Carolina Dive Center

Went on a dive to the Charleston Tug off the coast of South Carolina. Worst dive experience ever. The whole trip was a cluster. Dive boat was unsafe with air bottles not secure. Saw 2 bottles fall and almost land on bare feet. tanks were old and didn’t have decent o-​rings. Had to try 3 different tanks to find one that didn’t leak. Reached the dive site, no real rhyme or reason to getting people in the water safely. Seas were a little rough and the boat was pitching pretty heavily. Divers were walking around on deck with gear on and no oversight from the crew. In the water, visibility was literally 2 feet. No way the crew could safely monitor the dive site in such poor visibility. Dive should have been cancelled. After the first dive more than half of the divers decided to pass on second dive. Dive master was trying to shame people back into the water, back into an unsafe situation. No reason to go back in the water, couldn’t see anything.

Carolina Dive Center is a great place to go for certification in open water diving. They offer NAUI classroom and SDI online courses. The shop has a little bit of everything that you’d need to dive, and they often have great specials on things. I got a great 3 mm full suit for like $ 90! They also have a lot of things in stock and were able to provide the right size of split fins in the color I wanted too :)
Paul and Jim co-​own the shop, and they offer various classes from beginning open water to advanced certifications, as well as others you’re interested in too. Jim even taught a free fish identification course a few weeks ago, which was really helpful!
Miles taught my class and was the instructor for both of my check-​out dives in the Rolesville quarry. He is an excellent instructor and I loved diving with him. He always has his big black van stocked with extras in case you forget something. He’s very knowledgeable about diving, as he’s dived many places all over the world.
I got a deal on either groupon or livingsocial, which made the package like $ 300, which included your gear and air for both pool and checkout dives. The only thing you had to have before your pool dives were your mask, snorkel, and fins.
I tried to get on their December charter to dive the Charleston Tug, but the weather caused us to reschedule it. I hope to jump on a charter or trip with them soon because they seem like a cool bunch of people to go down with!

Never judge a book by its cover (case in point, 50 Shades of Grey) and never judge a dive shop by its unfortunate location inside a now less-​populated shopping strip off Atlantic Spring Rd. It should be relatively easy to find since it sits at the first corner, right across from the movie theater.
The reason I now know this shop exist was because of the Living Social deal for SCUBA diving training and certification. Paul, who runs the place most of the time with a few other young helpers, is very knowledgeable, and very sociable. The shop opens usually until 7 PM, but because a lot of folks in the class was trying to get their equipment ready prior to first dive, he was willing to stay after hour just so everyone leaves with all they needed. I was the last one to step out, and that was five minutes past nine o’clock, and the entire time we were they he was working and measuring and making sure every piece fit you just right.
Inside the shop, you can find just about everything that you need for your next destination diving vacation. I was «forced» into getting my personal equipment here, but with a more than decent price (comparable to online retailers) and a discount if you get it as part of the training course, I will be a fool not to buy them here.