Hilton Head

[tdp_121]

Hi All,

At the risk of someone telling me I don't know my geography, I'll ask this here. I plan to be in Hilton Head during the last week of June. Can anyone suggest some good Dive operations between Charleston SC and Savannah GA give or take ?

What should I expect for water temp that time of year and is the visibility good enough to bring the camera ?

I'm NAUI Advanced, Nitrox certified. I've been diving mostly in the 1000 Islands NY, Florida, Caribbean and South Pacific since the early 90's.

Thanks in advance.

Terry

 

[diversteve]

You might have better results posting in Deep Dixie. I've seen Hilton Head diving discussed there. It's pretty flat and sandy in that area. This guy lives there and dives from there on his own boat - he seems to be looking for other divers to go with. The last diveshop on Hilton Head closed about 4-5 years ago. We almost dove HH a couple years ago but went to Myrtle Beach instead.

Savannah is farther than it looks since there's no direct road. We used to go there for dinner, it's close to an hour to downtown. Google Earth puts it at 35mi/47min. each way. Closest place I know of for tanks.

You know it's about a 2 hr. drive to Charleston from Hilton Head right? There's Charleston Scuba - they do the wrecks out in the Gulf Stream as well as a few local sites. Seemed like a good outfit, we were set to dive with them until the weather blew us out.

 

[LindaBluedolphin]

Out of Savannah you can get charters to Gray's Reef, which I understand is wonderful, I have just never been able to get there (meaning even to Savannah to get there). As Steve suggested Deep Dixie Forum might be a better place to post. Capt. Bob is a regular poster there and I know he runs a charter. There is also TLC Charters.

 

[fireflock]

So I gather you understand that Hilton Head is no where near NC, but did you know there's a SB forum that covers Hilton Head (Deep Dixie Divers)? That would be the place to ask. http://www.scubaboard.com/forumdisplay.php?f=83

Hilton Head is not a popular destination for scuba. There is some black water fossil diving in the Cooper River near Charleston, and there is a place called the Gray's Reef NMS http://graysreef.noaa.gov/

I don't have any experience diving in that area, so I can't recommend any dive ops.

I hope that helps a little-

Rich

 

[tdp_121]

Thanks all for the help. Yeah, I was thinking of trying the Deep Dixie board also. An hour or two drive is not out of the question, so I'll look at a couple of the op's you recommend.

After looking at some of the posts here, I may drive down a couple of days early (from NW Pennsylvania) and look at the Aquatic Safaris in Wilmington. Looks like they do some nice dives and everyone seems positive about them here.

Thanks again
Terry

 

[fireflock]

After looking at some of the posts here, I may drive down a couple of days early (from NW Pennsylvania) and look at the Aquatic Safaris in Wilmington. Looks like they do some nice dives and everyone seems positive about them here.

Aquatic Safaris is very good. Try to get on the big boat if everything else is equal. Check out http://members.aol.com/fpsndiver/fpsn4.html and http://www.wilmingtondiving.com/ if you want to more about the area.

Rich

 

[tdp_121]

Thanks, Rich

The links are great. Looks like I'll have to plan to stop along the way. Now the only problem is finding something for my non-diver wife to do while I'm having fun.

Terry

 

[LindaBluedolphin]

Thanks, Rich

The links are great. Looks like I'll have to plan to stop along the way. Now the only problem is finding something for my non-diver wife to do while I'm having fun.

Terry

Wilmington is a great place, I am sure she will have no trouble finding something to do!

 

[fireflock]

Aquatic Safaris is very very close to Wrightsville Beach, which for some reason sounds a little better to non-divers than Wilmington. There is a ton of stuff to do in the area - shopping, beach resorts, gardens, aquarium, battleship, outdoor activities, spas, and so on.....even a serpentarium in case she's fond of snakes. In any case - that area has more for the non-diver (and the diver who's trip was blown out) than any place in NC.

Rich