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Just got my open water (SSI) certification and looking to do some dives. I will get new gear next week. My passion is diving around marine life and staying down for 1 hour+, so not much below 50 feet. Not a wreck enthusiast. Would love to try the Gulf Coast and Florida Keys to log more dives. Andy
Just got my open water (SSI) certification and looking to do some dives. I will get new gear next week. My passion is diving around marine life and staying down for 1 hour+, so not much below 50 feet. Not a wreck enthusiast. Would love to try the Gulf Coast and Florida Keys to log more dives. Andy
Hi Andy, and welcome to the NC Diving community. Who was your instructor? My buddy teaches at Gypsy.
I guess I can say that I am not a wreck enthusiast either, but they often serve as habitats for marine life which is really amazing. On my last NC dive, we went out to the Proteus. We only had about 30 feet of visibility, but as soon as we dropped, there were Sand Tigers, in formation, up, down, and sideways. We stopped counting at 40. Truly, I think it might be some of the best "sharkage" in the world.
So if large marine life like sharks appeal to you, promise me that you will at least try to get out to some of the real wrecks at some point.
Meanwhile, bunch of us on NC Divers who will be happy to dive with you.
Welcome to the board and now you can see the other 2/3rds of the Earth the the non-divers will never see. Its hard to say what you like and don't like till you try it. Quarries are good to train and test new gear setups, the Ocean is good for everything and Caves are a lifestyle in themselves. As you continue to dive so will your style. Before you jump in and invest $1000's in equipment see what all is out there and renting makes sense if you are not getting over 20 dives a year. Your gear can change year to year as your diving progresses and you take more advanced classes. Good luck and see you in the water.
And my goal is to dive every weekend this summer. Don't know if i'll be able to pull it off but I'll definitely get my moneys worth out of my PDRA membership. We'll probably end up at Blue Stone at least once this summer as my mother lives in WS as well.
It also wont hurt that I'm only 2hrs from Wilmington.
Also, if you wanna see awesome ocean life, the "Raggies" are top-notch but they mostly hang out on the wrecks.
OP, welcome! I'm a new diver, first 2 OW dives today! Chuck-- we are doing our OW dives at Blue Stone-- vis today was <8 ft, water roughly 60 degrees at the surface, 50-55 under the thermocline. Not ideal for our OW checkout dives. I want to go back this summer and actually be able to see what is under the water there. Our DM's told us we were swimming over boats, etc, but we could barely see the people in front of us unless being kicked by their fins.
visibility gets worse as the summer drags on from algae blooms... Just an fyi. Vis vs temp is best right about now, better vis with colder water
those are great conditions for your training dives. We love when our students kick the bottom up because it shows you how bad it can really get. 8ft vis and mid 50's is a breeze... Just think, it only really gets better from here. At least your air temp was good. We had students out a few weeks ago and it was same water conditions but 40 and raining at the surface. Miserable
My OW dives were in August but the water below 40' was still only 64°F. After that dive, I swore I'd never dive in cold water again. Now I wear about 10m of neoprene plus hood and gloves and actually enjoy the low 40's in the quarry bottoms.
It's like vampires with blood; if you have the "thirst" to get wet, you'll do what it takes.
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