Nov 6th & 7th?

[ktuli]

Just tossing this out there - I have no idea if it is feasible or not, but I might be looking to try and hit some of those further north dive sites the weekend of Halloween (10/30 thru 11/01 or so) and since I'd love to dive with local folks who already know the sites well, I figured I'd ask here if folks might want to try planning a weekend of it.

Will

[YellowEye]

Hi
I just updated pnwdiving.com so it can provide predictions until December (previously it stopped just before Halloween). You'll note that the Halloween weekend tides aren't great for Keystone... The slacks are extremely early... at or before sunrise. You may want to go the weekend before.

-Eric

[Norris]

What about the high-tide slacks in the early afternoon with a completely manageable ebb?

If you can get to site 1pm and try and hit the 2ish slack I think that would be certainly do-able.

[YellowEye]

What about the high-tide slacks in the early afternoon with a completely manageable ebb?

If you can get to site 1pm and try and hit the 2ish slack I think that would be certainly do-able.

I haven't had a lot of luck with SBE or ebb dives at keystone, at least if I'm trying to get out to the end of the jetty. If I had to go that day I'd probably just go as early as I can. Often times there's a back eddy slack right in the middle of a flood there. If you're comfortable in currents you can hit the rock of life (the one connected to the line) there just about any time and you can usually find a lot of warbonnets and other nice stuff there. But it's kind of nicer when things are calm

[ktuli]

Would the next weekend be similar to the previous weekend? Setting it for Nov 6th/7th would be better for me than Oct 23/24.

Will

[YellowEye]

Yes. In general every two weeks have fairly close tides. That new date would work better for me too, I'd probably be there if you want a tour. Got to check the wind forecast though.

[ktuli]

ok - let's aim for Nov 6th/7th. How do I change the thread title? Or should I start a new one?

[YellowEye]

Hi
Great! I believe you can edit your first post and it will change the title on the topics lists

[ktuli]

Nudging this thread a bit as we're closer now.

I'm not sure what my plans are at this point. I'm currently in an AirBNB in the Burien area... might look to just extend it, or maybe try to find one north of Seattle, or go further afield.

So I wanted to get a feel if anyone was interested in making a weekend of some dives in a particular area that might give me some direction of where to head. Completely open to suggestions.

Thanks!

Will

[YellowEye]

Hi. A bunch of people are planning Keystone on the Nov 6 weekend if weather allows and you're welcome to come!

[ktuli]

Are you doing that as a day trip or overnight?

[YellowEye]

Not sure, would have to check the weather. It's usually not a problem getting a room last minute this time of year.

[ktuli]

Any more thoughts/details on hitting Keystone on Saturday? I need to switch AirBNBs this weekend so I'm trying to figure out logistics with that and trying to squeeze in some diving as well.

Would this be a day trip or overnight?
Would it be a single dive or multiple dives?
What is the general dive profile (depth/bottom time)?
Is everyone just on single tanks or is this more specialized?

Thanks!

[YellowEye]

Hi!
A bunch of us are hoping to go. But the wind forecast this weekend is not looking good so far per most forecast models. You can find the wind forecast linked off here: https://pnwdiving.com/view?divesite=Keystone

You want to avoid south winds much above 10knots. You can switch forecast models at the bottom of windy.

If you click slack planning off that same page you can see when the slacks are. We'd do one dive at slack and another one during flood.

If we go, our schedule may go something like this for the 13:17 Saturday splash. Sunday schedule would be similar.

sched.png (9.11 KiB) Viewed 3286 times

We could go overnight if the forecast improves. We keep checking the forecast and book a hotel last minute (generally easy to do this time of year). I don't consider the forecast stable until a day maybe two out.

Max depth 55'. I recommend nitrox 32-40 and we usually do ~80 minute dives on big tanks, but YMMV.

If we get blown out we'll choose another destination but it won't be on Whidbey. Possibly salt creek (super wave dependent), Sund Rock, or more likely someplace closer to Seattle.

Will let you know as things develop!

[derekcs]

If the weather holds, I'd go on Saturday

[ktuli]

Any word on this weekend? I'm still trying to figure out my accommodation checkout/checkin arrangements and if I can squeeze a dive in tomorrow, but also looking at sunday. Both days are supposed to be fairly breezy...

[YellowEye]

Hi
It's not looking good, but we'll keep watching. Backup for Saturday=Alki Junkyard, meet at 9am.

[ktuli]

You said that is right by the Cactus restaurant, right?

[YellowEye]

Yes and if you go to pnwdiving.com you can find directions.... just click the dive site then press driving directions. It will bring up the map software on your phone set to that destination.

[ktuli]

Earliest my new AirBNB will let me check in is 9AM, so the earliest I could dive would be 10AM. I'll check here in the morning to see what you folks are up to, but it looks like I'll not be able to join.

[YellowEye]

10's the earliest you could dive or meet? We can hold off a bit.

[ktuli]

I can likely do a 10AM meet. If I get to the AirBNB at 9AM, drop my stuff off and then be on my way to Alki by 9:30, I should be able to make it there by 10AM. If you folks are willing to hold off a bit that would be awesome. But if it makes conditions less than ideal, don't feel like you have to - I don't want to mess with anyone's diving.

[YellowEye]

Sure let's meet at ten

[ktuli]

Are we aiming for one or two dives? Need to know if I should coordinate a second tank.

[YellowEye]

Probably one. But we can bring an extra tank for you incase.