Things to do / Travel Guide
“Its simply to dive for;” the locals proudly tout the outstanding diving located off the coast of the eastern North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland region. And their statement hasn't wrecked their reputation yet: eastern North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland offers colorful fish and marine life in and around a museum of maritime history submerged and preserved under the sea. Many divers often go home with interesting and unusual finds: gold watches, porcelain doll heads, tea cups, old (unopened) bottles of rum. Some dive sites are federally-protected, while others have the “finders keepers” policy - it is always best to double check before pocketing any goods.
A number of dive shops and diving charter boats are clustered around the areas of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and Ocean City, Maryland on the Delmarva Peninsula, Norfolk and Virginia Beach, in eastern Virginia, as well as Wilmington, Morehead City, and Beaufort, on the North Carolina shore. Because of the cold weather, peak diving season is from May-October, but the North Carolina Outer Banks' warm Gulf Stream current, particularly near Hatteras, does attract divers year round.
Delmarva Peninsula Diving
You can spend a day diving the coastal waters of the Delmarva Peninsula; diving fanatics often use Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Ocean City, Maryland, and Cape Charles, Virginia, as shoving off points for local dives. Just off the coast of Ocean City you will find a smattering of shipwreck sites and artificial reefs. Plenty of lobsters hang out in and around the wreck of the Washingtonian, a large freighter that sank in 1915 currently sitting at about 100 feet below sea level, just off the coast at the Maryland-Delaware border. Another popular dive site is the area around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Islands near Cape Charles; you can expect to see a variety of marine life, including mussels, oysters, and clams, while underwater.
Eastern Virginia Diving
Eastern Virginia wreck diving is best in the waters around Virginia Beach. Here are a few dives that the locals recommend:
- Reputed to be one of the most interesting dives off the Virginia coast, the 7,176-ton Liberty ship John Morgan sunk in 1943 with a cargo full of trucks, motorcycles, airplanes, weapons, and Valentine tanks. At a depth of 110 feet, the John Morgan is located about 30 miles offshore from Virginia Beach and is appropriate for intermediate-level and advanced-level divers.
- Eureka! This is a fascinating dive: the 3,531-ton four-masted schooner Eureka (sunk in 1881) is located off the shore of Virginia Beach. The ship's cargo is scattered on the ocean floor at about 115-feet; porcelain dolls, bottles, a silver lantern, a gold pocket watch, and countless other artifacts have been recovered. Divers are still digging for treasure here and you might get lucky. This dive is appropriate for intermediate-level and advanced-level divers.
- Octopi, soft corals, tropical fish, spade fish, and mussels crowd the four submerged, giant “legs” of the Chesapeake Light Tower (locally called “The Tower”), located about 12 miles east of Rudee Inlet, near Virginia Beach. Located at around 42 feet underwater, this is a good beginner's dive.
North Carolina Shore Diving
Dubbed “The Graveyard of the Atlantic,” even Virginians will concede: the areas along the Outer Banks offer some of the best, most unique diving experiences in all of the East Coast. Named the “top wreck diving destination in North America” by Scuba Diving magazine in 2005, World War II submarines, freighters, and 17th-century schooners patiently await your careful underwater scrutiny along the North Carolina shore. The options for where to dive are seemingly endless; more than 1,000 shipwrecks are scattered on the ocean floor between the communities of Corolla and Ocracoke. But beyond that which is buried in a saline grave, the Outer Banks' warm Gulf Stream means that the waters also teem with life; sand tiger sharks, whales, dolphins, and colorful fish can be spotted along the barrier islands. If you don't mind slightly colder dives, try the area around Nags Head. For warmer water, the area near Hatteras is the best choice. Here are some of the most highly-recommended dive areas:
- Off the coast of Historic Beaufort, you can find a wide range of sunken vessels including WWI cruisers, WWII ships (sunk by the Germans), and the U-352 (south of Cape Hatteras), a sunken German submarine. Due to the Gulf Stream current, the water is warm and clear with visibility of up to 100 feet. Live coral and schools of brightly-colored tropical fish add a bit of life and color to these otherwise sandy relics of time immemorial. Dives for people of all skill levels and interests are available off the coast of Beaufort.
- Up for a pirate dive? At just 26 feet, and with a visibility of about five to eight feet, lies the Queen Anne's Revenge, believed to be the 18th-century ship that belonged to the pirate Blackbeard. Located just off the coast of Beaufort, octopus, toadfish, and flounder make their homes there now. The dive is available from mid-September through mid-November and should be scheduled through the North Carolina Maritime Museum. The cost is about $500 and includes a half-day of archaeological education and preparation, as well as a 30-minute supervised dive (underwater MP3 narration recording included).
- At Horsehead Wreck, three miles south of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse (near Whalehead Beach in Corolla), you'll find the federal gunboat Stars and Stripes that operated during the Civil War; 85 crewmen perished at this site when the boat went down. Just 15 feet below the surface, 100 yards from the shore, you can explore the ship's cargo (iron rails and stones) just about any time of year.
- A popular dive area is the notoriously treacherous Oregon Inlet, between Bodie Island and Hatteras Island. It has always been a particularly sinister place for seamen - the area has claimed hundreds of ships and thousands of lives. Several favorites diving spots in and around the Oregon Inlet include the Advance II, a 185-foot-long ship sunk in 1943, lying at a depth of 80 feet about eight miles from the Oregon Inlet sea buoy; and the Dionysus and Zane Grey liberty ships, intentionally sunk to form an artificial reef, offering a great glimpse of marine life including mussels and tautog. Both the Dionysus and Zane Grey lie at a depth of between 40 and 70 feet, about four miles southeast of the Oregon Inlet sea buoy. Most of the Oregon Inlet dives are appropriate for intermediate-level divers.
Richmond, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, North Carolina's Outer Banks
Scuba-Diving
Assateague Island National Seashore Beach - Chincoteague, Virginia
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