Little help near Myrtle Beach, SC

[OneBrightGator]

I am trying to help my cousin out and get her certified next week after her graduation and I'm trying to find out what my options are for doing checkout dives near Myrtle Beach (she attends Coastal Carolina University). Any help you guys could give would be awesome, especially a decent shop in the area.

 

[diversteve]

I am trying to help my cousin out and get her certified next week after her graduation and I'm trying to find out what my options are for doing checkout dives near Myrtle Beach (she attends Coastal Carolina University). Any help you guys could give would be awesome, especially a decent shop in the area.

The only dive op I know in Myrtle Beach is Coastal Scuba. They're involved with the Barracuda Alley site, a shallow man-made reef that's used for training. Link to more info is on their website: www.coastalscuba.com

20 mins. south of Myrtle Beach there's Express Watersports in Murrells Inlet. We dove with them a couple summers ago, they're good people. There were some beginners on one of our trips and they were very accommodating. There's a couple of shallow wrecks in the area they dive, one of them is in 40'(11 Mile Tugboat) Not really penetration diving, just swim-around, so safe and fun for a beginner. www.expresswatersports.com

Otherwise it's mostly sand in that area. There's a few ledges but I've never dove those.

 

[Nevis Diver]

I'll use this opportunity to talk about my dive experience with in the MB area.

I looked at three shops, Coastal in NMB, Scuba Express in Murrel's Inlet and Neptune. I never went to Neptune, visited Scuba Express and dove Barracuda Alley with Coastal. This was my first experience after being certified in an ocean dive with an operator by myself. Had no problem finding dive buddies. Barracuda Alley is okay especially for new divers, very efficient down line system.

Divemasters - The two guys on the boat were nice enough and set everyone's gear up except mine since I set mine up as soon as I was on the boat. Only once did I notice either of them checking for "OK" signs from the divers. Since it was my first dive I won't judge too much. They were there if anyone needed them but not too proactive in accomodating everyone. There was a couple that was asking folks to help them set up their gear (wow) and we did but I wondered why the DM's weren't aware of this and helping.

Boat - The boat was clean, ran smoothly had no fresh water to rinse, no offerings of drinking water, clean head, plenty of room. Excellent down line system.

Dive shop - Coastal's dive shop had a pretty obnoxous guy working in it and limited gear for sale. The guy working there was such an a__hole that I will probably never go there again and if I dive with them I'll just call for the reservation and go straight to the boat. This guy told me the water wou8ld be between 65 - 70 degrees and I said I would probably wear my 6.5 mm farmer john since it would be 2 dives and overcast. He forcefully told my I would be "hotter than hell" and that I was crazy if I didn't rent a 3 mm from them. Well, never having done this before I agreed. Geez, what an jerk. I and everyone else that wore their 3mm's were very cold. Most of the people didn't even do the second dive because they were literally shivering and some had blueish lips...this is not an exageration.

The dive shop at Scuba Express was just the oppposite. Very friendly, mucho gear and clothing, very nice folks working there...very, very, cool. Their boat was having a new motor put in or something and they weren't running whern I was there....too bad. When I go back to the area I will definitely give Scuba Express my business before Coastal. Plus, Murrel's Inlet is a much better place to spend a day than NMB and it's about as close from MB as Coastal.


If you have the ability to totally look out for yourself (not a bad idea anyway) Coastal seems okay. If you are with a group and are just using their boat and crew, use them. I don't know how Scuba Express is but if their professionalism and demeanor on the boat is anything like the shop I am sure it will be very pleasureable.

 

[Quetzal]

Post your question here. http://www.charlestondiving.com/nuke/html/
There is a diver on that board who is also an admin at the college. Gumshoe.

 

[dinky_diver]

I used Coastal for couple of wreck dives two weeks ago. The boat setup was good although crowded. This was a Sat morning with 23 divers on board. Seas were in the 6 foot range and this made the surface interval change outs a little tougher but deckhand helped me out more than once. The anchor pulled loose at the Jell wreck so that took some extra time. We got back about hour late and with the mad scramble to get our tour off and the next one on, I left my dive boots on board. Since I had some business down that way later in the week, I stopped by Coastal shop and told them about the lost boots. The owner went out to his truck and brought in his spares bag. We went through the bag and I found my boots! I thanked him and bought a Coastal Tshirt for his help.

 

[Gdon]

I'll use this opportunity to talk about my dive experience with in the MB area.

....
The dive shop at Scuba Express was just the oppposite. Very friendly, mucho gear and clothing, very nice folks working there...very, very, cool. Their boat was having a new motor put in or something and they weren't running whern I was there....too bad. When I go back to the area I will definitely give Scuba Express my business before Coastal. Plus, Murrel's Inlet is a much better place to spend a day than NMB and it's about as close from MB as Coastal.
.

Based on your comments I tried to e-mail them but their e-mail from on their web site is broken. Why people use the internet to get business and then don't even keep their site working I dont know. Another site had zero info on their schedual page for Aug. Maybe they are closed? Oh welll.. maybe I will call them on the phone, maybe I won't.

 

[ThatsMe]

must try nuhorizons www.southcarolinadive.com

 

[KidK9]

I used Coastal Scuba about 2 years ago. I enjoyed the operation, and there was only about 7 people on board. They were very patient and encouraged the "vacation" atmosphere.