Snorkeling in Outer Banks

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davefan13

Member
I am going on a vaction this summer around the begining of July. We are going to Hatteras, North Carolina. I was hoping that I could do some snorkeling there, but I'm not sure if it is worth it. I have heard that there are a lot of crash sites, but that's about it. I am not expecting much in the ways of coral (do they even have reefs?), but I would like to still get some snorkeling in. Oh, and I am not, and do not plan to be SCUBA certified, so that is out of the picture. If anyone has been to the Outer Banks and has done any snorkeling, could you please let me know what is there and if I should go.

thanks
 
Wow, are all of you guys mistaken. ;)

Florida is not the only decent place to snorkel on the East Coast, far from it in fact. I live in Rhode Island and it is one of my favorite places to snorkel.
Did you know that in late summer, juvenile tropical fish are swept by the gulf stream into northern waters? That means in if you snorkel in North Carolina, you can see lots of tropical fish.
Here in RI, I collect many different species, including various butterflies, damsels, grouper, lookdowns, cornetfish, short bigeye, jacks, pilot fish, filefish, and many others. Atlantic Lionfish are even beginning to come further north and you could very well see one. ;)
I highly suggest finding a nice snorkeling spot and taking a look around. :)
 
I'm not a diver, but a few of our members from the Hampton Roads Reef Club recently took a trip to Hatteras. Here is a comment posted by one of the participants.
Wow! Just got back from Hatteras dive trip today. It was one of the most memorable dives I have had in a very long time. The water was 77 degrees and the visibility was around 90 feet. We dove the Dixie Arrow. What an amazing dive! There were around 20 sand tiger sharks with many having a small school of anchovies completely surrounding them as they moved. They are one knarly looking shark but quite docile. We also saw many damsels, hogfish, angelfish, butterflyfish, groupers, spades, amberjacks, wrasse, LIONFISH, numerous gorgonians and a few hard corals and a gynormous cubera snapper (60+ pounds)! The wreck also had a ton of urchins and sea cukes around.
Click to expand...
There are a lot of wrecks out there, but I'm not sure how good the snorkeling is.
 
they dont call it the graveyard of the atlantic for nothing. I have logged many many hours out there. This is a great place to dive,but snorkeling is only good in certain areas further south than where you will be. There are some good out of the way wrecks just south of hateras. These sites have little dive trafic;) Some are loaded with artifacts:D I found a grenade(unexsploded)on a british trawler. Put to rest the fact that it is still exsplosive we already checked for that and it not. I also found a wooden ship wreck that I took a rib off of and had it anylized and we found it to be 14th century english white oak
 
I live in Virginia Beach not far from there. Lots to see in the water. Lobster lots of fish, starfish etc. Better to check it out then sit on the beach and wonder what if...
 
Hi All
I grew up in New Jersy, and spent my summers on the jersy shore. I spent alot of time on the waters on the bays in south jersy as a clammer in the late 60's and early 70's and I never saw any tropicals where I lived. And the waters in the bays back then was crystal clear.
I guess what scientists warn is true. Warm water species of fish are migrating northward with our warming oceans. God help us all.
 
beaker99,

The tropicals come up on the Gulf Stream. When the Gulf gets up to Long Island it swings out and spins off warm water eddies. Those eddies hit the south shore of LI, Rhode Island and Cape Cod bringing larval tropical fish inshore. But they kind of pass NJ so you don't get as many. It's not a new phenomena for fish, but we are starting to see some of the tropical fish and shellfish diseases move north on a more permanent basis :(
 
yes and we have lion fish here now. Ive seen them on several wrecks. No one really knows what caused them to show up. Ive also seen blue damsels and several other fish that are not atlantic fish. The waters are getting warmer:eek: With no real predator to eat then the lion fish might become a problem
 
The lionfish was thrown in the water by a local shop or something i believe in North carolina or something back in the 90's. Ever since then they have been reproducing and began to spread out across the coast.
 
There is much debate on the lionfish issue but they are breeding off North Carolina.

There were a couple of hundred caught on long Island last year alone and things should start popping here soon.

I've been collecting tropicals in New York since 1982. These fish arrive up the east coast because of the pelagic stage they go through after they hatch. The gulf stream carries them up the east coast and when they are strong enough to settle out they find their ways to bays and estuaries. Its been going on forever. As long as costal temps are above mid sixties the fish survive once fall returns the smaller tropicals die and the larger ones like trigger fish and cobia and cow nose rays return south. It has nothing to do with climate change. And I just realised someone already addressed this. Sorry for the redundancy.
 
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There are so many people that missunderstand North Carolina Diving/Snorkling. I live in Wilmington, NC which is about an hour north of Myrtle Beach, SC. There are TONS of dive site around here and even more shipwrecks in the out banks. We (NC) were actually ranked #1 in the world at one time for wreck diving. There are plenty of tropical fish in our waters as well. Spotfin Butterflies, Blue angels, Queen angels, wrasse, trigger fish. So to everyone that thinks florida is the best place in America to go diving, keep dreaming. NOw if all you want to do is snorkel then yea go swim off the beach in the Keys.
 
just as you guys up north get our warm water species from the influx of the gulf stream we get some of your cold water species by way of the labrador currents. stuff like maine lobster show up here from time to time, we hook them on fishing poles while bottom fishing. I always throw them back;)
 
we had a beach house on the ocean last summer and i saw some pretty interesting fish just with a mask a couple of yards off shore so theres bound to be better stuff out there, but ive never done anything more than that so i wouldnt get your hopes up
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10148811#post10148811 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scuba kid
Wow, are all of you guys mistaken. ;)

Florida is not the only decent place to snorkel on the East Coast, far from it in fact. I live in Rhode Island and it is one of my favorite places to snorkel.
Did you know that in late summer, juvenile tropical fish are swept by the gulf stream into northern waters? That means in if you snorkel in North Carolina, you can see lots of tropical fish.
Here in RI, I collect many different species, including various butterflies, damsels, grouper, lookdowns, cornetfish, short bigeye, jacks, pilot fish, filefish, and many others. Atlantic Lionfish are even beginning to come further north and you could very well see one. ;)
I highly suggest finding a nice snorkeling spot and taking a look around. :)
Click to expand...

I grew up in CT and was certified in RI. I used to love to snorkel around the cove at fort wetheral! I even caught a few butterfly flish, a big eye, and eve saw some triggers out there in late summer. I now live in Orlando and go to peanut island and see tropical fish off of the shore whenever id like! :)

Luis
 
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