Charleston Diving Information

[atlantadiver]

I am thinking about diving a few times in Charleston towards the end of this month. I have never been diving in this area and I wanted to get some info on the conditions and dive sites. What are the typical conditions this time of year? What should the visibility be? What about currents and surface conditions? What is your opinion on the quality of Chaleston dive sites and what there is to see? I just wanted a little info from someone who has been diving around this area. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jlayman800]

I used to live in Charleston. One of the dives is in the Cooper River. It's called "Blackwater Diving" because of the 2" visability. So why do people dive it? Because there are fossile sharks teeth from the Megalodon, a 60+ foot long shark for thousands of years ago. It's not a great dive, but its fun for something different. I still have one of the teeth in my garage. Sometimes they are as big as a large man's hand. The ocean off Charleston is cold and dark with 10-20 foot visability. I never found a dive worth doing off the coast. Some people do it but not me.

 

[wscdive]

I dove the cooper river last febuary, it was cold but the vis was great! (two feet), and the alligators are hibernating the.I found 22 teath on three dives. Be ready for low vis and some heavy current at times. I used my cave light and it helped alot. (the dives are 15-30 feet but black as night without a light) Good luck!

 

[DreadPirate]

Besides the inshore Blackwater dives on the Cooper, there's also great offshore diving. We have a number of great sites, including some of the subway cars from New York and WWII wrecks. The offshore water temp near the surface is around 80 degrees F and viz varies from 15' to 45', depending on how far offshore you go and the sea conditions.

Have a great time!