Diving Aug 12-13

[iochanan]

Hi all,

I'll be heading to beautiful Seattle for the first time in August to attend a wedding on late afternoon, August 13. Planning to bring all my gear and dive as much as I can on Aug 12 and the morning of Aug 13. Will do as many dives as my tissues can take. A few words about me: Born and raised in Germany I am currently in grad school at UCSD. Have logged somewhere upwards of 700 dives across 20+ countries, most of them in cold California waters though. Ocean lover, technical diver (OC trimix), PADI DM (doing some occasional work as a guide). Just love to be in the water. Every dive is a good dive.

While planning, I ran into some issues that some of you may be able to help me out with:

1. Tanks: I arrive late on Aug 11 (past 6pm) and would love to plunge into the water as early as the sun rises on Aug 12. The problem: All shops seem to close before or at 6pm and do not open before 9 or 10 am in the morning. Anyone have any idea how to organize a set of tanks (ideally I am thinking 2-3 HP100s and maybe an AL40 or AL80 as a bloodless buddy in case I am unable to find a human one here)? Maybe a shop that will store tanks in a lockbox of some sort after prepayment, or maybe a member here who could pick up tanks for me on Aug 11 and keep them until I can pick them up later that day. Any help is appreciated.

2. Sites: Was looking at the usual: Cove 2, Edmonds, Redondo, but also at Mukilteo, Three Trees and Saltwater State. Maybe even Lake Crescent... Anything crazy good I have not on my list yet? Also, are there any charter boats and boat dives that cannot be missed? I read about the Diamond Knot, but it seems that Northwest Charters have ceased operation, so to my knowledge no charter boat is going there right now...

3. And the final big one: Anyone here who would like to meet up, show me around or even explore together? I am certified and competent in solo diving, but it's so much more fun to go together. I am easy going, I know cold water and I will come up with a big smile regardless of what we saw during the dive. I can dive any setup - doubles, singles, nitrox/trimix, air, wet, dry (I prefer dry...), you name it. Just hit me up and let me know a place and a time. I will be there...

That's it for now. Any help is highly appreciated and gladly returned if anyone ever finds themselves at the opposite end of the west coast. Over and out.
MJ

[YellowEye]

Hi!
Many of the California divers I have shown around have really liked sund rock. There are lots of octopus and wolf eels to be found there. Nearby yss shop opens at 9am. The site is not current sensitive so you can dive it quite heavily all day long and there are various sections to check out! Lots of divers go there every weekend. Reservations are required.

Another option is Keystone. A super beautiful dive, but this one is much more current sensitive. A lot of little stuff and a lot more color than the sites you mentioned.

Both are nearly a couple hours away from Seattle though.

There's a chance I might dive keystone one of those days. If so happy to show you around. Ask me a couple days ahead and I can confirm.

I'm in Bellevue, if you can't find anyone closer I'd be happy to help you out with the cylinders, if you rent them from a Bellevue dive shop

Oh, and you can check out pnwdiving.com for recent reports and visibility.

-Eric

[iochanan]

Hi Eric,

Thanks for your response. I appreciate it a lot.

Sund Rock and Keystone look very nice. I'd be down to do some longer driving on Saturday (Aug 12), but probably will stick with some of the closer sites for Sunday so I don't risk missing the wedding. So if you end up diving Keystone or Sund Rock on Saturday I'd be game. I'll get in touch a few days ahead.

In regards to cylinders, I could make a reservation with Silent World. They are open until 6pm on Fridays, so if you had the chance to pick them up that afternoon, I could swing by around 8pm and take them off your hands.

Thanks a lot and yes I had stumbled over pnwdiving.com already...

- Malte

[YellowEye]

Great! Happy to help. Let me know!