I had a few days off last week from the big boat and decided to hit some of the local near shore sites to avoid the blistering heat. I dove the near shore AR's, the Sen. Duhamel trawler but none were better than the CL rock jetty. Easily 30' of viz and water temps in the high 80's. I didn't even wear a wet suit for the second dive. I snorkeled around the section closest to the beach and saw literally hundereds of rays. Moving out to the end, I saw some small grouper, lots of flounder, some more rays, and lots of tropicals. It was beautiful. The best part was there wasn't another boat in sight. When you dive the offshore wrecks as often as some of us do, it's easy to forget that you can have just as much fun in 30' of water. I burned up 2 - 80's during the time I was there and could've used one or two more and not gotten tired of it. If you have access to a small boat and want a different crystal coast experience, I'd recommend this site to anyone. Or, if you have a 4wd and are into the camping thing, you can take the vehicle ferry over and drive down Core Banks and make a shore dive out of it.
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