Deception Pass

[scooby branch]

I dove Deception pass a total of 5 times and feel comfortable with the bottom terrain to safely find my way at night in a low exchange conditions.

Who is in?

[AdrianSmith]

Not me. Low exchange or not Deception Pass is no place to dive at night. And I've dived it more than five times.

-Adrian

[GearHead]

There is very little ambient light around the pass at night, and no lights on the shore to indicate your exit point. No way would I recommend a night dive here.

[scooby branch]

[scooby branch]

[scooby branch]

Well, I heard your opinions . I understand most divers here are not very comfortable with the Pass during the day let alone at night. What will most likely happen is we will go on a low exchange night having taken care of the logistics and assess the situation. The decision will be only made then. We are very experienced night divers and have enough ocean sence to take a calculated risk.


Thanx all for your input.

[AdrianSmith]

You may have heard, but you didn't listen. Many of us on here have multiple decades of experience diving in waters all over the planet. Our hesitation to dive Deception Pass at night has nothing to do with comfort - it has to do with experience, thousands of dives, and recognition and acknowledgement when risk assessment shows that a dive isn't worth the risk.

Do us all a favor and don't take too many people with you when you go on your adventure. Your calculated risk is a fool's errand and I'd hate to see your ego cost someone their life.

-Adrian

[Ryan Nelson]

In all fairness, none of the people who oppose the idea of diving the pass at night have given any real explanation of why it would be more difficult.

I can completely understand the absence of people and boats becoming an issue if you are needing any kind of rescue, but one might also argue if your rescue plan relies on non diving strangers floating by at the right time that might be considered foolish.

Then you have the issue of finding the entry and exit. This as highlighted could be problematic. Those of you who have dove this know the topography on the bottom makes getting in relatively easy and getting out or at least finding the beach a near certainty. Artificially lighting the exit can also be done, a techinque I have used in the past.

If you are going to use the park being closed as an issue that could certainly be worked out if not just hiking to the top. I've done dives where i had to rappel into the entry and float my rig to get in. A small obstacle like a closed gate shouldn't present any difficulty.


Most of the exchanges are much less at night so thats a plus.

Let's hear a genuine argument against actually diving it at night. I can't imagine we are the first to think of this, and I'm sure someone out there has done it. Let's leave experience out of it. Assume with my 500+ dives all over North America I can hold my own.

[mz53480]

Interested.
What date(s) are you planning on going?

[Ryan Nelson]

9/21, 9/22, 9/23 all look like great nights.

[YellowEye]

Let's hear a genuine argument against actually diving it at night.

Underwater communication, orientation and emergency procedures (both under and above water) are tougher at night. All of these are amplified when under high currents. This site can rip and swirl and chew and spit you out.

There's plenty of good diving (better diving?) to be had without going to these extremes.

[ScubaJess]

Everyone please be safe out there and don't do anything foolish! We don't need to loose anymore divers.

[Ryan Nelson]

To be clear, it's not the allure of bagging a night dive at Deception Pass that has us thinking about it. It's becuase the exchanges are less at night. The nights i mentioned we would splash around 9pm do its not that late. True there will be added stress if anything doesn't go as planned but with the conditions being "better" than normal, I feel we should have a slight upper hand. Thats the thinking behind it. 75% of my dives are at night so I'm not uncomfortable in the dark. I've still got some time to think it through...

[scooby branch]

If some of you could share your negative experiences diving DP describing details instead of spooky talk the conversation would be more productive.

[Jeremy]

If some of you could share your negative experiences diving DP describing details instead of spooky talk the conversation would be more productive.

Sure. Once my team entered, great timing, low exchange, water looked nice, descended to 30 fsw and started to enter the pass.

Suddenly we were picked up by the current and started hauling major ass into the pass. No way to kick against. Many people clung to a rock. Dry suits were punctured. 10 minutes later....nice and calm as predicted.

Whoops! Well, that's Deception Pass diving for you. Sometimes it's a peach, sometimes not.

Personally, I'm glad we weren't night diving on that occasion.That said....it would be a totally rocking night dive if conditions were right.

[Penopolypants]

Many of us are struggling mightily with the loss of a very beloved member here who also dove a very difficult site recently and lost her life in the process. She was exceptionally well trained, utterly meticulous, one of the most risk adverse people I know, and she dove said site in extraordinary good conditions during broad daylight. And yet she died.

She was very eloquent speaker and a gifted writer, and I am sure she could have calmly and persuasively told you more about all the risks and issues than you would have wanted to know.

Unfortunately there aren't a lot of us here in the best emotional position to deal with another member trying to justify their choice to make a (at best) questionable dive decision. We can ask that you not do it...that's about all that we can muster right now. Hell, I yelled hysterically at my cat today and then sat down and cried because she wouldn't fucking come in or come out, which happens every time I open the damned door.

Lynne was, however, a great proponent of the "three strikes" rule, so I'll go over that here.....meaning if three things go wrong (even if they are casual and/or unrelated) before your dive, call it off and go another day.

Strike one: the park is closed at night, so you'd either have to bend the rules, sneak in, lie, etc.. Strike two: currents are unpredictable, so you could be pinned to the bottom in an unexpected downcurrent or separated from your buddy at any time. This is similar to what set in motion the event that cost Lynne her life. Strike Three: Very nearly anything that could go wrong will send you into Rosario Strait, at night, where you are very difficult to see, making it hard on boats who might run over you and not even know it, or if you're lucky, making it extra hard on the Coast Guard trying to rescue you. They don't need that, they just spent 30 hours scouring 290 square miles in vain for another one of our divers who would have never done such a foolish thing as a night dive at Deception Pass to begin with.

I am normally very much a "live and let live or die" person, but like many of us, I am still reeling from the loss of a very well prepared, cautious person during a well planned dive under optimal conditions. I am not inclined to support the foolhardy through silence at the moment.

[scooby branch]

I respect your opinions and the recent huge loss to the community. Although allow me to counter the above mentioned "strikes".

Strike one: we are intending to get the park's permission to dive the pass at night, just like we get a permission to dive Keystone jetty at night. Devalidated.

Strike two: the exchanges we are taking to do at night are in the vicinity 8 combined. All the day exchanges we dove so far were as high as 10. Devalidated.

Strike three: It is much easier to see a lit up diver floating at night than a marker bui one with all the sun glare during the day. Devalidated.

Extra points: our dry suits are crushed neoprene, much harder to punch a hole in than a laminate . we have a set plan of shore retreat and treat the dive as a solo with a rigid plan of what to do in case of a separation .

Do you mind to elaborate on where exactly that downward current was encountered in the Pass?

No pun intended just trying to learn from you all and have a civil discussion.

[scooby branch]

Also to compare Duncan Rock with Deception Pass is absurd.

[Jeremy]

Sounds like you're good to go scooby

[scooby branch]

So far by our calculations those 3 days and nights have decent flows. We are planning to do 2 dives on each of those dates, one on day and one on night since we just acquired 2 additional steel 80's. You all are welcome to join us on days or nights to dive , brainstorm, vent, support or bbq. Sounds like the community took quite a hit with the recent loss. My condolences.

[Penopolypants]

Strike one: Congratulations on your intent, may you be as successful in your achievement.

Strike two: Unpredictable currents can pop up regardless of the site or exchange, that's why they're called that, whether it's Duncan Rock, the Pass, or any other benign site.

Strike three: You're average ship isn't looking for you at all, much less at night. Remember the incident with the Mark V and the cargo ship a few years ago? Different scale, same concept. They were substantially more visible. Also, your efforts to make yourself visible are fun when you've been whacked on the head by a passing boat, assuming you're conscious, should the CG have to look for you.

Bonus: I affectionately dubbed my compressed neoprene suit "The Sieve" by the time I finally gave up looking for all the leaks and got a new one after several hard whacks on spikey surfaces.

Once Lynne and I were listening to another group of guys plan a different harebrained dive and she leaned over to me and said: "The nice thing about being female is that I don't have to prove I have balls." Enjoy your proving process!

[scooby branch]

Diving is dangerous. Congratulations on stating the obvious.

Like I said before , my aspirations are not to impress anyone. The tourists are already impressed when they see me crawling out of the Pass or any other dive site for that matter. If i wanted to impress I would float in a whirlpool with an american flag for a marker buoi on a Saturday morning.

[Jeff Kruse]

Assume with my 500+ dives all over North America I can hold my own.

LOL, so your a beginner then.

[mz53480]

What kind of dive (bottom) time are we looking at for these dives?
Thx

[Ryan Nelson]

Assume with my 500+ dives all over North America I can hold my own.

LOL, so your a beginner then.

LOL? since this thread has already jumped topic (thanks Penelope) I'd like to point out that at even 1,200 dives, experience won't keep you alive...