Northwest Dive Club

Well, the 72s I have are from the late 60's, and weight checking, they appear to swing a little positive at 500 psi, so they take a couple of extra pounds of weight. I believe the newer ones are different in that respect. I've never noticed any difference in my gas consumption, whether I'm diving t...

Seeing Dave's Bay Goby picture I noticed its tail had a pale margin. That made me remember an unknown I got a picture of with a similar tail. Any hints as to what it might be? unk_tail_margin.jpg David if I were seeing only the face of that fish I'd probably guess that it was a Whitespotted Greenli...

That's interesting -- I've been diving LP95s from the very beginning, and I have never found them to be a major problem to haul around. The HP100s are a bit lighter and smaller, but considerably more expensive. I didn't like the LP72s because they required too much weight to sink, and I like having...

what your experience, ben? have you tried either of these sizes yet? I have not. I've used LP 108's, LP 95's, and HP 80's (felt like a pony!). I probably liked the feel of the 95's the best, but all of them were fine (ok, the 80's were a little weird, being so short). Doing dives to 100-115ft I rea...

I agree - it's a Blacktip Poacher. I don't often see them (mostly night dives in low current locales) - nice find and great photos.

Chris- I'm not sure what you mean by "bent" (chamber ride?), but I've done a couple of dives where I got out of the water and felt like absolute $!%$. They were technical dives, and the profile we ran were ok by all accounts, but I remember driving home and all I wanted to do was sleep. I...

BDub - I am curious - have you ever used a Manta Jr, and has the ratchet release being part of the handle been an issue for you? Does anyone know of any ratcheting reel options I should consider? I'm not a fan of overhand reels in general. I like the sidewinder style because, for me, it's easier to...

Okay - I have another question. How many divers here have planned and executed their own ceiling dives without any certification? I'm going to assume you mean "deco dives". There's a big difference between racking up a few minutes of deco on a dive computer, (which, of course, nobody shou...

Okay - I have another question. How many divers here have planned and executed their own ceiling dives without any certification? Sorry - what is a "ceiling dive"? As in going into an overhead environment? Sure - but an overhead environment might be a decompression stop obligation. A dive...

And... what's your favorite reel? Mine is kind of cheezy and I'm looking for a sturdier one - presently favoring the Manta Jr. I'm like Scott in that I'll use a finger spool for shorter stuff. If it requires a lot of line, I'll use my Salvo reel, which I really like. Easy to use/grip, hard to foul....

Anchoring the boat depends on the dive site. For a wreck site that is easilly damaged, we use a shot line (smalll downrigger ball or small soft weight) which is dropped NEXT TO (not on) the wreck. In low viz, we run a line over to the wreck from the shot line. For a wll dive (like Sunrise), we'll a...

What I want to know but have been afraid to ask is, "Would you dive again with somebody who had to hang onto the anchor line from time to time on ascent?" I hang on to the downline whenever I feel like it, and don't even give it a second thought- is there some reason I'm not aware of that...

Okay, so I missed a posting somewhere. Not to totally hijack this thread, I need to ask... What is monkey diving? :dontknow: Does it have something to do with scooters? :dontknow: here's the tip of the iceberg: http://monkey-diving.com/ i'm sure that ljjames and others have a lot to add... Hrm. Mon...

Hey - I know exactly what you're going through. It is surprisingly challenging to get an outing together. The weather is one issue, the tides another, but by far the most difficult aspect is getting the right people to commit. Getting those three things to align can be unbelievably frustrating. I al...

The Coast Guard suspended their search but other agencies resumed their efforts this morning.

The first heart crab I ever saw was in the pilings at Keystone. They really are neat critters. Puget Sound King Crabs are still my favorite though - golf-ball crabs are second, and heart crabs third. Fourth would be decorator crabs. Alright - I guess the truth is that they're all really really cool!

My housing was made by Ikelite, but they're all similar and they can all end up with sticky buttons. I soak mine in fresh water for a while when I get home from each dive outing, but that isn't enough. Try opening up the housing and removing the camera, then push each button down and use some kind o...

Okay Jan - you've really outdone yourself this time. One of the things I love about diving the part of Deception Pass (Whidbey side) that we covered on Sunday is the structure. Your picture captures one particular spot EXACTLY. The area with the pinnacles that look as though they've broken away from...

Jan - those stars are beautiful aren't they? They are definitely near the top of my list of favorite critters. I've been wondering what you could possibly come up with to make them more interesting to look at and couldn't think of anything - but I should never have doubted you - your diver entangled...

BTW Carter makes decent SMBs and lift bags too. http://www.carterbag.com/personalfloat.html I have a Carter Personal Float and I love it - the quality is second to none and it has an oral inflate valve, overpressure/dump valve, and a one-way flapper valve which makes it quick and easy to inflate in...

The Possession Point Ferry is one of the richest dive sites in Puget Sound. or so i'm told.:dontknow: al I like diving the Kehloken as a novelty, but I certainly wouldn't describe it as particularly rich in terms of critter variety. I think that the nearby Possession Point "Fingers" site ...

a GPS/Sounder combo (any recommendations?) I just helped my friend install a Lowrance LMS-527c DF IGPS in his boat. It is very nice indeed - much better than the old (OLD) Garmin I use on my boat. Pretty much any VHF is good but make sure you can wire it to the GPS (almost any recent model will wor...

I've only been diving through three winters, but this one does seem particularly bleak for critters. I think it's worth noting that this is a La Niña winter. I've been noticing lower water temperatures than I've logged the past couple of years, and I'm sure we've all noticed the precipitation. I re...

Jan I think you did very well to get such good photos given the available light and the visibility. I am really glad you were able to come along. I didn't get any noteworthy photos but I thoroughly enjoyed the dive. The personality you've given your Proliferating Anemone caricatures really gave me a...

I suspect they're both the same kind. They were maybe 5" across each. My daughter thinks they're just your basic ochre stars, juveniles maybe, I'm not so sure. I found them both within about 50 feet of each other around the Narrows Bridge yesterday (2-3-08). I think your daughter is right. The...