Help planning my NC dive trip

[dvankirk]

You have gotten great advise above..well most of it. Let me give you some suggestions and tips.
Plan on staying more than a few days. As yardpro stated, it is not uncommon for us to not dive due to water conditions so having just a few must dive days may well end up in no diving at all. Trust me, if our captains don't want to go you for sure don't want to. You also need to book early, it is not uncommon for our weekend charters to fill up months in advance.

You need to understand some about our diving. Too many "experienced" divers come to us with all their expereince in Fla or the Caribbean and expect those conditions and diving style. They often end up with a "bad" experience. Our wrecks tend to be in deeper water and a long way off shore. 100ft + dives, 2 or 3 hrs boat ride off shore in 4 or 5 ft seas are the norm, with rare exception there are no 15 minute rides on glass slick water to a 30 ft wreck. Unlike most places, divers here are pretty much on their own, there is no hand holding, no DMs in the water or tank monkies hauling your gear.

If you are not nitrox certified, get the cert and rent larger tanks. Since our wrecks are deep it's always nice to have the extra gas, you spent a lot and come a long way, get the most bottom time you can. A pony bottle is not a bad idea either. Adding seasick meds to your dive kit is also a good idea. Nothing worse than being a lovely shade of green of a boat for 6 or more hours.

Some safety gear you need to add if you do not already have it. A large SMB with a finger spool or reel. We dive in the open ocean a long way from shore and if you must do a free accent, a not uncommon occurance, you need a way to signal the boat in those 5 ft seas. Understand that if you do come up away from the boat, it can not just come get you. It must wait until the other divers are on board before coming for you. You may be floating for a while and the larger the SMB the easier you are to see.

We have some of the greatest diving in the world but to enjoy it you need to be prepaired. If you expect glass slick water and dive butlers you will be dissapointed but if you come prepaired you will see huge schools of fish, great wrecks and most likely swim very close to large sand tiger sharks.

Well said.

 

[Randy g]

Agreed.

That should be understood by everyone that dives NC.

 

[Steve_C]

The Beaufort area boats provide a lot of good diving but you should be aware that compared to boats in a lot of other areas

-You are locked into the reservation way ahead of time unlike many areas where you can cancel up to 2-4 days ahead.

-A lot of the Beaufort boats will try to go out in weather that other ops in other areas might cancel on. If you are hardcore and don't mind some seas that is fine. But if you are prone to seasick etc. that is something to keep in mind. They also appear to cancel more at the last minute then in some areas. I hear many happy diver reports. The bad reports I have heard out of that area have all been related to boats trying to operate in iffy weather.

-Be aware that Captain's lady, while popular with some divers, may not be optimal if you are by yourself and it is the first NC dive (or similar dive). The boat is a six pack. The time I went out with them there was a captain and no mate and no DM and 4 strangers. You may not get a mate/DM dropping to hook the boat and then giving you a dive briefing on conditions before you splash. If you are insta buddying your choices may be limited. Anchor got hung on the Indra and I had to do a drop and unhook the boat.

I am in no way saying don't go to the Beaufort area. Just a few things to keep in mind.

I am not a fan of heavy seas, though I can dive them, and I don't like long term no cancelation policies, so I tend to NC dive mostly out of Wrightsville Beach further south.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Eat at Els Drive Inn, Its next door to the hospital on the way into town. You wait in you car and they come out to you. Great Shrimp burgers

I had read about this place and tried it on my trip to Morehead City last year. It's indeed an icon and loaded with nostalgia, but I did not care for the food. Burgers? You could do better at Five Guys. And I discovered that a "shrimp burger" is nothing more than tiny overcooked fried shrimp piled on a supermarket-quality hamburger bun. Yes, you need to go here. No, it's nothing remarkable. In Atlanta we have the "iconic" Varsity ("since 1928"), which is a drive-in serving the same sort of awful "iconic" fast food (minus the shrimp burgers).

I very much enjoyed a break in my road trip at Wilber's Barbecue in Goldsboro.

Back on topic, I had a good experience with Olympus, except for one afternoon when we couldn't do the second dive due to the weather.

 

[Ryan Y]

You have gotten great advise above..well most of it. Let me give you some suggestions and tips.
Plan on staying more than a few days. As yardpro stated, it is not uncommon for us to not dive due to water conditions so having just a few must dive days may well end up in no diving at all. Trust me, if our captains don't want to go you for sure don't want to. You also need to book early, it is not uncommon for our weekend charters to fill up months in advance.

You need to understand some about our diving. Too many "experienced" divers come to us with all their expereince in Fla or the Caribbean and expect those conditions and diving style. They often end up with a "bad" experience. Our wrecks tend to be in deeper water and a long way off shore. 100ft + dives, 2 or 3 hrs boat ride off shore in 4 or 5 ft seas are the norm, with rare exception there are no 15 minute rides on glass slick water to a 30 ft wreck. Unlike most places, divers here are pretty much on their own, there is no hand holding, no DMs in the water or tank monkies hauling your gear.

If you are not nitrox certified, get the cert and rent larger tanks. Since our wrecks are deep it's always nice to have the extra gas, you spent a lot and come a long way, get the most bottom time you can. A pony bottle is not a bad idea either. Adding seasick meds to your dive kit is also a good idea. Nothing worse than being a lovely shade of green of a boat for 6 or more hours.

Some safety gear you need to add if you do not already have it. A large SMB with a finger spool or reel. We dive in the open ocean a long way from shore and if you must do a free accent, a not uncommon occurance, you need a way to signal the boat in those 5 ft seas. Understand that if you do come up away from the boat, it can not just come get you. It must wait until the other divers are on board before coming for you. You may be floating for a while and the larger the SMB the easier you are to see.

We have some of the greatest diving in the world but to enjoy it you need to be prepaired. If you expect glass slick water and dive butlers you will be dissapointed but if you come prepaired you will see huge schools of fish, great wrecks and most likely swim very close to large sand tiger sharks.

Yes, good advice for all of North Carolina.

 

[yardpro]

I had read about this place and tried it on my trip to Morehead City last year. It's indeed an icon and loaded with nostalgia, but I did not care for the food. Burgers? You could do better at Five Guys. And I discovered that a "shrimp burger" is nothing more than tiny overcooked fried shrimp piled on a supermarket-quality hamburger bun. Yes, you need to go here. No, it's nothing remarkable. In Atlanta we have the "iconic" Varsity ("since 1928"), which is a drive-in serving the same sort of awful "iconic" fast food (minus the shrimp burgers).

I very much enjoyed a break in my road trip at Wilber's Barbecue in Goldsboro.

Back on topic, I had a good experience with Olympus, except for one afternoon when we couldn't do the second dive due to the weather.

agreed on el's.... as i said it is an icon.....
growing up the food was really good... they changed the recipies about 15b years ago, and are not as good as they were the 20 years before that...

still.... something about the dried up, drive in that is neat... and watching someone throw out a half full basket of fries and the seagull frenzy that takes place is very entertaining...

i dive a lot in the bahamas, and carribean..agreed that there you are catered to much more than here..

here the dive op just takes you to the site... that's it. no frills, great diving. If you need to be waited on or have your hand held, you will NOT have a good time.

 

[bbarnett51]

Great stuff guys..thanks! I am comfortable with rough seas and generally don't get sick. Ive puked on a boat before but I don't get that dive ruining green sick! I also don't care about being pampered or even where I stay. I go on several nice trips a year and spoil myself. This one would be ALL about the diving. I want to see these wrecks then come home eat a steak and pass out.

thanks again!!!!

 

[6-1]

I am also planning my first NC dive trip also and this thread has been a great help. I live on the other side of the country but may parents are NC locals (inland) and suggested a visit to the Outer Banks when I see them this summer. So not a "dive trip" but a good opportunity to check off some bucket list dives I have. I have one day open for diving, either Tue, Aug 6th or Wed the 7th, and would like to dive the U-85 or U-352. I know this is a small window, but it is what is open for me. I also know the weather may or may not cooperate and totally trust the Captain's call to go or not. While the majority of my dives have been in the Caribbean (Gotta love warm water valet service) I also have a lot of CA boat and shore dives, some in nasty conditions. That said, I still would still like to hire a DM to watch my back and show me the cool stuff. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Also, since the trip is for Mom and Dad, any recommendations for nice beach front lodging and things for older non divers to do?

 

[Nick A]

I am also planning my first NC dive trip also and this thread has been a great help. I live on the other side of the country but may parents are NC locals (inland) and suggested a visit to the Outer Banks when I see them this summer. So not a "dive trip" but a good opportunity to check off some bucket list dives I have. I have one day open for diving, either Tue, Aug 6th or Wed the 7th, and would like to dive the U-85 or U-352. I know this is a small window, but it is what is open for me. I also know the weather may or may not cooperate and totally trust the Captain's call to go or not. While the majority of my dives have been in the Caribbean (Gotta love warm water valet service) I also have a lot of CA boat and shore dives, some in nasty conditions. That said, I still would still like to hire a DM to watch my back and show me the cool stuff. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Also, since the trip is for Mom and Dad, any recommendations for nice beach front lodging and things for older non divers to do?

There are a few charters that will take you to the U-352 (I recommend Discovery Diving, I'm biased). Regardless of who you use, I would call soon to see if there's any charters going to or maybe put together a charter for that date. The U-85 is off the outer banks and I'm not sure of the charters available out there (sorry I'm no help there). But there's a lot of places to stay in Atlantic Beach, Pine Knoll Shores or Emerald Isle. I haven't stayed at any so again no help there. But there's plenty to do for a day or two. The Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores is awesome. The Beaufort waterfront is cool. There's the NC maritime museum that's pretty cool, has some stuff from the Quuen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's ship that was sunk or ran a ground just outside of Beaufort Inlet. They can take a ferry to Shackleford banks and see the wild horses or do some shelling. Beaufort is really cool little town. But like I was saying if you wanna dive the U-352, call like today. If they can't get you the U boat, there is still plenty of awesome wrecks to dive. The water is warmer east and south of cape lookout (warm gulfstream water), and cooler north of there because of the Labrador current coming down from the north.

 

[rydog]

So far, so good on all the info. I was wondering though since I have been doing a lot of online research about some of the other 6pax that go out from Morehead. We've got 6 divers coming next month and are looking for a smaller non-cattleboat dive. Also, some of the operators I have seen (Tortuga for example) charge for fuel in addition to the charter, what is the current price of diesel? Not that it matters but I want to give my divers a fairly accurate price.

ditto..

i live in morehead

i am a few blocs from olympus, and live across the street from tortuga....

olympus and discovery are great. they hae cattle boats as well as 6 packs.
tortuga is a sweet six pack setup and the owner james is a really cool helpful guy. i tend to think he goes to the cooler spots.
discovery is also a first class operation.
there are many other dive boats here... i think at least 7 or 8 others that i can think of.

if you can stay a week you have a better chance of good dives. the weather here is a moody woman.. all smiles and sunshine one minute then a nightmare if offshore the next....

olympus and discovery have hostel type rooms for uber cheap.. places here are really expensive during the summer.

if you come down and do stay a week you can tag along to some jetties or inshore stuff with me if i am running my boat out....but i would not miss a few charter days if the weather is good.