Get current news and events the easy way! Join our newsletter and get updates from Olympus Dive Center!

We value your privacy. We will never rent, sell, or otherwise use your email address for anything other than the services you specifically request. Period.

Monday, February 08, 2010 - Dive Season Planning Guide from Olympus Dive Center

Greetings from Olympus Dive Center  We're already off to a great start for 2010; we've accomplished much on our to-do list before the weather warms up and we wanted to share some of the excitement with you. Olympus Presents New Website If you were browsing our website mid-January, you were the first to witness the live renovation of our website. In our pursuit to always be 'The Better Way to Dive North Carolina' we spent much of the last month working on a new website that has more features for you! If you haven't seen it, please take a second to drop by www.olympusdiving.com. If you were a regular on our old site, you'll notice many changes beyond the revised look; our calendars for dive charters and training are now separate, we have added tons of cool info to the shipwrecks (with more still coming), and we've embedded tons of videos throughout the site. Enjoy! Three New Special Events Announced 5th Annual Michael J. Norwood Event: Join John Chatterton May 14th-16th for the 5th Annual Michael J. Norwood Event. All proceeds from the weekend will be donated to DAN's Michael J. Norwood Memorial Research Fund. Michael was an avid diver and worked as the co-host of Deep Sea Detectives on the History Channel when he met an early death filming for the show. The fund established in his memory now serves to support research initiatives into diving accidents. For more information about the event and the Michael Norwood fund, please visit our website. The event is a fun filled weekend which includes 3 full days of diving, a dinner on Friday evening at The History Place catered by Floyd’s 1921 and a presentation by John Chatterton, along with a silent auction that evening. There will also be a BBQ on our docks after the dives on Saturday which will basically be a big party on our docks. Representatives from Scuba Pro will be on hand for the entire weekend and will have equipment with them for our guests to do dive demo’s with. Schedule of events and pricing is as follow, for complete details see our website.             May 14th - Full day Charters with John Chatterton $155             May 14th Evening – Dinner and Auction with a presentation by John Chatterton and Scuba Pro $70              May 15th - Full day Charters with John Chatterton $155             May 15th – BBQ on our docks $20                      May 16th- Full Day Charters with John Chatterton $155 Wreck Week 2010: Back by popular demand, Olympus Dive Center is once again teaming up with Wreck Diving Magazine to conduct another Wreck Week. We will spend part of the time searching for new wrecks and diving on some of the fabulous well known wrecks. In addition, we plan to conduct evening seminars, both at the Olympus docks and an indoor pool, on the use of the following equipment, and we'll even let you try them out: ROVs, Sidescan Sonar, Metal Detectors, Scooters, Dive to Diver communications with full face masks, and much more! This year's wreck week is being held June 14th-18th. For complete information and schedule see our website. SharkFest 2010: Sharkfest is a long weekend of shark diving, shark movies, and good times! The obvious focus of this event is to get face to face with one of the most misunderstood creatures in the sea... the sand tiger shark. Another fun part of this event is the shark film festival. This isn't Cannes so leave the tuxedos at home! Movies will be screened on a digital projector in the Olympus Dive Lodge or outdoors on the back deck of the dive center (weather permitting). Sharkfest is a long overdue opportunity for all shark divers to get together, dive and talk sharks! If you are a shark junkie, you belong here! This year's SharkFest is August 6th-8th.For complete information and schedule, see our website. 2010 Dive Season Opener As you have probably guessed, we are currently in our winter dive season which means we're doing alot of preperations for the spring and summer dive season. That being said, we'd like to announce our official season opener the weekend of March 20th-21st. We'll be running our regular Full Day Charters with hopes to go out to some of our favorite sites like the Schurz, Papoose, U-352 or Spar. That same weekend we'll be conducting a deep diver course for those of you who may be interested. When you take a look at our online calendar and scroll through the upcoming months you'll probably see some other things that catch your eye like the popular spearfishing and lobster charter on April 17th-18th. Once you've picked out your dates, give us a call; or if there are dates you're wanting to dive but that we don't have a charter listed on, give us a call and we will see what we can work out for you.  Technical Charter Schedule We're pleased to announce our technical charter schedule for 2010! Join us June 5th & 6th, September 4th & 5th, or October 30th & 31st for one of these popular technical charters. We have also added a Tech Week July 12th through 15th! If you're looking to do several days of technical diving this summer, then Tech Week is for you! We're going to be doing a progressive 'step up' to the most advanced wrecks each day, starting with 'warm up' dives on wrecks in the 100-120ft depth. The second and third days will hit different wrecks in our typical 140ft+ technical charter range, with the last day doing a more advanced wreck, possibly up to 200' in range. Deco will be permitted on all days and you don't need to dive every day to participate. Rebreathers and Open Circuit divers welcome, this is a great time to do some training dives too! For more information or diver requirements, contact Jon. New in our eShop Ready to breathe some new life into your dive t-shirt collection? Olympus has the solution for you! We would like to present three new t-shirt designs to compliment our standard line for 2010. These shirts are available now in our e-Shop as pre-orders, so check them out, and be first to get yours! Beat the Rush! Service your Equipment Now! As the weather warms up, more people will remember about that dive gear that needs service, and the wait times for equipment to be serviced extends. Beat the rush and send us your regulators and BCD now and Jon will work on them. Thats right - we do mail order equipment service. For complete details, see our repairs page and contact Jon with questions. Coming in the Next Edition.... Dates for Jon's annual St. Lawrence Seaway trip as well as a trip to the Riviara Maya! Join Nema as she takes you on a week long trip to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to dive the world famous cenotes and reefs. We'll also be announcing the details of a camp-aboard trip in May. Until Next Time! - The Staff and Crew of Olympus Dive Center

Saturday, January 23, 2010 - Holiday Happenings at Olympus Dive Center

GREETINGS FROM OLYMPUS DIVE CENTER With holiday parties and Christmas trees in abundance, you know it must be time for the holidays, and we'd like to wish you the Happiest of Holidays and a Happy New Year! We've been extremely busy continuing to dive and gearing up for what we expect to be another great diving year in 2010. Not Too Late for Christmas Shopping Procrastinating on getting someone a gift still? Why not give the gift of diving! Send them a gift card or something special like Chris Walker's 2010 North Carolina Wreck Diving Calendar. If they aren't yet certified, you can always get them a gift card for one of our classes. No matter what your budget, we're sure you can find something in our e-Shop for the diver on your list, and we'll be sure to ship your order ASAP to get it there in time! Capt. Bobby Purifoy's Birthday Charter - Captain's Choice Help Bobby ring in a new year with a birthday charter on January 3rd. We're going to let him choose the destination, but wherever we go, it'll surely have beautiful warm gulf stream water and amazing wreck diving. Keep that New Year's resolution to dive more by joining us on this special trip. 2010 Charter Calendar Online We've setup our charter calendar for 2010, and if you want to come diving with us next year, now is the time to book your spot! As one of the nations premiere charter operators, we regularly fill our trips well in advance, so don't wait! If you typically come as part of a group, please contact them to find out what dates they'll be coming and then book your spot. Of course, individual reservations are always welcome. Keep in mind that you have up until 30 days prior to your charter to cancel without penalty, and our prices did not increase over our 2009 rates. Visit our online calendar to see our current charters for 2010. Now Hiring for Spring and Summer 2010 If you want to join the premiere charter team next year, check out the careers we've got available on our website. We're currently hiring for PADI instructors, boat crew and dive operations specialists. We're looking for the best in the industry, and if you think that's you, please send us your resume! Key Largo Liveaboard - Feb 18-22, 2010 Experience Florida's famous shipwrecks in style; on a liveaboard. This trip includes unlimited diving for 3 days! The Key Largo Liveaboard is available to both technical and recreational divers alike and the price includes your transportation from NC to Key Largo, all meals on the vessel, diving, and air fills. Nitrox is available at an additional $100 per person. Custom mixes are also available and the trip is doubles and rebreather friendly. Jon is also offering discounted technical training combinations during this trip. We've only got 1 space left so give us a call today to reserve your spot. Upcoming Charters:     January 10th -    Shallow Full Day Charter     February 7th -     Half Day Charter     March 14th -       Half Day Charter     March 20-21st -   Full Day Charters     April 10-11th -     Full Day Charters     April 17-18th -     Extended Day Lobster Trip     April 24-25th -     Full Day Charters     May 1-2nd -        Extended Day Lobster Trip     See our calendar for a complete list of upcoming charters Upcoming Classes:     Equipment Technician    January 13th and Februrary 3rd     NAUI Drysuit Diver         January 9-10 and February 27-28     NAUI Scuba Diver          Weekdays starting Februrary 2nd, Weekends starting March 6, and Weekdays starting March 30th     NAUI Advanced Diver      Includes Nitrox! April 9-11 Until Next Time! The Staff and Crew of Olympus Dive Center

Saturday, January 23, 2010 - Gobble Up the Savings at Olympus Dive Center

GREETINGS FROM OLYMPUS DIVE CENTER We just returned from trade show in Orlando and placed some big orders for new equipment that will be arriving in early 2010 and we saw some cool new products that are arriving now! This last week has been very busy as we've been doing inshore trips for East Carolina University to certify the next generation of divers. Water temperatures are still great for diving; offshore temps are running in the mid to lower 70's while inshore water temp is in the upper 60's. With so much still going on this year, there is no reason to hang that dive gear up for good! Recent Happenings @ Olympus This past week we had the chance to usher in the next generation of underwater explorers as we took about 100 students from East Carolina University to the Indra Reef to complete their open water certification dives. Water temperature was in the upper 60's on all days and the visibility was about 30 feet on average with divers reported seeing sand tiger sharks, sand bar sharks, sting rays and turtles. Not too bad for their first boat dive and we hope to be seeing these new divers again very soon! Tired of Turkey Charter - November 28-29 Thanksgiving is upon us, which means you'll soon be filling your belly with turkey and then wishing there was something in the fridge besides leftover turkey! When you are bored with the Thanksgiving turkey, come join us for a lobster and spearfishing trip to get something else for the dinner table! We'll go to the rock ledges, where lobster and grouper are easy to come by! Give us a call today before the spaces are sold out. Olympus is having a SALE! Two words that ordinarily do not go hand in hand are scuba equipment and sale but then again, we have never been accused of being ordinary. Sunday, November 22nd through Monday, November 30th we are having a huge sale on name brand dive gear from quality manufactures like TUSA, O'Neil and Aeris in order to make room for new merchandise that will arrive in early 2010. Be prepared to find masks, fins, snorkels, boots, gloves, BCD's, dive computers with significant price reductions. We also have a huge selection of stocking stuffers all 25% off as well as hooded sweat shirts and hat and t-shirt combo's all 25% off. Looking for a good deal on a dry suit, digital camera with stobe, BCD, regulator or wetsuit? We are restocking our rental inventory and have our current rental inventory priced to sell. Prices are good for in stock merchandise only and all purchases must be made in person. To view our sale flyer, please click HERE. New Product Showcase While we were at the dive show we saw a few really cool and useful gadgets that we're now carrying in store. Among these products is a new multi-tool from XS Scuba, which has a DIN insert hex wrench, o-ring pic, port plug wrench, valve nut screwdriver, and many more in a handy and small tool for keeping in your gear bag. Also new is a BC wash aid that makes cleaning saltwater out of the inside of your BC a quick and easy chore. The BC wash attaches to your inflator and a standard garden hose, allowing you to run water through all of the parts that most commonly gunk up really quickly and without the headache. Finally, we're excited about a pair of shorts you'll be able to pull over any wetsuit; but these aren't any shorts, they've got pockets on both sides which will let you stow your dive accessories conviently and streamlined. You can see all these products and many more in our e-Shop. Holiday Specials in the e-Shop We've put several items that any diver will love on sale in our e-Shop to help make your holiday shopping a little easier. Deals include discounted pricing on hat and shirt combos, books, and much more. Don't forget, we also offer gift cards in our e-Shop and Chris Walker's 2010 North Carolina Wreck Diving is available now. From the Training Desk We would like to congradulate Danielle Laroche for completing her Dry Suit Diver Course last week with ODC Training Director, Jon Belisario. Danielle traveled all the way from Maine to take her drysuit course in a Whites Fusion drysuit and we were very happy she did. We've got several classes coming up, from a NAUI Scuba Diver class December 8-13 and NAUI Rescue Diver December 19-21 among many others. For more information about the classes we offer, see our training section on the website, then check out the calendar to see the classes coming up soon. Don't forget you can do your dives in our Florida Trip coming up in early 2010! Florida Springs Trip - Jan 28-Feb 1, 2010 Join us as we head to the north Florida Springs this January. We'll be conducting certification dives for open water dives as well as certification dives for other classes. If you are already certified, come along anyway and enjoy some relaxing dives in the beautiful springs! If the dates are making you shy, don't forget that water temperatures in the Florida Springs are constant year round in the low to mid-70s. For more information, please give Jon a call at 252-726-9432. Key Largo Liveaboard - Feb 18-22, 2010 Experience Florida's famous shipwrecks in style; on a liveaboard. This trip includes unlimited diving for 3 days! The Key Largo Liveaboard is available to both technical and recreational divers alike and the price includes your transportation from NC to Key Largo, all meals on the vessel, diving, and air fills. Nitrox is available at an additional $100 per person. Custom mixes are also available and the trip is doubles and rebreather friendly. Jon is also offering discounted technical training combinations during this trip. We've only got 3 spaces left so give us a call today to reserve your spot. Until Next Time! The Staff and Crew of Olympus Dive Center

Saturday, January 23, 2010 - 80 Degree Water and Great Diving this Fall with Olympus Dive Center

GREETINGS FROM OLYMPUS DIVE CENTER As always, we enjoyed the 23rd Annual NC Seafood Festival this past weekendâ€Ã‚¦.live music, fire works, carnival rides and some of the best seafood this area has to offer! The weather lately has been perfect for being outside and diving; sunny with temperatures in the mid 80's, and what better way to mark the beginning of the fall dive season than with great weather? Diving conditions have also been great with up to 80ft of visibility on the U-352 and water temperature offshore at 80 degress! Our annual St. Lawerance trip is off to Canada (eh?) so keep an eye out for more photos and updates from that great trip. Three Day Weekend Getaway Package with the Sheraton Atlantic Beach Join us for a three day weekend of diving and enjoy ocean view accomidations at the Sheraton in Atlantic Beach for a great package price. Available the weekends of October 17-19, October 24-26 and October 30-November 2, stay at the Sheraton for $129 a night for two nights and get the third night free! Bring a dive buddy and save! In order to take advantage of the special pricing you must book three days of Full Day Charters at $125 per day and three nights with the Sheraton. If you'd like to bring the family, the Sheraton is the prefect place to stay; with nice pools, direct beach access, and easy location to places like the NC Aquarium, you won't feel guilty about taking a few days of diving with us! Olympus Dive Center Fall Special October 16-19, October 23-26 and October 30-November 2 Stay Friday & Saturday at $129 per room â€Ã¢€Å“ Sunday night is FREE *Oceanview Room / Based on 2 people per room / based on availability / add 12.75% tax To make reservations: https://www.sheratonatlanticbeach.com/eBooker/checkavailability.asp Or call 800-624-8875 â€Ã¢€Å“ ask for Olympus Dive Center Special Rate Don't forget to call us to book your diving!  BOO at the Beach...Halloween Weekend Package  Need something to do with the family for Halloween? Take advantage of these two fun family activities in combination with the long weekend package above; you'll have so much fun it'll be scarey!         Forget the door to door trick or treating this year!  TREAT your family to a weekend at the beach.  Bring your family to the courtyard on Friday & Saturday evenings for Pirate Ghost Stories and S'Mores by the camp fire. On Saturday kids of all ages will enjoy trick-or-treating...HOTEL style (the Sheraton staff will be armed with sweets & surprises).  Kids, tell your parents you must 'dress to impress' - Best Costume will win a free weekend get-away!  Saturday evening after a family style dinner in Milazzo Italian Restaurant, hop in the indoor heated pool for a DIVE IN MOVIE. Two Frightfully Fun Nights for 2009 - Oct. 28 & 29 Thrills and gills are back for the Aquarium’s popular Halloween party, Trick or Treat Under the Sea, aka TOTUS. This year, TOTUS expands to two nights -Wednesday, Oct. 28 and Thursday, Oct. 29. Tickets are sold 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. each night.  Choose the evening that works best for your family or come twice for a double dose of frightful fall fun. Trick or treating is the highlight for both nights. Children load up  goodie bags at decorated booths, sponsored by local businesses and  organizations, throughout the Aquarium. People of all ages enjoy underwater pumpkin carving demonstrations and other â€Ã…“spookyâ€Ã‚ fun and games with an aquatic twist. As in years past, roving costume connoisseurs single out the best get-ups. To get ready for the evening, the Aquarium ends regular ticket sales at 1 p.m. each day of TOTUS, and reopens for the Halloween hi-jinks at 4:30 p.m. Tired of Turkey Charter - November 27-28 It won't be long until winter holiday decorations will be in department stores, which means its time to think about your Thanksgiving plans. If you're over it with the Thanksgiving turkey, come join us for a lobster and spearfishing trip to get something else for the dinner table! We'll go to the rock ledges, where lobster are easy to come by! Give us a call to book your spot on one of these great charters! From the Travel Desk: Annual Florida Trip If you waited to book for Truk Lagoon 2011... it is FULL! Our annual Florida trip still has space left! Every year we head down to Florida, but no matter how well we plan, mother nature seems to have another plan! Feb 18 - 22, 2010 we're not going to make a plan; weather will dictate our destination! If we get good weather that weekend then we'll head to the Mighty 'O'... Oriskany! But if we get blown out then all that planning will still pay off as we head to the Keys and dive great wrecks like the Speigal Grove. Either way we're sure to have a blast and beat mother nature at the same time. More information and price coming soon....  Upcoming Training Fall classes are typically smaller, meaning more one on one time with your instructor! We have Open Water classes in October, NAUI Rescue Diver in November, and Drysuit classes in December all designed to give you the diving edge you crave. Don't forget, even if we don't have a class on the books at a time or day that works for you, we can probably still accomidate your schedule. Give us a call or email Jon to setup any class, any time! Be sure to visit our training section and calendar for more information about these and other classes coming up. Bring in Your Equipment for Annual Service Today! Even if you didn't get to dive this year, or if you put in tons of dives, you need to service your equipment annually. Sitting in a closet is just as hard as diving on those o-rings and parts in your regulators, and with fall weather you can avoid the long waits associated with getting your equipment serviced in the summer. For more information about our service policies, rates, and brands we can service, please see the service information of our website. Gently Used Rental Equipment Blow-Out We're moving some of our rental equipment out to make room for new 2010 stock. All of this equipment has been in our rental stock for less than two years and is current in annual maintenance. For $750 (or $780 shipped) you can get a package with the Scubapro Glide Plus BCD which is a weight integrated back inflation BCD, a Scubapro MK11/R395 regulator, octopus and gauges! Available in sizes small through x-large, this great package is perfect for divers on a budget. Buy online using paypal from our e-store! Upcoming Charters October 9-11: Full Day Charters for Columbus Day Weekend... We currently have Monday marked as 'tentative' so in case you are one of those who has a 3-day weekend, we'll be happy to turn that into a charter once we have enough interested divers! October 17-18: Full Day Charter October 17: Half Day Charter October 24-25: Full Day Charter. This weekend we'll head to sites like the Schurz, Papoose, and Aeolus. October 24: Half Day Charter November 21-22: Technical Charter November 27-28: Tired of Turkey Charter. If you're over it with the Thanksgiving turkey, come join us for a lobster and spearfishing trip to get something else for the dinner table! We'll go to the rock ledges, where lobster are easy to come by! Until Next Time! The Staff and Crew of Olympus Dive Center

Saturday, January 23, 2010 - Watch Us Tonight and Tomorrow on Discovery Channel

GREETINGS FROM OLYMPUS DIVE CENTER As we prepare this brief newsletter, the sun has just set and 18 divers have just done a giant stride off of the Midnight Express on a night dive at the Spar. When these divers return to the dock tonight around 11 o'clock, they will be in just in time to watch Shark After Dark on Discovery Channel's highly acclaimed Shark Week which a portion of was filmed on the Spar, one year ago. If you did not get the chance to watch Shark After Dark last night, you have 2 more opportunities this week. The episode will re-air tonight (Friday) at 12 midnight and then again tomorrow at noon. If you can not make those times, a quick set of your dvr will do the trick! Last night we hosted a viewing party at Floyd's 1921 which was a huge success and a lot of fun...we just love parties! The program was shot at 4 different locations around the world, comparing the differences in shark behavior and eating habits at day and then again at night. For the North Carolina section, the production crew visited the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores where they got some really great footage of sand tiger sharks feeding in light and then after they made the aquarium completely dark. For the segment featuring Olympus Dive Center our crew escorted the Shark After Dark crew to both the Caribsea and the Spar. The filming took place over a 2 day period with night dives on the Spar on both days. After seeing the show, we all agreed that it was done really well and everyone at Olympus is happy with the way our sharks were portrayed. It has only been a day since the program has been released and people are flooding us with questions about when they can do a night dive on the Spar. The current days for Spar Night Dives are August 31st and September 11th. Please call today to book your space, since the world has been let in on our little secret, spaces are filling up fast! Until Next Time!  The Staff and Crew of Olympus Dive Center