VA Beach Diving

[Michael Guerrero]

Recently moved to northern VA and have been calling around to see who operates over the winter months. Only place I've found so far is Olympus in NC. Anyone know of any other shops in the NC to MD area that operate in the winter? I'm googling ocean city MD now.

 

[WinfieldNC]

Recently moved to northern VA and have been calling around to see who operates over the winter months. Only place I've found so far is Olympus in NC. Anyone know of any other shops in the NC to MD area that operate in the winter? I'm googling ocean city MD now.

Discovery Diving in Beaufort, NC is running charters right now. Pretty sure they will run charters in the winter if they have enough divers. Discovery Diving - NC's Diving Headquarters - Discovery Diving of Beaufort, NC

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

Recently moved to northern VA and have been calling around to see who operates over the winter months. Only place I've found so far is Olympus in NC. Anyone know of any other shops in the NC to MD area that operate in the winter? I'm googling ocean city MD now.

I'm going out with Kent Island Scuba tomorrow and the 17th. I'm not really sure what to expect scenery and visibility wise (tomorrow will be my first time out with them), but I'm looking forward to getting out on the water.

https://www.kentislandscuba.com/

For a Northern Virginia person...it's not a bad drive out there (I checked out their shop my last trip up to that area).

 

[Michael Guerrero]

Any idea on the dive profile?

Please do post after the trip on how it went. That is definitely in range.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

Any idea on the dive profile?

Please do post after the trip on how it went. That is definitely in range.

I was told to expect a "shallow" dive. I took that to mean less than 40' of depth, but looking online at some of the artificial reefs in the area....it may be a good bit shallower than that. We'll see.

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

Any idea on the dive profile?

Please do post after the trip on how it went. That is definitely in range.

I posted up a summary here. The is my first dive report, so I tried to include what detail I thought was relevant. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to fill in any blanks.

Kent Island Scuba (MD): Local Boat Dive?

 

[Michael Guerrero]

Thanks. How long was the boat ride to the "site?" Also, what was the site? Was there some feature or actual sunken object you guys were on? Cost?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

Thanks. How long was the boat ride to the "site?" Also, what was the site? Was there some feature or actual sunken object you guys were on? Cost?

Thanks,
Mike

It was more than 30 minutes to the dive site (I didn't keep track of the exact time in transit). They said that the ride to that particular site (I'll have to check my log for the name of the island when I get home) was longer than some of the dive sites that they usually hit.

We left the dock around 1000 and pulled back to the dock around 1330. It sounded like they usually wrap-up by 1300 and tend to leave a bit earlier though.

We anchored in the vicinity of an artificial reef (there are several in the area). I could see the objects on the boat GPS when we pulled up and began the process of setting the anchor.

I never saw the wreck/reef though. Just a bunch of sand. They were clear ahead of time that visibility can be a coin toss.

I'll check back in and provide a report on tomorrow if I make it out with them. I had mishap on some iced over steps this morning and I'm not sure if I'll be up for lugging around dive gear first thing tomorrow morning. We'll see.


$60 for a single tank boat dive. They provide dive weights. You can rent anything else that you might need. They have a nice dive shop with plenty of good stuff in stock.

 

[RyanT]

New charter boat operation just started out of Virginia Beach. Looks promising.
Grand Adventure Virginia Beach -

Haven't been on this boat yet, but my LDS, Dive Services Inc. |Welcom to Dive Services Inc. Virginia Beach, says they run a nice operation.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

Mike. FYI...we dove near Tilghman Island on 11/11.