trheeltek once bubbled...
Thanks for the laugh, Tom - not too long ago I might not have known you were joking.
Marlin, you're right, most boats running rec. divers in NC don't want you doing deco/penetrations/etc. On those boats doubles aren't usually worth the hassle, esp. if you've got a high-capacity single with an H valve for redundancy.
But, as Tom implies, there are a fair number of captains who will let you charter their boat and do whatever you want. So find five friends, or if you can't then ask around here, and get a sixpack - it'll cost pretty much the same anyway, and you won't have some new OW diver from Connecticut doing his best to drown himself at 115'.
Geez, I hope everyone realized that I was joking!
You're right, the boats in question are the tourist boats. They don't want to allow advanced diving because they're making their money on tourists coming in from everywhere to dive "the graveyard". They can make more money by running trips to the edges of the graveyard and limit their liability by enforcing all these recreational rules. That's fine, most of the boats here are that way too. Those really are the right boats for most divers.
Most, but not all. NC is, as someone pointed out to me the other day (duh!), the Graveyard of the Atlantic, one of, if not the most, famous wreck diving destinations in the world. Advanced diving has been done here for as long as it's been done anywhere. The world's best wreck divers, folks like Gentile, Barnette, etc, go there on a regular basis. Do you think those guys are diving singles and staying within the NDL?
The tech boats are out there, you just have to ask around.
I know O-ring is a good and careful diver who is going about this the right way but the following is for others who might read this:
Now, with that said, before you get yourself on dives of "that" nature, be damn sure that you're up to it. Don't be doing deep air dives, shoving yourself into little holes in wrecks, pushing the envelope on deco, or anything of that nature. Just because you have the gear doesn't mean you can survive it's use. Anyone can buy a set of doubles, fill them with air, and a buy couple 40s and, if you have a nitrox card, probably talk someone into filling them with 50% and pure O2. That part is easy.
Without training however, your chances of sticking the wrong one in your mouth at depth are real high. You do it once, you tox, you die, no second chances. You go into a wreck without a line and/or proper penetration training, kick up the silt a bit, you're lost, again you die.
Anyone that wants to do technical diving should get 2 things: training and experience. Folks coming into it now have it easy, now-a-days technical training is widely available and even affordable. Take advantage of it.
Tom
