Diving near Carolina Beach

[Spartenos]

Hey All,

I did some searching, but many of the threads regarding operators are older and I simply don't know the area well either.

I am traveling with my Girlfriend to Carolina Beach in mid June and we are looking for an operator and recommendations on dive sites as well. Nitrox is not an issue as we will both be certified on Nitrox by then (I already am, she is wrapping up AOW\Nitrox). Traveling a short distance is not a huge issue, to get the right sites and dive operator. I have read about the Meg teeth dives, but those sound like they aren't even for sure and I would rather see something fun than stare at the ocean floor looking for teeth. Any suggestions and opinions are very welcome! I know the Wilmington area a little bit as I was stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC once upon a time as a Navy medic, but not well enough to know the dive operators or sites.

Thanks All!

Spartenos.

 

[Steve_C]

Aquatic Safaris out of Wrightsville Beach is a first class operation. They run two boats. They tend to be on the conservative side which is fine with me. I don't need to dive in 6 foot seas. If they cancel they try and do so the day before usually around 5-6pm. They have a very generous reservation policy. You can cancel up to 4 days before. You also know the deepest you will go. Weather may force an inshore site but you will never go deeper than planned. I have over 80 dives with them. My favorite spots include

-Hyde 80 ft to the bottom. 60 ft to the deck. Intact wreck. Almost always has some sand tigers around in the summer. I have seen over a dozen at once. Water conditions permitting the nearby Markham can be a good dive. 1.5 hour boat ride.

-Gill 90 ft to the bottom. Bit further out. Ship sunk during WWII by Germans. Now lots of machinery and stuff. Great dive.

-23 mile ledge. First of the big ledges. 15 ft of relief. Lots of coral and fish life. Runs for a ways in either direction so they dive several places along it.

If you want to go out further they have a number of other ledges and wrecks.

The meg ledge is a long ride. Fun for variety but you spend the whole time at 100 ft so need to watch the narcosis and dive time.

---------- Post added April 29th, 2013 at 08:21 PM ----------

If you want a bit shallower first dive the Stone/Pochontas/Dredge are three wrecks a mile apart in 60 ft of water and a shorter boat ride. First two are tug boats. Third is some brick and machinery from an old wreck. If new to ocean diving they are a good start although the Hyde is often used for entry ocean diving also. These three are far enough out that they tend to have a bit better water than the close in sites but there are no guarantees.

There are some other sites in closer in 50 ft of water, some only 4 miles out, but the visibility is highly variable. At the Liberty ship, for example, I have seen it 5 ft and I have seen it 30 plus feet.

 

[bankyf]

I am partial to Cape Fear Divers, but that is the only operation I have been out with in the Wilmington area. Their boat is right there in Carolina Beach and the shop is about a 2 minute drive from the boat. The owner has always gone out of his way to make sure everyone on the boat has a good time and won't take any money from anyone until the boat returns to dock. I dive for meg teeth with them a few times a year.

Hey All,

I did some searching, but many of the threads regarding operators are older and I simply don't know the area well either.

I am traveling with my Girlfriend to Carolina Beach in mid June and we are looking for an operator and recommendations on dive sites as well. Nitrox is not an issue as we will both be certified on Nitrox by then (I already am, she is wrapping up AOW\Nitrox). Traveling a short distance is not a huge issue, to get the right sites and dive operator. I have read about the Meg teeth dives, but those sound like they aren't even for sure and I would rather see something fun than stare at the ocean floor looking for teeth. Any suggestions and opinions are very welcome! I know the Wilmington area a little bit as I was stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC once upon a time as a Navy medic, but not well enough to know the dive operators or sites.

Thanks All!

Spartenos.

 

[Spartenos]

Sorry for the long delay in replying, apparently one of the times I clicked post, it didn't post. I thank both of you for the excellent suggestions and truly thank Steve_C for the EXCELLENT descriptions of the wrecks\travel times!

 

[antonanton73]

Sadly as of Saturday cape fear sold their boat and is no longer doing charters

 

[bankyf]

What??? Are you sure? They have a calender full of booked charters on the website. I know they have really been struggling the last few years with getting blown out. They mentioned some ridiculously low number of times that they had been able to get out for the year last time I was out. They also had some six pack boats that they worked with. Any word on those? If this is true, this is devastating news.

 

[Spartenos]

I am fairly sure that it must be true. On Thursday or Friday I got an email from Cape Fear saying that they had blown an oil line on the boat. Now on Saturday it's reported that they sold their boat. Now I have to see if Aquatic Safaris can fit us in on a month notice.....

 

[antonanton73]

There is also a place I use called scuba now, 90 bucks a charter for 2 dives, the price includes your air or nitrox. 80s or 100 s . Pretty classy place nice people and they do all the regular wrecks and ledges!

 

[bankyf]

Well, my fears have been confirmed! The Hawksbill and Cape Fear Dive Center are no more. Stay tuned, there may be a little light at the end of the tunnel if they haven't burned to many bridges with the sudden sale of the boat. I would really like to give Aquatic Safaris a try, but the part about confiscating your GPS on thier boat policy just does not set well with me. Seriously? These charters are to well known sites. I don't see any destination on their charter schedule that I don't already have numbers for or couldn't find fairly quickly on the internet. Attempting to confiscate my cell phone or GPS will likely not work out well. Take me to some recently discovered wreck or meg tooth site that nobody else has dove and that is a totally different story.

 

[MyScubaShop.com]

For those divers who are not familiar with Poseidon Adventures, we are starting our 9th Season of running Megalodon Shark Tooth Charters.

Our 2013 schedule runs from June 8th to August 14th and we dive for Meg Teeth every day of the week except Saturday's.

We charter two boats located in the yacht basin at Carolina Beach, NC and one of our charter boats is located right next to where Cape Fear docked their boat.

For more information, please visit our website at Dive the Warm Gulf Stream for Megalodon Shark's Teeth and don't forget to take a peek at our YouTube Video at Meg Quest 2008 - YouTube.

If you are a qualified and experienced diver who wishes to quickly snap up one of the few spots we have left, please feel free to contact me directly by calling the Meg HotLine at (302) 355-0642 or you can reach my personal cell at (302) 299-0416.

Thanks,

"Scuba" Scott