NC, SC, GA diving suggestions

[roguetrixie]

Hi All,

pretty new to diving, I live in Ohio and hate cold water so that leaves me with vacation diving. So this year my hubby and I are trying to figure out where to vacation. Of course diving is a must for me. Any suggestions for good spots along the atlantic coast? I've done drift dives in Ft. Lauderdale and did not like it. Dove in Grand Bahama, loved it and loved Grand Cayman.

Hubby wants to go to NC, SC or GA. He can't stand Florida for some reason.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! :vintagediver:

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board.
The 2 main areas for diving in NC are in the Morehead City area and the Wilmington area. There are others but these are the main 2. Both have several operators to choose from. Looking at your experience you need to be clear with your dive op that you are a new diver and you need to be very selective with your dive site choices. NC diving is unlike any of the spots you have listed above. Our wrecks tend to be farther off shore, deeper and the boat rides more challenging. 2+ hr rides in 4 to 6 ft seas are common and most of our wrecks are 80 ft or greater. We do not put DMs in the water, you are on your own here. There is no hand holding- you set up your own gear and do your own dive. Also have a plan B for other things to do, it is fairly common for us to call dives due to rough water conditions. I am not trying to trash NC diving, far from it, we have some of the greatest wreck diving in the world and the wrecks are covered in marine life but too often we see divers who have dove in the places you list and expect the same type diving here. We have days where the water is glass flat and gin clear but you need to be prepaired for rough seas and low vis. It can be a bad experience if you are expecting similar diving to Fla or the Caribbean and are not prepared for the riggers of our coast.

 

[treywilly]

Get a dry suit, check the quarries you need more dives for East coast. I just hit 50 and haven't did the Jersey coast. I just got my Dry suit and now I'm ready!!!
Happy Diving

 

[treywilly]

Ft lauderdale and the Keyes diving are different go down to Key Largo and dive before you say you hate Florida diving. Not every dive is going to be like Grand Bahamas or Grand Cayman. Try diving in NJ some dives are good some are bad and that can change with a surface interval.

 

[Lee Taylor]

Many of the dive operations in the southeast head for the eastern coast of southern Florida in the March and April time frame. The reason for this is the "Gulf Stream". The Gulf Steam is a large underwater river. It comes close to the USA coast in the eastern southern Florida area. If you research the ocean water temperatures (use NOAA) of the east coast you will see a significant temperature difference in the areas fed by the Gulf Stream. The GS basically comes up the coast and then takes a right hand turn at Jupiter Florida and heads out to sea. I noticed the ocean water temperature in Miami the other day was 74 degrees.

 

[treywilly]

here is water Florida has to offer
Florida Scuba Diving

 

[roguetrixie]

Ft lauderdale and the Keyes diving are different go down to Key Largo and dive before you say you hate Florida diving. Not every dive is going to be like Grand Bahamas or Grand Cayman. Try diving in NJ some dives are good some are bad and that can change with a surface interval.

I loved keys diving, but by non-diving hubby doesn't want to go there. I even showed him some really nice rental condos in Largo. I may win this battle yet! Thanks you guys for all your help!

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

The diving offshore Georgia is considered AOW dives. Visibility on average is about 30' and a great day is about 60'. The visibility can change for the worse rather quickly. The boat ride out is about 1 1/2 hrs. There is a current out there and we time the dives with the tides. We do anchor in to most of the dive sites so knowing how to work an anchor line and being able to navigate to and from it is crucial. Average seas are 2-4'. Water temps right now are in the low 60's but do get in the 70's in the next month or so. We do have DM's on some of our charters, but we expect all divers to have good boat experience and to be honest with their skills. This is definitely not the place to dive outside your skill level. I have some friends who do not like Florida, but they do not dive. I would definitely have a heart to heart with hubby. If he insists vacationing in the Carolinas or Georgia, then I would not do any diving offshore there. Just remember, dive safe, there are lots of great dives in your future and you can always dive another day.

Carolyn:shark2:

 

[joy pedersen]

I so agree with CArolyn about toffshore Georgia. It can be a challange and if you don't like current it is probably not for you.

I love Key Largo and Islamorada. fantastic sites and easy dives abound in these areas.
Good luck getting Hubby to see things your way.

 

[divinlion]

Hey NC divers I am looking for some suggestions on who to dive with in the Camp LeJeune area. My son is stationed there and I try to get down to visit every couple months. I dive regularly NJ long boat rides and poor vis are a great day on the water up here. I have dove with Coastal out of little River but that's a long drive from Jacksonville. I'd Like to do some hunting but site seeing is OK too. thanks for any info.
The Divinlion