Charleston, SC Diving

[Sheepdog]

Looking for a good dive op near Charleston, SC. I am going to visit my parents in Columbia, SC for a couple weeks in August and I was thinking about taking a day or two and do some diving. Whose got good operators and operators that should be avoided.

 

[Christopher Chambers]

Hi, Sheepdog,

Try to find some dive buddies in the area. One of my recent divers is from Charleston and there are GREAT places to find Megladon teeth. Some of the spots are a 3 mile boat ride (out to the reef). But, apparently, the viz and teeth are amazing. I am more than willing to look into it more and try to hook you up with him if you're interested. Feel free to PM me anytime. I'd love to do some E Coast diving and, other than FL, Charleston sounded pretty damn awesome...to me, anyway.

 

[Sheepdog]

I haven't set my travels in stone yet, but it is looking like a strong possibility. I have never done the Meg teeth dives before, those could be cool. Most of my dives are wrecks off Ocean City MD with a few off Morehead City NC. I am always looking for new dive partners! Any good diving out in Seattle? I was stationed at Ft Lewis but that was before I got into diving.

 

[diversteve]

In Charleston I believe the choice is either Charleston Scuba or Low Country Scuba.

I've been to CS and planned to dive with them but were cancelled by weather the only day we could go. Seemed like a decent operation - they called us early that morning to advise that they had to cancel. They're in south Charleston - over the bridge. - Charleston Scuba - Full Service PADI 5-Star IDC

Low Country would be slightly closer from Columbia - they're in Mt. Pleasant. Lowcountry Scuba Online

It's mostly wreck diving although there are some ledges. The ledges are maybe 10-12' tall and jut out of the sandy bottom so they attract fish. But not like the schools around the wrecks in my observation. The farther out you go the better the vis also.

We dove with and I recommend Express Watersports in Murrell's Inlet - south of Myrtle Beach - but that would add an hour to your drive. The Litchfield Beach/Murrells Inlet area is pretty nice if you wanted to overnight - it's a resort destination south of MB.

The vis in the Low Country videos is pretty much how it looked off Murrell's Inlet - sandy bottom broken up by an occasional wreck or ledge. On the ride out (an hour+) I asked the DM what was under the boat? "Sand and more sand"...

There's also the blackwater teeth dives in the Cooper River. I may be incorrect but I thought that's where the teeth are found - not out at sea. The Cooper is tannic so vis is about what's shown here: Cooper River Dive Charters - CooperRiverDiving.com Also I believe there may be gators. I know next to nothing about this.

In August the water is probably going to be really warm. We saw 84-85^o at 60' over the 4th of July. The only reason for a skin/light suit might be the Jellies - at one site there was a lot of them.

 

[Sheepdog]

Thanks for the report! I will research those two operators and look into the Cooper River teeth dive. I am a wreck fan but teeth and artifacts caught my interest on the Cooper River... decisions... decisions...

 

[kwinter]

When are you going, Sheepdog? I will be in Charleston for a few days around 8/20 or so. I wasn't planning to dive since it didn't look exciting, but plans could change.

 

[tennjay]

CS seemed to be a good op. I went on a 2 dive trip with them last year. We went to Lead Weight Ledge, I think, which was kind of boring. The next dive was the Charleston 60 which I reallly enjoyed. It is a sunk barge with a bunch of Polaris Missle balast tubes on it.

There is a scuba shop in North Columbia that might be able to give you some pointers.

 

[Sheepdog]

I could go to my parents as early as Aug 7th and remain there until Aug 26th, which means dives anytime in between. I am going to look at schedules and see who is going where, I am a sucker for a good natural wreck. If they are doing reefs or ledges I might go Cooper River, I would rather dig through the muck and look for things then look at reefs.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

My son and I dove in June with Charleston Scuba on 2 wreck dives - Charleston 60 and Freddy Day 50 foot. We also went with Cooper River Dive Charters - make sure you apply for the Hobby license - it is required to dive for the teeth - easy to fill out but you need the application and all...
The Dark Water is seriously dark - this is not a night dive this is a black out dive - very fun but you need to be ready for vis to be 6 inches and that is no joke. My son and I were side by side and if he swung the dive light away from me - it was complete darkness and of course the current makes it fun - I would casually reach out and touch him to make sure he was still there. Take a screwdriver (8 to 10 inch) to drive into the bottom - again no joke - this keeps you in one spot while the current pulls at you - and you use the flashlight and a catch bag for the teeth, bones and pottery. Best dive we did - but you need to be ready for low viz - alligators are in the river but they don't mess with you.

View attachment 189100

 

[Sheepdog]

That sounds like a lot of fun actually!! Low viz doesn't bother me, I am use to with with quarry dives and the occasional crappy viz in Ocean City, but coming back with artifiacts would make it worth it. Thanks for the tips on the Hobby permit and the screw driver.