Yeah down here, Hilton Head Island, SC, the day after Ernesto passed offshore here, the seas are 2-4, expected to calm to 1-2 this afternoon. Vis will probably be poor, but I plan to run out one evening next week to check things out.
Diving after a hurricane???
- Thread starter richtpe
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Fish Wrangler
Registered
dkktsunami:
Yep. As long as I can use my macro lens, I will be happy! See you there, Dave!
RAD Diver
Contributor
I think I would go for the trip instead of diving a quarry. The vis could be better than you think. We went to Cape Fear for a weekend & had terrible sea conditions & they talked about lousy vis & a big current. Well it was 40-50ft vis & I did free decents to the wreck.
What they consider bad is in relation to what they are used to. Where as I dive off the Va. Beach coast & consider 15-20ft vis good & must use the down line on every decent mostly. We were blown out the rest of the weekend by big seas 6-8ft, but had a good time anyway, as we hadnt been there previously.We also got a full refund, but had to be there every morning when they made the call. Normal SOP for dive ops.
We used Cape Fear Diving & would use them again. We had a 6 hour drive each way so Im not far off your situation.
What they consider bad is in relation to what they are used to. Where as I dive off the Va. Beach coast & consider 15-20ft vis good & must use the down line on every decent mostly. We were blown out the rest of the weekend by big seas 6-8ft, but had a good time anyway, as we hadnt been there previously.We also got a full refund, but had to be there every morning when they made the call. Normal SOP for dive ops.
We used Cape Fear Diving & would use them again. We had a 6 hour drive each way so Im not far off your situation.
Guba
Contributor
Hey, I'm a landlocked diver in North Central Texas. Translate that into Vis terms...usually about 6-10 feet. Anything greater than that is stellar! I say this only to reinforce the obvious...whatever the vis is after the storm, it could probably be worse!
Hope everyone weathers the storm well. Take care.
Hope everyone weathers the storm well. Take care.
StickItDeep
New
The day after the storm here in west palm beach... FLAT with 15-20 south west winds. I'll bet the vis sucks though. we are diving on Sunday. I'll keep you informed
Fish Wrangler
Registered
Went diving 30 some miles off the coast from Darien, GA, Sunday, (four days after Ernesto passed by offshore) on the wreck of the Liberty Ship "Nettleton" and had a blast. We had good diving and had really good company. Thanks, Dave!
Vis was pretty good the first dive (maybe 40 feet) and deteriorated a little on the second dive as the current picked up.
Sunny, with fairly flat seas. Temperature in the low 80s at depth. Saw lots of 'cudas, a nurse shark, an eel, several loggerhead turtles including a monster, juvenile blue angelfish, blennies, toadfish, soapfish and Atlantic spadefish. Our two friends saw Goliath groupers. On the way out we saw several dolphins. Wreck is entirely encrusted with growth.
Vis was pretty good the first dive (maybe 40 feet) and deteriorated a little on the second dive as the current picked up.
Sunny, with fairly flat seas. Temperature in the low 80s at depth. Saw lots of 'cudas, a nurse shark, an eel, several loggerhead turtles including a monster, juvenile blue angelfish, blennies, toadfish, soapfish and Atlantic spadefish. Our two friends saw Goliath groupers. On the way out we saw several dolphins. Wreck is entirely encrusted with growth.
realdiver7
Contributor
The viz was only about 5 ft., 26 miles offshore from Cape Fear in 90 ft. of water. That's before it got worse on the second dive. Seas were running only 2-4 ft. I have never heard of it being so bad in that area.
OP
richtpe
Registered
Well, we bagged the whole trip out to NC this weekend. My buddy called the dive ops owner last Friday to discuss the whole situation, and they are going to give us a credit for the day they did go out (and refund for the days they didnt). Just spoke with the shop and they didnt go out Friday or Saturday but did go out Sunday (apparently the seas were flat and it was sunny, but the viz blew). So Im happy to say that Olympus dive center is certainly living up to all the good things Ive heard about them. Im looking forward to getting out there sometime in the next month or two (barring another hurricane) to get a few days of diving in with them (Ill probably even buy a t-shirt or two from them now too 
).
).
CrawfishDiver
Contributor
glad things worked out for you
JanR
Contributor
My wife and I made the trip down this weekend hoping to beat the odds of the weather.
Saturday morning, up at 0500 at the docks at 0545 only to be told that the captain didn't think it would be wise to go out. Seas hadn't settled down he didn't think it would be worth it to go all the way out and not dive and/or dive and be disappointed/unsafe.
I actually really admired and respected the captain made that recommendation. After all, it was money out of his pocket but he was making the sensible call.
We regrouped the next morning (Sunday) at the same time and was heartened to see our group loading tanks and equipment onto dollies to wheel out to the boat. The captain recommended that we go out to the Papoose (the "old" Papoose, what is it now, the Hutton?).
The morning was fantastic. Sunny and very calm seas. At 0913 we made our first dive. Visibility was only 15 feet but we still found it rewarding. My wife saw a shark move into view and back out before she could get my attention with her wild "dorsal-fin-hand-on-forehead" signal. Several baracuda and multitudes of other fish on the wreck.
After a 1:41 SI, we went back in a little after 1100 and found the visibility was out to about 25 feet. We zigged while the other 4 divers on the boat zagged, so while we were oggling over a lion fish, they saw 3-4 sand tigers on their end of the wreck.
Great time. Great diving. Already planning to return.
Jan
Saturday morning, up at 0500 at the docks at 0545 only to be told that the captain didn't think it would be wise to go out. Seas hadn't settled down he didn't think it would be worth it to go all the way out and not dive and/or dive and be disappointed/unsafe.
I actually really admired and respected the captain made that recommendation. After all, it was money out of his pocket but he was making the sensible call.
We regrouped the next morning (Sunday) at the same time and was heartened to see our group loading tanks and equipment onto dollies to wheel out to the boat. The captain recommended that we go out to the Papoose (the "old" Papoose, what is it now, the Hutton?).
The morning was fantastic. Sunny and very calm seas. At 0913 we made our first dive. Visibility was only 15 feet but we still found it rewarding. My wife saw a shark move into view and back out before she could get my attention with her wild "dorsal-fin-hand-on-forehead" signal. Several baracuda and multitudes of other fish on the wreck.
After a 1:41 SI, we went back in a little after 1100 and found the visibility was out to about 25 feet. We zigged while the other 4 divers on the boat zagged, so while we were oggling over a lion fish, they saw 3-4 sand tigers on their end of the wreck.
Great time. Great diving. Already planning to return.
Jan
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