Out-Of-Towner Advice - Bald Head Island Area

[Skipraha]

Yes - It's another out-of-towner posting the generic "Where should I dive in the Bald Head Island Area?" post.

Doing a search on the boards, I saw the South Side Diving runs out of Southport. I have also seen posts about Cape Fear in Wilmington and aquatic safari (i think) out of Wilmington. Any comments on their services?

Any recommended dives that are realtively nearby that are suitable for a relative novice whose pretty comforatble (C-Card only, roughly 10 ocean dives, max depth 90ft) while intriguing an advanced dive buddy? Again, from my search it sounds like most of the wrecks are a good 2 hours out from shore and many are probably beyond my experience. Any closer to shore and or betters ones recommended.

Finally, is there any shore diving in the area?

Thanks for your advice.

Don

 

[flounderer]

Don,

Scuba South is out of Southport, really close to Bald Head. If you feel like driving 45 minutes you can get to Wilmington. I work on the Aquatic Safaris boats out of Wrightsville Beach.

When are you coming down this way? There are several wrecks that fit your needs. I'm going to recommend the Hyde and Markham. They both have a max depth of 85ft but most of the wreck is in 60-70ft of water. The big draw at those two wreck during the summer months are the Sand Tiger sharks. It takes our 48ft boat about an hour to get out to and anchor up on the wreck. Check out my site www.wilmingtondiving.com and my buddies site http://members.aol.com/fpsndiver/fpsn4.html . Let me know if you have any questions.

Pat

 

[herman]

Welcome to my area, I run my boat out of Southport a lot. Scuba South is a small operation and is somewhat iffy on when they are running out. IMO they are better left to the more experienced divers. My suggestion is to drive to Wilmington and go with either Aquatic Safari or Cape Fear Divers. Cape Fear may be a little closer if you can catch the Southport ferry in time. Both are good operations. You would do well to find a local buddy to go out with you. Your coast is pretty demanding at times and an experienced buddy is a big help. You might want to come over the NC board and see if you can pick up a buddy. Lots of us will dive for beer. When are you going to be down?
Most of the boats in this area leave pretty early. If you are staying on Bald Head, getting off the island in time might be a problem. I don't know how early the first BH ferry runs but you need to be on the mainland no later than 1 1/2-2 hrs before your dive op leaves. It's an hour drive from Southport to either AS or CFD and you want to leave yourself some extra time.

 

[Skipraha]

My Brother in law an I will be out there from Jult 5th through the 8th. We are with family in the Lake Norman area and thought to extend our vacation a bit. He used to live in Charlotte and has dove the coast several times. That being said the more local experience the better.

I get the impression that a lot of the charters in that area, are jsut that, charters. The DM will tell you about the site and then your on your own. Is this a correct?

Just curious so I can be in the right frame of mind.

BTW, Seeing shark would be way cool as it would be a first for me!

Don

 

[Skipraha]

BTW, I do most my diving on vacation in Mexico or in quarries in ohio . Your NC Site is great. i found it yesterday and thought that it was awesome for a local dive website. Kudos to you.

 

[flounderer]

You are correct that most operations do unguided dives. On the boat I work on you can hire a dive leader to give you a guided tour and an added level of saftey.

I hope my site helped you out.

Pat

 

[herman]

I'm not going to be down in that time frame, so I'm out. NC diving can be good bit more demanding than Coz or Fla. Our boat rides tend to be a lot longer, dives deeper and sea conditions rougher. Sea sickness is a real problem, I would suggest you consider some form of seasick med. NC charters are basically boat rides with a site briefing, no baby sitting of the divers like many of the Caribbean locations.