Defunct Early Northwest Diving Clubs

[neo2009]

I am trying to come up with a list of old and long gone diving clubs from the 1950's to the 70's that were active in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Northern California. All I have right now are the Portland Sea Lions and Sea Sirens. Other info would be appreciated.

 

[captain]

Sam Miller may be able to help you.

 

[David Wilson]

My copy of the 1955 edition of the Carriers' "Dive" has an appendix entitled "The Diving Clubs", with "West Coast" as one of the listings. Almost all the West Coast" clubs are California-based and I don't have the geographical knowledge (I'm UK-resident) to separate out the "Northern Californian" clubs, so I'll confine myself to the two Washington-based ones:

Beach Combers - John Friars - 9208 23rd S.W., Seattle, Washington.
Washington Fin Divers - 1017 Garrison Road, Vancouver, Washington.

Neither come up in Google, so they presumably qualify as defunct. The Seattle "Beach Combers" appear to be hairdressers nowadays!

No Oregon or British Columbia clubs are listed in the 1955 edition of "Dive".

 

[neo2009]

Thanks for the answers. I am even going to research further with the old Skin Diver and Dive magazines that I have lying around. I was kind of surprised to see the Mud Sharks are still around as well. I thought they folded but I was wrong.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

There was an association of dive clubs in Oregon in the 1960s. I'm trying to remember the newsletter's name, but it is not coming to me right now. But in Salem, Oregon there was a club named the Salem Aqua Club, and our high school (North Salem High School) formed a small group we called the Salem Junior Aqua Club. This was in the early 1960s, say around 1961-64. I'm thinking that the association was the Oregon Association of Diving Clubs, but I may be mistaken on that.

John

 

[John C. Ratliff]

No, it was OCDC, or the Oregon Council of Diving Clubs. They had a monthly newsletter that was published during that era. All of these clubs were members of the Underwater Society of America, which still exists. I was Finswimming Director in the 1980s for USA, and Carol Rose was the President of the Underwater Society of America. I see that their website is still up:

http://www.underwater-society.org/

I also see that Carol Rose is still somewhat active, as she is listed as a resource for buying material through the Underwater Society of America:

http://www.underwater-society.org/

I would suggest that you contact Carol at:

croseusoa@aol.com

She may have the historical files which would give you a list of all the clubs in the Pacific Northwest.

SeaRat

 

[icantdive55]

Shasta Divers in Redding Calif has been around a LONG time. If you want to find out how long Call Ray Howell at howells dive shop. He only works a day or two a week I think Wednesday is your best chance. This club is still operational so it may not interest you.

 

[Thalassamania]

There was a group in San Jose that dove almost exclusively at Pt. Lobos that was, in fact, a dive club, despite the name: "Beta Oceanographic Research."

Here's a link to a lot of current clubs that you can e-mail and ask about older defunct clubs: dive clubs