Scuba diving anyone?

[yellowfin]

Just got started into scuba diving a few months ago, working it into my repertoire for this year and beyond and was wondering who around here does it and where. There are a bunch of divers near where I live but none within my immediate reach or connections. Ones I do see occasionally through my local shop dive a lot in NJ which is rather cold so I would like to learn where in VA or MD would be a bit warmer, and when or if it starts being acceptable for a 7mm or 5mm wetsuit. Anyone?

 

[honukane]

Just got started into scuba diving a few months ago, working it into my repertoire for this year and beyond and was wondering who around here does it and where. There are a bunch of divers near where I live but none within my immediate reach or connections. Ones I do see occasionally through my local shop dive a lot in NJ which is rather cold so I would like to learn where in VA or MD would be a bit warmer, and when or if it starts being acceptable for a 7mm or 5mm wetsuit.

I dove for years and still would but for heart and cardiologist issues. Not a fan of heavy wetsuits.
I would recommend North Carolina, Florida, Cancun MX, or the leeward islands.
Summer/fall are the seasons locally..
Enjoy.

 

[LeadSled1]

Just did Jamaica. It was warm but shallow. There is quarry diving up in PA.

 

[Moonlighter]

I was 13 when Jaws came out.

It resulted in extreme and permanent sharkphobia.

 

[yellowfin]

Just did Jamaica. It was warm but shallow. There is quarry diving up in PA.

Definitely will do the quarries for frequent practice but looking for as many opportunities as possible to do something more interesting within driving distance.

 

[wreckdiver]

The local diving scene is pretty interesting. If you get serious about it invest in a dry suit. I dove a lot of the wrecks off ocean city and Delaware. Warm water diving is a treat. Now that my kids are grown I should get back into it.

 

[hobiecat590]

The Chesapeake is the closest warm water, but the viz is terrible. I have not found any big Meg teeth in the water yet but they are supposed to out there along Calvert Cliffs to the Ranch Club. There is also a sub just west of the RT4 bridge and one in the Pottymac around Tall Timbers.

Morehead City, NC is the closest warm water (Gulf Stream). I prefer Olympus to Discover Diving. it is about 7 hours or so from you. Lots of wrecks and spearfishing opportunities.

Wilmington, NC is a farther south but just a bit longer time wise. Meg teeth diving is its big claim to fame. The outer Meg Ledge is 107" so Nitrox is advised. You can also find teeth at the Cooper River in Charleston, SC but it is black water diving that is not for everyone. Totally black 40' down w/ 2 ft of viz and currents and the odd alligator. Check the local sites and Ytube for more info. Venice, FL is also a Meg tooth spot. The rest of FL is the dive capitol of the world.

If you like colder water, Ocean City. It gets better in August-Sept. Wear a hood and if you have a hoodie vest + a 3-5 mill plus gloves, you should be OK but a 7 mil is mo'better or a drysuit. Nags Head NC is cold also. Many boats require a dive w/in 30 days and like 50 minimum dives in the logbook.

The Carib the Bahamas are great. My favorites Carib sites are Bon Aire, rent a Hilux and short dive at over 200 sites plus boat diving and Grand Cayman that is a big water park dive wise. If you wife is a non-diver, Grand Cayman will make her very happy. MDSer WreckDiver is also a good source of info. PM me for more info.

 

[Jerry M]

After diving in the Caribbean and the Florida keys a dozen or so times, I never got past my open water certification in a PA quarry.

 

[wreckdiver]

Quarry diving can be interesting. I did my first decompression dive at bainbridge quarry in PA. On the other hand I did my rescue diver certification at guppy gulch. That was sketchy. Punctured my dry suit on old barbed wire while “rescuing” a 200lb man in full dive gear. It used to be an old farm.

 

[wreckdiver]

If you’re a history buff, this is a cool dive.

Dive the U-352 in the Graveyard of the Atlantic with Olympus Dive Center

Wreck diving the U-352 with Olympus Dive Center

www.olympusdiving.com

 

[jc1240]

If you become proficient with ugly MD and PA quarries, the world is your oyster. Unfortunately, the two closest quarries to central MD are both about 2 1/2 to 3 hours drive away. There is one outside of Frederick that is trying to get started but government bureaucracy with the county is holding them back.

As for diving "out there" my two favorite locations/operators is out of NC (Morehead City/Atlantic Beach) on the M/V Atlantis IV. For a six-pack boat there is a lot of room. Much better IMHO than the cattle boats of most of the other operators. My favorite wreck is the Caribsea. So many sand tiger sharks it's hard to count them. Second favorite is the wreck of the Aeolus. That used to be a cable laying ship with LARGE holes in the aft deck for the cable. The walls have fallen away and sharks like to circle the inside. Great place to collect teeth (from the deck, not the sharks' mouths). The sharks here are typically smaller/younger than the ones at Caribsea.

While it is historical, the wreck of U-352 is disappointing. Everything has fallen away and is buried. Most of the photos you see are from a long time ago. The wreck is more or less just a cigar tube in appearance now. There really isn't much to see. Artifacts were looted decades ago; some can be seen on display at Olympus Dive Center.

For expensive, get-away trips I like diving off the Bimini Islands on S/V Juliet. Haven't been in ages, but fantastic operation. It is a repurposed cargo sailboat out of Miami. Just looked and it looks like they are in the USVI until Sept.

Honorable mention goes to St. Lawrence River. We stayed in Rockport, Canada with the dive operator based in Brockport. You'll want a passport for that as well since a good number of wrecks are on the Canadian side. The neat thing is zebra mussels have made the river very clear (but devoid of most other life). Being fresh water there are 100+ year-old wooden wrecks still very much intact.

Sample of Aeolus:


Sample of Caribsea:


Sharks (like submarines to me) and rays (like UFOs) are both so graceful and my favorite common critters. Octopi are neat as well.

 

[wreckdiver]

I really need to check out some of the Great Lakes wrecks. Some are remarkably intact. My first wreck dive was the USS Nina, a navy tug that sank off Delaware/md in 1910. Looked like a pile of rocks and seaweed. I was expecting something that resembles a ship.

 

[Applehd]

Whenever I mention lobster diving off Ocean City, I get that "WTF?" look.

 

[VRC Racing]

Most of the dive sites have already been posted for quarry diving don't over look Dutch Springs. Not to far from your location and fairly clear water from all the zebra mussels. https://www.dutchsprings.com/
As said best diving is NC or pompano beach FLA for wrecks. North FLA for cave diving.

Florida Cave, Cavern, and Sinkhole Diving

Florida area technical diving at it's best.

www.floridacaves.com

My avatar pic is of me at 250ft on the corey n chris

RBJ & Chris Corey - South Florida Diving Headquarters

Location: Pompano Beach Description: The Corey N Chris is 130' long and sits upright bow facing west. The depth at the bow id 255' and the stern depth is 270'. The RBJ was 226' long and rests bow to the south draped across the mid-section of the Corey N Chris. Hurricane Andrew caused the RBJ to...

www.southfloridadiving.com

I have retired from diving.

-Russ

 

[Squaregrouper]

PADI AOW and I stopped logging dives after 500 entries. I haven't put on a tank in 5yrs. Personally I hate wearing 7mm suits and hoods, so my dives are now Cape Hatteras and further south.

 

[hobiecat590]

Most of the dive sites have already been posted for quarry diving don't over look Dutch Springs. Not to far from your location and fairly clear water from all the zebra mussels. https://www.dutchsprings.com/
As said best diving is NC or pompano beach FLA for wrecks. North FLA for cave diving.

Florida Cave, Cavern, and Sinkhole Diving

Florida area technical diving at it's best.

www.floridacaves.com

My avatar pic is of me at 250ft on the corey n chris

RBJ & Chris Corey - South Florida Diving Headquarters

Location: Pompano Beach Description: The Corey N Chris is 130' long and sits upright bow facing west. The depth at the bow id 255' and the stern depth is 270'. The RBJ was 226' long and rests bow to the south draped across the mid-section of the Corey N Chris. Hurricane Andrew caused the RBJ to...

www.southfloridadiving.com

I have retired from diving.

-Russ

Lake Rawlings now renamed Lake Phoenix in Rawlings, VA (sw of Richmond) is where most of the local scuba shops take students for their checkout dives. There are, airplanes, chopper, school bus, van, 40' cabin cruiser, playground, the sailboat Keanu Reeves worked on in the "Replacements" movie and a bunch of other stuff. You can camp and there are "cabins", full SCUBA shop etc.

 

[hobiecat590]

Whenever I mention lobster diving off Ocean City, I get that "WTF?" look.

The first 10 minutes of an OC dive is collecting about a bushel of ginormous clean (zero sand) muscles. I needed a lift bag to get them up.

 

[John from MD]

Just got started into scuba diving a few months ago, working it into my repertoire for this year and beyond and was wondering who around here does it and where. There are a bunch of divers near where I live but none within my immediate reach or connections. Ones I do see occasionally through my local shop dive a lot in NJ which is rather cold so I would like to learn where in VA or MD would be a bit warmer, and when or if it starts being acceptable for a 7mm or 5mm wetsuit. Anyone?

I quit diving years ago when I returned to the Northeast. After diving on both sides of Florida, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Thailand, diving off of New Jersey depressed me.

 

[Melnic]

My entire family is Padi or about to get it done this spring.

Problem I had at OC is the ones I contacted wanted a minimum # dives with a certain number in recent time. Any boats take beginners? I know visibility would be iffy.

My first dives with the wife was Moorhead NC
Planning a family trip this summer with Diving and maybe thinking the keys?

Anyone dive in Bermuda?

We did Bahamas last summer with Stuart’s Cove. If it was not for my son doing intro dives in the pool the kids who did the resort dives would have not enjoyed themselves. Instead they flew thru the little tests they gave them and had more time in the dive than the others on the boat we were on for that.


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[eruby]

True losers (like me) know the acronym is:

Self
Contained
Underwater
Breathing
Apparatus