Hey DA,
You have two threads going with basically the same query, and as I'm the only guy who responded to the other one, thought I'd move my response to this thread and cancel the other thread. Let me know if you'd prefer to keep both threads open!
Come see me when you get here!
The DC area is like almost any other...pros and cons. With respect to living and renting, be prepared for a coronary. There are lots of rental units within 20-30 minutes of downtown DC (depending on whether traffic is gridlocked or not). Most of them will run you around $2500 - $5000 per month, with covered parking and utilities included. A townhouse inside the beltway without an attached garage may run you $450,000 to $600,000 if its right on the Metro. If you want an attached garage, add $100-200K. A decent sized house with a decent sized yard, within 30 minutes of downtown DC, varies - say $1.2 to $1.4 million for any size yard, to start. Take a look online. Try 'Vienna, VA'. Use the Pentagon as a center and extend outward, checking prices on, say, 2,400 to 3,400 square feet, garage included. Holy Heartattack! PM me with specific questions and I'll try to vector you in...
As Emily noted above, one major decision is "commute toleration": if you're willing to commute around 1.2 to 1.4 hours per day (each direction) you can take the train into DC and live a reasonably laid back life in one of the outer suburbs for a more reasonable cost. If you want to be 2 metro stops from the White House, stand by for sticker shock. [You
really do not want to drive into work in DC each day. Trust me on this one. You want to take the Metro or a train. You are looking for a place that is conducive to either getting to the Metro each morning, or getting to a train station. Driving in will make you old before your time...] Obviously, the more you bring to the table, the more options you're going to discover.
(There may be a couple other things you wanna consider also, depending... Occasionally the number of bad guys shooting folks causes the local DC police chief to declare crime emergencies, which allow him to cancel vacations, double police on shifts, and generally carry on with sound bites, photo opportunities, and high drama in the city council. If you are of the opinion that shooting back may be desirable, then you don't want to live in DC proper or Maryland. The local gendarmes in these locales frown upon your exercising your second amendment rights, and may spank you harshly if you survive an intermural firefight by shooting back. If you desire a more civilized manner of dealing with miscreants who have the temerity to point guns at you, consider making the Commonwealth of Virginia your new home. The Virginia gendarmes possess no more sense of humor than their DC cousins, however, they in fact have a more tolerant and enlightened perspective regarding gun control. In Virginia, 'gun control' means being able to reliably hit what you aim at.)
On the other hand, you don't need to worry about which side of town puts you closer to the diving locations. Getting out of town in DC is an art form. Getting back in on a Sunday evening in summer is even more so. Bring snacks and drinks in a cooler. There is basically one highway heading north, one kinda east, 66 heading west, and 395/95 heading south. You and roughly the population of South Jersey will be trying to leave the city simultaneously on any given time of any given day. When you get here I'll show you locations, routes, and rough travel times, (rough because you might decide to get a wild hair and get up at 3AM to get out of town, in which case your travel times will be reduced rather significantly...)
There are basically two quarries in reasonably close vicinity of the location you specified. One is out in Haymarket, approximately 50 min to 1 hour from, say, the Pentagon, depending on traffic. The vis sucks and there are issues, however, it allows you to dive in the morning and do other stuff in the afternoon.
The nicer quarry is, of course, about 3 hrs 20 min from, say, the Pentagon. More info here:
http://www.lakerawlings.com/
Mt. Storm, to which Emily referred above, is a natural lake at altitude in West Virginia. It is also 3.5 hours from the location you specified or more. It's primary advantage, IMHO, is that it is the both the intake and outflow of the cooling system for a power plant up there, which keeps the water at about 65 degrees F in the winter. When everything else is shut down for the winter, you can go winter diving in Mt. Storm (weather permitting - Mt. "Storm" - get it?) and not freeze your weezle!
Other than that, unless you live close there are other options with better vis.
In terms of ocean wreck diving, you also basically have two choices: cold, dark, and comparatively sterile; or warm, clear, and teeming with countless forms of life.
Cold and dark, etc. is about 3.5 hours either towards Ocean City, MD or Virginia Beach, VA (from the same point of origin as above). Historic wrecks either way, of course, and countless examples of same, but the environmental parameters vary significantly. Warm and clear is about 7.5 hours south, to Morehead City or Beaufort, North Carolina. Unfortunately, there is no free lunch here. There are a number of boat operators, I'll point out those with whom I'm familiar. This place is a bit different than most with respect to offshore operations, but on a truly good day, IMHO, the coast off North Carolina offers world-class diving - superior to most vacation destinations that divers more frequently fly to. On a truly good day.....
There are about 7 or 8 dive shops scattered around the area. They meet quasi-regularly and agree with one another on some things (but not others), so you won't find tremendous differences in prices or requirements. Some I like and others I avoid, same as anything else. I'll locate those with whom I've had dealings either way and you can make up your own mind.
PM me when you get into town. It's an interesting place, and I wish you good fortune with your new job.
Regards,
Doc
