AARRGHhh from Northern Virginia

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Xbonz

Registered
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Location
C'ville, Northern VA
# of dives
50 - 99
Lost pirate missing his southern waters. :crafty:

I've been around having been certified through PADI in HI. I have also dove Monterey Bay, St Pete FL, Fantasy Lake NC, Cancun and Cozumel MX and finally lovely Millbrook Quarry in NoVA.

Hope to start my DM this spring, but I have to make a trip to El Salvador first. I can't wait to dive it. If anyone has any knowledge of the diving there, please share it.

It would be great to swap stories and tips with other divers in the area; as well as maybe go get wet....since that is what we are here for.

Dive safe!
 
Hey there, I'm a fellow NOVA diver. Where in NOVA are you? I'm in Sterling. What shop are you doing your DM through? I hope to do that eventually through NOVA Dive Center. I also really like VA Scuba (in Manassas) for technical stuff. Both shops are super helpful and friendly...and care more about diving than making a sale...unlike another sterling shop.

You should check out Lake Rawings, about three hours south of Sterling, VA. I dive at Millbrook most frequently (for convenience sake) but Lake Rawlings it much better if you can make the drive.
 
xbonz,
welcome to this board.
there's alot of info on el sav here.
also tons of info on dm training.
i'm glad that you found this board.
please feel free to post here about anything you think we might enjoy.
regards,
 
welcome to the board!
 
Welcome to Northern Virgina where it definitely is not very southern.

+1 for VA Scuba in Manassas, just off 66 (and failry close to Millbrook). Super friendly people and service and they do cater to technical divers with a better selection of technical diving equipment than any other shop I have found in the area.

I have only been there once but "The Dive Shop" in Fairfax, a little ways off 66, had some great trips scheduled and the owner was very honest about the shop strenghts and weaknesses. Honesty always gets points in my book.

"Splash" is located in Alexandria not far off 395 on Duke Street. The owner there is a very well regarded technical dive and technical instructor and the staff are also very freindly.

Millbrook is a nice spot to practice and for freshwater diving is not bad. They do not allow scooters for reasons that escape me and solo diving is frowned upon. I have been told that a solo cert will get you by there, but I have heard differently as well.

The visibility is not bad, but I am told is not nearly as it was before they killed of the zebra mussels. It seems to be worse when the student load is high, which makes sense given the rototiller nature of most students. They also close ths time of year which is unfortunate as by frozen northern standards, it does not get cold here. With fewer rec students this time of year they could maybe have a scooter season and attract more dry suited technical divers wanting to stay current.

Rawlings is great, it is just 3.5 hours away from the Arlington/Alexandria area and you will want to come home by 5pm on Sunday evening or very late (after midnight) to avoid getting stuck in traffic north of Fredricksburg. The viz is good, there are several items sunk in the lake and they have good access to the lake with a ramp and fairly large dock. Last weekend they had the various parts for an Australian Government Aircraft Factory Nomad sitting on the shore, so shortly the lake will have a small twin turboprop aircraft on the bottom - which would make for a fairly challenging and tight pentration as it is very small by turboprop standards.

The area is delightfully red necky and a nice vacation from the DC metro area where way too many people are caught up in their own self importance. They are open year round, but you have to call first during the winter.

North Carolina is about 5 hours away and has some world class wreck diving with warm water, tropical fish and usually good viz. Dive boats also leave out of Indian River and Ocean City in MD (2-3 hours depending on traffic) and while the viz is not as good, the depths are usually 130 feet or less and you have lots of real live WWI and WWII era wrecks.

If you are a wreck diver, there are very few places on the planet that are better than the Mid Atlantic states.
 
Real divers don't let divemasters get real jobs.

Shut up and dive and keep teaching the 'just an average divers' El Salvador diving, cave diving, wreckdiiving and river diving (quite currently). As I see it, one dives until they become a divemaster. It's a limited field, pirate. ARRRSHHH haha.

We all love the water, one another, and diving. If you find any wrecks in El Salvador, let us know first!

@I don't mind sharks, and never encountered a pirahna'

PS River diving in Georgia is cool.

... ninja diver...
 
Welcome to scubaboard and to the DC area. There are lots of divers and diving in the area - if you are interested in meeting local divers, you could check out the Mid-Atlantic Bottom Feeders section on this forum, check out local dive clubs - Olney Scuba Adventure, Atlantis Rangers, Patowmack Divers or Ocean Rovers or get more involved at a local shop which offers dive opportunities. I'd guess that taking a dm class counts as getting more involved:).

As far as dive sites - there are several local quarries. Lake Millbrook is the closest. Lake Rawlings is the warmest and Dutch Springs is the nicest. There are a couple of other ones like Bainbridge and Guppy Gulch, but I see no reasons to drive there from our area.

There is pretty good ocean diving within 3 to 4 hours from our area - Ocean City, MD or VA Beach and just a little farther north gets you to New Jersey diving. I have done both OC and VA Beach as day trips from Rockville, MD. This is not warm water diving and a very good day has about 40ft of vis - 15-20ft would be more average. But it sure beats quarry diving. There are lots of good wrecks right off our shores. If you like low vis diving, there is also the U-1105 - MD's very own shipwreck preserve, you should be comfortable in no-vis diving before you try it. There is no need to go too far for ocean diving if you can take water temps in the mid to high 50s - which is warmer than most of the local quarries at depth anyway.

The shop with which I am affiliated (Virginia Scuba) does monthly trips from May to November) to NC which has fabulous diving. We go out of Atlantic Beach on a 40+ft six pack. That is almost always high vis warm water diving.

Anyway, as you can see, there are lots of diving opportunities in the area. In addition to the above mentioned sites, there is a volunteer diving program at the National Aquarium in Baltimore (our written test for new divers is on Jan 7) and two local underwater archaeology groups, the Maritime Archaeological and Historical Society and The Institute for Maritime History.

If you haven't settled on a local shop for your divemaster class, we are having a DM orientation at 1 PM on Jan 6. This is a chance for prospective DM candidates to meet our instructors and get more information about our program. Our DM program is run by a PADI staff instructor and will be followed by an AI class for interested, qualified candidates. If interested, you can pm me for more info, check out our website - Virginia Scuba or just give us a call at (703) 369-0098.

Hope to see you in the water soon,

Jackie
 
XBonz
Welcome to the area. Although not warm and clear, there is interesting diving in the area. Check out the Institute of Maritime History at IMH - INSTITUTE OF MARITIME HISTORY This is the group that maintains the U-1105 and does exploratory dives on sites in the Potomac and Chesapeake on suspected wrecks. It is definitely not for beginners, but a good group of divers. Also, I would add Adventure Scuba Company SCUBA, Washington D.C., Northern Virginia, Maryland, SCUBA diving lessons, NAUI, PADI, YMCA, certification ;Adventure Scuba Company: Scuba Equipment Sales, Service, Travel and Training for Fairfax, Northern Virginia and the DC Metro Area as another dive shop in NVA. It is located in Chantilly.
 

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