Deception Pass night dive 9-21-15

[Ryan Nelson]

Got the OK from the State Park to dive North Beach via shore splashing around 9:30 pm. Who wants to join?

[Desert Diver]

Good job, Ryan. Be careful!

[Jeff Pack]

Congrats, persistence pays off.

[fmerkel]

Very good exchange that night.

[Ryan Nelson]

Had a great dive at the pass yesterday. We will dive it twice today, once around 10am then again around 9:30pm. There will be 4 of us going at night. Conditions are pretty good there right now.

From our dive there yesterday-

[Ryan Nelson]

Did the dive last night as planned. The exchanges were(and still are) favorable. The dive was amazing. The current felt slightly stronger than predicted but we entered at 9:15pm as 2 teams of 2. We stayed at our planned depth of 40ft for the majority of the dive. The two teams seperated briefly but started and finished the 50 minute dive together.

A few things to note. As an experienced night and drift diver I didn't make too big of a deal about the risk involved. During the dive, and in hindsight, it became evident how advanced the dive really was. There were a couple points where it would have been easy to loose your cool. Getting the flack I got online and in the community was kind of a double edged sword. On one hand it made me thoroughly plan and re plan the dive constantly working every possible senario, good and bad, into my plans. But on the other hand it made me overly egotistical about having to do the dive. Even without the parks approval I fully intended to complete the dive. Tell someone how much they cant do something and watch how much they will then want to prove you wrong. Human nature. My conclusion is this, throw caution to the wind when giving advice but realize that too much unnecessary warning might change ones motivation for the task all together. Or maybe it is just me?

As I said the dive went great. There was a significant amount of current throughout most of the dive so we didn't get as mant photos as we had wanted (safety first). We first played with our Night Sea head on our GoBe for some fluorescent shots. It was VERY difficult to get the conditions right but we managed one good shot and a few we will try to edit. For the last 10 minutes of the dive we all shut off our lights and dove purely by moonlight and bioluminescence, nothing short of magical. We are still sifting through photos, but we had a professional photographer on the bridge and pass island taking long exposure shots of us. Not a cloud in the sky and the half moon fully visible. Should be epic.

[fmerkel]

Well done! Survival at DP is the prime indicator of success, night doubly so, maybe more.

[AdrianSmith]

And the normalization of deviance continues...

[Scubie Doo]

I could see the thought process here. Personally, I think DP at night would be exciting. I also think a night at a rave on ecstasy would be exciting. But I choose to play it safe and live vicariously through others

[GearHead]

Congratulations on not dying.
If the moon had been covered by clouds, what were your plans for finding your exit point?

[Ryan Nelson]

For the exit I got 3 halogen lights that lit the shore and wall in a configuration of 2 and then 1 further away to tell direction. I also brought two chemical light sticks with me which I attached to the wall at about 30 ft when we first descended so I knew where I was on the drift back. Coming back to those two set ups was very calming.

I will be doing a write up in Northwest Diver for November/December issue.

[Tangfish]

I also think a night at a rave on ecstasy would be exciting.

I can confirm, it is a lot of fun!

[GearHead]

For the exit I got 3 halogen lights that lit the shore and wall in a configuration of 2 and then 1 further away to tell direction. I also brought two chemical light sticks with me which I attached to the wall at about 30 ft when we first descended so I knew where I was on the drift back. Coming back to those two set ups was very calming.

I will be doing a write up in Northwest Diver for November/December issue.

That sounds like a well thought-out plan. It addresses my primary concern for diving that area at night. Current at that site is always a special consideration, as you understand. If I were to do that site at night, I would probably also carry my underwater strobe and a Lifeline radio for emergency location.

[Ryan Nelson]

The glow sticks marking the actual sheltered place we descended @ 30ft ended up being very useful. To be honest I have used this method before and usually don't come back up with the lights, it was just to further stack the odds in our favor. As I said before the two teams remained separated for 30 min of the dive and wasn't until both teams located the sticks and waited there that we got back together. The lights on the shore are a no brainer. We took it a step further and lit the wall you pass as you kick out.

I have always went back and forth on the locaters. I do a lot of mountaineering and big wall climbing so I own a SPOT locater. Never used it once in 5 years. You also hear about a fair amount of stories where people had locaters but they were never activated. You definitely need to be alert and able to activate either device and in an emergency, unless your with someone else, your probably in bad position. Plenty of people also die or are never found in avalanches wearing similar devices. If they were cheaper and not so cumbersome to always have with you (otherwise why would you have it) I'd be more for them. Besides, the photographer on the bridge had strict orders that if he saw any lights more than 20ft from the wall that a rescue was probably in order...

[Ryan Nelson]

Here are a few of the shots I got back. You can see how we lit the shore. Also the green dot at the point it the glow sticks @30ft. Make no mistake it was at 9:30pm so it was pitch black. If interested I'll post some more.

[Tom Nic]

Those are awesome shots!

[Ryan Nelson]

Thanks

[Gdog]

Your photographer friend did some excellent work

[GearHead]

^ Definitely, some really cool time-lapse shots of the pass.

[Ryan Nelson]

[scooby branch]

Knowing the topography of the site definitely paid off. Old Jack said to hang in the cove before the bridge at night. The current at first was stronger than we expected, but we were able to hold on and climb into one of the eddies after drifting for a little while. We waited there for a little bit taking photos. Our second party drifted farther down. They got turned around and met up with us towards the end of the dive unshaken. Each of us dove the site several times prior and had a solid commitment to the plan. Definitely advanced dive. Definitely worth the effort.

[fmerkel]

The dry side photos are great!