New to the PNW

[rjarnold]

Hey guys -

I've been in Seattle for 1.5 yrs and have yet to dive Puget Sound. Of course, I just got my dive certification recently as well, despite being a marine-biologist-in-training (long story as to why just now, but anyways...)

I REALLY need some help - I need to get a total of 30 logged dives, or as close as possible, in a fairly short time. A collecting permit in Australia is requiring that many dives in order to collect some specimens for my research (going to Australia late March - Early April is the hope). Thankfully I'll be starting at another site in Australia first, so that will help with logged dives.

I have *some* gear - BC, fins and boots, snorkel, mask, and thin wetsuits (laughable for here, I know). I need help in figuring out which gear I need to dive the sound, if I can rent it/purchase it used via craigslist, perhaps some help with dry-suits, and the BIGGEST help - dive buddies! I have a car, can drive, and provide money for gas, whatever...I just need to dive I'm used to the tropical waters, unfortunately...got my certification in FL and snorkeled a ton in the bahamas. South Australia will be fairly cold, so getting used to Puget Sound waters will definitely help...

Thanks in advance for all your help!!!

[Joshua Smith]

Hey, there. Welcome to the site. Yes, you can rent most anything at one of our local dive shops. I rented at Underwater Sports for a while until I decided it would be cheaper to buy- I try to dive at least twice a week.
At ~50$ a rental, it was starting to add up pretty fast. You can dive wet here, but it gets old, especially in the winter. You are absolutely going to need a 7mm suit if you go that route, and pretty much everyone gets a drysuit eventually. Craigslist is a great way to pick up gear affordably, and you should browse this site, too- I've seen some good deals here in the gear section. Once you have your gear squared away, take a look over in "Dive Plans and Trip Reports" and ask to tag along with some folks- we have a friendly bunch here. I've never dived in Warm water (yet), but be advised- this environment is a bit "rough" on the tropical divers, but well worth the effort!

[Tom Nic]

Welcome! You'll find a BUNCH of dive buddies on this board!

-Where do you live? How many dives have you logged so far?

-Most of the dive shops will rent you a 7mm wetsuit... minimum for diving up here. Find a shop that will rent you a dry suit. Perhaps a quantity deal so you can get your dives in?

-Obviously, if you can afford it, and will be doing cold water dives in the future, get your own dry suit.

-Most shops will also rent you tanks.

-I'd also suggest getting with an instructor / more experienced diver to help you go over your gear and make sure you are equipped for our cold water diving. It is great, but it is VERY different than warm water diving! That could be combined with a dry suit orientation as well.

-After you get your equipment squared away you'll have no problem finding folks to dive with!

Good luck,

-Tom Nic

[Tangfish]

You can likely find at least one member of this board diving each and every day, so you came to the right place!

Feel free to PM me to ask about gear questions, etc. or just post in Gear Central.

I'll be diving this weekend. You're welcome to join. A group of us dive out at Cove 2 (alki) nearly every Wednesday evening, though you might want to get a few daytime dives in before you try diving at night with new equipment and buddies.

Welcome to NWDC!

[jeff98208]

welcome rjarnold. you'll find new and maybe old buddys to dive with! i'm sure you'll tell about the marine biologist bit at your desgretion. so any who ( i mean any how ) talk to you later!

good day!
jeff

[Grateful Diver]

Hey guys -

I've been in Seattle for 1.5 yrs and have yet to dive Puget Sound. Of course, I just got my dive certification recently as well, despite being a marine-biologist-in-training (long story as to why just now, but anyways...)

I REALLY need some help - I need to get a total of 30 logged dives, or as close as possible, in a fairly short time. A collecting permit in Australia is requiring that many dives in order to collect some specimens for my research (going to Australia late March - Early April is the hope). Thankfully I'll be starting at another site in Australia first, so that will help with logged dives.

I have *some* gear - BC, fins and boots, snorkel, mask, and thin wetsuits (laughable for here, I know). I need help in figuring out which gear I need to dive the sound, if I can rent it/purchase it used via craigslist, perhaps some help with dry-suits, and the BIGGEST help - dive buddies! I have a car, can drive, and provide money for gas, whatever...I just need to dive I'm used to the tropical waters, unfortunately...got my certification in FL and snorkeled a ton in the bahamas. South Australia will be fairly cold, so getting used to Puget Sound waters will definitely help...

Thanks in advance for all your help!!!

Welcome to the board.

I'm an independent instructor, and if you want to arrange an evening to drop by my home in Federal Way I can discuss gear options with you. Since I'm not affilliated with any local dive shop (but know what most of them carry for gear), I can be pretty objective about the pros and cons of various types of gear.

... and, of course, I'm always up for a dive. Redondo's only a couple miles from my home.

Drop me a PM if interested ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[GillyWeed]

Hi RJ..

I have to say I was pretty jealous when I read that you are going to be researching marine live in Australia and that you would be there diving... Until I read that it would be South Australia... Do you know what lurks in South Australia? We call it a Great White Shark.. They just call it a White Shark there.. DID YOU HEAR ME!?! A GREAT WHITE SHARK!!!!!!!

Well anyway, I dive wet even in this crazy winter so it can be done, but I suggest using a 1 mil dive skin under the 7 mil suit that you can rent at the local dive shop. Of course if you are going to be in South Australia, it proly wouldn't hurt you to invest in a dry suit. March is their fall so it's going to be getting colder there... Make sure you get the proper dry suit orientation if you do get one..

You for sure can find buddies galore on this site so don't forget to check out the dive trips section.. You can pretty much tag along on any of the dives that are posted there I am sure.

Hope to see you in the water a lot soon!

Cheers,
Holly

[Cera]

Holly, you are so funny!! I would dive with a GW Shark! I know you would too!! I would just need to change my depends after the dive!! (just kidding!, but not really)
Anyway, Welcome to the group, as everyone said, this is the place to be if you are looking for buddies. I also reccomend hooking up with an instructor or maybe even taking an 'advanced' class to get more experience in the water and in a variety of situations.
Welcome and nice to have you here.

[BASSMAN]

welcome rjarnold!

Just keep an eye on the Dive Plan & Trip Reports

section of this website and you should find plenty of dive oppurtunities.

[GillyWeed]

The only flipping way I would dive with a great white shark is if you, Cera, were in a flipping seal suit, wearing seal perfume, beside me! I would make sure I had my camera because I would want to make money selling the graphic footage to the news and shark week...

For get about it!!!!!

[rjarnold]

Wow - thanks for all the replies everyone! I do know Australia is known for its white sharks! I'm hoping to avoid contact with them though - my fish are shallow water, though sometimes found at 120 meters depth...hopefully the sharks don't decide to come in that close while I'm diving - even if I realize they certainly have been spotted very near shore.

I do agree that investing in a dry suit is going to be the way to go. It's definitely cheaper to go the craigslist route, but is it worth purchasing a used dry suite that you're unsure on the history? I almost feel safer having the guarantee, exact fit, history, plus (hopefully) help from the dive shop on how to use it. Unfortunately I will have to pay for it on my own though :( I got my other equipment at an awesome deal, as the dive shop was going out of business.

Anyways, the family of fishes I'm working with is Antennariidae. They are commonly called Frogfishes and/or Anglerfishes. They are the sweetest of all fishes in the sea, and I can certainly talk anyone's ear off on that entire order and its uniqueness.

I'm definitely glad I found this website...I can already tell that there are TONS of scuba enthusiasts that dive regularly and seem pretty darn helpful! Since I read that there are at least two types of dry suits, does anyone have suggestions on where I should go to rent them? Is there a diveshop that would perhaps allow two rentals to try these two types for free with the obligation of purchasing a new one after I've decided which I like better?

I'll be contacting some of you that have already replied to this thread - thank you!!!

[rjarnold]

Oh, I'm sorry - I'm currently in Shoreline (North City), and have a total of 5 logged dives...though if I can find my old logbook from long ago, that would probably bring it up to 8.

[rjarnold]

Also - though I study fishes...I know *next-to-nothing* about Puget Sound or the Pacific fishes. Which in itself is an compelling enough reason to get out there and check out what all the fuss is about.

My studies as an undergrad were done in Southern Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico during the summers (my main college was in my home state of Wisconsin), so I know the tropical fishes much better.

[Tom Nic]

Welcome to the wonderful, exciting world of diving in the Pacific Northwest! You'll love the marine life here... it has it's own unique charm.

Have a good time as you develop your diving skills to assist in your studies!

I'll be diving in the Red Sea this July, and look forward to seeing many of the amazing frog fish that reside there as well!

[BASSMAN]

I know TLSea Dive shop in DesMoines rents Dry suits but I'm not sure of thier policies. You would probably have to get the specialty card first before they would rent to you.

You should check with Underwater Sports (Several Areas) and they would probably work with you on it.

Yes, The nice thing about going through a dive shop is they will give you a Discount / Warrenty and other Options with the Package type deals.
Plus a free drysuit lessen is always a bonus The Seattle shop has a pool right there at the shop.
Underwater Sports runs a great Sale during the Last week of July

I bought a few things through Craigslist and if I could of afforded it I would have gladly went through My Local dive shop.

The Used drysuit I bought is a little large (Shell Type) "Mobys"
It was only used for fresh water kyaking a few times{"So I was told"}
It has been a good dry suit, so far.
If or when I get a new drysuit I will definatly try out the Apollo, Neoprene type drysuit.


To be able to try out both types would be a nice option!

There is a wealth of info right here on this board, Keep asking your questions and I'm sure you should get some good answers here!

Greatful Diver is one of the highly respected instructors here if you can hook up with him it would help you ,I'm sure.

[Sounder]

Welcome to our group - look forward to seeing you in the water.

Hey, if you need an assistant for a week or two helping with your frogfish project, I happen to LOVE them and would happily come to help!

What size are you? I've got a wetsuit (L/XL) that would work for you if you're built like me. Yes, you'll get cold, but wet and cold beats the heck out of being land-locked!

Let's go diving!

[rjarnold]

Well if you could pay your own way you'd definitely be of help! I don't think I could get my prof. to pay for someone else though :\

I'm a 5'4 135lb female...I think I'll be a S or M for a drysuit, and I've always found that gear 'made for women' fit me better.

*Most* of my collecting time I think will be in Western Australia...hopefully the trip gets set in stone real soon.

[Sounder]

HA! My wetsuit will most definitely NOT work for you! :naka:

Hmmm... maybe I need to arrange a grant or a sponsorship and come chase frogfish for a few weeks!

[rjarnold]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSGCph4iH4A

[Grateful Diver]

Frogfish are cool ... they're the only fish I've ever seen with elbows.

Here's one that wasn't hard to spot on my Bonaire trip last year. We found several ... even a black one (he was much harder to spot) ...

[Sasquatch]

Hi and welcome to NWDC! glad you decided to join us. Living in Shoreline gives you some wonderful, local to you, dive options. I live a couple miles North of you and dive Edmonds Underwater Park, Mukilteo and Marina Park. All of these are decent beginner dives close to home.

Ask me anything about diving this area.

Sea ya!

[rjarnold]

Those places sound great - I was looking at the Bubbles Below website and noticed they dive Edmonds Underwater Park as well, and it sounds like fun! Beginner places are good - hopefully will help me get adjusted to the water temp here and using a dry suit!

[Sergeant Pepper]

Good luck on the marine biology. My wife wanted to do that at one time, but couldn't get comfortable with the divinig part of it. Let us know when you are ready to dive.

[Oryon]

I hope you have fun in Australia rjarnhold. You lucky dog.

My partner and I dive at least once or twice a month. We are closer to Portland then Seatlle so South Sound dives and Hood Canal is where we usually hang out. He dives dry and I dive wet. We both were certified in July 2006 and I have 15 logged dives and my partner is close to 20. Yeah I know we are relatively newbies to this sport. However, if you want to dive and need a buddy we can usually be convinced. My email is vanderlipr@yahoo.com.

Well have fun and dive often!

[Cera]

where are you from? L-town?