What can YOU teach me?

[Acanthurus]

I am really enjoying this thread - so many places to dive and so little time.

Diving near where I live consists of cold dark northern lakes - last dive a few weeks ago had a balmy 4C but it was good practice in my dry suit for those dives off Vancouver and Victoria or the Gulf Islands.

Hope everyone keeps posting so I can add to my wish list of places to dive

 

[knowone]

It can get down to 9C/48F in winter so drysuit is handy. Gets up to 24C/75F in summer and one day of diving the air temp was 47C/116F (can be real hot in summer) so wetsuit is also handy so you don't overheat on the surface (I sometimes dunk mine in cool water )

Boats are live so you need an SMB, rarely seen an anchor line (only at HMAS Canberra wreck as it has moorings). Inside the bay slackwater only lasts for about 30mins so at the end of the dive you will most likely be drifting in a current, sometimes a really strong current so being comfortable with descending without a line (often there is a shot line for reference but you can't hang onto it), ascending in blue water and doing safety or deco stops drifting, is a good idea.

Diving can be rough (surge, current and big swells) and the viz can be hit and miss (0-25m/82ft). However, sometimes (like yesterday ) the bay can look like this, good viz and no surge underneath. So it's quite variable.

Leave sea life alone, blue ring octopuses will most likely kill you unless your buddy can drag you out of the water quickly and give you CPR til the ambulance shows up (lucky they are not aggressive hey!) and half the fish seem to have poisonous spines plus there are dangerous jellies as well, and the occasional great white shark so yea, best to leave stuff alone. I was going to list all the things but there was a lot of them... Actually with sharks there are sightings but no one gets attacked very often so it's not a big concern

There's wreck, reef and wall diving from OW to very deep depths and there is nearly always somewhere in the bay within about 1.5hours of driving to dive - because of the way the bay is shaped there's pretty much always somewhere sheltered in bad weather. So overall it's a pretty awesome place to live if you are a diver.

Ocean shore dives rock. If you live closer, it's closer. Tassie rocks. NZ rocks.
Thanks Saspotato for your stuff.

 

[BVickery]

Though I don't have tons of local diving, I have talked with a lot of the local divers out of Jacksonville. The common theme being is its pretty much ALL boat diving here. Visibility is pretty aweful until you get off shore.

On the bright side, some think that Jacksonville has some of the best spearfishing around the state (I do think they are biased, but hey) given some features of the city.

And I have to agree, this is probably one of the best, most helpful threads I've seen on SB that benefits all divers regardless if they are a novice or experienced. Because of this thread I now know some of the basics to expect in NC wreck diving.

 

[Diver0001]

For local diving in the Netherlands you'll encounter these typical conditions:

- vizibility typically in the 3m range. The water is more turbid in the middle of summer than in winter. Variance in viz ranges from about 1m (or less) at times to about 8m at other times depending to a large extent on wind, rain and water temps. The best viz I ever saw here was about 20m but that was 50 miles from the coast in the North Sea

- Water temps range from about 2C in the winter to a max of about 19C in the summer. The lowest temperature I ever recorded during a dive was -2 near the surface.

- Currents here can be moderate, to about 2-3 knots depending on the location and phase of the tides. On the North Sea currents, especially on the surface, can be harder

- Depths for typical local spots ranges up to about 25 metres with the most interesting diving typically in the top 15m. With some effort you can reach depths of about 50m in one or two locations. Most North Sea sites are between 25 and 40 metres.

- The bottom consists in most places of sand or clay. The clay can form into what we call "blubber" which is a thick layer (a meter or more) of a very fine silt that is easily disturbed and once disturbed can take many hours to settle down again. Other locations have sandy bottoms and are firmer and easier to dive. Some sites also have rock bottoms because the sites are actually along the walls of dikes.

R..

 

[Sas]

Ocean shore dives rock. If you live closer, it's closer. Tassie rocks. NZ rocks.
Thanks Saspotato for your stuff.

Yea I forgot about those, dozens of shore dives here too and mostly shallow so you can spend a couple of hours under

Haven't been to Tassie yet , done a few dives in NZ though which were awesome.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Mike,

The windward side of the Big Island would require considerably less skill to dive safely than you need in San Diego, but conditions are different from the Kona side (and generally a little more challenging).

We are exposed to the Trades, thus surge and wave action is often a fact of life. Surface currents (especially in the winter) can be surprisingly strong (but totally absent at depth), and there may be only one "safe" place to get in/out of the water due to the rocky nature of our coastline. So you do need to be able to navigate underwater back to your entry point, which can sometimes be a challenge if you get lulled into a false sense of security by the generally good viz (50-80' is typical on Hilo side). It is surprising how the reef begins to look the "same" if you don't pay close attention

But I expect you'd have no problem at all

Best wishes.

 

[Mike Boswell]

Mike,

The windward side of the Big Island would require considerably less skill to dive safely than you need in San Diego, but conditions are different from the Kona side (and generally a little more challenging).

We are exposed to the Trades, thus surge and wave action is often a fact of life. Surface currents (especially in the winter) can be surprisingly strong (but totally absent at depth), and there may be only one "safe" place to get in/out of the water due to the rocky nature of our coastline. So you do need to be able to navigate underwater back to your entry point, which can sometimes be a challenge if you get lulled into a false sense of security by the generally good viz (50-80' is typical on Hilo side). It is surprising how the reef begins to look the "same" if you don't pay close attention

But I expect you'd have no problem at all

Best wishes.

Well, my good friend, you would be expecting .... WRONG. I am way too careless about navigation, and I screw up a lot. I'm just not usually willing to spend a lot of my dive time looking at my compass, counting fin kicks or monitoring tank pressures, etc. etc. Chasing fish is more my thing.

I was born in Hilo in 1947, but we moved to Oahu when I was little and I have never dived the Hilo side because it just looks WAY too hairy, especially for a boat. I have driven up and down the Hamakua coast many times, and always imagined huge schools of Ulua cruising around under that deep blue choppy water. In the old days the water was muddy in many places, due to irrigation and wash water from all the sugar mills.

Stay safe, Bro...

 

[Mike Boswell]

It may sound glib, but the only "special" thing you would need is the attitude of wanting to have fun. Everything else can be picked up along the way!!

Sounds like your local conditions are fairly similar to our ocean conditions - cooler water, drysuits etc.... so you would be able to transition nicely, I'm sure.

The question, then, is what do you want to learn??? We have some great wrecks:

the only gear you would need is a long hose and knowing how to manage it.


We could also do some fresh water diving, perhaps my favourite fresh water dive here is a drift dive down the Waikato River:

Waikato River Drift Dive Video

The only real thing you need for that dive is a car and a driver to pick you up from the far end.....


Or, if you fancy something truly different, we could go for a dive on an live volcano?

The diving on White Island is pretty good, but being 55 miles offshore you might need some sea legs. And a clothes peg to block your nose..... if you are near some of the underwater vents, the smell of sulphur permeates your mask. And you've got to be careful about burning yourself on the hot water surrounding the vents!!!

Andy,

I really need to get on a plane one of these days and come visit New Zealand. I have heard so many great things about the islands and the people and everything else. Even the food (my wife and I love lamb)!

Not so sure about that long hose... though. I am in the middle of JJ's book, and he hasn't quite convinced me yet. No drysuits either...Yet.

 

[TMHeimer]

Nova Scotia Atlantic (Hailfax area & "Eastern Shore"). Winter 33F low. Summer avg. up to 55, 60 is rare. Lots of fog May/June. Best time for weather, water temp. Aug.-Oct. Viz ranges from zero (after storms) to 30. Occasionally better. Most dive dry in winter. Short single winter dives possible with thick wetsuit. 6 foot tides, twice daily- similar to NY area. Shore dives sandy or rocky or mixed. Tons of wrecks, some at 60 feet, most 80-120 feet. TorpedoRays Scuba only major LDS in area.

 

[Mike Boswell]

Nova Scotia Atlantic (Hailfax area & "Eastern Shore"). Winter 33F low. Summer avg. up to 55, 60 is rare. Lots of fog May/June. Best time for weather, water temp. Aug.-Oct. Viz ranges from zero (after storms) to 30. Occasionally better. Most dive dry in winter. Short single winter dives possible with thick wetsuit. 6 foot tides, twice daily- similar to NY area. Shore dives sandy or rocky or mixed. Tons of wrecks, some at 60 feet, most 80-120 feet. TorpedoRays Scuba only major LDS in area.

Hi TM,

My wife and I spent some time in Maine (Bah Habah) a few years ago, and drove up to Campobello, kind of in your neighborhood. Lots of lobstering along the Maine coast, but there didn't seem to be much fishing going on, and I wondered why. Is there kelp? Do you see lots of critters when you dive?

Is there anything I should know about before I jump in the water?