Fairfax, VA diving

[skankpile]

I may be taking a job in Fairfax... is there much diving in Fairfax county or surrounding areas?

I've found Millbrook spring, but don't know of much else.

 

[hypertech]

There doesn't seem to be much for local diving. But in a couple hours you can be in Ocean City or New Jersey. A few hours more and you can be in North Carolina.

 

[CardShark]

Here's a great link for local diving - and a great shop, too.
( Although I work for a different shop, not theirs, I have found them to be just about the perfect shop.)

http://brassanchor.com/divewher.htm

 

[SeaHound]

As a diver, living in VA has its advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage is that there is no such thing as local diving! Most of the places marketed as "local dives" are in muddy waters that are only good for gear testing and training. For a true diving experience you would have to travel.

The advantage of living in VA is that you are 6 hours from North Carolina, 8 hours from Great Lakes, 10 hours from Canadan feshwater dives and 16 hours from Florida. If you travel by road AND you want a variety of dives then this is the most centered you could be to the over all cluster of the most interesting dive destinations in USA. You may not dive as much but when you do it will be very different from your last dive. If you have good dive buddies then it becomes all the more fun. Feel free to get in touch with me through PM when you move here. We can plan some dives.

Let me know if I can be of any help.

Cheers -

S H

 

[DA Aquamaster]

From Fairfax it will be 3-4 hours depending on traffic to Indian River inlet in DE or Ocean City MD but both offer good diving. Virginia Beach is another 3-4 hour away option. All of the above are colder Labrador current type diving, but 30-40 ft viz is common and I have had consistent luck diving there and the wreck are generally low relief with not a lot of tropicals (cold water, etc) but still nice and with spearfishing possibilities if you are into that.

The reality is that get-away traffic out of DC and NOVA basically sucks at all the times that matter to a diver, so it's 3 hours to anywhere near a beach.

Moorhead City NC is an excellent spot and is about 5-6 hours away. I get blown out there at least 1/3rd of the time and some times the viz can be the same fairly poor viz you get up north, at at times it is far worse, but when it is good it is epic with blue caribberan water, temps in the high 70's ato low 80's hundred plus foot viz, tons of tropicals, lots of sharks and a nice variety of wrecks. Epic.

Otherwise, it is 12-13 hours to North Florida for cave diving (but there are a lot of cave divers in the area who make the teop) You can also get fairly cheap flights to Ft. Lauderdale, etc to expand your diving opportunities. With a hotel close to the boat ramp, a good deal on an airline ticket and good hotel rates you can do a weekend in Ft Lauderdale for about the same as driving to NC for a weekend. Although when its good, the NC diving is much better.

Locally there are three quarries of note.

Millbrook is in Haymarket about 20-30 miuntes west on I-66. it is nie enough as quarries go but it is closed From now until late March or early April with the exception of a few chilly willy dives. It is also only open on weekends - except for a privileged few (instructors associated with The Dive Shop in Fairfax) which creates training problems for other shops and eliminates diving there as an option on the Monday and Friday flex days common to many peopel working in the area.

Dutch Springs is also nice, but cold and again falls in the 3 hours to anywhere geographic oddity category.

Guppy Gulch is a little closer but I've never been there.

Silver Lake Park in haymarket is supposed to be getting close to being opened for diving. It will hopefully allow year round diving as well as weekday diving. And perhpas scooter use (also not allowed at Millbrook.)

Finally there is Mt. Storm in WV. it is about 3,000 ft in elevation and is a 1200 acre cooling pond for a power plant so the temps are comparatively warm for the region. Roughly speaking it is near the base of the chunk of West Virginia that is sandwiched between VA and MD.

------

In terms of Dive Shops in NOVA, I prefer VA Scuba in Manassas and they are by far the most technically oriented. The Dive Shop in Fairfax runs in second place in terms of technical diving and is not a bad shop overall and they have a wide range of shop sponsored diving trips for both rec and tech diviers.

I like the management at Brass Anchor and they often co-sponsor some trips to NC, but it's a bit of a hike to get there on a regular basis from NOVA.

I also like Diver's Den in Baltimore. It's very down home freindly and they are the only Scubapro dealer in the area that I have any faith in. The drive can normally be done in about 75 minutes as it is near the beltway in Batimore and their beltway is a lot less congested than the parking lot ringing DC.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The disadvantage is that there is no such thing as local diving! Most of the places marketed as "local dives" are in muddy waters that are only good for gear testing and training. For a true diving experience you would have to travel.

That really does "the diving experience" a diservice.

I have diving related friends all over the US. Many are cave divers as it tends to be a close community anyway but many are divers I have simply met at Millbrook.

I come from a large flat state outwest infested with natural beauty and in comparison the whole NOVA area really sucks, in part as it is infested with 8.5 million people.

In that regard one of the most charming and under rated traits about Millbrook is that it can provide you with a very nice relaxing afternoon in the shade by the lake talking with friends between dives and catching a burger and beer on the way home. And, if you get there before the students roto-till it, or go early or late in the season with fewer divers dive it, the visibility can be very good.

And, as a cave diver I never underestimate the value of "gear testing and training'. In my opinion most divers do not do nearly enough.

So yes, if "the diving experience" for you is falling off the back of a cattle boat on a couple tropical dive trips per year then your statement is entirely correct. However if "the diving experience" for you includes, friends, nice days outdoors away from people and the serenity that comes from diving almost anywhere, then the local diving still has a lot to offer.

 

[skankpile]

wow... lots of information; thanks

 

[bcleveland]

There's also Lake Rawlings, a quarry south of Richmond.

Lake Rawlings - A Scuba and Camping Park

 

[SeaHound]

So yes, if "the diving experience" for you is falling off the back of a cattle boat on a couple tropical dive trips per year then your statement is entirely correct. However if "the diving experience" for you includes, friends, nice days outdoors away from people and the serenity that comes from diving almost anywhere, then the local diving still has a lot to offer.

Begging to disagree.

Diving experience for me is something that begins the moment I go under the surface and ends the moment I come out of the surface of water. This purposefully narrow defination of "dive experience" allows me to cut through marketing thrown at a new diver by dive businesses. There are a lot of "fun places" or "picnic areas" where you can go for a barbq and soclializing. Since there is a water body next to those you can also dive. But does that make it a "dive destination?" Hmmm

People should try local quarries. These are the only places where they will meet other frustrated divers with whom they will be able to plan Galapagos or Palau.

 

[Drewski]

Lake Rawlings - if you like quarries - is probably your best option. About 100 miles southeast of you, I95 to Richmond, then I85 and a few exits down. Here's a video I shot earlier in the year...

[vimeo]10196341[/vimeo]

Enjoy!