Sound or Lake Pend Oreille??

[mohave_steve]

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!
A chance to get back in the water!!!!!!!!!!!!

My wonderful Bride asked me if we could go diving for our Anniversary on the 19th. Yes, I am spoiled..... Now I have to decide where we are going to go. My wife got her OW in Lake Mead last August and has not been in the water since. I want to do my best to make it a comfortable & enjoyable dive for her. I am thinking either Lake Pend Oreille or Puget Sound (maybe Bandito Charters?) or if any of you have any other sugestions I would be happy to hear from you. We will be driving from the Walla Walla area and would be open to any destination close enough to drive to on a 3 day weekend. Also, I would be thrilled to have the company of one (or more) of the fine folks who contribute so much to this board and are familiar with the local waters.

Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Steve

 

[Sasquatch]

Let's see. A lake or Puget Sound? This doesn't sound like a hard choice to me, I mean if you don't mind the drive to PS, much more to see. I hear Puget Sound has a few divers there, too.

Happy anniversary!

Sea ya!

 

[mohave_steve]

Thanks Sasquatch,

I agree about the variety of things to see being better in the Sound. I am a little concerned about vis this time of year. Also on my mind (unfortunately) is the cost of fuel.... It isn't high enough yet to keep me from going to Seattle but it is high enough to cause me to consider closer options.

 

[PinkPADIgal]

Since it has been a while since your wife has been in the water, I would recommend an easy shore dive in Puget Sound to check weighting and conditions, before jumping on a charter. Maybe one day from shore, next day from a boat.

 

[TSandM]

Unfortunately, I have to warn you that the weekend of the 19th has some pretty crummy tidal exchanges, with very low tides in the middle of the day. This doesn't mean you can't dive in the Sound, but it means the best times to dive will be very early morning and early evening, and the sites will be limited to avoid heavy current. (I know this, because I've had guests for the last four days, and we've been coping with the same tides.)

Visibility right now is not very good, but it's possible that by the 19th, it will have cleared up a bit, because it looks like the current algae bloom is aging.

What's certain is that this is a great time to dive in the Sound, because there is a ton of life down there! We did manage to have a good dive each day this week, just not perhaps the ones I would have liked to have been able to do.

 

[WADiverBob]

I dove at Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho last week. Not much things there but a wall and deep 600' and very dark. I recommend good in Puget Sound but I agree with TSandM and PinkPADIgal.

 

[mohave_steve]

Thanks for the input.
It has been my good fortune so far that I have not had to deal with tides significant enough to be an issue. I am going to have to take a refresher in dive planning

Amy suggested Lee Davis for our first dives as it an easy shore dive. Now to decide on additional dives....

 

[PinkPADIgal]

Steve,

When we talked, I hadn't even looked at the tides for that weekend. Les Davis is an easy dive but any dive site, on a heavy exchange day could have a little current.

Couple of other easy, yet interesting shore dives in the area include: Redondo Beach and Fox Island West Wall. If you are diving off a boat, Rick will watch the tides and will only drop divers in areas where it is easy for them to see the sights.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Mohave, take a look at lake chelan the vis is clear, if ya stay at cambels there is a dock in front great for diving. there is a underwater trail where the old town line of shore was, an old chris kraft. And the same warm weather you have already at walla.

Hood canal is great and no current really to speak of, Sund rock is easy and wolf ell, octipi.

Charter in san-juans, the captains can always find a slack dive, google it and find an open charter to join in.

Its daylight at 4:30 and the slack high is until like 7:00 so in the water at say 5:30 ta 6:00 and you will enjoy a slack in seattle, If the sun comes out it is bright refreshing dive.

I love early morning dives, fish cleaned, gear cleaned, boat cleaned and breakfast at 8:00 to 9:00, A photogapher I take out needs the sun straight up for good photos, so his diving is limited unless he just deals with it.

Happy Anniversary


Happy Diving

 

[mohave_steve]

Hood Canal no current???
I would have expected it to be affected by the tidal exchange as well??? How has the viz been lately?
Thanks

Steve