Dive Aploza June 29th - July 1st

pogiguy05 · Post by **pogiguy05** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 10:03 pm

$\:D/$ My birthday is July 20th and I am going to do the Dive Around The Clock at Redondo July 20-21st

They should have the info to us soon as they said July 1st. I wonder who my dive buddy will be HMMMMMM.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:56 pm

Hey, I had a really great time. This was my first time diving with NW Dive Club and things went pretty well for this introduction of mine to cold water diving. I'll be sure to post pictures hopefully sometime before I leave back to Afghanistan - if I don't then of course sometime after. Thanks again.

rjarnold · Post by **rjarnold** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 9:34 pm

Greg and I had a great time too, and it's good to put faces to screen names, even if I'll forget over half of them :P Thanks to the wonderful northwest dive club hospitality, we were able to continue *trying* to dive after some problems :P Unfortunately, we never did get in another real dive after our first, as the '2nd dive' resulted in a leaky o-ring and a bloody nose (that's kinda freaky to see btw), and the 3rd dive was aborted due to the inability to equalize. I'm glad the 1st dive turned out well as it was Greg's first dive here in the cold waters of the pacific northwest, and we saw a beautiful, relatively large, grunt sculpin, two crabs either doin' the dirty or trying to kill each other...you choose, many large lingcod, lots of shrimp and small crabs, including a decorator crab, some type of greenling, moon jelly, large anemones, some elongate type of fish, lots of sea stars...and the list goes on. Obviously, I need to tamper my pride and take a critter ID class, even if I am an ichthyologist :P I must follow that though with a 'but I'm a TROPICAL' fish ichthyologist more than anything else!' Hehe. Still haven't seen my first wolf eel :( Gonna go diving again real soon at the Edmonds underwater park I think but then I'm turning my drysuit in to get the boots replaced, so I may be dry for awhile :(

Aquanautchuck · Post by **Aquanautchuck** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 10:39 pm

I just finished cleaning all my gear and boat from the trip. It was the best trip I have had in awhile. Drove up in light rain but hoping for the best. Set up camp and visited up at Mikes for a bit. Set up divers for the Scuba Kat on Saturday.

Took 3 other divers out for two boat dives on Saturday. Did Flag Pole good dive saw 2 Octo , several Wolf Eels, lCloud Sponges and the usual critters. Dive two was with just me and Diver Nic. We went to Wolf Eel reef and saw 3 big old Wolf Eels and a few fish.

Dinner was great, the two turkeys were destroyed, just a few bones left. Great food.

Sunday I went out with the Sounders and Diane. It was even nicer than Saturday. We went to Pulaui Pt and had a great wall dive. Saw a lot of healthy fish including a dog fish shark that buzzed us several times. Dive 2 was Misery Pt reef. Vis was bad to 35' then got a little better. Real healthy reef with a bunch of Vermillion rock fish ( but they may of been Yellow Eye). They were very large and healthy. Both Pulauli Pt and Misery Reef had a great mix of young and older rock fish.

It was a great weekend of diving with new friends and seeing some old one's.

Charles

Sergeant Pepper · Post by **Sergeant Pepper** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 10:53 pm

There certainly was quite a turn out. I'd say on Saturday Night, we had at least 20 people there for the dinner, maybe more. We all had a great time, and had some good dives with good people. Weather was beautiful. To all of you who couldn't make it ... better luck next time.

BASSMAN · Post by **BASSMAN** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 6:26 am

Wow!
If I was going to give a full dive trip report from this weekend, it would go on forever!

I did a total of 9 dives in three days.
Coon Stripe shrimp
Huge Spot Prawns
Large Ling Cod
about 3 GPO sightings
Largest Wolf EEL! (that I've seen)
One 3 or four foot Dog Fish with a Bump on his head (from my dive light)
And on my final dive on Sunday at Sund Rock we saw a 6 or 8 inch Nudi and an enormus Lions Mane.
Seriously, about 3 foot across and 3 foot thick! I hope Rich's Pictures can show just how big this thing was.
The three of us were just amazed at the sheer size of it!

Awsome week end Thanks to all, who were there!

Mouse will be working on getting some pictures posted soon!

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:03 am

Some last minute pictures are HERE

Lots of well fed lings at Mike's... No doubt helped by the "No Spearfishing" sign! They are not easy to photgraph in the abundant "schmutz". Though the viz is much nicer below 50 fsw there is still much particulate in the water.

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1076/696 ... be3634.jpg" width="500" height="487" alt="CIMG0264"></a>

Here's a very pregnant rockfish. Anyone ever seen these gals give birth? Do they just "go for it" or do they go someplace specific?

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1361/696 ... 8c0c89.jpg" width="473" height="500" alt="CIMG0284"></a>

We found this VERY HAPPY Kelp Crab snacking away on a Moon Jelly that became ensnared in "it's" piece of underwater vegetation. He was so intent on eating that he never missed a beat, even when we moved the plant for a better look see. Again, very hard to get a decent photo in the schmutz, but you can get the idea.

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1340/696 ... ebf785.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="CIMG0332"></a>

Washers anyone? Talk about junk! I saw more washers here than at a typical Home Depot! Gives a good perspective for the size of the ling, especially considering that the old washers are bigger than the typical ones sold today!

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1386/695 ... e7a9e8.jpg" width="490" height="500" alt="CIMG0107"></a>

I just love finding Gunnels! I still think they look kind of "dog like" in the face... but then I'm just a slightly off plumb critter guy! $\:D/$

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1253/695 ... e6aed1.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="CIMG0341"></a>

And finally, I love this picture of Bassman and this relaxed little Quillback Rockfish checking each other out! For me it kind of captures a little snapshot about one of the things I love about diving...

<a href="" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1308/696 ... 2a4fc6.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="CIMG0111"></a>

Safe and Happy diving... See you in a month,

-Tom Nic

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 10:18 am

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 10:20 am

More pictures here.. amazing how fast that turke disapeared, huh? And that last picture is of the second one.

http://s191.photobucket.com/albums/z256/skippydoright/

Diver_C · Post by **Diver_C** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:14 am

It was indeed a great time!!!! A little tired and sore; no pain, no gain. Disappointing visibility, and a little hard on equipment, but such is life. Great fun nonetheless!!! Will have pictures up soon!

Rich

Cera · Post by **Cera** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:39 am

It was fun to say the least... Thanks to Bill for diving with TY he had a great time. And thanks to Nick for being a good "dorm-buddy", hope we weren't too much for you!
It was really great to put faces with [screen] names....
I agree with the comments about the resort. It is convenient, but not especially good diving or service. Next time we should rent The Yellow House or one of the other houses up there, it would be fun to socialize a little more...
Anyway, thanks to everyone, it was fun! Salty was sad he couldn't make it. Mikes isn't so animal friendly to those who stay in the dorms... so we couldn't bring him. Next time though!!!

bnboly · Post by **bnboly** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 1:58 pm

Ditto to everyone's comments! Great diving, great buddies and an excellent Saturday dinner! Here's a few more pics of the 'dinner'.....

Was this a perfect evening for diving????

and finally one of the reclusive resident GPOs..

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 3:33 pm

Sounder wrote:Mike's Beach Resort didn't feel welcoming or appreciative of our business and it struck more than a few of us as odd. The phrase "nickle & dime" was mentioned by several NWDCers as everything seemed to be an additional nominal fee. $5/tank for air (hot fills, and reportedly high-pressure fills were unavailable despite the boasting their compressor could do 5000 without a problem) that was filled on their schedule, being told I needed to buy a $5 air-fill for each time my 6cu' argon bottle needed a fill with air was a bit insulting, $10 to launch a kayak or boat, $10 per person to splash from their beach after 3pm if you checked out Saturday (as was the case for some of our folks), $10 to beach your boat on their beach, $10 to moore you're boat on their moorings, and it went on and on to the point someone commented that they didn't ask for a xerox map of the site for fear that it would cost something. It would have been much nicer to have them up the room price a bit and just have everything included. Seems if you're staying there for diving or boating, you shouldn't be charged here and there to do what you came there to do. A total boaters or divers (not just for staying in the dorm) package would make sense so staff and patrons didn't need to continue to pay for this and that. Besides all the charges, several of our folks didn't feel particularly welcomed or appreciated by Mike or his wife - some felt as though they were annoyed by their customers needing things like air fills. Just my observation and opinion, but I know of at least 3 others who shared my experience.

Should this be mentioned to them? Did they care? Or is it, oh well? It seems that if you treat this group well they will drop some coin on you eventually... if not, your loss!

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 3:48 pm

Looks like an awesome time was had by all. I'm sorry I couldn't make it!! ](*,)

divernick · Post by **divernick** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:53 pm

I had a great time as well. thanks to Bill, Keith, Chuck, and Ty for being such good dive buddies. I'm glad I got to dive this time.

Sounder wrote:
Mike's Beach Resort didn't feel welcoming or appreciative of our business and it struck more than a few of us as odd. The phrase "nickle & dime" was mentioned by several NWDCers as everything seemed to be an additional nominal fee. $5/tank for air (hot fills, and reportedly high-pressure fills were unavailable despite the boasting their compressor could do 5000 without a problem) that was filled on their schedule, being told I needed to buy a $5 air-fill for each time my 6cu' argon bottle needed a fill with air was a bit insulting, $10 to launch a kayak or boat, $10 per person to splash from their beach after 3pm if you checked out Saturday (as was the case for some of our folks), $10 to beach your boat on their beach, $10 to moore you're boat on their moorings, and it went on and on to the point someone commented that they didn't ask for a xerox map of the site for fear that it would cost something. It would have been much nicer to have them up the room price a bit and just have everything included. Seems if you're staying there for diving or boating, you shouldn't be charged here and there to do what you came there to do. A total boaters or divers (not just for staying in the dorm) package would make sense so staff and patrons didn't need to continue to pay for this and that. Besides all the charges, several of our folks didn't feel particularly welcomed or appreciated by Mike or his wife - some felt as though they were annoyed by their customers needing things like air fills. Just my observation and opinion, but I know of at least 3 others who shared my experience.

Should this be mentioned to them? Did they care? Or is it, oh well? It seems that if you treat this group well they will drop some coin on you eventually... if not, your loss!

This isn't exactly a new attitude they have. I hadn't stayed there in quite a while, but it was pretty much the same when I was there last, and that was about 6 years ago.

Nick

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 7:23 pm

divernick wrote:I had a great time as well. thanks to Bill, Keith, Chuck, and Ty for being such good dive buddies. I'm glad I got to dive this time.

This isn't exactly a new attitude they have. I hadn't stayed there in quite a while, but it was pretty much the same when I was there last, and that was about 6 years ago.

Nick

Good to know...

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:30 pm

sorry for the bad service gang I wa asured that this would not happen when I spoke to them about setting this up

tell you wha I wil getahold of Ron and make arangements for us to stay in the Big yellow house he rents out for our winter trip

if that works for every one else

in fact i am going to start putting the winter trip together in the next week or so unless some one else wants to do it

I dont mind doing it but if there was some one else that wanted to putone together then I dont want to be in there way so by all means speak up

once againe Mike assured me that this sort of thing would not happen I had spoken with Mike and was told that there would not be a lot of hidden cost I told him that we were a large group

and He asured me that we would be treated farely and that the sise of our group would not be aproblem

I feel realy bad asbout this sorry Ill try to make it up to you guys on the next trip

weekend after Thanks Giving and befor X- mas this one going to work for every one againe this year

Sparky

Sergeant Pepper · Post by **Sergeant Pepper** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 12:33 am

That depends. Are you actually going to show up this time?

BASSMAN · Post by **BASSMAN** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 6:28 am

I talked with Mike a little before I left and told him "thanks for a good weekend." I also told him that we would be planning a winter trip and was not sure if we would be staying there again. I told him we usually like to stay at the Rest-a-while RV Park AKA El' Dive Cassa!
He suggested we stay at the House up on the hill, sleeps up to 18 people {In 3 Rooms}has a Hot Tub, Deck, BBQ, Overlooks the water for an awsome view.
$350.00 per night
{Less than $25.00 per person/Per night if we get 15 people}
Talking with Ron at the Hoods Sport & Dive, He also mentioned the House on the hill. I'm confused is this the same house? Hill House? Yellow House?
Ron mentioned it included Free air fills from his shop and aprox $1100.00 for a 3 day weekend. {$350 X = $1050}

Some of the non-diving spouses may still apreciate a private cabin. So I would still like to see about a better deal for that.

Cera · Post by **Cera** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:56 am

I have been to Mikes 'hill house' here is the DL... I don't remember seeing a hot tub? Maybe that is new (but I assume he meant the one at the resort). Essentially it is a manufactured home on the other side of the street from mikes and up the hill. BUT they also have spots for rv's right next door (pro or con, you decide) You also must pack all your gear back and forth.. they don't allow pets at the house and it doesn't include air fills. Also all the nickle and dimeing will still apply...
It is a 3 bedroom home with 2 bathrooms, one in the 'master bedroom', so really only one bathroom for everyone else. the two bedrooms have double beds and one has twins (if I recall correctly) then, there is a sleeper couch in the dining room and like 4 or 5 sets of bunks in the living room. It does have a full kitchen and a barbecue. But no good place to hang gear and pretty limited parking.

Mikes diving center has a house for rent (that Aquanaut Chuck has stayed in) and then there is the Yellow house which is owned by the SUNDS and run by Hoodsport and dive. It has its own hottub, airfills drying room etc.. and you get discounted admittance to Sund rock or you can dive across the street. I have not been in the Yellow House but I have been to it (and in the hot tub) and it looks very nice! I would vote for the yellow house personally. Ron has always been good to us when we have been up there.

BASSMAN · Post by **BASSMAN** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 10:44 am

Thanks Cera!

I vote for the Yellow house! {early December}
December 1st is a Saturday

Anyone else want to chime in?

Aquanautchuck · Post by **Aquanautchuck** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 1:42 pm

I have looked at Ron's yellow house in Hoodsport. Looked good and is close in for people. The home Mike Owns behind Mike's Dive in Hoodsport is nice and I have stayed there like 4 times when I was a DM for classes. It is real comfortable. If I recall it is 4 bedrooms, 2 bath (?) three bedrooms have double or queen beds, one has two twin. Gas fireplace and laundry drying room off the kitchen. It was always comfortable for a large group.

In regards to a December dive. I myself would rather see it earlier like in October when we may still have some decent weather. I just can't get excited about cold, rainy, wet, did I say COLD dive trips anymore.

It was fun meeting and diving with you all.

Charles

PS Sparky, thanks for putting the trip together. Damn I wish you had come up, maybe I would of seen another 6 gil. Mikes Resort problems are not your own. You went above and beyond the call.

rjarnold · Post by **rjarnold** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 2:23 pm

From the *sound* of it the yellow house seems pretty cool, but I haven't been at either so not sure if my vote really matters

I like the idea of potentially moving up the date - December sounds awfully cold to me too!

Btw, no one found the clear snorkel and yellow mask that we lost on Saturday at Mike's Beach Resort did they? Just an excuse to get another one! Except someone needs an excuse to give me money for it =D

Diver_C · Post by **Diver_C** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 1:25 pm

The picture doesn't due the size of this monster jelly justice, but here it is

BbbleMkr · Post by **BbbleMkr** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 1:47 pm

That's a peach, Hon! But, you should have had Keith put his head right next to it so we could get an idea of its dimensions.

dd