diving in NC in April

[questunderseas]

hi everyone,

I am coming over the NC in april this year (7th til 11th) and am desperate to do some wreck diving and see the sandtigers, ragged-toothed sharks etc.

I am visiting a friend in Chapel Hill for a wedding this April and we will also be spending about 4 days in Topsail Beach. (at Topsail from April 7th-11th).

Do you know if any local schools run dive trips in April? If so from where do they depart, what is the cost (roughly) per dive (if I dont bring my own equipment) and would it be possible for me to join any local clubs for a couple of days.

I have been divemaster for about 4 years, logged around 400 dives and have ben running dive trips and marien conservation projects since around 2004.

I am very interested in the wrecks, sandtiger sharks, ragged-tooths and any other sites - any infromation you have on how to go about booking dives in NC would be much appreciated.

If you have a numbers that would help, please let me know.

my email is questunderseas@gmail.com

Best regards,

Chris

 

[Colliam7]

I am coming over the NC in april this year (7th til 11th) and am desperate to do some wreck diving and see the sandtigers, ... we will also be spending about 4 days in Topsail Beach.

I have appended some shop / charter information below. The best way to arrange a coastal dive is to contact one of the operators directly (or go to their websites) to see what they have during the time you will be in NC. Generally, April 1 is the start of the 'on' / peak season, so you should be able to arrange something. In NC, there are two primary coastal areas for charter operations - the more northerly end of the coast, in the Beaufort and Morehead City area, and the more southerly end, in the Wilmington area (diving out of Nags Head may be a bit remote for you on this trip). Both locations are easily accessible by car from the Chapel Hill area - you're looking at about a 2:45 drive to Wilmington (Interstate all the way), and about 2:30 to the Morehead City area (not interstate, but good roads. Since you will also be in the Tosail area, it will be even more convenient. At the end of the post, I have listed contact information for 4 shops / charter operations, two in each area. I have been out with all of them. Since you are going to Topsail, I would suggest you start with Aquatic Safaris in Wilmington. You can google all of them to get to their websites.

You can easily rent gear and tanks from any of these operations. It sounds like you have quite a bit of experience, so you may want to do charters to some of the deeper offshore wrecks (100 - 130' range). The only challenge is that they are generally a little farther out, so you are looking at a 2 hour boatride each way. Not a big deal, just be prepared for something a little more time-consuming than a trip out of Key Largo to the Spiegel Grove, for example. NC coastal wreck diving is really quite good so there is a lot to choose from. Most of the charter websites have listings of wreck information so I won't dwell on it. But, here is a sampling of some interesting, deeper, wrecks and artificial reefs to think about.

Normannia
Rosin Wreck
Naeco (my personal all-time favorite NC dive)
John Gill

German U-boats (not much to see but something of a 'rite of passage' and historically interesting)
U-352 (most often dived)
U-85 (in the Labrador current and colder than the others)
U-701

Reefed ships
Hyde (good for sandtigers)
Aeolus
Spar



Beaufort / MoreheadCity (north)
Discovery Diving
414 Orange Street, Beaufort, NC28516
Phone: 252 728-2265
Fax. 252 728-2581
Email: dive@discoverydiving.com

OlympusDiveCenter
713 Shepard Street, Morehead City, NC28557.
Phone: 252-726-9432

Wilmington, NC (south)

Aquatic Safaris
6800-1A Wrightsville Ave.
Wilmington, N.C. 28403
Email: diver@aquaticsafaris.com
Phone: 910-392-4FUN
Fax: 910-392-9455

CapeFear Divers
Email:shop@capefeardivers.com
Phone: 910-458-7390
FAX: 910-458-7393