Myrtle Beach Scuba Diving Info
The Myrtle Beach area is a great place to go scuba diving. This is not just because it's a popular ocean-front area, but also because there are a lot of artificial reefs and several sunken World War II wrecks as well as Civil War wrecks underwater that you can dive down and see. Because it's a tourist town, there are several services you can get. A few of them are:
Wise Diving Instruction - They offer classes and certifications at all levels of scuba diving. These include basic classes such as their "Discover Scuba" class which is intended to let completely inexperienced people figure out if diving is something they'd be interested in, to advanced classes in identifying fish, underwater photography, and night diving. If you're completely new, just know that it takes a couple of hours to learn all the basics and you have to be at least age 10 to do it.You can call them at 843-241-8670 to schedule one of their classes.
Coastal Scuba - Another Myrtle Beach-based scuba service, this one offers lessons as well in both the basics of scuba and advanced knowledge, but they are more focused on chartered dives, where someone who already knows about scuba diving can go down with someone with knowledge of the area who will show you where all the sites are. They can take you to a number of interesting underwater sites, which include:
The Sherman - A sunken Civil War blockade runner that is 200 feet long and about 50 feet underwater, you can go there even as a beginner.
The "Governor" - An paddle wheeler from the Civil War, no one is sure of its actual name. It has lots of stingrays and other marine life inhabiting the boat.
The Bill Perry - An artificial reef created from a sunken tugboat and a military boat. Home to a number of fish and sometimes sea turtles.
The Hebe and the St. Cathan - Two merchant ships that crashed into each other and sunk on one wreck site. This is more for advanced divers, and has sharks and tropical fish.
The Raritan - A freighter that sunk and now is covered in coral.
They've got a bunch more diving sites as well, and the prices are pretty reasonable: they range from $70 to $130 a person for a trip that is either the entire day or 3/4 of it. You can see the full list of sites here.
You can call and make reservations with Coastal Scuba at 843-361-3323. Many of the scuba courses they offer are several weeks in length and wouldn't really be suitable for tourists, but they do have some one-day ones for beginners, and they have one-on-one sessions that you could ask about if you want to brush up on your skills before you go. The other thing they offer is a "learn as you dive" instruction where you go out on one of their dive sites, and they will use the day as a chance to practice some advanced diving skills with you.
Express Water Sports - This is a general water sports company that offers dive charters to many sites. They have a list here - it includes some interesting ones like:
Springs Reef - An artificial reef for beginner divers made from a bunch of military armored personnel carriers.
City of Richmond - A passenger ship that sunk during a storm and has lots of fish living in and around it.
USS Vermilion - A sunken WWII troop transport for advanced divers.
South Carolina Dive - Another scuba diving company based out of Myrtle Beach, they do both training and runs to specific dive sites, including many of the ones listed above under other companies. They offer basic and advanced certification courses, skill classes, and host scuba clubs to allow interested people to learn together. You can see a gallery of their dives here. Their phone number is 1-800-505-2080.
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