Diving near beautiful scenery in the Pacific Northwest

[tmassey]

Hello!

My very patient non-diving wife (who works hard to facilitate my daughter and I with diving) wants to take a trip to the Pacific Northwest. She is very willing to make such a trip work with scuba diving, but her choices for this trip get higher priority. Here's what she wrote:

I am totally intrigued by the thought of hiking through moss-covered rainforests, seeing cool rivers and waterfalls and also hanging out by the Pacific Ocean. If there's more interesting diving further south where rainforests aren't going to happen, then I'd also enjoy seeing cool water creatures, like seals, sea lions, etc. Cool places to walk outdoors are a must. I'm somewhat flexible, but that's what I'd like to see.

One place she's thrown out as being very intriguing is Olympic National Park. However, we're both in the beginning of trying to find a place that will work very well for her, and has at least some diving worth doing. So, I'm hoping that those of you that know this area better might be able to help!

The divers will be me (>100 dives, Rescue/Master Diver, loves wrecks, and is good to 130') and my 13-year-old daughter. She has something like 40 dives, about half in the ocean (Ft. Lauderdale/Pompano Beach) and several relatively easy wrecks (Ancient Mariner, Berry Patch, Sea Emperor, etc.) in 80' of water. So we are looking for diving that is interesting, but within our capabilities.

Like I said, I love wrecks. My daughter enjoys them too, but not as much as I. Part of that is that she is not comfortable penetrating deeply into wrecks: basically her limit is that she wants to see the exit before she enters. So we'd love to hit some wrecks, but nothing too crazy or too deep.

She loves reefs, but obviously that's out. I love seeing critters, she likes seeing non-scary critters. She doesn't freak out, but things like eels, sharks or barracudas are not her favorite.

What is there in the Pacific Northwest that is worth traveling across the continent to see? And can you suggest some places near some stunning scenery (such as--but not limited to!--Olympic National Park) worth diving?

Thank you very much for your help! I know very little about Pacific Northwest diving. I'm doing a great deal of reading about it in general. I could sure use some tips on where to narrow down the search, though!

 

[TSandM]

Well, the great news is that we have a lot of good diving that has gorgeous scenery. Some of it is out in the country, and some of it is in the city but has beautiful views. For example, during my surface swim in from Edmonds on Saturday, I was looking at the sun gleaming on the snow on the top of the Olympic mountains. The Edmonds Underwater Park is right next to the Edmonds ferry, which is a beautiful boat ride across the Sound, so your wife could do that while you and your daughter are looking at big ling cod, frilly cabezones, rockfish and nudibranchs.

Hood Canal also has some stunning scenery, and on one of my trips over there, we stopped alongside the road on the way home to admire a big herd of elk. There is a charter boat that runs into the canal, and there are also a couple of shore diving spots. This is very close to Olympic National Park.

Whidbey Island has some stunning views, and Fort Ebey park has some hiking, and Whidbey has a couple of excellent shore diving sites.

Finally, the Bandito charters go out of Tacoma, and Tacoma is about an hour's drive from Mt. Rainier. Sites like Titlow Marine Reserve have gorgeous views and Titlow has a walk along the water, as well.

Western Washington, if you hit it when the weather is good, is a spectacularly beautiful place -- it's hard to go anywhere that isn't pretty, particularly if you are near water. We don't tend to dive the Pacific Ocean very much, because it's rough, but we dive all over the Sound and up along the north end of the Olympic Peninsula out to Neah Bay, although the diving gets much more challenging as you work your way out there. One of the things to know about diving here is that a lot of it is current-sensitive. We have big tidal exchanges that result in massive water movement. If you time your dive properly, diving here is not difficult, but if you get it wrong, it can be quite uncomfortable. Getting local advice for shore diving is always a good idea.

 

[TSandM]

My husband reminds me that Port Townsend, which is a lovely little town with great restaurants and shops, is both near Olympic National Park and has at least one fantastic shore diving site.

And Peter also says I didn't mention Giant Pacific Octopuses, which are actually quite common here. Or other fun Northwest critters, which you can see in the gallery on my husband's site, belowandbeyondscuba.biz

One thought before you come -- if you have access to a local quarry or lake where the water is cold and murky, get your daughter into it. The transition from clear, warm water to the PNW can be pretty intense. Our exposure protection is thick and cumbersome, and our tanks and weights are heavy. I think she'll have a lot more fun if none of this comes as a surprise.

 

[ktkt]

Well, *I* am definitely getting more and more tempted to head up to visit your GPOs

 

[tmassey]

All of this sounds great. That was *exactly* what I was looking for. Thank you very much!

Just to clarify: the beautiful scenery does not have to be exactly *at* the divesite. (Below, of course, but not necessarily around.) It just has to be *nearby*. But if beautiful scenery *is* at the dive site, who am I to complain!

One thought before you come -- if you have access to a local quarry or lake where the water is cold and murky, get your daughter into it. The transition from clear, warm water to the PNW can be pretty intense. Our exposure protection is thick and cumbersome, and our tanks and weights are heavy. I think she'll have a lot more fun if none of this comes as a surprise.

I live in Michigan. All we *have* is cold, dark water... But that does remind me: just *how* cold and murky? My daughter has half of her dives in local lakes and quarries, which means mid 50's to mid 60's water and 30-40 foot visibility. I dive dry, but she wears a 7mm two-piece wetsuit. What are the conditions like?

Also, when is the best time to dive? We usually try to avoid the crowds and go in spring or fall (or even winter), but I'm guessing that summer is probably the best time for diving? How late in the season is diving still enjoyable?

Thank you all *very* much for your help! This is exactly what I was hoping for. The diving isn't going to be the central focus of this trip, but it is important to us, and we'd really like to make both parts of this trip work. I really appreciate the information.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

This is a link to whidbey Island diver and what he finds, just amazing and you will learn tons about sea life so your daughter does not have to worry on wreck dives there is plenty other diving. summer has bloom for lower vis, not all places or a long time but it does happen.

JanKocian's Photos


Enjoy when you come, I left michigan for the diving year round here.

 

[TSandM]

Summer water temperatures get up into the low to mid 50's, and viz can vary from an average of 15 feet or so, to shoulder-to-shoulder diving. Summer is actually NOT the best time to dive here, because the long days and warmer temperatures result in algae blooms that can drop the viz significantly. The very best diving is in the early fall -- August, September, and into the early part of October (although the weather can change then and be less pleasant). Most of our wetsuit divers do a 7mm suit with a 7 mm core warmer in addition, as well as a good hood and gloves.

The Seattle area really is amazingly beautiful on a bright, sunny day. Mountains to the west of us, mountains to the east; water all around us, and hills covered in conifers.

 

[Darnold9999]

I am going to toss out a suggestion to come a bit further north to Vancouver Island. The diving here is a step up from diving Puget Sound. More current and better visability. We are just a bit closer to the open ocean so the algae blooms are a bit less. Victoria has a couple of easy dives off the breakwater to tune up, then Race Rocks for a more open ocean dive. Lots of wrecks off Naniamo. Quadra Island has some spectacular walls and current diving. Barkley Sound is a huge sound open to the Pacific with lots of nooks and crannies. See www.rendezvousdiving.com for some special scenery. (If I were to do summer diving this is probably the best place to go for vis) Further north is the meca for cold water diving Browning Pass. See Gods Pocket resort www.godspocket.com. You can visit some of the Gulf Islands, Andy Lamb's place is popular - not done this but others are very positive. Cedar Beach - Your home for Scuba diving adventures in British Columbia Canada We anchor just off thier property regularly. Nice island to walk around on. The possibilities are more than you could possibly do in one trip. But you do have to come to Canada

Echo that summer is not the best time for diving. From right now until September or so the vis will be less than 30 feet - sometimes way less. Places open to the Pacific (Browning Wall and Barkley Sound) may have better vis, but no guarantee.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

I would agree and disagree darnold, If you did not mention Victoria cause there is not that great of vis there most the time, even though an out tide the city still dumps poop every day. less tidal exchange and high tide is great vis except some bloom times which are not all that much, in july we get a break and exceed 60 to 70', and here in the past few months it has been an average of that, which is all you need as you explore at closer things.

And agree on at least 30' most all the time, now divers in seattle have a few sites to go dive and dive them when they can so if little current they have less vis, so that has transpired to a know and common saying of bad visibility. But I dive at the right times and very seldom have bad vis.

Xmas day was .5' down to 80', I bailed, but come to find out my video could see better than me, so that would only make me want to have video mask on at those times!!!!!!!!!

 

[Darnold9999]

Really only mentioned Victoria as a good place to do a tune up dive and get started on a vacation in the area. The breakwater is a really simple easy dive for someone doing thier first dive up here. Race Rocks is as about as open and good vis as it gets as it is out in the current and gets a massive flow of water from the open Pacific every day.

If anyone wants to get a good idea of local vis have a look at the Victoria vis thread. It is pretty active with someone posting pretty much every week.