DIW and Titlow! Sun, May 17th

[BASSMAN]

Four teams:

Raptor and Blackwater dropped about 15 or 20 minutes before everyone else.

Then we dropped in about 30 min before slack(11:12 am) and the current that was supposed to be running South, had allready switched to the North as we were heading out to the wall.

Diver_C and Erika, dropped blow the surface first.
Me and KitsapDiver dropped together
Billandwende and Kalatin dropped together.

The original plan was to hit the wall, Go South and come back North with the current change.

This dive ended up being four different profiles.

Raptor And Blackwater had light current going to the North (Yes they also seemed to miss the Slack or at least may have gone in just after slack. They dove the Whole South wall against some current,
Turned back North and found a very playfull WOLF EEL that came out and swam all around them.
(I think they had the best dive but Raptor felt they could have hit the water even earlier than they did.)

Diver_C And Erikarae8888 went South for a bit, and then came back North. Not too sure how thier dive went as for seeing wolfies. or fighting current.

When Me And Kitsap got to the wall, I made the descission not to fight the strong current. So we just casually rode the current to the South and saw allot of wall with about 5 Wolf EEls. At turn pressure, we swim back towards the South, it was difficult but not impossible to swim against the current. When I got to 1000 psi, I motioned to head towards the Shore, stopped at a Safety Stop and then continued in to the shore. we surfaced a good 50 yards or so North of the entry and just walked back in the shallows.
I, Should have stuck with the plan and swam South against the current for as long as we could and then ride it back North.
Rich would have told Me "Dive the Plan!!!"
Sorry Kitsapdiver, I was not the best guide for you today. Hope you still had fun.

Billandwende and Kalatin did not find the wall, but said they enjoyed thier dive playing around in the Kelp and surfaced back at the entry.

One good thing was, that when we got in the water, I told everyone ,"Stay with your buddy no matter what happens!" And that all worked out great!

_______________________________________________________________________
2nd dive team #1: was Diver_C and Erikarae8888, team #2: Me,Billandwende and Blackwater.

Titlow was Great! Slight Current, hit slack(did not check the time of the current switch)
But had a great time, just slowly going around and through the Pilings. (sp?)

in the past, I have dove DIW at 90 min before slack and been way off.

another time 45 min before Slack and it was still too early and the second dive that day at Titlow was like bath water ,Zero current the entire dive!

I think part of the year you should dive 30 min before slack(I had one dive that was perfect)
And another part of the year it should be 90 min. before Slack.

Problem is... Which parts of the year?!!


Maybe its just depends on if its slack before an ebb or flood?

I have yet to successfully dive the South Wall yet!

Oh well, at least it was a day for diving!

Hope I did not enter anything in error here and if I did , Please correct me. (Those of you who dove today)
Feel free to add to this report!
A few pics would be good too!

One more thing I need to keep in perspective. "Plan the dive and dive the Plan!" No matter what the current is doing"
Unless we have to abort the plan and end the dive.
Anyone else have experience with this?
I've been bit a couple of times now, not following this rule!

[Bric Martin]

Thanks to everyone!! I had two great dives. The playful wolfie at DIW was great. Of course I made the decision to NOT take my camera on that dive. There would have been some great pictures. Raptor was a great tour guide.

Titlow was fun and relaxing. It was nice to meet Wyler Bear and Valerie.

[LCF]

Figuring out currents can be tricky. I've been too early at DIW, but we got out of the water and waited 45 minutes, and then had a perfect dive.

One thing I would say, though, from rather painful personal experience: Don't stick to a dive plan, if the conditions you encounter make that dive plan difficult or dangerous to do. I did a dive in a class where we dropped and found strong current against us in the direction we had proposed to go -- but especially because it was a class, man, we were going to DIVE OUR PLAN. The result was 15 minutes of intense exertion, seeing nothing, burning through gas . . . The team that went in after us shrugged and decided to drift the other way, and had a lovely dive.

At DIW, if the current is too strong, it's better to abort than to take the chance of not being able to get back to the entry at all. If you're a little early, you can drift the first part of the dive, and then when the current reverses, drift and/or swim back. But you need to be pretty sure, because if you're late, the current will only get stronger, and you'll end up a long way from home.

DIW is a great dive for scooters . . .

[Kalatin]

Bill and I didn't stick to the dive plan, mainly because I am a chicken when it comes to current and kept having images of us popping up by the Narrows Bridge. After 12 minutes of kicking (and kicking and kicking), we hadn't found the wall, were fighting the current, and were just not having very much fun. We exchanged the universal "Do you know where the wall is" shrug and the "nope, let's get the hell out of here" signal and moved back to shallower depths. At that point, we were burning through gas, working hard, and I was getting way to focused on where we were going to surface. Overall, it was no fun at that point. I dive for fun, so it was time to do something different.
We then spent about 40 minutes playing around - the kelp is in full bloom, the Lewis Moonsnails at DIW have a steroid problem (they are HUGE, like MLB huge!), the nudibranchs were all over, and there were beautiful jellies were in abundance in the water column. It was a great dive - just floating at 30 feet and watching the kelp flutter like flags in a storm made the entire dive worthwhile. We frolicked, we did an air share, we played around and flew like superheros with the current. We didn't find the wall, but we brought our own fun and had a great dive. Sure, I missed the wolf eels but sometimes scrubbing the plan turns out beautifully. It wasn't a great dive for DIW, but it was a great dive.

[BASSMAN]

DIW is a great dive for scooters . . .

Thanks for the input!

But,But, I want someone to just give me a scooter! Because they have so much money and they feel sorry for me!

We didn't find the wall, but we brought our own fun and had a great dive. Sure, I missed the wolf eels but sometimes scrubbing the plan turns out beautifully. It wasn't a great dive for DIW, but it was a great dive.

Thats the good ol' N.W. Diver attitude we should all have!

And best of all, we all had safe,successful dives and are able to dive another day!

[billandwende]

We then spent about 40 minutes playing around - the kelp is in full bloom, the Lewis Moonsnails at DIW have a steroid problem (they are HUGE, like MLB huge!), the nudibranchs were all over, and there were beautiful jellies were in abundance in the water column. It was a great dive - just floating at 30 feet and watching the kelp flutter like flags in a storm made the entire dive worthwhile.

If I were able to put some thoughts to words as well as Kalatin has done here. I would add to this trip report but being as I have no ability to write I will just add da pictures.

We frolicked, we did an air share, we played around and flew like superheros with the current. We didn't find the wall, but we brought our own fun and had a great dive. Sure, I missed the wolf eels but sometimes scrubbing the plan turns out beautifully. It wasn't a great dive for DIW, but it was a great dive.

[raptor]

It was a good day under the water and the sun was out got to love it. Well if anyone ever want to go just hit me up.
Plus next time we will get the tides to works for use.

[billandwende]

Do me a favor and let me know next time your going. I'd love to do it again. Maybe even explore the wall a bit.