North Carolina Wreck Diving

[mcdiver]

I am heading to South Carolina in about 2 weeks, compliments of the MN National Guard. I will be their for approximately 12 weeks and plan on doing some wreck diving.

I have spoken briefly with Olympus Dive Center in Morehead City, NC about their charters. Has anyone ever dove with these "guys"? If so, what can you tell me about the dive store? Good value? Good dive locations? etc., etc..

Dave Torry
St. Cloud

[doug67]

Wow, that is going to be very cool! That trip is on my must do list, I realy want to see the sandtiger sharks that call the wrecks home.

[jleech]

I've gone out with both Olympus and Discovery Scuba out of Morehead, the big boats can get a little bit crowded on the wrecks since there are about 20 divers. The Uboat is a bit small for 20. I prefer the 6 pack dive boats if you can get on to one of them.

These wrecks/sand tiger sharks make for some of my favorite dives.

I think the cost is about the same for both of these outfits. I'd recommend renting the aluminum 100 cuft tanks and use their 30% premixed nitrox at Olympus.

Jeff

[Austin]

I have dove with Olympus a couple times, most recently in June of this year.  Honest opinion - they are top notch.  Two tank, off shore (30 miles), wrecks will cost ya $150.00.  100 cf alum Nitrox runs about $18.00 per.

Myself and three others showed up for a weekend of diving, only to have crappy weather.  Capt. Bobby saw a break in the weather and took the 65' boat out with us and one student.  I am sure they lost money that trip but, they care about customer satisfaction.  I really can't say enough about Capt. Bobby, Nema, John, and the rest of the staff.

By the way, they have a "dive lodge" at $25.00 per night.  It sleeps about 30 people and is within walking distance of the shop and everything else.  Not the Westin but, better than a tent at Crosby!

[mcdiver]

Better then a tent at Crosby? Wow, that is hard to beat. Yes, I did see the bunkhouse rental for $25 and yes, I will stay there while I am in town.

The plan is to depart St. Cloud on Thursday, arrive in Morehead City on Saturday, dive Sunday & Monday, possibly Tuesday. I have to report to Fort Jackson in South Carolina on Friday morning.

I will be stationed at Fort Jackson until November 30th, having the weekends off, so I am hoping to get-over to Olympus a few more times prior to my departure.

[Shooter]

This guy runs a top notch charter. He has spots where the megaldon teeth are everywhere. Tell him you were referred by someone who is a friend of Capt. Fishkilla. You could probably bring back some pretty big bugs too  8)

[tullibee]

always check you foxhole for rattlesnakes before you hop in!  I did basic at Ft Jackson many moons ago - still have the rattlesnake tail, but it wasn't in a foxhole, it was just by a bush and in the way of our raking, so the MPs suggested we eliminate it... so we did! (although, since we weren't at a range and didn't have weapons with us, we improvised with a rake and a shovel!)

hopefully you'll be staying in better accommodations than the old tank hill barracks that I 'enjoyed'!  and it should be a little better from a temperature standpoint for you - I was there July and August - too hot for my liking!

[mcdiver]

Hey Tullibee, I am reclassifying onto the Paralegal MOS. I was told by a friend who was their in March that my weekends would be "free to do whatever". So that means (drum roll please), blow some bubbles. Since I will be their for approximately 11 weeks, I should have plenty of opportunities to dive (hurricanes permitting).

I just purchased a new camera so I hope to post a couple pics of the wrecks on this site while I am their.

Shooter, ArcFlash told me that you tend to get a little "wicked" with the spear gun, so anyone that admits to knowing you, I may have to watch carefully.

[Shooter]

]

;D > edible marine life is usually on a high state of alert when I enter the water with a weapon! As long as there is adequate table fair on land and sea Homosapiens need not to worry!  ;D . I haven't actually dove with this outfit he just comes so highly recommended that I will be eventually. Here is a little bit of video from a trip my buddy went on
  some pics and other vids

  actual video link

[mcdiver]

I reached Olympus Dive Center around noon on Sunday and the dive boats were coming back already, they were experiencing 6 foot waves, it seems all the area dive charters were also coming back. Of course Monday brought more rain and high winds which created some good-size waves, so the charters were again canceled. I later found out through the news media that Sept. 10th is the high-point for hurricanes in the area, which probably accounts for the rough weather.

I did stay in their "motel" where I met 3 other divers who were on the boat that day, we were all planning on going out on Monday (Labor Day), weather permitting. We ate dinner at Floyd's and talked diving, very interesting group of people. One guy had recently moved to "The States" from Britain, he had married a woman from Australia who was a grade school teacher. She went back to Australia to teach while he works for a company out of Rochester, New York, but travels as a Software Engineer. The other lady was very petite who is an Attorney from Washington, DC, she had some exciting dive stories. I bet she barely breaks 100 pounds, but seems to enjoy the zero-vis diving in the Potomac.

Right now I am sitting at Fort Jackson, SC., next weekend I hope to go to Lake Jocassee located in the northern part of South Carolina. The lake was created when the local power company built a dam, as a result, areas of the lake are 300' deep in spots. After interviewing a local resident, it was discoved that her grandparents had once owned a motel along the river, the motel is never removed from the valley prior to the flooding. A diver found the motel at 300 feet.

Here is a video clip on the interview with CNN.