New NW divers and new gear

[Kennster]

Hi,

My two boys (turning 15 next month) and I decided to get open water certified. We just completed our first open water dives this last saturday and are really enjoying it. We live in the Puget Sound and have a 54 FT pilothouse boat that we use to go to the san juans, canadian gulf, desolation sound on. My wife cant do underwater well so this is just a boys thing for us. We dove head first and bought all the gear over the past week. Although we are new we all did quite a bit of research and this is what we each ended up getting:

Whites Fusion Dry Duits with MK3 undergarments
Oceanic Excursion BC's (integrated Air XS octupus inflator)
Oceanic Datamax Pro Plus II computers
Oceanic Delta 4/FDX10 With DVT regs

We also got UK HID lights, and each of us got the masks/fins/gloves, etc. of our choice. I also sprung for 9 of the PST e7-80 Steel Tanks so that we can have enough on the boat to keep us occupied for boat dives in the San Juans. Quite an investment considering that we still have 2 open water dives left before we get our certs.

At this point we can use all the advice we can get. I know tides and currents being an avid boater in the area, which I am sure will help. Good beginner dive spots? I think we are going to move right into the advanced open water course after this (PADI). Which dives would you folks suggest to best help us experience what we will normally encounter when diving these waters? Any advice would be helpful

Thanks,

Ken

 

[TSandM]

Oh, Ken, GREAT choice on the Fusions! You won't appreciate them, because you will never have known how uncomfortable other dry suits are

Are you planning to do all your diving off the boat, or are you up for shore diving? There is a lot of good shore diving for beginners (and advanced divers as well) within an easy drive of Seattle. Two popular sites are the Coves at Alki and the Edmonds Underwater Park (or Bruce Higgins Underwater Trails, as it is now known). The Coves have the advantage of being diveable in any tides or currents. At Edmonds, you have to watch a bit, as you do not want to be caught in a strong current blowing south. There's a big fine for getting in the way of the ferry.

A site not as much dived is the Alki Pipeline. There is some current there, but I have dived it on big exchanges without any danger (frustration, yes, on occasion). It's a shallow dive, with a max depth of about 30', but there is a ton of life in the rocks, and it's a different spectrums of critters from the Cove side of Alki.

A good website for reference is Pacific Northwest Scuba which has a section on local dive sites, with descriptions, driving directions, and underwater maps where they are available.

If you guys want any help or companionship from somebody who knows the sites, please drop me a PM. Taking new divers out is a particular pleasure of mine.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Ken the best advice I have is you are the divemaster of your threesome, the boys are gonna see great stuff as you travel the sanjuans to desolation sound and there going to stop to see things constantly.

Your best spot is behind and above in low vis, between them in good vis, you'll have your chance to see everything in time, let them lead and practice your skills in shallows.

Smallpox bay is a good easy dive, you must have a chase boat, in the wasp Islands dive bell Island, the depths are shallow, course diving sucia, matia, and areas around stuart, dive at you comfortable range, james is nice yet gets deep, jones is fun for shallow.

So Ken when boating almost anywhere you pop in where ya know the currnt is calm enough you'll have fun.

Enjoy your new adventure, the divesites you'll hear about can wait awhile, BC diving is just awesome.

Get your boat dive guide books there faster to look up the current corrections,and how to dive the site.

Whats the name of Boat I'll say Hi when I see ya out and about in the Islands.


Happy Diving