OBX Dive Center, Nags Head - Good Experience

[Cixelsyd]

I just got back from a week in the Outer Banks and got a few days of diving in while I was there. We were staying in Southern Shores, on the North end of the islands, so the only real feasible dive shop in the area was OBX Dive Center out of Nags Head. I thought I'd pass along my experience to others who might be considering a trip with them. Overall, I had an excellent trip. Here is how it went:

The shop is in Nags Head, about a 25 minute drive from the docks in Wanchese, where the boat leaves from at 7am each morning. I was renting gear, so they had me stop by the afternoon on the day before my dives to pick up equipment and tanks to take to the dock the next morning. This is where things got a bit goofy (my fault). After checking the functionality of all the equipment in the shop, I packed it all up and headed home for the night. It was only after the shop closed for the night and I was doing one final check of my equipment before heading to bed that I realized I had forgotten to put the wetsuit in the gear bag when I left the shop. Needless to say, I was pissed at myself for not doing one final count before heading out of the shop, but there was nothing I could do about it that night. I got up early the next morning and tried to swing by the shop to see if anyone was there, but no luck. They didn't open for another two hours. I could see the suit draped over the back of the chair I was sitting on to pack my stuff, but a locked door stood between me and the suit. I almost gave up for the day, but figured I'd make the extra drive out to the boat just to see what options I had, if any.

When I got to the boat, I spoke with a dive master and she confirmed that there was no way you could do the dive without a suit (surface temps were in the 70s, but bottom temps were mid-50s) and told me they didn't keep any spares on the boat. However, she then talked to the shop owner, Bill McDermott, who happened to be on board that day acting as an extra divemaster. He asked me how tall I was and how much I weighed and then told me I could borrow his suit for the day if I didn't mind waiting for him to use it to set the anchor and guideline first. He literally gave me the suit off his back! It fit perfectly, and I was able to get a great day of diving in that I would have missed out on otherwise.

The employees on board (Bill and two additional divemasters) were all extremely professional and very safety conscious. They went over dive briefings multiple times on the way out to the dive site and kept stressing safety to the divers throughout the day, even going so far as to ask each buddy pair what their plan was for the dives before the first divers got into the water. I noticed they also made note of who had DAN insurance among the divers, just in case it was needed. I felt like we were in good hands the whole time. It was a fun time, but they kept it very professional.

One other thing I noticed that was different from some other boats I've been on was that everyone on board was responsible for setting up their own gear and for changing their own tanks between dives. There was no hand holding or coddling of the divers. The divemasters didn't touch your gear except to double check it before letting you in the water. I prefer this, since I know my gear is set up right if I'm the one doing it and the whole process contributed to the overall accountability they seemed to be tryng to foster on board.

The dive boat is nothing impressive, but it was functional, comfortable, and got the job done. They did provide free water to everyone and even cooked us hotdogs during the surface interval. Quite a nice touch.

Finally, the dives: We made two dives on the Zane Grey on Monday and I was quite impressed. This was my first non-carribbean dive, so I didn't know what to expect going down. The colors were quite muted, but once your eyes adjusted, it was an incredible sight. The wreck is enormous (400+ feet) and there is a lot of life all over it. On the second day, we were scheduled to dive the Advance, but, unfortunately, the currents kicked up and made it undivable once we got out there. We tried the Zane Grey again to see if it was better, but it too had a very strong current. The boat sent a DM down to get the anchor unstuck on the second site and when he came back up, he said he was holding onto the anchor line like a flag on a flag pole on the way down. They decided it was just too dangerous to put divers in the water, so we headed back to port.

Overall, I had a good experience and would give the folks at OBX Dice Center a recommendation.

[deepair]

I got my first OW certification at OBX dive center. McDermott also did my IANTD Inst. crossover. He runs a great operation, and Bill Walker (one of his DMs), also does some shore dives that at times can also be great dives. It honestly did not surprise me to hear that Bill gave you the wetsuit off his back.

[Drewski]

Ah that Bill McDermott guy, started diving with him in 1984... We used to hang out with an OLD instructor and B-52 pilot by the name of Jerry Putnam.



Here's a BLAST from the past. Cave diving from 1985. In the notes, "Bill" is Bill McDermott...

[seanmcfarland]

A small group of us needed to splash this weekend so I started making some calls. Although I have used many operations up and down the East Coast, I have never dove with OBX Dive Center, but we will be trying them out on Saturday (Zane Gray) and Sunday (U-85). Thanks for the recomendation, I will try and hop on next week to add my two cents.

[Starcruiser]

Did a few dives with OBX about two years ago and had a great time, very professional and accommodating. You'll have a great dive on the U-85, as long as the weather cooperates.

[seanmcfarland]

I meant to provide my thoughts on OBX Dive Center several months ago, but time has slipped away. We did make it down to dive with them and were able to get out both days. The viz on the Zane Grey was pretty bad but it was much better on the U-85 the next day. The dive shop was professional and very accommodating. We showed up with nitrox mixes that were a little rich for the sites and the shop bled them down and give us appropriate fills prior to the dives (for a cost of course). We had a piece or two of gear that needed to be 'tweaked' and they gave us access to their service area.

On the boat, it was clear that safety was paramount. Not only do they have a DAN tag system, they actually use it. Roll calls were done following each dive. The only negative thing I could say is that the level of professionalism on the boat made it seem like there was a lack of a 'fun' factor. This led my buddy to make the lighthearted comment to one of the staff, "it's only diving, you are allowed to smile". I would also comment it was a little colder than the Southern OBX sites. The sites we went to were definitely in the Labrador currents as opposed to the Gulf Stream. I know why there were dry suit dives in August!

All in all I enjoyed the operation and the boat and would recommend it to anyone looking to dive the northern OBX sites. Thanks for a great diving weekend!

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