Hi All! Really Need some input on North/South Carolina Diving!

[Laura V.]

HI! I'm always haunting these boards, so I decided to finally go ahead and register. I've been Open Water certified for a little over a year. I trained in Key West, Florida where the water was always pretty clear. I was only able to log 4 dives; two of those were diving a 100 ft wreck called the Vandenberg. Basically, I want to to surprise my FI with a quick weekend dive trip to Charleston, South Carolina in June. I understand that having been out of the water for over year means we should take a refresher course. I would just like some input from anyone who has dived in South Carolina or even North Carolina. I'm worried that we are not prepared to face the colder/murkier waters. I read an article stating that you should have at least 30 logged dives before even thinking about diving in SC. Besides diving, I chose SC because of it's history and want to make this trip a memorable 5 year anniversary surprise. Going out of the country or even to Florida for a weekend dive is out of the question. Please help!

 

[DiverDownD3]

Really depends on where you go in NC. I'm assuming that you would be going to Wilmington if you are planning on vacationing in SC. There are some really good wrecks offshore that are in the 80' range, but based on your experience the dive boats will probably want to take you to the Liberty Ship. It's only 3 miles offshore. Viz and currents vary by the day. You can expect water temps to be 72-75ish. Don't expect this wreck to be anything like the Vandenberg. I can guarantee you viz will be less, currents will probably be stronger and there's nowhere near the marine life. Just being honest. Steve post on here quite a bit, and he could probably tell you more about diving the Wilmington area. I think you could probably maximize your experience by hiring a guide/DM. Remember everyone does things different. Like expect to keep your fins on until you get to the swim platform. They design the latters differently than they do on FL dive boats. Most of the operators in NC that I know of are not putting a DM in the water unless they have been hired by someone on the boat.
I've never dove SC, so I couldn't tell you anything about it. I think you might want to call some dive operators down in SC and just tell them what you are looking to do. I'm sure they will be more than willing to figure something out for you.
Good luck and congrats on your anniversary. Charleston is an amazing town.

 

[diversteve]

South Carolina diving in June is far from cold - it was t-shirt/boardshorts diving for me in July.

Your options in Charleston are mostly Charleston Scuba - on the south side of town or Low Country Scuba if you're staying on the north side of town (Mt Pleasant area) We had a dive scheduled with Charleston but they cancelled due to conditions so the only SC diving I've done is off Myrtle Beach. It's not the clearest you've ever seen but most of the 1/2 day diving (they do some of the same dives from Charleston) consists of shallower wrecks unless you do the all-day trips out to the Gulf Stream wrecks which are deeper.

Charleston will want you to do a refresher b4 diving with them. It's usually every other Sunday but since you're only there the weekend, ask about scheduling something at night when you arrive. IDK anything about Low Country other than what's on their website.

There's quite a few 60' dives off Charleston though. Except for the ledges are all anchored by wreck(s). Not always the biggest wrecks but generally the boat ties off on them so you just follow the line down. Most of the shops use a line system from the back of the boat to the mooring - you're encouraged to stay on it while descending. There won't be a Divemaster in the water - they only dive down to set/detach the mooring line. Charleston charges $200 more for a private DM. The boat rides out are over an hour also generally. The crew generally helps divers on/off the boat.

The Subway Cars are a cool dive - they're all dropped in basically the same area and most (all?) are upright and penetrable. Since you dove the Vandy, you'll have no problem. If you don't have a wetsuit, watch for jellies while surfacing, they're attracted to sunlight. Purge your octo to clear them away while surfacing.

Be sure to visit downtown, the SC Aquarium is worth a look. There's B&B's in a couple areas in historic old houses also for somewhere different to stay. And the old market - Historic Charleston City Market, Charleston, SC is worth a look. This may be the best restaurant in Charleston - Charleston Steakhouse Restaurant | Halls Chophophouse - possibly in SC. If you're at all military buffs both Fort Sumter and Patriots Point are options. One of the Fort Sumter tour boats docks is at Patriots Point - the other downtown. I think there's only one official tour company allowed out there. It's historical but I was personally underwhelmed by Fort Sumter - they've kept it pretty original.

I haven't been there in a while so some of this may have changed.

 

[homerdoc]

I actually really like diving lake Jocasse. Its up above Greenville. It would be good for a refresher course.

I dive with www.scubashopsc.com. They have a good operation and there is a lot of "stuff" on the bottom to check out. They also do a lake keowee dive in the winter by the nuclear reactor that unfortunately I have missed.

Jocasse has pretty good vis, well for a lake anyway, nothing like the florida springs, but if you dive the wall you always find stuff drunk people have misplaced. I never come back without a couple walmart masks and my buddy a couple of dives ago found a go-pro he got back to the owner. There are several boats sunk there to look at and a pretty cool thermocline at 90-100'.

 

[TMHeimer]

I dived twice 6 years ago with Coastal Scuba of (N.) Myrtle Beach. In Feb. & March--both times to Gen. Sherman Wreck (about 50'). OK dives. No shore diving to speak of in the area and in S. North Carolina.

 

[divad]

Basically, I want to to surprise my FI with a quick weekend dive trip to Charleston, South Carolina in June.

What is an FI?

 

[diversteve]

Express Watersports out of Murrells Inlet (south of Myrtle Beach) could be another possible option. About a 90 min. drive though - at least you wouldn't have to drive thru Myrtle Beach to reach Coastal and they do mostly the same dives.

I don't see Wilmington NC as a possibility - it's a 3.5 hr. drive from Charleston and sometimes North Myrtle can be congested on the only freeway thru the area.

 

[bmbeaty]

My first boat dive was through Coastal Scuba out of North Myrtle Beach and was to the Charleston Tug. They didn't require any refresher or anything, my only complaint is they limited the dives to 30 minutes. There was nothing particularly difficult about the dive and in summer you're looking at water temperatures around 80. As others have said, there will be much less in the way of life than Florida, and you can expect 30-50' vis. NC/SC diving definitely isn't bad and although the better wrecks are further off shore and deeper/require more skill, there are definitely wrecks you can dive without being an expert diver.

 

[drrich2]

If North Carolina is also in your sights, for this trip or perhaps a future one, you can take a look at my August 2015 Morehead City, NC trip report. I researched the destination and a lot of people contributed info. that helped me, and I wrote it up as sort of an amateur guide to planning a dive trip there. Temp.s vary seasonally and also inshore vs. offshore wrecks. Boat rides to offshore wrecks can be long. It was wreck diving, not reef. I was content with the amount of life. The big draw for me in heading to North Carolina was the opportunity to dive with sand tiger sharks on some offshore wrecks, up close, and I got to do that.

I don't read much about people diving with the sand tiger sharks out of South Carolina; be interesting to see if anyone knows different.

Water was warm when I went to N.C.; IIRC my trip report includes an expandable quoted section on content by Tortuga James, a local captain, who gave a seasonal breakdown for the area.

Richard.

 

[WinfieldNC]

Really depends on where you go in NC. I'm assuming that you would be going to Wilmington if you are planning on vacationing in SC. There are some really good wrecks offshore that are in the 80' range, but based on your experience the dive boats will probably want to take you to the Liberty Ship. It's only 3 miles offshore. Viz and currents vary by the day. You can expect water temps to be 72-75ish. Don't expect this wreck to be anything like the Vandenberg. I can guarantee you viz will be less, currents will probably be stronger and there's nowhere near the marine life. Just being honest. Steve post on here quite a bit, and he could probably tell you more about diving the Wilmington area. I think you could probably maximize your experience by hiring a guide/DM. Remember everyone does things different. Like expect to keep your fins on until you get to the swim platform. They design the latters differently than they do on FL dive boats. Most of the operators in NC that I know of are not putting a DM in the water unless they have been hired by someone on the boat.
I've never dove SC, so I couldn't tell you anything about it. I think you might want to call some dive operators down in SC and just tell them what you are looking to do. I'm sure they will be more than willing to figure something out for you.
Good luck and congrats on your anniversary. Charleston is an amazing town.

If diving out of Wilmington, NC there are a few wrecks in the 60 ft range that I personally like a lot better than the Liberty Ship. The Pocahontas, Old Dredge, and Stone Tug are all about 13 miles off shore and at about the same depth. Viz is typically going to be better than the Liberty Ship. This is a handy link Wrecks.