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Julie, I have been diving in Myrtle Beach. In fact, I went over this past summer there. There isn’t any shore diving anywhere so you’ll have to go out on a charter. The thing is there are only two: Express Watersports and Coastal Scuba. However it is a pretty good drive to get to Coastal. I dove with Express and was very pleased. Their crew was very nice, helpful, and friendly. I look forward to diving with them each year I am down there for vacation. Their website is expresswatersports.com. As far as dive sites Express offers a variety with charters running daily through the summer. I dove 18 miles off the coast of Murrels Inlet at a site called Goldfinch. Viz was about 30 feet. The bottom was a little stirred up due to a storm the night before. On the website it has all locations they go to. Youtube was also helpful I just searched Myrtle beach scuba or the dive site name and watched some videos to pick the site I wanted to dive.
PS: They also got a very nice boat
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Super reply! Thanks for all the great info! I’ll definitely check into their website and take a look around. Any additional tips such as water temp, time of year, and what there is to see down under?
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I went the last week of July and the water temp was 74ish if I remember correctly. The sites all differ on what there is to see. Most sites are manmade reefs (sunken ships, barges etc) but however there are a couple of actual wrecks. The one I dove was manmade. The farther you go out the better the viz is usually.
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I lived in Myrtle Beach when I got certified back in 1999. I did my certification dives on the Bill Perry and City of Richmond wrecks. I have dove about a dozen times and about 60% of the time the vis. was lousy to ok. To really get to a good site you have to go way offshore and those are long expensive charters. But, it is worth the trip if you can handle being on the boat for 10-11 hours. and can afford $100 or more a person for a 2 tank dive. Charter wise I do prefer Express Water Sports over Coastal Scuba. The few times I’ve been out with Coastal it was a full boat and they went out in pretty rough seas that were questionable on safety in my opinion. Now, keep in mind that no matter who you go out with your probably going to have a full boat of divers because with the slow economy none of them can afford to go out with anything less than a full boat. Honestly, I would recommend a live-a-board like Blackbeard or a trip to the keys. I have done both and if you look a the cost per dive day you can’t beat it.
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I dove there this summer.I dove with coastal scuba.The big sand sharks were in.Viz was ok and water was warm.But there is alot to do in Mrtle Beach also.Good night life and lots of resturants.We stayed in North Mrytle on the beach in a 2 bedrrom condo for 1000 $ bucks for the week.Diving was ok nothing great but over all had a great time.
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definitely good information to have. Thanks for the heads up on the Blackbeard. Definitely check into it.
Thanks for taking the time to reply - it’s a major help to talk to people who’ve done it and aren’t out to "sell" me.
Julie.
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Here is one of my fellow divers from Myrtle who has made quite a few videos and put online.. http://www.youtube.com/user/RSTaylor100
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