Kill devil hills

[Scubaguy610]

Planning a trip to kill devil hills in October, are there any locals who would give suggestions on a place for my wife and I to dive?

 

[Mr Grinch]

I don’t know the diving out there but I do know that I haven’t been able to find one dive shop in the outer banks in Manteo and one company offering charters

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Planning a trip to kill devil hills in October, are there any locals who would give suggestions on a place for my wife and I to dive?

Not local, but I try to get out once a year in the summer (i.e., if I miss anything here I'll welcome additional info from other posters). Your dive options basically break down into three different categories; as a caveat beforehand I'd like to put some general notes. The NC coast is pretty challenging; most offshore boat diving is going to be advanced level (and probably nitrox) and you are going to stick to the plan the divemasters give you. There's generally eff-all out there besides the wrecks, so if you don't take the descent line down or go toodling off away from the wreck you're going to be lost in the desert. Beach dives are a shallower option but are going to involve a considerable surface swim and the shore break can be nasty even without a big metal can strapped to your back. In general the weather is also tempermental - the reason dive clubs will often book boats for an entire week is that they expect to lose a few days to bad weather.

Shore Dives - never done one, but there are a few wrecks within surface swim distance of the beach. Catch is the conditions have to be cooperative. Roanoke Island Dive Shop is probably your best bet for the KDH area; Dave Sommers also has a pretty good list of nearshore wrecks on his webpage (I'll get back to him later).

Home

We are a full-service dive shop on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We offer equipment sales, services, rentals, and certifications!

roanokeislanddiveshop.com

Cape Hatteras Beach Wrecks

Information about shipwrecks off the Cape Hatteras beaches divers can swim to.

www.divehatteras.com

Charter Diving on the Outer Banks - there at least used to be one or two operators running out of Manteo/Wanchese, but those might have gone out of business; notably Roanoke Island Dive Shop doesn't list any charter options (they did a number of years back when Ghost Fleet was running out of Wanchese). Those kind of had it harder because Cape Hatteras is the point where the Gulf Stream peels off into the Atlantic; north of there the conditions are really variable. I've had years at the beach in Duck/Kitty Hawk where the water temp has been in the 80s and years where it's been in the 50s; sometimes it's done that in the same week. Being thoroughly wussified by Florida diving (I did my penance years on the Pacific coast), I always opted to go down south.

If you go south to Hatteras (expect a two-hour drive) you at least still have Dave Sommers and JT Barker running the Lion's Paw and the Under Pressure respectively. Both are good boats (the diver lift on the Under Pressure is really nice); however both are six-packs and get booked up well in advance (typically by dive clubs that charter the boat for a whole week). I haven't been out on either since 2021, and that was because Dave was able to slot me into an empty seat on a special trip. Hatteras you're looking at a long (2+ hour) boat ride out with 2 dives and an equally long ride back. Water is warmer and clearer than north of the cape.

DiveHatteras.com - NC shipwreck diving at it's best!

We specialize in scuba diving in the warm, clear Gulf Stream waters of the Atlantic Ocean on the shipwrecks of the Diamond Shoals and Cape Hatteras, NC. The site provides shipwreck histories, underwater photographs, Hatteras area information on the wreck diving, lodging, area attractions and...

www.divehatteras.com

Capt JT's Wreck Diving Site - Diving Hatteras NC and Virginia Beach VA

"Mainland" NC Charters - Probably doesn't work well for yinz, but what I've done a few times if I can't hop on a Hatteras charter is hit up Morehead City on the way back down south. It's about four hours of drive time to get down there, but there are a lot more charter options (ranging from "big" boats like Olympus Dive Center and Discovery Divers to six-packs like Instigator and Atlantis).