Dive Review of Outer Banks Diving/Whalehead in
The Continental USA/North Carolina

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Outer Banks Diving/Whalehead, Jul, 2011, by Howard Kaiser, MO, US ( Sr. Reviewer 11 reports with 10 Helpful votes). Report 6155.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The Good: Avery and Johnny were competent and safety conscious. The Rest: boat was seriously overcrowded, requiring gearing up in shifts and then waiting in extreme heat to get in the water. Reported viz of 50 ft more like 20 ft with particulates in water making it seem like less. Thermocline at 40 ft as advertised- very cold for us warm water divers. I cannot imagine the situation had there been current or high seas..Getting dive partners together was difficult once underwater due to the chaos of getting in the water. The relative experience level of the divers was fairly high and even that did not prevent several divers from aborting the dives. I was shocked , since I was paying for four divers, that weights and tanks were a separate charge. Not including (high) cost of rental gear, the dives cost far more than the best sites in Caymans and Belize as a result of the extra 8.00 for weights and 20.00 for tanks. How do you go diving without tanks? Anyway, I know this is standard in Florida as well, but it seems like they should reassess those charges. I was particularly miffed that we had to haul our TANKS back to the dive shop from the boat! What are we tipping these people for? The tip jar came out just as we hit the dock and I'm still trying to figure out why I tipped them ( I did, of course) The chaos to return rental gear was the worst part of the trip . Huge piles of equipment with great difficulty determining which gear was rental and personal etc. Mixups caused a delay afterwards and only my taking personal inventory (once we thought we were packed and done) saved me from leaving my wetsuit hanging amongst the rental gear. We've dived NC before with worst conditions and with better results, albeit further south of Nag's Head. This might be a better dive using one's own equipment and later in the season to avoid crowds. And I'd certainly plan for 2 days diving to maximize the trips since it was definitely not worth doing for a single day dive trip. Total cost for two tanks for 4 divers including some rental gear ( we brought our own regs and computers plus fins, masks etc) came to over 1100 dollars with tip. Enough said.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Caymans, Bahamas, BVI, Cabo, Hawaii, Cozumel, Belize , FL Keys
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	76-62°F / 24-17°C	Wetsuit Thickness	7
Water Visibility	- Ft/ - M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Outer Banks Diving/Whalehead in The Continental USA/North Carolina

Outer Banks Diving/Whalehead, Jul, 2011,

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 Outer Banks Diving/Whalehead in
The Continental USA/North Carolina