North Carolina Wreck Diving

[doug67]

Hey Dave that was a very cool story, hope the weather calms down so you can dive

[arcFlash]

Hi Dave, Maybe I'll have to catch a flight down and you can be my guide?  ;D

It's likely to be Oct but I should be able to make time if it works out for you.

[mcdiver]

Last weekend I dove with Charleston Scuba, we dove on some "ledges" about 12 miles out. The dive store calls these ledges because they are simply a raised portion of the ocean floor, typically 4-6' in height and have a length of approximately 100 yards to a 1/4 mile. You will find fish on these sites, but nothing like in south Florida. Last weekend we did 3 dives on these ledges, got boring pretty quick. The water off the coast of South Carolina has a greenish tint to it, so the pictures I took didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.

Waves last Saturday were in the 3-5' range, which tossed the boat around quite a bit. The boat is setup for 18 divers, but realistically a group of 6 divers is best, 8 at the max, we had 12 that day and it was very crowded, how he expects to get 18 divers on that boat is beyond me. The dive boat owner probably just wants to make as much $$ as he can for each trip, even if it means cramming as many on board as he can, but I will never dive on his boat again.

I sat toward the front of the boat, which made me the last one in the water. The divers in front of me insisted on putting on their fins as they waited, then tried to slide between the crowded seats and walk with their fins on as the boat was getting tossed in the waves. I thought I would never get in the water, I bet I had to wait 15 minutes for these clowns to get to the dive platforms to jump in. When it was finally my turn, the boat crew thanked me as I walked to the platform, then put my fins on and jumped in.

The Coast Guard rates each boat and puts a limit on how far the boats can go out from shore, this boat was rated to 25 miles. The waves got worse the further we were out, I bet 1/2 the divers were hanging over the edge puking sometime during the ride out, myself included, but the worse part was when we reached the dive destination and you had to wait 30 mintues while the anchor was being secured on the bottom, that is when most people became sick.