Radio Island Jetty, Morehead

I dive at the jetty often. Vis can be 0-10 feet. The life on the reef is very surprising for the area. it is better if you have a small boat you can get to the site, the hike can be a long one. The area is a public access beach, and the parking lot fills quickly. You can have a 200 yard walk across a parking lot, a few hundred feet down a walkway to the beach. Then a 1/4 mile or so walk to the site. During the summer if the parking lot is full so is the beach.. at high tide the beach gets very narrow, so it gets crowded to walk down with all the gear... a beach cart with balloon tires is the hot ticket for this....

Good shore site lots of crab and sheepshead...10' vis. The walk from the parking lot is long and I mean long and lots of beach goers, I recommend using a boat or at least use a beach cart to haul gear to the site. We drop down close to the green buoy. Only diveable at slack high tide and lots of boats so watch your ascent.

Dive report: 5/16. Vis was 5', the tide was later than normal. Lots of invertebrates were out along the rocks. Banded Tulip Shells, Sea Spiders, Sea Whips, Sea Squirts, Hard Corals, Assorted Tunicates, Blennies, Stone Crab, Oyster Toadfish, Sea Urchins. Dive RI at slack high tide. The beach access area has fresh water showers and restrooms. Places for families to sunbathe and kids to play in the water. For best results, suit up in the parking lot and walk along the water up near the chain link fence. It's a long walk, but that's the best spot to dive. Stay on the rocks during the dive. Surface in the shallows.

We completed a walk in at Radio Island at high slack tide and had about 5'-8' vis. Saw a few fish and stone crabs.

It was a great dive the last time I splashed here. Time before that I couldn't read my gauges, but on the 8th of July visibility was 10-15 feet and tons of fish. Current is extremely swift before high tide so if you don't want to get a good drift, then hit it right at high slack. You must have good nav skills and don't surface in less than 4 feet of water (at the shore) or you run the high chance of getting hit by a boat. Check the waves in the ocean. That day we had 2 foot waves and vis here was exceptional for a shore dive.

I've been diving Radio Island Jetty for 20 years. It's my favorite walk-in dive in NC.

Radio island is a NC shore dive. Expect 3 to 6 ft visibility. Only dive-able at high-slack tide. Tropical fish are seen during the late summer months into October. Beware of boat traffic if you venture off the jetty. Beware of stinging corals & occasional jelly fish. Gloves are a must and wetsuits are recommended to deal with sea urchins and sharp rocks and stings. It really is a great quickie dive for those of us in NC. See new stuff almost every time.

After a walk of about 1/4 of a mile, you can easily get to the jetty and begin your dive. The boat traffic in the channel is bad, but as long as you stay near the rocks, you're okay. The visability was about ten feet. There were lots of sea urchins and an array of different fish species. I enjoyed this dive, but not as much as my other dive at the Cape Lookout Rock Jetty.