im thinking of going to virginia beach the first week in august. im a relatively inexperienced diver, and would be traveling with a friend who is uncertified, but would do a resort course. i was just wondering what sort of conditions va beach has and if it would be worth spending a day to do a dive?
virginia beach?
- Thread starter adeline
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Don Burke
Contributor
It is certainly worth diving if you are certified. I am driving a dive boat out of Norfolk tomorrow as a matter of fact.adeline:
I do not know of anyone around here who teaches a resort course.
I was there last w-end (fromTexas). I doubt it would be worth it for 1 day. Not sure if it would be good for a resort diver as it is low vis and cold 50 degree water. Enjoy the beach.
No one in VA Beach does a resort course that I know of. And you will want a thick wetsuit or a drysuit to dive off VA Beach anywhere deeper than 70 ft in August. Temps are looking better this year than last, but it will still be cold till the end of August.
Atlas has it right. I have dove off the VA beach 8-9 times this year. Highest temp on the bottom: 53....Best vis: 30 ft - but my last dive had 8ft.
If you decide you REALLY want to dive there, get your friend certified before you go, and dive the tower. It will be as warm as it gets, and the vis is usually pretty good there. Lynnhaven runs out there about every weekend.
BTW: They don't rent weights, and you must have dive insurance to get on the boat.
Atlas has it right. I have dove off the VA beach 8-9 times this year. Highest temp on the bottom: 53....Best vis: 30 ft - but my last dive had 8ft.
If you decide you REALLY want to dive there, get your friend certified before you go, and dive the tower. It will be as warm as it gets, and the vis is usually pretty good there. Lynnhaven runs out there about every weekend.
BTW: They don't rent weights, and you must have dive insurance to get on the boat.
Don Burke
Contributor
Wreck
Guest
hex92:
Anywhere deeper than 70? The thermocline usually starts around 25 feet on any of the common dive sites so anything below that will be cold. Above, it can be in 70's, below, I have not seen it above 54 yet since May and that includes the shallow Tower and the closer-to-shore Tiger wreck. Visibility was 45-50 feet last Saturday on the Brass Spike but by afternoon it had changed to the averagel 15 feet. I've seen it at 1 foot of viz before, but that's rare.
*Must* have dive insurance? Well, not really. <big grin> Lynnhaven (and the Flying Fish) do "reqiure" it although all they really have done is just ask which insurance you have. In reality though, all you have to do is say "DiveAssure" and give them a random alphanumeric character sting between 6-12 characters (if they even ask for an ID) since DiveAssure lets you pick your own IDs when you sign up and I doubt anyone would bother verifying one in their busy schedules - if they even can.
However, just remember, if you're not insured and you need to take some chamber rides, they cost around $1K each and can require 5 -10 of them on top of an expensive chopper ride to shore. If you can't handle that, I'd reccommend making sure you are covered for hyperbaric treatment and emergency airlifts by either your existing insurance policy or by additionally purchasing dive insurance.
Wreck:
I'm giving the best case scenario. In 2002 the water got pretty warm off VA Beach. In late august and early September of that year I logged some dives on the Tiger and Brass Spike that were in the 74-76F range. But the Morgan and other deeper wrecks were still pretty cold. I don't think we are going to see temperatures like that this year.
I haven't seen anything warmer than 54 either so far this summer. But I bought a drysuit in April, so I have been warm and dry on all my dives
DocRCH
Guest
Well, if you are up to a 3 hour car ride, you can drive down to Hatteras Island and go out there www.outerbanksdiving.com. The water will be significantly warmer 70's and the vis is usually 70+. There are a lot of tropical fish, sharks, rays and turtles.
Robert
Robert
Similar threads
