Myrtle Beach SC Discover SCUBA in Open Water

[gitmo234]

Hello,

I have my PADI AOW cert and Nitrox and I'm heading to Myrtle Beach SC next week. I cant find a dive shop that offers it, so I wanted to post here. I'm looking for an instructor who can/is willing to offer a discover scuba course including the diving in open water.

That can be the ocean, lake or a spring. I'm bringing my girlfriend and her cousin with me, neither of which have a cert or experience. So I'd like to do a dive along with their open water DSD course.

If someone can offer it, It'd be a paid thing of course.

 

[diversteve]

The two PADI shops, Coastal Scuba and Express Watersports only offer it in a pool as you've likely found out. Nu Horizons - the SSI shop - does have this on their website - but they also have a deep pool on-site so I'm guessing they're the same. http://www.southcarolinadive.com/tryscuba.html

Try Scuba is an orientation to diving that allows non-divers to experience diving in a pool or open water, under the direct supervision of a dive leader, with a minimal amount of instruction and classroom time.

Maybe call Express, they do some shallow (25-40') sandy bottom wreck dives so it might be possible you could pay for a private Instructor to do a DSD at one of them. At least you'd have something to look at also. Myrtle Beach is flat and sandy for a long way out so I don't think anybody shore dives there.

If there's any other dive operators in Myrtle Beach, I've never found them.

You're not very far from Wilmington, NC also - just over an hour drive - Scuba Now might be one option there.

 

[cigarsmoker]

Just my thought....but ocean diving off coast of Myrtle Beach may not be the best this time of year for discover students. Conditions can drastically change very quickly there. Based on my experience, even as a newer diver this will be more about skill vs. exploring your surroundings.

 

[al248005]

Agree with Cigar,ocean conditions there can change very very rapidly. Also the shallow (inshore art reefs) dive spots usually have around 5-10 ft viz so being completely new to it I think could be a very dangerous idea. I dove on an inshore reef last month with them and viz at its best spot was 5 ft max. The conditions above and below were not very good at all. Storming on topside with pretty good swells. Almost everyone on the boat got sick and didn't do their second dive. Below at depth like I said viz was not great at all. You pretty much stayed on the lines at all time and didn't think about going away from them.