Dive Review of Capt J.T. Barker in
The Continental USA/North Carolina

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Capt J.T. Barker, Aug, 2006, by garry gough, NJ, usa . Report 2818.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	North Carolina- Hatteras Village at end of Outer Banks. We dove for the first time with www.capt-jt.com during the 4th of July 2006. We liked it so much we came back 2 more times in August, despite the required 9 hour drive to get there from mid New Jersey. For those of us in the North that miss Caribbean diving this is as close as your going to get without making a airplane flight. The reason we liked it so much is the Gulf Stream makes it to Hatteras so during the high season the water temps are around 80 degrees, The wild life is prolific with tropicals you typically see in Florida along with a lot of Norhtern cold water fish including many sharks, and the boat service was the best I've had. Typical trip is a max of 6 divers on a 45' boat with 2 mates in addition to the capt. J.T. Barker. Price is $125 for a 2 tank dive, $10 for air, leaving around 7:30am and getting back to the dock between 3-4 p.m. JT would consult us on where we would like to dive while finding out from other boats what kind of conditions we could expect at different wreck sites. Depending on the wreck it was a 2 hour + trip to the wreck. The mate would tie us into the wreck, we'd hit the water and during the 2 hour surface interval the mate would cook us hot dogs and chips or you could bring your own food for the grill. They provide a cooler for you to bring other snacks, drinks, etc. We would then decide on another wreck location and head back in. Some people would spear fish while on wreck. The boat is 45' and completely refurbished this year. You are able to sleep on the boat if you desire. We stayed at the Breakwater Inn which was 2 miles away which had a new section facing the bay where we stayed. The rooms had small kitchen set ups. entry to the water was back roll or giant stride, then 15' down a line to the granny line going to the anchor line and then to the wreck. There is a 6 rung open end ladder with abrasive coating for easy exit with your fins on or hand gear to the mate and climb up. Suiting up is roomy as there's only 3 people on each bench, back to back, facing the boat rail, During the trip to the wreck you could stay in the A/C cabin with the captain and watch dvd's of other dives on a flat screen or just talk. On the return trip they would make popcorn for us. The personnel took very good care of our needs and was the main reason for our return trips. The diving conditions were varied from day to day. Out of the 18 dives we made during July and August, you could have 30' to 100' viz, water temps stayed around 80 degrees, with current from minimal to screaming. Most of the dives had minimal to slight current with viz around 60'+ and smooth seas. Wild life was prolific. Thousands of bait fish, Schools of Atlantic Spade, Sting rays, many oyster toad fish, to many fish to really appreciate. Dozens of sharks, mostly Sand Tiger in the 5' to 8' range. In all our dives we only saw one Bull shark and 2 nurse sharks. Dolphins were seen on 1/4 of our dive trips cicling the boat. There are tropicals but not in huge amounts, You can see Angels, Triggers, Hogs, and others typical to a Caribbean reef along with Lion Fish that are not endemic to our Ocean. They do not have a DM doing a dive with you. JT will let you dive on your own profile so bottom time, depth is your choice. You should be comfortable in dive planing and open ocean diving but if this is your first time and you'd like a dm with you, the option is open to discussion. On a good day, you would think your diving in the Caribbean. If your looking for warm water diving without the airfare and a great dive operation I would stronly recomend www.capt-jt.com
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Bon Aire, Cozumel, St Lucia, Costa Rica, Jamaca, Bahama, Bermuda, Caymen, Mexica Riviera, Hondoras, Virgin Islands, Belize, Eluthera, St. Thomas all in the past 5 years
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, choppy, currents, noCurrents
Water Temp	78-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	40-100 Ft/ 12-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No limits were expressed on time of dive or depth but since the wrecks did not exceed 130fsw to the sand, you could not exceed recreational depths. If you needed to do a deco stop then you did so.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	I have a video and light set up. They would hold and hand my set up to me once I was in the water in the manner I requested and take it from me before exiting the water. There isn't any camera table or bucket large enough for the camera to soak in between dives. I used a cooler bucket to store my set up and they do have fresh water hoses to rinse the equipment off.

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Dive Review of Capt J.T. Barker in The Continental USA/North Carolina

Capt J.T. Barker, Aug, 2006,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Capt J.T. Barker in
The Continental USA/North Carolina