Trip Report Morehead City with Olympus Dive Center Aug. 9-13, 2015 Trip report

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I don't know whether they allow solo or not. I'm solo certified, but the area and workflow were new to me so I didn't pursue it.

OK but you stated in your report they didn't support solo diving. My experience with them says otherwise and it might be good to retract that statement if you're not sure.
 
It could be that they don't allow it on Rec charters, but do allow it on Tech charters, too. I know that Olympus does not allow mixed diving on the same boat. I.e. Rec charter divers are not allowed to do deco dives. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they don't allow solo on those, either. It also wouldn't surprise me if they do allow solo on their Tech charters.
 
Webdivebc:

Thanks for pointing that out. I can't recall offhand what basis I used for that, but a look at my emails shows this piece of an email from one of the staff, Nic Fuller:

"2) We do not put a guide for the entire charter into the water. Our mate does dive in with anchor, and reports conditions back to the boat before divers enter the water. If people would like to have a guide, they can hire a divemaster from the shop to be a personal guide, and this is $35 per person. Otherwise, we make sure everyone has a buddy, and make rounds around the boat making sure everyone is squared away."

Whether I inferred it from that (I'd mentioned having an SDI Solo cert., amongst others) or elsewhere I sadly can't recall.

I'm a big fan of the solo option and hope they still have it. Thanks again.

Richard.
 
Webdivebc:

Thanks for pointing that out. I can't recall offhand what basis I used for that, but a look at my emails shows this piece of an email from one of the staff, Nic Fuller:

"2) We do not put a guide for the entire charter into the water. Our mate does dive in with anchor, and reports conditions back to the boat before divers enter the water. If people would like to have a guide, they can hire a divemaster from the shop to be a personal guide, and this is $35 per person. Otherwise, we make sure everyone has a buddy, and make rounds around the boat making sure everyone is squared away."

Whether I inferred it from that (I'd mentioned having an SDI Solo cert., amongst others) or elsewhere I sadly can't recall.

I'm a big fan of the solo option and hope they still have it. Thanks again.

Richard.

They are after all a TDI/SDI facility. It would be a shame if they disallowed the use of one particular cert that SDI was once unique for.
 
I just sent an e-mail to them linking to this thread & asking about the subject, so hopefully we'll hear back an official stance.

Richard.
 
I just got this e-mail.

Hi Richard,

I am sorry for the delayed response. We do not allow solo diving, we require a buddy for each dive.

Thanks,

Nic Fuller
Olympus Dive Center
“The Better Way to Dive North Carolina”
Phone (252) 726-9432
www.olympusdiving.com
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @OlympusdivingNC

Now we know the current official stance.

Richard.
 
I just got this e-mail.



Now we know the current official stance.

Richard.

I am very sorry to hear that. When my son got seasick on a trip and wanted to sit out a dive I was faced with diving solo or joining a rather dubious insta-buddy, I chose the former. They were more progressive when George was alive.

Thank you for following up on that. Great trip report.
 
Don't know about that operator but sometimes when the crew knows you well and you have some sort of professional status exceptions get made. I have seen that more than once with different operators. In fact, it can vary with the crew of the same op.
 
Great report and thnx for sharing. The 15 minute boat rides here in the Keys have me spoiled.
 
There are shorter rides to inshore sites out of Wilmington but the viz is less (usually) and they are less dramatic. Dredge/Stone are about an hour. I am running down tomorrow for a lib ship (Alexander Ramsay0 dive in the afternoon. Boat ride is about 15 minutes. Depth is 50 ft. Vis can be bad to 30 ft but beats a quarry and there is a fair amount of fish life.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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