khacken
Contributor
Sorry it took me so long to post, but I have been working on my rescue class.
Dove with Island Dive out of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.
Boat - nice large boat with warm shower covered area, and gets you to the dive site fast.
Crew - This is really what sets apart Island Dive for me. I had an absolute blast with them. The crew was really nice and joked around, but made sure that the dives were safe. The DM even showed me how to do a back flip of the roof during a surface interval. We also did some syncronized swimming. I don't think we are going to win any competitions soon, however. I felt as if I was diving with long time dive buddies, not a crew. Don't mistake this for not being professional, because they made sure we went into the water safely and were always there the second I popped my head out of the water.
The equipment - I didn't rent anything, but they had steel tanks for us filled all the way up to 3400. It was nice to have a 119 for my brother. From what I saw in the shop, the other gear looked to be as good as one could expect from rental gear.
The dives - I did two days of three tanks dives with a semi-dry wetsuit. I am from Texas where it is 85 degrees in the quarry here, so I thought I would freeze. Well, I am a true believer in semi-drys now. Got cool, but never cold at all.
Day one:
Bell Island - Nice drift dive with tons of crabs and large schools of fish. I stayed at 60 feet and saw tons of nudibranchs and anemones.
Broken Point - Stiff current, saw an octopus ink cloud, but unable to find the octo. One of the diver came up with fishing line all over her, so be sure to bring your cutting tool.
O'neil Island - my favorite of the day. Max depth was 60 ft. Many seals on the beach, but none that I could see in the water. The vis here came up to around 20 ft, the best of the day. Went around the point, and once there only saw kelp, so take this dive really slow.
Day two
Turn Point - Vertical Wall dive, max depth 1000 ft. Treat this like a night dive as it went completely dark past 60ft. I loved this dive. Great looking coralline algae, many decorator crabs hanging out in the anemones. The dive has a cave at 80 ft, so hang with the DM to see it. This dive ends in a great kelp forest leaving me wanting more.
Gull Rock aka Swirling Reef of Death - learned how to backflip off the roof and did some synchronized swimming on the interval.
Got off and dropped down in the kelp, which let up around 40ft. The kelp does not really seem to grab you at all and is easy to break.
Found a wolf eel and saw a really cool forest of urchins. I was really glad my buoyancy was good there hahah. We were told that it is possible to go around the whole rock, but at 40 feet I hit a nasty current that sucked me down and into the channel. Be careful here as it was a really bad boil that sucked us down then spit up up just as fast. That was scary. However, the boat was right there, and the captain took us right back to the start point and let us start again. Gotta love those guys!
Jones - There wasn't supposed to be a current here and the dive ended up being against a stiff current, so I aborted that and went to plan B, which was a way dive. We navigated to the wall and had a nice zen dive to end the trip. Tons of shimp and fish hiding the short kelp. However, by the end, I was getting bored, as it started to look all the same.
Difficulty level - Not for the novice. Stiff currents, deep bottoms, low vis, low temperature, and no dm with you.
Summary - If you ever get the chance to dive San Juan Island, do it. It is not warm water diving, but that is why I loved it.
Dove with Island Dive out of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.
Boat - nice large boat with warm shower covered area, and gets you to the dive site fast.
Crew - This is really what sets apart Island Dive for me. I had an absolute blast with them. The crew was really nice and joked around, but made sure that the dives were safe. The DM even showed me how to do a back flip of the roof during a surface interval. We also did some syncronized swimming. I don't think we are going to win any competitions soon, however. I felt as if I was diving with long time dive buddies, not a crew. Don't mistake this for not being professional, because they made sure we went into the water safely and were always there the second I popped my head out of the water.
The equipment - I didn't rent anything, but they had steel tanks for us filled all the way up to 3400. It was nice to have a 119 for my brother. From what I saw in the shop, the other gear looked to be as good as one could expect from rental gear.
The dives - I did two days of three tanks dives with a semi-dry wetsuit. I am from Texas where it is 85 degrees in the quarry here, so I thought I would freeze. Well, I am a true believer in semi-drys now. Got cool, but never cold at all.
Day one:
Bell Island - Nice drift dive with tons of crabs and large schools of fish. I stayed at 60 feet and saw tons of nudibranchs and anemones.
Broken Point - Stiff current, saw an octopus ink cloud, but unable to find the octo. One of the diver came up with fishing line all over her, so be sure to bring your cutting tool.
O'neil Island - my favorite of the day. Max depth was 60 ft. Many seals on the beach, but none that I could see in the water. The vis here came up to around 20 ft, the best of the day. Went around the point, and once there only saw kelp, so take this dive really slow.
Day two
Turn Point - Vertical Wall dive, max depth 1000 ft. Treat this like a night dive as it went completely dark past 60ft. I loved this dive. Great looking coralline algae, many decorator crabs hanging out in the anemones. The dive has a cave at 80 ft, so hang with the DM to see it. This dive ends in a great kelp forest leaving me wanting more.
Gull Rock aka Swirling Reef of Death - learned how to backflip off the roof and did some synchronized swimming on the interval.
Got off and dropped down in the kelp, which let up around 40ft. The kelp does not really seem to grab you at all and is easy to break.
Found a wolf eel and saw a really cool forest of urchins. I was really glad my buoyancy was good there hahah. We were told that it is possible to go around the whole rock, but at 40 feet I hit a nasty current that sucked me down and into the channel. Be careful here as it was a really bad boil that sucked us down then spit up up just as fast. That was scary. However, the boat was right there, and the captain took us right back to the start point and let us start again. Gotta love those guys!
Jones - There wasn't supposed to be a current here and the dive ended up being against a stiff current, so I aborted that and went to plan B, which was a way dive. We navigated to the wall and had a nice zen dive to end the trip. Tons of shimp and fish hiding the short kelp. However, by the end, I was getting bored, as it started to look all the same.
Difficulty level - Not for the novice. Stiff currents, deep bottoms, low vis, low temperature, and no dm with you.
Summary - If you ever get the chance to dive San Juan Island, do it. It is not warm water diving, but that is why I loved it.
