UWDoc
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So I'll be living in the district for a month from 7/27-8/24/09 with weekends free. I have never been diving on the east coast. Does anyone have suggestions for charters in the area? Thanks.
DC area charters?
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Ted Green runs a great boat - OC Diver in Ocean City MD. It is about 3 - 3.5 hours east of DC depending on traffic. Googole OC Diver and the site should come right up.
The "To Dive For" operates out of Indian River DE, about 3 hours east if traffic is light (leave early in the am - before 8am - and you should be fine to either Rehobeth DE or OC MD. My experience with the OC diver has been mixed. I have had some great dives, but I have also had days missed due to mechanical issues (you still spend about $400 per weekend on gas and motels even if the boiat never leaves the dock) and I had a mate try to turn off my gas when he got the lefty loosey rightly tighty thing confused as it applies to doubles - and obviously did not understand that you NEVER mess with a techncial divers valves anyway.
Moorhead City NC is about 6 hours away but offers world class wreck diving with lots of WWII era wrecks, lots of tropical fish, lots of sand tiger sharks, warm clear gulfstream water and the occasaional dolphin encounter. The bad news is that you can plan on getting blown out about 1 trip in 3 and 1 of the two that go will probably be marginal with a rough ride in 5-6 ft seas. Take your dramamine whether you think you need it or not.
My boat of choice in Morrhead City is the Diver Down with Bobby Cox. He gives better ride off shore than most, has good luck finding good visibility and usually has 12-15 divers per boat rather than the 25-30 that you may encounter on Olympus or one of the other NC boats. Many of the wrecks are too small to handle that many divers. I've never had a bad day with Bobby.
Virginia beach has some charters, but the water there is much like DE and MD - colder with much lower viz than NC.
The "To Dive For" operates out of Indian River DE, about 3 hours east if traffic is light (leave early in the am - before 8am - and you should be fine to either Rehobeth DE or OC MD. My experience with the OC diver has been mixed. I have had some great dives, but I have also had days missed due to mechanical issues (you still spend about $400 per weekend on gas and motels even if the boiat never leaves the dock) and I had a mate try to turn off my gas when he got the lefty loosey rightly tighty thing confused as it applies to doubles - and obviously did not understand that you NEVER mess with a techncial divers valves anyway.
Moorhead City NC is about 6 hours away but offers world class wreck diving with lots of WWII era wrecks, lots of tropical fish, lots of sand tiger sharks, warm clear gulfstream water and the occasaional dolphin encounter. The bad news is that you can plan on getting blown out about 1 trip in 3 and 1 of the two that go will probably be marginal with a rough ride in 5-6 ft seas. Take your dramamine whether you think you need it or not.
My boat of choice in Morrhead City is the Diver Down with Bobby Cox. He gives better ride off shore than most, has good luck finding good visibility and usually has 12-15 divers per boat rather than the 25-30 that you may encounter on Olympus or one of the other NC boats. Many of the wrecks are too small to handle that many divers. I've never had a bad day with Bobby.
Virginia beach has some charters, but the water there is much like DE and MD - colder with much lower viz than NC.
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