wontbslow
Guest
I needed to do an equipment check this weekend, and the Oregon Coast was the closest saltwater dive spot, so Saturday I ventured out to the Garibaldi Pier just past Tillamook. The type of dive was unimportant to me, as I was just trying to get my buoyancy dialed in with my new tanks before my Bandito boat dive this coming Friday.
Dropped in at high tide, and the vis was horrible. We're talking 2 feet average, with maybe 3 feet at best. I heard that there are some stuff at the end of the pier making an artificial reef, but I was not in the mood to dive out that far with vis that lousy. I was also in a 6.5mm wetsuit, and didn't want to get stuck far out if I got cold. Water temp was around 53 degrees, so it wasn't that bad.
I kept my eye on the bottom and saw a one large crab, and a funny hermit crab. My 6 and 4-year-old daughters got a kick out of watching the dive flag be drug around in a bay full of pea soup. 40 minutes later the current really kicked in, and I called it a night. Despite the crappy vis and extremely shallow depth, the dive served its purpose for I got my buoyancy all worked out. (Brand new steel 119's!)
My question is: Are there more interesting things to see out at the end of the pier? And does the Vis at the coast significantly improve at different times/locations? This was my first dive on the coast, and I'd like to find decent dives out there if possible, since it's about half the distance to Hood Canal from Beaverton OR.
Thanks
Dropped in at high tide, and the vis was horrible. We're talking 2 feet average, with maybe 3 feet at best. I heard that there are some stuff at the end of the pier making an artificial reef, but I was not in the mood to dive out that far with vis that lousy. I was also in a 6.5mm wetsuit, and didn't want to get stuck far out if I got cold. Water temp was around 53 degrees, so it wasn't that bad.
I kept my eye on the bottom and saw a one large crab, and a funny hermit crab. My 6 and 4-year-old daughters got a kick out of watching the dive flag be drug around in a bay full of pea soup. 40 minutes later the current really kicked in, and I called it a night. Despite the crappy vis and extremely shallow depth, the dive served its purpose for I got my buoyancy all worked out. (Brand new steel 119's!)
My question is: Are there more interesting things to see out at the end of the pier? And does the Vis at the coast significantly improve at different times/locations? This was my first dive on the coast, and I'd like to find decent dives out there if possible, since it's about half the distance to Hood Canal from Beaverton OR.
Thanks