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Just noticed this thread, as I don't venture into A/T terribly often. I live in Wilmington, NC and we have a ton of wrecks in shallow water that aren't far offshore. Our main charter company here (that I know of, at any rate) is Aquatic Safaris, and I'm going with them to a wreck in mid September. The ship is only sitting in ~60 feet of water, and a bunch of the old superstructure is still intact (and covered with all sorts of colorful wildlife). Best part? It's only 3 miles offshore. I'm just now getting back into diving (having lived in AK for almost 3 years and just getting back here last fall) so this is going to be a good trip. We went to this same wreck back in June, and it was gorgeous 
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Aug 25, 2013 18:21
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I went with a 3/4 wetsuit, 3mm on my last dive and got a little chilly. This time I'm going with a full wetsuit (still 3mm) so should be better off (granted we're only going to about 60ft down). On the surface the water was only slightly chilly, and it was borderline comfortable even in a 3/4 wetsuit once I started kicking around and otherwise moving. This was barely offshore (only ~3 mi), near Wrightsville Beach, in late June though. Our SCUBA club here (UNCW) recommends full wetsuits, 3-5mm depending on how easily you get cold. I lived in interior AK for almost 3 years before coming back here so being cold is essentially a non-issue for me 
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Aug 27, 2013 15:12
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Oakland Martini posted:
I think it's different, the ones I've seen at our aquarium here were more white. Here's a pic:  Their info plaque had them as invasive (to the east coast of the US), aggressive, predatory, and very poisonous. Oakland Martini posted:
 e: just signed up for an advanced open water class. It's tomorrow night  Going to do the dives next month. This class is going out this weekend, but I had already made plans to be out of town 
Icon Of Sin fucked around with this message at 01:40 on Aug 30, 2013 |
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Aug 29, 2013 15:46
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Blitz7x posted:Hooray we have a scuba thread! I just got Nitrox certified and my latest dive over Labor day to an offshore wreck was canceled  NCcoast4lyfeWhere on the coast are you? I'm down in Wilmington, hopefully heading to the liberty ship just offshore next weekend. Just did my advanced open water class, now it's time to get wet and go deep 
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Sep 5, 2013 03:12
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I noticed a U-boat on a wreck map of the area near here, about 40 miles off-shore. U-352 ran afoul of the Coast Guard after trying to torpedo what the U-boat commander thought was a merchant vessel, and turned out to be a US Coast Guard ship (the Icarus) loaded with depth charges that it wasn't shy about using. The Icarus forced U-352 to surface, where the crew scuttled her and got taken as prisoners of war. http://www.nc-wreckdiving.com/WRECKS/U352/U352.HTML Judging by the maps I've seen, it's sitting around 30-40 miles offshore. The Hyde and Marhkam bottom out at close to 85-90 feet, but I've dove both of them on an open water cert so I know it can be done in a reasonably safe manner, even if you only have an open water certification
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Sep 6, 2013 02:43
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I'm guessing they're the ones I heard about that PADI was pissed at and either was thinking about revoking (or actually revoked) some certifications over dumb poo poo like that
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Sep 6, 2013 17:58
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Heading out to a wreck barely off coast today! Only 60 feet down, too e: cancelled due to high-ish winds
Icon Of Sin fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Sep 15, 2013 |
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Sep 15, 2013 14:01
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Bishop posted:Yeah I've always worried about the title not being too specific. It can be confusing but since free diving and such is also covered in here I just went with "diving". We might be missing out on goons who are curious or contribute advice. I've noticed the GBS deep sea thread has some divers I've never seen posting here. Scuba diving/free diving thread: get wet, go deep
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Sep 26, 2013 14:07
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I'm on a trip to Ginnie Springs, FL and Key Largo to go diving in 2 weeks, and once the trip is done I'll have all the necessary dives for my advanced open water course to be complete! 
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Feb 18, 2014 17:54
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Electric Apathy posted:I wanted to know about paths of progression, I have a PADI open water which I have had for over a decade with about 40 odd dives. I'm getting back into diving and want to progress to diving at (for now) max 40 meters and start doing wreck dives. What would the recommended courses I take be, and should I stay with PADI or go to some other organisation? PADI's Advanced Open Water course will let you go down to 100 ft/30m, then you can get the Deep Diver speciality beyond that which will let you go to 130 ft/40m, and that's the limit for recreational diving. If you're going that far down, a Nitrox course probably wouldn't be a bad idea either, though the exact mix will depend on how deep you ultimately plan on going. I got back from Key Largo yesterday, logged 9 dives over the week between there and Ginnie Springs. 3/5 dives for the Advanced Open Water, and picked up a specialty as a night diver. The Ballroom at Ginnie Springs is amazing, everyone should check it out. It's a cavern that's so easy to go in and explore that there isn't any extra certification required past basic open water.
Icon Of Sin fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Mar 8, 2014 |
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Mar 8, 2014 15:08
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Just tallied up the total time underwater between Ginnie Springs and Key Largo, and it was just over 6 hours (spread between 9 dives). Max depth was 98 ft, though most of my dives in Key Largo were on shallow reefs and the max depths looked more like 25-30 ft. Trip highlight: diving on a reef at night, finding large sea turtles that were interested in our group and checking us out, then finding some kind of ray with a ~4ft wingspan chilling near a Buddha statue that somebody sank in the sands beside of one the reefs. Diving in the ballroom at night in Ginnnie Springs was a close second though, especially with our underwater rave (we let ~10 chemlights go right next to the grate with the outflow current, which all cycled around the room until they got caught in air pockets at the top of the chamber and recovered). 3/5 dives done towards advanced open water, and now there's a rescue diver course coming up that's starting to look mighty tempting once my advanced dives are done.
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Mar 11, 2014 02:38
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Baby shampoo works great. Spit just doesn't work for me I've used toothpaste before too, when we ran out of baby shampoo. It did work pretty well, but I'm not terribly sure if there's any consequences to it so I'm probably not doing that again
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Mar 19, 2014 03:47
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I'm doing a rescue diver course next week! I'm finishing my AOW dives next weekend, or else I'm not starting it
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Mar 24, 2014 01:35
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jackyl posted:Right on, I've read in this and previous threads about the scenarios you get doing that. Looking forward to it, actually, I was lifeguard, WSI, all that poo poo and had no issue with my real life saves and the tests, but that was a lot if years ago. Curious to see how all that plays out with diving. Yea...I don't have any lifeguard experience. I've got BLS/CPR, and did an Army Combat Life Saver course way back when (where they teach you how to keep someone alive until a medic gets to them and does real things). What kind of scenarios do they use in the course? I had to miss the orientation for the course due to class, and I get to make it up this coming weekend while we drive to our dive site so I can use a compass underwater and play around with my buoyancy.
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Mar 24, 2014 05:48
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Crunkjuice posted:Why would you not want to be more trained and educated? This is why I keep going up the chain of diving education, I want to be as trained and educated as humanly possible. If something goes wrong (which will happen, sooner or later) I want to be able to respond intelligently and if not make it better, at least keep it from getting any worse.
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Mar 25, 2014 01:26
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MrNemo posted:1) Learn to look after yourself underwater 2) Learn to look after your buddy 3)Learn to look after trips 4) Learn to look after trips where more poo poo can go wrong. This is about how i see it. If i can recognize and pull myself out of trouble before it becomes a serious problem, thats better for everyone involved. If i can recognize my buddy is having trouble and bring them back to the surface before their issue becomes life-threatening, even better. If it saves you or a dive buddy from death or injury even once, the course paid for itself a hundred times over.
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Mar 25, 2014 18:39
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I'm finishing out my Advanced Open Water dives tomorrow I only owed 2 more after the trip to Key Largo, Navigation and one other (it's going to be PPB). Heading up to Fantasy Lake (outside Raleigh, NC) tomorrow morning, and I can finally be done with it. Took the class initially in 2005, never did the dives, took it again last fall, and just now getting around to finishing e, since no new posts: bailed on the dives. Water was too cold, and I didn't have gloves to put on for it. There was a hood I could have borrowed, but no gloves in water that's 55F at the surface and 43 at the bottom translates into a big pile of "Hell no." Icon Of Sin fucked around with this message at 05:20 on Mar 30, 2014 |
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Mar 29, 2014 02:12
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stratdax posted:What kind of stuff do I have to do when using gear that hasn't been used in a long time (~3-4 years)? I bought this gear used 3 years ago but never used it (I went diving, just not with the gear). Take it to a dive shop and make sure the inspections on everything are all up to date, and ask if they can do a quick check to make sure everything is still as functional as it should be (like with a BC or a regulator that you aren't sure the last servicing date was). I had to do this with a BC that hadn't been used in about 10 years, along with a regulator and a tank.
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Apr 6, 2014 16:51
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SnakePlissken posted:Before I read much further, what can you do in the way of snorkeling or entry-level diving in the vicinity of the outer banks and lower banks of NC? Lower banks has a few shipwrecks in Wilmington (this is where I live ). There's a wreck 3 miles or so off-shore that has a max depth of 60ft, so it's perfectly within basic open water limits. There's a few other wrecks a little further out that have their wheelhouses and some other structure at ~55 feet with the bottom resting at ~90 feet which you can still dive on, but you need to be mindful of your limits and depth on those.Alexander Ramsey (aka Liberty Ship): http://www.wilmingtondiving.com/libship.shtml Hyde/Markham (2 wrecks that are less than 1/4 mile away from each other): http://www.wilmingtondiving.com/markham.shtml Those are the ones I'm familiar with, but here's a list of others that local dive shops run charters out to: http://www.wilmingtondiving.com/index.htm
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Apr 25, 2014 03:50
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Unimpressed posted:Serious question, do you have a squeaky voice after diving because of it? Why wait until after?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliox#Diving_uses quote:Because sound travels faster in heliox than in air, voice formants are raised, making divers' speech very high-pitched and hard to understand to people not used to it.[10] Surface personnel often employ a piece of communications equipment called a "helium de-scrambler," which electronically lowers the pitch of the diver's voice as it is relayed through the communications gear, making it easier to understand.
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May 1, 2014 01:47
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So I finally got around to getting a new cable for the Gopro I borrowed to go diving in Ginnie Springs and Key Largo, FL. Going into the Ballroom at Ginnie Springs:  Looking back out:  (It's a rough pic, but that blue is the prettiest I've ever seen  )The fish is confused by his pineapple hat (he made it while drunk, then wore it diving because apparently ): A buddy of mine took this pic (I tore into the rum a bit too hard the night before )Wheelhouse flag on the USS Spiegel Grove: Apparently someone replaces the flag every year, and has done so ever since it was sank 96 feet down, on Conch Reef (this was right before a barracuda thought our group leader might look tasty and swam within a few feet of him): 
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May 22, 2014 22:42
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Lascivious Sloth posted:Is a gopro good for diving? What model? I've been scubaing/snorkeling for a while using a normal (good) camera with a large housing, however I really like the idea behind the gopro (compact, high def video, etc.). Thoughts? Seconding the Hero3. I dove with one in Key Largo and the battery lasted for both shallow dives during the days (each dive was ~45-60 minutes) and had some juice left over so it could have gone back for at least another dive, provided it was fully-charged. Go for the magenta-looking filter though if you can, it helps with the color washout of reds (and others) when you start getting 30 ft or deeper. It just snaps on to the waterproof casing, no big deal to put on.
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Jun 16, 2014 15:28
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pupdive posted:I just found out there was a thread about the Ocean (rather than about just diving). There's a good spaceflight thread in there too, Zaran keeps track of any upcoming launches and usually has links to webcasts where you can watch somebody/something ride a barely-controlled explosion all the way to orbit. NASA trains astronauts at this facility in Key Largo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neemo); it sits in 60 ft of water and they stay down there for up to 2 weeks at a time. They have a decompression chamber in the facility itself, so their missions tend to look like: dive down, do whatever NASA is wondering about/researching (up to 2 weeks underwater), decompress, then a normal ascent. They even do underwater "EVAs" (an excuse to go reef diving in the keys, as if anyone needed any extra excuse to do that  )
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Jun 30, 2014 04:25
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We were diving one one of the reefs at Key Largo one night and a friend of mine saw a shark's tail around 20 ft from him after it scattered a school of fish looking for dinner 
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Jul 21, 2014 23:34
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Just finished my advanced open water dives! Now it's time to roll over straight into a rescue diver course  TLG James posted:It doesn't matter how you do it. This is true. I swallow or wiggle my jaw to equalize more often than plugging my nose. As long as you can equalize some way or another, it makes no functional difference how you do it.
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Sep 15, 2014 12:33
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Any tips for PADI's rescue diver course? Orientation is tonight, class is the first week of October.
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Sep 19, 2014 17:27
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All of you were right about rescue class being fun. We did our pool session tonight, final lecture tomorrow, and then scenarios/final exam on Saturday.
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Oct 9, 2014 05:59
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Rescue class is complete. Doing the scenarios in water with low vis and moderate current seemed like it was good training, especially when the victim's buddy panics then rips your reg out as he dunks you
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Oct 11, 2014 22:19
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I'm going what's probably my last dive for the season () coming up this weekend. We're going to 2 local wrecks that are about 200-300 meters apart, the Hyde and the Markham. Hyde: http://www.wilmingtondiving.com/hyde.shtml Markham: http://www.wilmingtondiving.com/markham.shtml This is supposed to be a good dive to do in the summer, when there are some sharks and other marine life that primarily stick to warmer waters. A friend of mine said he had a manta ray come play in his bubbles out at one of these wrecks (I think it was one of these? ) so I'm hoping that there's still something living out there this late in the season.
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Oct 23, 2014 03:49
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Did the lecture for Deep Diver today, and right after the class our instructor gets a message that the boat is getting delayed for weather this weekend. We're supposed to do all 4 dives this weekend, but if we don't get them done it's probably the last chance this season to do any kind of diving on the NC coast.
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Nov 14, 2014 05:58
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Both charters cancelled this weekend. We were doing a deep diver specialty course. Weather here has been sucking for diving for like the last 6 weeks though, not sure why I thought this would be an exception.
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Nov 16, 2014 13:54
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jackyl posted:Just got back a bit ago from a three tank dive in key largo, including our first spiegal grove dive. That wreck owns. Please post them when you can. I was at Key Largo last March and loved every single dive I went on 
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Nov 25, 2014 16:41
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So one of my local shops is looking at doing a trip to various springs around central FL (Ginnie Springs, Blue Grotto, Vortex Springs, and one other that I forget). We'll do a dive near West Palm beach too, to cap off the entire trip before driving back to NC. We went to Ginnie Springs last year and The Ballroom there was pretty loving cool, especially going in at night and burying my light for a few seconds.
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Dec 7, 2014 18:25
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I did a carabiner clip with a loop of 550 cord (aka paracord) around the mounting base of the Gopro and never had any issue. 550 cord is tough as all hell and doesn't break down too easily.
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Dec 30, 2014 01:45
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I've got a Dacor reg with primary and alternate air hoses that I'm looking to part with. Serviced last February, and it didn't get in the water for like 10 years before this summer (hand-me-down from my brother who stopped diving). Anybody interested in it?
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Dec 30, 2014 18:08
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Going back to Ginnie Springs, along with Vortex Springs, Blue Grotto, and one or two other springs in FL in the second week of March. Going to be a good trip with our newest local dive shop
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Jan 19, 2015 04:16
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We have a quarry lake near here that my favorite local shop likes to use, since the winds here tend to flip pretty quick and the shop owner would rather get people certified than have them waiting on a charter to finish it out. Seems like a cool park, I haven't had a chance to explore too terribly much of it though. They've got 2 planes, some old quarry equipment, a few cars, a bus, a fake graveyard, and an underwater basketball court (using bowling balls). http://www.fantasyscubapark.com/index.htm
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Jan 30, 2015 17:06
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Squirrelo posted:I see a lot of people recommending it, but I personally like the Oceanic Geo 2.0 It's got a lot of nice features and has been solid through all my dives. My buddy that owns his own dive shop swears by his Geo 2, but one of his divemaster candidates who has worked as a tec diver before loves his Zoop. I've got a Zoop myself, but I haven't had a chance to try it out yet.
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Feb 3, 2015 05:49
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Red_Fred posted:Now that I'm back in this scuba game I want to know what everyone's minimum gear they take on every dive is. Excluding standard gear (regs, BCD etc.) and tech specific stuff. My list of goodies: safety sausage (clipped to a D-ring at my waist) compass (clipped to pressure gauge) small LED flashlight (clipped to a D-ring at my chest) a GoPro (when I can borrow it; clipped to the other D-ring at my chest) I have a computer (a Suunto Zoop), but haven't had a chance to dive with it yet. Going diving in Ginnie Springs, Vortex Springs, Blue Grotto, and 1 or 2 others in like a month! I can't wait to get back in the water
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Feb 4, 2015 03:14
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legsarerequired posted:I know that divers will carry a dive-capable light for photography, but does anyone ever just carry a light just to better admire colorful reefs? Oh god yes. There's a few wrecks that are common dive sites just offshore here, and having a light to look into the portholes and under the crevices and such is nice. That's why I keep my little LED light. It isn't worth much as a primary light on a night dive, but it's good enough to see if there are any critters under the rocks/coral you're swimming over.
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Feb 7, 2015 06:28
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