quarry visits (one of which is next week).

Other than that... A friend of mine that I used to work with (who is a surfer) got together with a friend of his and they created this site: DiveLine - Your Ultimate Dive Buddy Looking there it looks like NC has a good bit of shore diving that is relatively accessible. I was thinking about going with some friends that are more experienced and my daughter to one of the closer shore sites.

When we first started out getting lessons and whatnot... we were told shore diving in NC was not the best... Seems to be some controversy / disagreements on that. Seems to me the worst thing about shore diving in NC is just humping your gear from your parking spot.