Considering a move to NC

[manni-yunk]

We are in the early stages of considering a move to NC some time in the next 0-24 months. I am an avid NJ diver, with a very well rigged dive boat, that is actually considering the loss of my crew as part of my moving decision?????


I know, I know - nuts.


If my wife decides she wants to do this - and I move down there, the 42 wesmac will be coming with me! We are looking in the Wilmington area.


I have dove NC before and loved it but what is the local dive crowd like? Is there a tech diving community? Is it mostly charter based or are there private boats as well. I am not really interested in running charters but will it take me several years to put together a qualified, safe, available crew for both shallow and deep diving.......or does the area have enough divers and networking opportunities that I will be able to find them?


Might stay up here, but really considering heading down!

 

[Steve_C]

Yes

To be more specific there are a number of private boats that run out of Wilmington, Some of the charters allow spearfishing but a lot of spear fishing is done off private boats.

There are a lot of experienced divers around the Wilmington area. There are also a lot of divers within a 2 hour drive of Wilmington (that gets you to Raleigh).

There are a number of tech divers. I would think that getting a good crew for the recreational stuff should not take long. A tech crew might take a bit longer. In addition to scuba board, there is also NC Divers.com which is not that active these days but has a lot of experienced lurkers, and RAD (Raleigh Area Divers) on facebook which has a number of tech divers in it.

In Wilmington Aquatic Safaris teaching a full range of tech and once in a while runs a tech charter. They might be a place to start making contacts.

Not sure your definition of tech but I have seen a number of rebreather divers around.

 

[tbone1004]

What Steve said, all right. You'd find a lot of dive buddies if you weren't chartering and there is good guys for crews as well

 

[divad]

I have an uncle with a house (or condo?) and boat slip off the back porch for sale or rent in Willmington.

 

[tomfcrist]

There are many tech divers down there.

As far as finding a crew you trust to mate on the boat for charters, that is always difficult. It has so much to do with comfort level and experience with each other. I think you will find that the tech crowd is the pool you will be drawing from, so here is my 2 cents.

Come down, start diving privately with invitations to divers you hear about locally or via the forums. Get to know them, and ask them to mate for you if you are comfortable with them. I'd love to help, but I'm 4 hrs away.

 

[manni-yunk]

There are many tech divers down there.

As far as finding a crew you trust to mate on the boat for charters, that is always difficult. It has so much to do with comfort level and experience with each other. I think you will find that the tech crowd is the pool you will be drawing from, so here is my 2 cents.

Come down, start diving privately with invitations to divers you hear about locally or via the forums. Get to know them, and ask them to mate for you if you are comfortable with them. I'd love to help, but I'm 4 hrs away.

I want to clarify something. Im would not be looking for crew for charters - but crew for private trips. Mus tbe a nomen clatur thing but up here I refer to my "regular" guys and gals as my crew.

I have a solid 4-6 guys that come on almost every trip - then a group of 10 others that gets invited when room is available. I would be looking to make a similar group down there if we move.


Im very glad to hear that there are tech divers around. I think we are going down to look at houses in a month or so. My wife has this idea every once in a while, sometimes she wants to go through with it - sometimes it passes over. At this point if she says lets go - My house will be listed that day! If she decides to stay here - Im fine with that as well!

 

[tomfcrist]

Ok that makes more sense. Shouldn't be too hard to find that kind of crowd locally as I said before. Lots of salt life water babies down there....and even more good diving.

 

[tbone1004]

if that's the case there are plenty of tech divers that would gladly want to hook up with you. Shouldn't be too hard to find some good drinking buddies that happen to be good divers, that's at least my criteria..... If I don't want to grab a beer with you after the dive, I would prefer to not dive with you, no matter how good you are

 

[victorzamora]

If you do move down, shoot a brother a line! I'm a few hours away but always need an excuse to dive more of the salty stuff!

On to your question, though: these are my assumptions and I'd love to be corrected if wrong. it seems like most of the nc divers are at least "almost" tech. The tech divers seem to be consistently good. The diving that's most accessible means typically day trips as opposed to overnight. It also typically isn't a ton of deco, given the depths involved are almost always air depths.

 

[manni-yunk]

If I don't want to grab a beer with you after the dive, I would prefer to not dive with you, no matter how good you are

Agreed 100%. Everyone we dive with is fun to hang out with for 6-12 hours at a time or we dont invite them back!!!