Diving in the San Juan Islands

[Zach The Diver]

Seeking some feedback on San Juan Islands diving. I'm an open water diver with 60ish dives, with most of my dives being in South Puget Sound and Hood Canal. Excluding a dive trip in Canada coming up next weekend, the furthest north I'll have dived will have been Edmonds. Looking for any advice on locations, charters, and general advice- I understand that diving this area entails potentially dangerous situations and some of the locations (i.e. Deception Pass) are way too hazardous to attempt at my level of experience. Rest assured, I'm not that foolish.

If any fellow PNW divers could provide some insight on a good first dive trip up, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[Cthippo]

Not sure about the San Juans, but there are some some easy spots in North Deception Pass. Rosario Beach is commonly used as a training spot. Another common training spot is at Keystone on Whidbey island by the ferry dock. Hopefully someone has better answers on the islands themselves.

 

[OrcasC205]

If you can find a copy of the out-of-print book "Northwest Shore Dives" by Stephen Fischnaller, he describes many shore diving sites in the San Juans (along with the rest of the Pugest Sound) including tide and current recommendations and suggested experience levels required. That is my go-to reference for shore diving sites in the Salish Sea. You can use pnwdiving.com for tide and current recommendations for popular sites as well.

Charters are very limited in the San Juan Islands. Bandito Charters (out of Tacoma) sometimes schedules runs out of Anacortes, but they are limited. There is a rumor that YSS Dive (out of Hoodsport) is going to move one of their boats up to the islands for a while this summer, but I've seen nothing official.

 

[g2]

The San Juans have some beautiful diving, but it can be hard to access without a boat. Anacortes Diving sometimes offers local trips.

I suggest you post the same message on the NW Dive Club board and you'll probably get more ideas.

 

[Zach The Diver]

Thank you everyone!

 

[RVBldr]

Bandito also used to moor up in Anacortes for the summer, not sure is they are still moving north for the season or not.

 

[Firstscout]

Son and I just stayed at Eagle cove on San Juan island and dove twice there to about 30 feet. Lots of wildlife around the small rocks in the bay. We looked at Lime kiln park and murder bay and with the speed of the currents at the time of day we stayed in our cove. But there is a fun you tuber who dove both and had a good time.


There are no dive shops on the islands unfortunately but the people at Anacortes Diving & supply are good people.

 

[justinthedeeps]

There is tons of diving in the islands ranging from very easy/safe/serene to very challenging/dangerous/beautiful, but not very many people have the time for travel, logistics and access. Some recent reports are on www.pnwdiving.com. Several charter operators retired, it's a dream lifestyle but a terrible business.

I would keep the San Juan Islands in mind for after you've done the more typical sites 'too many times'--including more sites mentioned by others here--and have dozens to hundreds of local dives under your belt, including current-sensitive sites. It would be very easy to get into trouble in the SJI's with scheduling, tides, boat traffic, and even property owners who NIMBY even the beaches (not in MY beach y'all!)

 

[OrcasC205]

Since this point is getting some renewed interest a year down the road, I should mention that Seattle Dive Tours (www.seattledivetours.com) has scheduled some dive charters out of Anacortes to the San Juan Islands this year. My wife and I are signed up for one in September which will be our first experience diving in the San Juans themselves despite having lived on Orcas Island for almost 10 years before we started diving.

I'm not sure if Seattle Dive Tours have any remaining seats open, but you can check and possibly watch for more next year.

 

[Doc Harry]

I hear Deception Pass is a great place for diving, LOL