Emerald Isle, North Carolina?

[KidK9]

Anyone ever dove in this area? Visibility? Depth? I'm only open water NAUI certified, so I don't want to go over 60 feet. My family is going there in July and I was gonna tag along and possibly do a dive or two or three.... Apparently it is near Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Morehead City, Cape Carteret, and probably an hour from Jacksonville. Any help would be greatly appreciated. BTW, I did a search and came up with nothing. Thanks.

 

[herman]

Hi Kid and welcome to the board.

The area is considered some of the best wreck diving in the US. Based of your post however, it may not be for you until you get some experience. Most of the dive sites are a long way off shore with 2-3 hr boat rides and are deep with 100 to 120 ft as the norm. Not exactly the dives I would suggest for a new diver, esp if you don't have a experienced buddy WITH you as dive masters are not normally provided.You may want to check with some of the dive ops in Morehead city and see if they offer some more novice dives. I know for instance, there is a really nice liberty ship 3 miles off Wrightsville beach (about 1 hr south) that is perfect for beginners. It's a 420 ft ship in about 50 ft of water. Check with some of the Wilmington shops for this dive. Vis in the area ranges from say 30 ft to over 100. Water temps should be in the mid to high 80's. On a non-diving note, the WWII battleship USS North Carolina is about 1 hr south as well, it's a great way to spend the day.

 

[herman]

Found a couple of dive ops for you to check out

http://www.olympusdiving.com/default.htm

http://www.discoverydiving.com/

http://www.diveguide.com/ncar1.htm


Looks like Discovery has some shallower one to check into.

 

[KidK9]

Thank you so much for the advice! I will be taking up some of this! Man, thanks a ton!!!

 

[Diversauras]

I left that area in 1998 and have only been back diving a couple of times since. While there I logged (yes really in a log book) about 1100 around there.

As was stated above, most of the great spots are off shore and yes the boat ride is 1.5 to 2.5 hours, however there are some rreally goo inshore sites too. The problem inshore is the viz, usually 50' or so, maybe a bit under that. Off shore it is usually 70 to 100+.

The inshore sites, in the 60 or less depth range are the Indra, a great multi level dive on an LST sunk in the mid '90s, the Suloide and the Hutton (which may not really be the Hutton, and over on the tip of Lookout Shoals is the Ashkhabad.

Also as stated, it is considered to be the best wreck diving in the US.