Loking for a Dive in the Carolinas

[Scuba Do]

I will be in Savannah the week of April 30, driving back to Virginia. I would like to stop off someplace on Saturday, May 5 to dive. Probably somewhere in North or South Carolina. I am a fairly inexperienced diver (17 dives). I have enjoyed wreck dives, but have not had a trully deep dive experience. Any suggestions of places/outfits would be greatly appreciated.

 

[RAD Diver]

All that I have read would lead me to N.C. I have dove in Wilmington with Aquatic Safaries, & just a little further south with Cape Fear diving, both can get you to some fairly shallow, very good wreck sites such as the Hyde & Markham. Or go further north to the Morehead City/Beaufort area where I have dove with Discovery diving & Atlantis Charters. Atlantis runs a 6-pack although a large one is a nice op,& I will be diving with them again April 28/29, but you might have a hard time getting on with them by yourself. Discovery will take on walk ons pretty easily. They can take you to sites such as the Indra, but also go to some slightly deeper sites such as the U-352 or what is widely known as the Papoose(although it has been proven not to be). I have not dove with Olympus, but have never heard a bad thing about them & plenty of good has been spoken. Check out this http://www.nc-wreckdiving.com/shipwrecks.html to narrow your search & good luck, but I am sure your N.C. experience will be memorable.

 

[Walt Stearns]

April is pretty early for that area, but people do dive there that time of year. Expect water temps to be in the 60's on most sites inside of 30 miles from shore, further out you might find temps in the low 70's, if you are very lucky, the mid 70's.

I have put a far amount of information regarding North Carolina's Cyrstal Coast region (Morehead City) in Issue 2 of the Underwater Journal www.underwaterjournal.com

 

[herman]

Aquatic Safaris at Wrightsville beach http://www.aquaticsafaris.com/ and Cape Fear Divers at Carolina Beach http://www.capefeardivers.com/index/mn19389/pg36416 are a couple of good operations near Wilmington. Be sure to pick a dive that is suited to your level of experience. NC diving is great but it is more challenging than some other areas. Many of our wrecks tend to be a long way off shore and deep, not always a good choice for a new diver. We get glass slick days with zero current but others are 4 to 6ft seas and heavy current, you have to be prepared for them. Our dives ops, unlike some places, do not provide DMs or put limits on your diving. You get a good dive briefing and your own your own. You are a diver and responsible for your dive so making a plan and diving it is important. An experienced dive buddy is a big plus.

 

[fireflock]

All good advice so far. Since you mention May 5th, I can give a few suggestions about who has dives planned that you might enjoy and be comfortable on given your experience. Weather here has a way of canceling dives (wind) so keep that in mind. Aquatic Safaris has a trip going to the Liberty Ship (http://www.aquaticsafaris.com:8081/chAdmin/pubCharters.jsp) which is Ok for training but not really the best of what NC has to offer. If you give them a call you might be able to start a trip to some place like the John D. Gill or Hyde and Markham. It might have to be an afternoon trip, but they have 2 boats and can probably work something out.

CapeFearDivers (http://www.capefeardivers.com/index/Charter_schedule) is scheduled for the City of Houston which is around 100ft to the sand and a really Looooooong boat ride. My advice would be to skip that trip for your first NC dive. Their trip on Sunday (Hyde/Stone) would be a good one.

In the Morehead/Beaufort area, Olympus (http://olympusdiving.com/calendar.cfm?CALENDAR=TRUE) is scheduled for a big event at U-352. I would not recommend that particular dive, but they have 2 boats so you might call and see what else they have going.

Discovery had a group cancel on them for that weekend I think (http://discoverydiving.com/specdest.htm) so they have plenty of openings. It would make a nice combo if you could swing an Indra PM trip on Saturday followed by a regular day on Sunday.

I hope that helps more than confuses. There are a few more operators in the area (see the sticky in this forum) and you might be able to find something be calling them too.

Rich

 

[Cape Fear Divers]

I will be in Savannah the week of April 30, driving back to Virginia. I would like to stop off someplace on Saturday, May 5 to dive. Probably somewhere in North or South Carolina. I am a fairly inexperienced diver (17 dives). I have enjoyed wreck dives, but have not had a trully deep dive experience. Any suggestions of places/outfits would be greatly appreciated.

Scuba Do--I think you've received some good advice in the posts so far. If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call or drop me an email. (We are one of the operations recommended in some of the posts).

 

[Scuba Do]

Thanks everyone for your very helpful suggestions. I am looking forward to getting in a dive or two!

 

[DuckDiver]

Rich, Not sure if Jim changed the schedule since you posted or what but looks like Cape Fear is sceduled for the Markham and Pocohontas on Sat.

Scuba Do, Those two sites would probably fit what you are looking for. As long as the weather holds out I plan on making those dives since I will be in the area anyways.

 

[hunter991]

I have the trip running to the markham and the pocahantas on saturday, we are diving sunday as well. If you want in on the trip give me a call at 704-823-0501. We are going out with Cape fear. I have these dives planned for newer divers so we should all have a good time.

Brent

 

[fireflock]

Rich, Not sure if Jim changed the schedule since you posted or what but looks like Cape Fear is sceduled for the Markham and Pocohontas on Sat.

Scuba Do, Those two sites would probably fit what you are looking for. As long as the weather holds out I plan on making those dives since I will be in the area anyways.

I think the site did change, but I can't remember for sure. That is certainly a better trip in terms of what Scuba Do is looking for. I think I read that there was good water around the Hyde/Markham last week - I hope it stays that way for everyone.

Rich