NC Dive Charters

[mjgoodman]

Delete.

 

[lv2dive]

This is less for the OP and more for whoever may read this thread in the future... it *is* possible... not even difficult... to do three dives a day IF you go the charter route, plan ahead and leave early. I had a group of six that went out with Tortuga Charters over Memorial Day - we did 2 offshore and one inshore wreck each day for three days. It was, quite literally, the best three days of NC diving I've ever experienced (and my parents LIVE in MHC!) Having your own charter where you make your own decisions about where you are going is NICE.

 

[Rand]

What are peoples favorite dive sites?

My favorite wreck there is the Spar. It is a purposely sunk Coast Guard buoy tender that is intact, easy to penetrate, and always has lots of sand tigers on it. Usually good viz too.

The U-352 is good to do at least once, but for me it is kind of a one-time dive to say you did it. The few times I've gone have been pretty short dives due to the depth with pretty strong current.

For inshore, check out the Indra--very open (others have scootered through it) and the Ashkabad. Ashkabad is broken up, but lots of stuff to look under.

 

[tddfleming]

I can share with you my very limited experience there. We dove both the Indra and Hutton. Indra twice in the same weekend. All three of us liked the Hutton much better. Viz was better. Not intacted but still more interesting.

 

[Jaydubya]

What are peoples favorite dive sites?

I've been on most of the popular wrecks in Onslow Bay (Cape Lookout south to Cape Fear). They all have something to offer and are worth diving.

Out of MHC, for someone with a moderate amount of experience I think the Spar is and excellent intro to NC diving. It's not as far from the inlet as some of the others, visibility is generally good, the wreck is small, upright and intact, and thus easy to navigate. Plus the sharks like being there. My all time favorite out of MHC was the Naeco.

The boats in MHC seldom designate which wrecks they are headed to, so you will get whatever you get. But if you dive for 3 days, you will probably end up on the Spar at least once since it's incredibly popular.

Out of Wilmington the rough equivalent of the Spar is the Hyde. From Wilmington the wrecks are usually designated ahead of time, but detours to the Hyde are not uncommon when offshore conditions are not good. My favorites out of the Wilmington area have been the Cassimer and the Megaladon ledge (the Meg ledge is also my least favorite- I didn't find a tooth that day and had also had a wing failure).

There are also a lot of great blue water wrecks between Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras but I haven't dived on any of those yet (it's a 5 hour drive to Hatteras for me). In order to change that I've scheduled 6 days of diving out of Hatteras this year. FTR, it would be cheaper per dive to fly to Bonaire.

North of Hatteras and on to Virginia Beach the environment changes as the Gulf Stream heads off toward Britain and the Labrador current begins to dominate. The wrecks are still good but the water becomes colder and greener. The grouper give way to tautog and the lobster start to grow claws intead of spines.

 

[ScubaSam]

This is less for the OP and more for whoever may read this thread in the future... it *is* possible... not even difficult... to do three dives a day IF you go the charter route, plan ahead and leave early. I had a group of six that went out with Tortuga Charters over Memorial Day - we did 2 offshore and one inshore wreck each day for three days. It was, quite literally, the best three days of NC diving I've ever experienced (and my parents LIVE in MHC!) Having your own charter where you make your own decisions about where you are going is NICE.

Cushion in some days in case conditions are so bad that the Capt deems it unsafe to go out.

Last year I did two trips to NC and both times I went with Tortuga Charters, a six-pack so the divers dictated the sites if conditions were safe.

First time was in May and the conditions were as rough as Herman posted, one day 4 out of the 7 people on the boat threw up. Most of the divers were on some form of seasickness meds. We dove five straight days without getting blown out in those rough conditions.

In Sept, we had the totally opposite conditions, flat calm seas out to and back from the offshore wrecks, warm 80 degree blue tropical water with 70 ft viz but got blown out the very next day when the conditions turned unsafe to continue offshore.

I dove my 7mm both trips and was fine. I put a boat coat when the boat was motoring out to and back from the wrecks.

 

[AfterDark]

I just got back from 5 days 9 dives on 8 wrecks one twice. I used Olympus Dive Charters. A A1 class operation. The staff is top notch and know their stuff both on and off the boat. They aim to please, just tell them what you want or don't want them to do for you and it's done or not. The boats are comfortable and clean. Even the smaller boat the, Thomas Ed was roomy enough for 6 divers and 2 crew. We had beautiful weather and mostly calm waters. I'm getting my logs and pics together for a trip report. More to come.

 

[tddfleming]

Jordan:

Looking forward to your report. Nice pic! Need to know, did you get in your night dive and/or Radio Island dive?

Desi

 

[Eastbayfe]

The dive operators I’ve contacted all have spots open on their boats over the 4th. I’m leaning towards either Olympus and Discovery, but I’ll look into the other recommended operators. Look forward to diving with everyone down the road.
What are peoples favorite dive sites?

I hope you have great conditions and diving. Hard to beat the selection of sites. The sub is worth a number of dives if you care to study it more carefully. The Caribsea is one of my favorites but others like the Spar, Shurz and Papoose are also nice dives. You can't beat the Naeco but it's deeper at 140'. Inshore I prefer the Hutton (Ario). Enjoy!

 

[Diver4121]

I've dove most of the wrecks off Morehead over the last few years and agree with the info listed by the previous posters. However, one under-rated wreck (IMO) that is not dived often is the Aeolus. I usually don't care much for the purpose-sunk wrecks but this one was tossed around in a storm and split in two. It has some large openings making penetration very easy - and there is a very cool huge "catherdal-like" room midship that was used to hall-up undersea cable for repairs. The Olympus web site listed the wreck as a tanker but that is not correct - she started life as an "attack cargo vessel" (whatever that means) and was converted into a cable repair ship. The U-boat is a must of course! If anyone is interested in some Hatteras diving, I am running a charter August 6/7 and have 2 spots still open.