newbie needs northwest advice

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Thu May 31, 2007 6:51 am

hello all!

i am a recent transplant to the northwest, currently living in portland, or. i received my open water certification last winter, and now i'm eager to explore the cold waters of the oregon and washington coasts.

my wife and i will be spending a weekend in seattle late july and i would love to get in a dive trip. i'm hoping all of you knowledgeable folks could help answer a few questions i have.

i have no cold water diving experience or equipment. can you recommend a shop that would have the rental gear i need as well as a great staff to help me learn to use it?

also, with only one day to dive in the seattle area, what would be your "do-not-miss" dive site that a beginner like me could handle? do you know of a shop or group that leads tours of that area?

thanks in advance for your help. i look forward to exploring the diving and the dive community of the northwest.

jeff98208 · Post by **jeff98208** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:28 am

hello and welcome to the pac blue. as far as gear goes you'll need either a dry suit, or a good wet suit for the cold waters we swim in. if you get the wet suit it will be a 7mm suit. for the diving part i recommend either the edmonds underwater park or edmonds oil dock. other divers will have other dive sites for you to choose from. if you choose edmonds underwater park or the oil dock there is a dive shop dead center of the 2 called underwater sports. hope to swim with the fishes with you sometime. later!

jeff

SquishyDuck · Post by **SquishyDuck** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:32 am

Hi spatman,

I am just across the river from you in Vancouver. If you were wanting to rent locally, there are a few shops here that rent dry suits, and I am sure that any of them would be more than happy to give you an orientation. If you want to take a full blown cert class, any of them would be able to provide that as well.

I did a quick search and found a shop in Portland and a couple in Vancouver that list dry suit rentals.

In Portland, there is Oregon Underwater located on SE Division St.

The two I found in Vancouver are Seven Seas SCUBA and Thunder Reef.

I, too, am new to the area, so I can't really vouch for any of these places. I have visited Thunder Reef, and the people there seem nice. And I have heard good things from others about Seven Seas.

Sorry, I can't be of much more help. Good luck!

Pinkpadigal · Post by **Pinkpadigal** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:35 am

For a beginner, I would recommend Cove 2 in West Seattle or Redondo in Des Moines. Both offer easy access, and water to rinse gear. Neither place is tide-dependent.

There are a lot of fun places to dive, it just depends on where you are staying. EUP is a cool dive but a long surface swim.

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Thu May 31, 2007 8:16 am

jeff-
i do plan on taking a drysuit class soon, but i don't know if it'll be before our trip to seattle, but i'm sure a 7mm will be fine for now. thanks for the heads up on underwater sports.

squishy-
i've done a little exploring of the dive shops in portland, as well. i don't think we'll be able to rent locally for our trip, but it's good to know that there's a few shops in the 'couv as well. maybe we'll cross paths someday.

amy-
thanks for the tips. i'll have a better sense of where we're staying in the next few weeks.

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Thu May 31, 2007 8:29 am

I agree with Redondo and Cove 2 (Seacrest Park in West Seattle). You shouldn't need to pay for a guide per say - there are plenty of folks here who'd be happy to show you around. Edmonds is fun, but the surface swim is a killer and it can be current intensive so it'd depend on what day you're planning to be up here. Cove 2 and Redondo won't really matter and are great places for newer divers - lots of life, lots of things to see at conservative depths, easy entry/exit, and no current issues.

Where will you be staying while you're here? Of course there are many dive shops in the area, but there are 3 that stand out in my opinion (just remember what opinions are like...

).

If you're traveling from the South there is A-2-Z in Puyallup which you'll pass on the way up. PinkPadiGal is the owner and she has some of the nicest rental equipment I've ever seen including ALL Atomic regulators... yes, she rents (exclusively) Atomic regs. Once you dive one, you'll never want anything else (I love mine!!!). http://www.A2ZScuba.com

If you're staying in the greater seattle area, there is Starfish Diving which is near Northgate Mall. Randy is the owner and used to have a store front but now runs it from his garage. He has some of the cleanest air to fill tanks with in all the region and is a very experienced diver. I don't know if he rents gear - call for an appointment. http://www.starfishdivinginc.com

If you're a bit further north, Northwest Sports Divers is in Kenmore (at the north end of Lake Washington) and is a fantastic shop. I'd bet good money they fill more tanks than any shop in the area and they're highly experienced divers. They're a tech/rec shop too so they can take care of anything you really need. http://www.nwsportsdivers.com

All three of these shops are top-shelf and will take very good care of you. A2Z is probably the easiest place to get your gear and tanks - and they have shot-blasted rental tanks so you won't get paint chipping all over your car either. Shoot PinkPadiGal (Amy) a PM or give her a call at the shop.

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Thu May 31, 2007 12:02 pm

Welcome to NWDC. I also recommend Cove 2 for not only a great dive site (easy entry, and stuff to see at all depths) but also b/c it's a great part of Seattle to see. Easily one of the most beautiful dive sites anywhere in the world (topside view).

I wrote a short review of the site:

http://www.calvintang.com/blog/category ... get-sound/

Cheers,

Calvin

CaptnJack · Post by **CaptnJack** » Thu May 31, 2007 12:10 pm

Edmonds UW park is a good place for beginnners, a bit of a swim but lots of big fish and easy navigation

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:45 pm

sounder-
thanks a lot for the terrific recommendations. i've exchanged a brief note with amy from a2z and i'm definitely leaning their way. hopefully wherever we stay will be close to their shop.

calvin-
also leaniing toward cove 2 for my first trip. thanks for the review link. i like your website, but your avatar is freaking me out, man.

captjack-
i looked into edmonds and i think that will be for a subsequent trip. but it really looks like fun.

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Thu May 31, 2007 3:24 pm

spatman wrote:calvin- your avatar is freaking me out, man.

Oh the stories we could tell about Calvin's avatar fetish...

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Thu May 31, 2007 4:12 pm

spatman wrote:hopefully wherever we stay will be close to their shop.

Even if you don't stay in the south end, they're right off I-5 (I can give you better directions but it's really easy to find). It'd be a quick and easy stop on your way into town and on your way out to drop the gear back off. I'm sure A2Z can give you as many tanks as you need for your weekend.

Warning: Once you dive Atomic, you'll start writing your letter to Santa for next Christmas.

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Thu May 31, 2007 4:21 pm

Sounder wrote:Even if you don't stay in the south end, they're right off I-5 (I can give you better directions but it's really easy to find). It'd be a quick and easy stop on your way into town and on your way out to drop the gear back off. I'm sure A2Z can give you as many tanks as you need for your weekend.

Warning: Once you dive Atomic, you'll start writing your letter to Santa for next Christmas.

thanks, sounder, that's good to know. and i'm now looking forward to trying the atomic regs.

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Thu May 31, 2007 10:55 pm

spatman wrote:
calvin-
also leaniing toward cove 2 for my first trip. thanks for the review link. i like your website, but your avatar is freaking me out, man.

Oh, that avatar is from a photo I took of some local marine wildlife - shot at Cove 2 last week. Enjoy your dive!

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 6:13 am

Calvin wrote:
Oh, that avatar is from a photo I took of some local marine wildlife - shot at Cove 2 last week. Enjoy your dive!

LOL.

i hear those fish are quite tasty breaded and fried with a side of hush puppies.

Rack · Post by **Rack** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:43 am

Calvin wrote:
Oh, that avatar is from a photo I took of some local marine wildlife - shot at Cove 2 last week. Enjoy your dive!

Ahh the old pugent sound catshark. I am soo jealous to see one coming out of the water like this is very rare.

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 10:15 am

They've been known to decimate Ratfish populations

Nwbrewer · Post by **Nwbrewer** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 10:41 am

They've been known to decimate Ratfish populations

Luckily they're generally kept away from divesites by the dogfish....

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:56 am

Nwbrewer wrote:
They've been known to decimate Ratfish populations
Luckily they're generally kept away from divesites by the dogfish....

Which are, in turn, kept at bay by the Wolf Eels.

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 6:39 pm

Calvin wrote:
Nwbrewer wrote:
They've been known to decimate Ratfish populations
Luckily they're generally kept away from divesites by the dogfish....
Which are, in turn, kept at bay by the Wolf Eels.

I just hurt myself...

I love this place!

You couldn't buy this kind of entertainment! (Not that you'd want to, mind you!)

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:24 am

Wow... nice work. I was trying to come up with some way to continue it, but wolfeels was the best. Good laugh! $\:D/$

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:53 am

Calvin wrote:
Nwbrewer wrote:
They've been known to decimate Ratfish populations
Luckily they're generally kept away from divesites by the dogfish....
Which are, in turn, kept at bay by the Wolf Eels.

Who are often found howling at full Moon Jellies. $\:D/$

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:10 am

spatman wrote:
Calvin wrote:
Nwbrewer wrote:
They've been known to decimate Ratfish populations
Luckily they're generally kept away from divesites by the dogfish....
Which are, in turn, kept at bay by the Wolf Eels.
Who are often found howling at full Moon Jellies. $\:D/$

Wow... just when you thought it couldn't possibly go on...

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:16 am

spatman wrote:
Calvin wrote:
Nwbrewer wrote:
Calvin wrote:
Rack wrote:Ahh the old pugent sound catshark. I am soo jealous to see one coming out of the water like this is very rare.
They've been known to decimate Ratfish populations
Luckily they're generally kept away from divesites by the dogfish....
Which are, in turn, kept at bay by the Wolf Eels.
Who are often found howling at full Moon Jellies. $\:D/$

When the Sunflower Stars aren't around.

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:39 am

Calvin wrote:
Rack wrote:
spatman wrote:
Calvin wrote:
Nwbrewer wrote:
Rack wrote:Ahh the old pugent sound catshark. I am soo jealous to see one coming out of the water like this is very rare.
They've been known to decimate Ratfish populations
Luckily they're generally kept away from divesites by the dogfish....
Which are, in turn, kept at bay by the Wolf Eels.
Who are often found howling at full Moon Jellies. $\:D/$
When the Sunflower Stars aren't around.

Which are sometimes obscured by the Cloud Sponges.

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:41 am

This post should definitely be moved to the Critterwatercher forum!