Aquatic Safaris SCUBA Center

Ive been on about 100 dives so I’ve seen my fair share of dive shops. I took my boyfriend and his sister and her boyfriend here for a wreck dive on Labor Day.
We showed up at the shop and it was chaotic to say the least, no one greeted us for at least ten minutes. When they did they showed us two packed bags of rental equipment that they wanted us to unpack and verify that everything was right, except they gave us no instruction as to which one was whose and three of the four of us are similar sizes. Let’s just say it was a cluster fuck. They had packed us masks and snorkels that were not attached, and had not clips for attachment. Boots that were literally falling apart, I had to ask for ones that did not look like they were attacked by a shark. My wet suit smelled like piss, and the masks had dried salt and sand all over them. Then we got it all figured out and had to figure out for ourselves that we were expected to load all the gear including eight air tanks into our Acura TL with the four of us and drive to the boat:(we managed though cause we are so super easy going.
The weather was terrible and lots of people got sick (obviously not their fault), but when it started pouring rain the three crew on the boat made no effort to make sure everyone found a spot under the canopy, one girl sat out in the freezing rain for at least 30 minutes while the guys who worked on the boat laughed and joked at the helm, oblivious to how miserable the conditions were for the passengers. I would have given up my seat but let’s be serious I was about to vomit everywhere:/
Then I was really sea sick and trying have a quiet moment while everyone was diving (because I was too sick to get in the water) and he crew was yelling and carrying on across my position with another boat, I had to get up and puke over my bfs sisters legs on the other side of the boat to get away from them… she did not appreciate it, nor did I appreciate the complete lack of professionalism and consideration.
BOO! I could have handles the sea sickness if these people had just acted like they cared about my business. Want to go diving, look elsewhere.
Oh I should mention we did see sand tiger sharks as promised so I guess it wasn’t all bad.

Located on the inlet in Wrightsville Beach, Aquatic Safaris is a great dive shop with many coastal wreck charters. Just a short 2-​hour drive from Raleigh, this is an excellent way to dive the ship graveyard just a few miles off our beautiful coast! The shop has all of your basic needs along with several charters to choose from.
We caught the charter to the Hyde & Markham at the marina (¼ mile from the shop) and sailed out to the two wrecks. I had 2 great Nitrox dives for my first NC coastal dives– saw lots of sand tiger sharks! Our captains and dive masters were wonderful… very knowledgeable and hospitable. These guys are great to dive with… their boats are a decent size & well equipped for small and large groups. The cost for my mom & I on the Hyde/​Markham charter + 4 nitrox tanks was about $ 230… not bad!
I highly recommend taking a charter or learning to dive with these guys!

I went down to Wilmington, NC for a week of scuba diving and these were the guys who took us out.
I love this shop!
Let’s start with their retail stuff. Scuba is by nature kind of an expensive hobby, but they had some really good deals in their retail section, and by good deal I’m talking a good 30% less than I’d seen the same item other places. They also had a really broad selection of stuff. So when I showed up and needed this and that for my scuba rig I was covered.
As a bonus their nitrox fill station is membrane so you don’t have to have O2 clean tanks if you want to grab a nitrox fill.
I also got some good experience on their dive charter boat as well. We went out six days in a row. The crew was great. They took great care of us, were super friendly, and they were very knowledgeable about the area. We went out a visited 4 different wrecks and a couple of trips out to the fossil beds to pick up some Megaladon shark teeth. They dropped us in a great spot. Big shout out to Cap’n Paul and West. You guys rock!
The next time I’m down in Wilmington, NC I will be stopping by Aquatic Safaris. If you’re a scuba diver I’d suggest that you stop by as well.

My mom and I took the condensed 4 day course with Brad who was AWESOME. My mom gets anxious and nervous pretty easily (even didn’t wanna finish the cert dive cuz she felt sick), but Brad was SO chill and motivating, always making sure she was comfortable.
The course was great but definitely a lot of work in a short time, so do a longer one if you want to let the info soak in. Class AND pool work from 8am to 9pm for 2 days, underwater work plus 2 dives all day at the lake the next day, then 2 open water dives the last day… Kinda strenuous if you’re not used to that much activity.
Shop is clean and organized, great assortment of SCUBA supplies/​products, and the staff is so chill and knowledgeable. The charter service they use is great too, no one hesitates to help with your equipment or give you a hand.
FUN FACT: Brad let our class use the tanks from the Iron Man 3 shoot with «stark industries» on the side for one of our dives. THANKS BRAD!

As Out-​of-​Towners we are always concerned when booking a charter with a Local Dive Shop. We were thrilled with the ease of pickup at the shop on our rental tanks. The crew that loaded us up at the marina were very helpful and especially patient considering the early departure time. The boat was very well appointed and both the Captain and the Divemaster were A+. We’ll definitely be taking out another charter with them soon!