Trip report for Morehead City, NC (4/26 & 4/27)

[acelockco]

AWESOME DIVE REPORT!!!

It sounds like you had a great time, which gets me excited to dive there. I have been trying to do some diving down there for a while now, hopefully over the summer I will.

Please tell me a bit more about the two charters you took. I know Olympus is the big name down there, but I am sure that they are not the only game in town. What were the differences between the charters, and what are the costs?

Ace

[dalehall]

Thanks for the report!! We just booked with Olympus to dive with them on 15 and 16 August. Hopefully, we get to see the sand tigers and the U-352. Those are my two main reason for going.
Ace, check your calendar and see if you can join us that weekend. The 15th/16th is Friday/Saturday. We're on the 2-tank extended dive on Friday and the regular 2-tank on Saturday, We're thinking about signing up for an inshore 1 tank for later that day if we have enough energy left over.

[heelsfaninpa]

Please tell me a bit more about the two charters you took. I know Olympus is the big name down there, but I am sure that they are not the only game in town. What were the differences between the charters, and what are the costs?

Ace

Ace,
The cost with Discovery Diving was $105.00 and with Olympus it was $135.00 (including the $10.00 surcharge for fuel). As for the differences, there was not much difference in the crews.
For Discovery, there were only 9 divers on Saturday. The boat (Outrageous V) was not crowded and there was plenty of room for everyone. On the way back from the second dive, most everyone slept topside in the sun. Did I mention how great the weather was.

For Olympus on the Sunday dive, there were more divers (maybe 12-16). The boat (Midnight Express) was a bit more crowded. I did initially feel that we needed a bigger boat for the number of divers we had. However, as we hit the dive sites and people started getting ready for their dives, it wasn't that bad.

My overall opinion is that you can't go wrong with either outfits. I will tell you that there is no guarantee where you will dive. Neither outfit decides until the morning of the dive and that is usually based on input from the divers.

Hope this helps.

[heelsfaninpa]

One last thing I forgot to mention for both charters...

Each dive trip (full day trip) includes two dives. You leave sometime around 7 am and your back by 3-4 pm. There are only two dives because the wrecks are in deeper water (95-110 fsw). Therefore, you need the Surface Interval (SI) after your first dive so that you have some bottom time on your second dive. The SI's are usually 1.5 - 2 hours.

[Quero]

Thanks for the trip report. It sounds like you enjoyed yourself tremendously! Even though it's not really the sort of diving that gets me excited (other than the part about the sharks), I do love to hear when people have had a great dive experience. Personally, I simply have little interest in visiting wrecks unless they are mature artificial reefs without much metal showing. As such, my favorite wreck to date is the USAT Liberty Glo at Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia.

I may change my mind, though, when the Royal Navy finally sinks 8 aircraft off the coast of Phuket. This was supposed to happen tomorrow, but the weather and sea conditions have made it impossible, so the sinking has been postponed until late in the year when conditions improve. I expect our newest dive site here to be sort of like a playground for divers. The aircraft are so big that they will be penetrable even by recreational divers. And can you imagine 8 of them all together in one spot?