NC or FL?

[FishDiver]

I have a week or two in early fall for a dive trip. I'm thinking of North Carolina for sharks and wrecks or SE Florida and the Keys. I don't want to do any tech dives.

Comments on the quality and highlights of diving in both areas?

 

[robint]

well, if you go down to the Florida Forum and post there, you will get a few hundred responses about Fla.
If you want to read some trip reports about NC, go here:
A California diver does North Carolina - lions & tigers, oh my!
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ro...7076-diving-north-carolina-wrecks-part-i.html

I will be there this weekend, so if you want to wait a week or two, I should have a trip report with photos and videos, too.

robin

 

[lulubelle]

I have a week or two in early fall for a dive trip. I'm thinking of North Carolina for sharks and wrecks or SE Florida and the Keys. I don't want to do any tech dives.

Comments on the quality and highlights of diving in both areas?

We have serious sharkage. And it is very pleasant that time of year. Conditions are a bit unpredictable though. The good days are worth it.

Save Florida for a winter trip or when you are jonesin for some reef life. We can't give you lots of pretty, small, colorful reef fish.

 

[tomfcrist]

NC bar none.....

 

[PatW]

I was down in Key Largo for a week of diving just recently. The diving was excellent.

But it is generally reef diving. You see lots of nice tropicals, reef fish, a few sharks, eagle rays, sting rays and some good sized grouper. There is quite a bit of nice small stuff. Plus you have hard and soft corals and sponges. You can do all of this in 20' of water. You can go deeper. There are also quite a few highly regarded wreck dives.

As a biologist by training, the diversity of the coral reef community makes Key Largo a no brainer for me over North Carolina. But I am sure many people would much prefer NC. It all depends on what you want to do.

 

[randykiw]

My take on it is how much do you want to dive? Both places have good diving, but NC does not have as many tourist divers or dive operators so trips may get canceled if not enough people. Also the boat rides are much longer than in fl, so you may only get to do 2 dives a day. In key largo there are many dive ops going out twice a day. Plus they have a lot of artificial wrecks to dive there as well.

 

[lulubelle]

My take on it is how much do you want to dive? Both places have good diving, but NC does not have as many tourist divers or dive operators so trips may get canceled if not enough people. Also the boat rides are much longer than in fl, so you may only get to do 2 dives a day. In key largo there are many dive ops going out twice a day. Plus they have a lot of artificial wrecks to dive there as well.

This is summer...I can assure you that there are plenty of ops and the operators are filling up and going out...weather permitting. THAT is what can kill your dive plans, the weather. We've had a bad couple of weeks, with fully booked boats and eager divers having their dives cancelled. In the fringe season it often IS a matter of getting the boat filled.

True that the rides out are WAY long and painful at times. You can organize 3 tank days with the smaller operators if you wish, but it makes for a long day as we have to take real SIs here.

 

[Lee Taylor]

I have done a lot of diving offshore NC and southern FL and the Keys.

Your biggest differences are going to be sea conditions and duration of boat rides. NC = mostly shipwrecks, large sea life, more sharks, more schooling fish, anchor line descents. FL = huge reefs in some locations mostly tropicals, mixed of large sea life, drift diving.

 

[ManBearPig]

When is the calender month cut off for diving in NC? I was going to plan a trip there, but ended up in S Florida for work so will dive in Miami Saturday. Still want to hit NC this year though.