Hello There

[dwashbur]

My wife and daughter and I are heading to Maryland, La Plata specifically, for a 13 week assignment, and we want to do lots of diving while we're out that way. We all have advanced certifications and all that, have our own gear, but all our diving has been on the west coast, specifically Washington's Puget Sound and the Monterey area of California. Where would you folks suggest for an introduction to shore diving near where we're going to be? We know virtually nothing about the east coast and are open to suggestion. We like shore diving because we can do it spontaneously, but enjoy boat diving as well.

Anyway, I'm Dave, hi everybody!

 

[JayJudge]

Hi Dave! Welcome to the area. I will first point out that diving without a camera in MD/NJ/DE is normal, as most of these can turn to the point of a Braille dive in moments. Shore diving in the area is a bit different than west coast, we don't have the rocky coastline, so the vis is not similar. There are places to do it, jettys, etc. Check Scuba Diving - New Jersey & Long Island New York - Wreck Valley. There is more shore diving in VA and NC, that might be more suited to your interests. And through all of it there is great boat diving from NJ south. Maybe one of the others can name some good shore sites.....but the diving here, though different, and usually based on wrecks, is still great.
-J

 

[dwashbur]

Hey, wrecks are cool. We've been wanting to do some wreck diving (no penetration, we're not certified) but there isn't much on the northwest coast (and even less in Boise, Idaho, where we actually live!) so we're looking forward to it. We like lots and lots of critters, and are looking forward to seeing some new ones.

What about Chesapeake Bay? Is there much diving there? Incidentally, braille or not, we always take our cameras. We do a lot of macro photography, looking for little stuff like nudibranchs, worms, hermit crabs, you name it, so if the viz is 3 inches or more, my daughter can probably get a picture...

We're also looking for suggestions about critter identification books for the area.

 

[cdreamer]

Chesapeake Bay is OK for oyster diving if you have a drysuit.
Viz is usually no more than a body length, but the oyster beds
are host to quite a few interesting little critters. We have
seahorses, pipefish, toadfish, striped bass, various crabs
and others. There is a book "Marine Life of the North Atlantic"
by Andrew Martinez. I have a copy in the store if you are interested.
On the wrecks, there is "Shipwrecks of Maryland and Delaware" by
Gary Gentile.

 

[dwashbur]

Chesapeake Bay is OK for oyster diving if you have a drysuit.
Viz is usually no more than a body length, but the oyster beds
are host to quite a few interesting little critters. We have
seahorses, pipefish, toadfish, striped bass, various crabs
and others. There is a book "Marine Life of the North Atlantic"
by Andrew Martinez. I have a copy in the store if you are interested.
On the wrecks, there is "Shipwrecks of Maryland and Delaware" by
Gary Gentile.

Cool. We're in Waldorf, is there any diving anywhere near us?

 

[Bowtie22]

Wasldorf is near the Potomac and Patuxant rivers and just a bit farther from the Chesapeake Bay... Not really good for shore dives... But boat dives can be really nice on a good day... There are a few interesting dive sites depending on your skills and diving abilities... The U-1105 is sunk off of Piney Point in the Potomac, about 90ft deep, sometimes the current can be pretty swift depending on the tides, viz can be anywhere from 0-5 feet if you are lucky. Another american sub S-49 in the Patuxant river, 115ft deep, swift currents... Off of the Calvert Cliffs if you dig around a bit in the shallows you may get lucky and find some megladon teeth or some other fossils....But other than that there are tons of oysters to grab in most of the waters. I just grabbed about 5 dozen on tuesday in the Patuxant River off of Solomons Island, we had about 5ft of merky viz on the bottom at 33ft and 39 degree temps.... I do a lot of diving in the bay with my job (that is what I doing on Tuesday when I brought up some oysters) So I have dove a lot of different locations around here and they offer the same conditions.... The winter time is the best time to see anything, the summer time is very spotty and mostly the viz will be 0-6". I like to call it bump diving.... Let me know when you are planning on coming to MD.....

 

[dwashbur]

We're in MD right now, in Waldorf. My daughter is certified to the usual 130 feet, but can't go below about 85 because when she gets narc'ed she gets migraines. We like shore diving and are critter freaks; we love fish, stars, nudibranchs especially, you name it, and don't care about gathering oysters (some scallops or a lobster might be another story, law permitting!). We're interested in wrecks, but primarily as havens for marine life. There's 3 of us and we each have our own camera.

What methods do you use for staying together in that kind of viz?

 

[Bowtie22]

Staying together in 0 viz is nearly an impossible task... Look, listen and feel (usually the 1st one isn't possile) If we are working I usually have a full face AGA mask with coms so we can talk to each other and to the line tender on the boat who can see where our com tethers are going so we will have a general idea. It really depends on what the mission is at that time whether or not we will have to stick close together.

A few methods that we I have used from time to time when I have wanted to keep with my buddy are; a Jon line (buddy line) but it usually ends up tangled around something if we are on a obstructed bottom... banging our tanks or something that will make good sound and wait for a response...

Most of my recreational dives with my wife for instance I like to keep her pretty close because of her experience level so I always try to keep her at arms length incase she has some issues and that is all by touch in low or no viz. I prefer her not dive with me unless I have at least 3-5ft of viz unless we are shallow then I may take her with me and keep her a touch distance. I refuse to take her on anything that has a combination of poor viz, bad currents, entanglements, overheads etc.

 

[redhawktwo]

We are doing a New Years day dive at Guppy Gulch if you want to try out one of our famous quarry's. We will start about 11:00 or so, and have hot dogs and coffee. Let me know if your interested.

Gary