jeffkruse2000
Contributor
Yesterday about a dozen people in all decided to play hooky and dive deceptive Deception Pass. We got our collective asses kicked trying to get out but the dive was incredible, spectacular, and thrilling! Rob and I dove together. We arrived at the North beach part of the park at 7:40am, slack was "predicted" for 8:41am. We were concerned that we were late since all the other divers were just short of gearing up.
We were in the water and dropped down at about 8:10am. We first thought, wow this is great no current. One minute latter we were sent hurling toward the bridge. So much for no current. We drifted along as best we could marveling at all of the life. It is a Technicolor rainbow covering every inch! Vis was limited to 8 feet and it was dark below 50'. At 80' it was a night dive. With 8' of vis it was difficult avoid being pushed into the barnacle covered rock walls that appeared at every angle! Quick choices in the direction we wanted to go had to be made or they would have been made for us after dragging us across the rocks. Rob told me that at one point he thought he was seeing things because when I exhaled all of my bubbles were going down!
After a 31 minute drift in one direction the current started to slow. We decided to turn and go back. It was easy for a while and we expected it to get much easier. But during the swim back there were several points that still had a flooding current that we had to fight. We got as far as we could for 29 more minutes to finish the dive with an hour down. We surface a long way from the beach but we also surfaced next to Gray and Jean. We all were swimming back together. It was difficult so Gray and Jean decided to try their luck under water. Rob and I continued our fight in and wound up catching up with all the other divers who didn't drift as far as we did. We did see Gray and Jean surface in the distance before we rounded the last point where we could not see them any more. They still had a long way to go. At the point where we caught up with everyone the wind waves were getting big and the current was STILL flooding hard. It was kind of funny to see all these !
heads just bobbling on the surface directly under the Deception Pass bridge, funny if you weren't in the water that is. There were several points that magnified the current. Crossing each one took great effort and the conditions still continued to deteriorate. Rob and I made it to shore and took our gear off on the beach.
I was concerned when I saw Colleens dive buddy just swim in on his own leaving Colleen out in the middle of the channel! Colleen appeared to be making progress in the water but still he just left her when she still had a long way to go! To my dismay she disappeared and we no longer could see her.
We helped some of the others get out of the water in the big waves. We told Gray and Jean's friends that Gray and Jean still had a long way to go. Jean had a leg cramp. Their friends called for some help and by the time that help arrived Colleen was back on shore and Gray and Jean made it around the last and most difficult point. Waves were crashing 5 feet by this time so just getting out of the water was a struggle. Colleen went back in the water to help them get out. Gray did a great job of helping Jean swim back with a leg cramp. I don't think I would have been able to pull Rob around those points if he didn't swim. Everyone was accounted for and back on shore. The only casualty was a lost fin. The fins needed replacement anyways.
I think the reason the current still continued to flood was due to the wind pushing all the water between Vancouver Island and the pass. I think the wind just funneled all the water through the pass. It was close to two hours after slack and we didn't see much of the 4.5 knot ebb.
I think everyone was excited about how good the diving part was. I don't know if everyone will be returning but I know Rob and I will. Next possible days we will consider are 3/5,6/2005 (marginal), 3/19,20/2005 (good), and several good days in April 2005.
Jeff
We were in the water and dropped down at about 8:10am. We first thought, wow this is great no current. One minute latter we were sent hurling toward the bridge. So much for no current. We drifted along as best we could marveling at all of the life. It is a Technicolor rainbow covering every inch! Vis was limited to 8 feet and it was dark below 50'. At 80' it was a night dive. With 8' of vis it was difficult avoid being pushed into the barnacle covered rock walls that appeared at every angle! Quick choices in the direction we wanted to go had to be made or they would have been made for us after dragging us across the rocks. Rob told me that at one point he thought he was seeing things because when I exhaled all of my bubbles were going down!
After a 31 minute drift in one direction the current started to slow. We decided to turn and go back. It was easy for a while and we expected it to get much easier. But during the swim back there were several points that still had a flooding current that we had to fight. We got as far as we could for 29 more minutes to finish the dive with an hour down. We surface a long way from the beach but we also surfaced next to Gray and Jean. We all were swimming back together. It was difficult so Gray and Jean decided to try their luck under water. Rob and I continued our fight in and wound up catching up with all the other divers who didn't drift as far as we did. We did see Gray and Jean surface in the distance before we rounded the last point where we could not see them any more. They still had a long way to go. At the point where we caught up with everyone the wind waves were getting big and the current was STILL flooding hard. It was kind of funny to see all these !
heads just bobbling on the surface directly under the Deception Pass bridge, funny if you weren't in the water that is. There were several points that magnified the current. Crossing each one took great effort and the conditions still continued to deteriorate. Rob and I made it to shore and took our gear off on the beach.
I was concerned when I saw Colleens dive buddy just swim in on his own leaving Colleen out in the middle of the channel! Colleen appeared to be making progress in the water but still he just left her when she still had a long way to go! To my dismay she disappeared and we no longer could see her.
We helped some of the others get out of the water in the big waves. We told Gray and Jean's friends that Gray and Jean still had a long way to go. Jean had a leg cramp. Their friends called for some help and by the time that help arrived Colleen was back on shore and Gray and Jean made it around the last and most difficult point. Waves were crashing 5 feet by this time so just getting out of the water was a struggle. Colleen went back in the water to help them get out. Gray did a great job of helping Jean swim back with a leg cramp. I don't think I would have been able to pull Rob around those points if he didn't swim. Everyone was accounted for and back on shore. The only casualty was a lost fin. The fins needed replacement anyways.
I think the reason the current still continued to flood was due to the wind pushing all the water between Vancouver Island and the pass. I think the wind just funneled all the water through the pass. It was close to two hours after slack and we didn't see much of the 4.5 knot ebb.
I think everyone was excited about how good the diving part was. I don't know if everyone will be returning but I know Rob and I will. Next possible days we will consider are 3/5,6/2005 (marginal), 3/19,20/2005 (good), and several good days in April 2005.
Jeff
