Seattle/San Juan Islands

[Camerone]

Oh - now that I'm at work, I have the link with me:

Charter: Lu Jac’s quest (www.lujacsquest.com) These guys run San Juan Island charters out of Anacortes (about a 90 minute drive from Bellevue/Seattle) all the time, and it's fairly inexpensive. Check their calendar, through their web site, and then call the shop that's got the boat reserved to get on one of the trips. The shop, not the boat, is responsible for providing a DM on those trips, and they always have one in the water and one onboard. I've been out with them before, and they're pretty good.

Also, if you want to travel more, you can take the ferry over to Friday Harbor, and Island Dive and Watersports (http://www.divesanjuan.com/) runs boat trips all the time from their base in Friday Harbor. I've not been out with them, but my girlfriend and I may this summer, as they've finally got a new fill station that can pump O2 up to 3000 psi...which is a big thing for us on multiday dives.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Deep Sea Charters also runs to the San Juans out of Anacortes. See the links I posted in reply 3 of this thread ...

Lu Jac's Quest will not accept walk-ons ... you must contact whatever LDS has booked the boat on the day you want to go out ... and the dive shop determines the price of the trip, which can vary from one shop to another. Phil and Judy do run a good operation though, and I like their boat a lot.

You should also check with Bandito and Porthole Dive Charters ...

http://www.banditocharters.com/bandito/
http://www.portholedivecharters.com

They both do charter trips to the San Juan Islands ... in fact, I'll be on Bandito in the San Juans this upcoming week-end ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Also, if you want to travel more, you can take the ferry over to Friday Harbor, and Island Dive and Watersports (http://www.divesanjuan.com/) runs boat trips all the time from their base in Friday Harbor. I've not been out with them, but my girlfriend and I may this summer, as they've finally got a new fill station that can pump O2 up to 3000 psi...which is a big thing for us on multiday dives.

I just returned from a three-day trip to the San Juan Islands. We were diving with Bandito and staying at Blair House in Friday Harbor.

Overall, it was a great three days of diving (seven dives altogether) ... the only hitch was the air fills from Island Dive and Watersports. We dropped our cylinders off and they were delivered to the boat later that evening. Since we were staying at a Bed & Breakfast several blocks inland, and we didn't get to the boat till it was time to leave the next morning, nobody really had a chance to check their fills until the boat was underway.

Big mistake ... my two E8-119's were filled to 2,400 psi (more than 1,000 psi below their working pressure). One HP102 was filled to 2,000 psi, and another one to 1,500 psi. Some of our LP tanks, on the other hand, had over 3,000 psi in them. In fact, they filled one of my LP95's to the point where the burst disk blew!

Thankfully there were a couple extra tanks on board, and they were kind enough to provide me with a replacement E8-119 for the tank they blew up. So with a transfill whip and a little creativity, we managed to get in our three dives on the outer walls ... but some of us had to shorten our dive plan and dive shallower profiles than we had planned for ... which is really disappointing considering what we paid for this trip.

Oh, and FWIW - Island Dive has the most expensive nitrox fills in the state. I think they're trying to pay off that new fill station in one season. Nitrox fills for tanks over 80 cubic feet are $19 ... roughly twice what they cost at any LDS on the mainland. Heck, even the DIR guys on our boat opted to dive air rather than pay those prices.

I wish them luck, and really hope that my single experience isn't indicative of the type of service they offer their clients on a regular basis.

I sure wasn't impressed.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)