Scuba Divers on I-fish?

[Fish mojo]

Any divers out there? I just got back from Bonaire and got my open water certification. One word-AWESOME!! 78 degree water. Saw green morays, eagle rays, 6 foot tarpon,tropical fish, and beautiful coral. To go down 80 feet in their environment is something else. Does anyone do the cold water- drysuit thing here? I'd like to get out at Cape Lookout with a speargun and find Mr. BigassLingcod some day... :grin: :grin: :grin:

[parker]

Yeah, I've taken a dip or two. :wink:

http://staff.washington.edu/parker/scuba

Parker

[Steve]

Hi Mojo, I am a diver, albeit haven't gone down for a couple of years. I was on the Estacada Fire Department Dive/Rescue for about 5 years and Clackamas County SAR. I used to dive below Rivermill and pull out those long ropes of mono, at least until some disgruntled fisherman deliberately snagged me while I was cleaning out one of the holes... have also dive in Cabo...Steve

[Oakie Drifter]

Ive been certified for 29 years.....but I havent gone in more years than I care to remember. Did the dry suit thing as I dove in cold waters. Had enough gear for three to dive with me. Gave it up...no one to dive with on a regular basis :depressed:

[rockfish]

divers and lingcod don't mix, kill all the old spawning females, good practice

[fishbait]

Have dove twice, only to 40 ft. Plan to get certified soon...... One of the coolest things that I have done in my life........ Giant sea turtles, fish , fish ,fish, shark......... way cool

[Gus Orviston]

1st rule of diving, besides breathing, don't touch anything...second rule, if it touches you first stab away. :wink: just kidding.

Dive, dive, dive, never local but I make excuses yearly to go. My job puts me in Japan on occasion and I decompress....literally in Hawaii on the way home, I schedule a dive, get a dump hotel and bum around, in that order. I have only dove for 5 years, but managed to get 100 hours down.

One of the best dives is the Big Island night dive with Manta Rays "manta ray madness". Done it twice and it will freak you out. Wing span of 10-12ft & 400lbs and they bump you as they go by. Snorkelers can enjoy it too from the topside.

Haven't dove in oregon yet, Kansas creek looks good though :grin:

[MetalHead]

I've got about 40 hours under. Not much up here in cold water. I was wondering if you were that Parker I've been to your site some good information on you site.

[Empire]

Fellow SCUBA divers: Here is a great tip. Go dive under the local bridges where the water is clear enough, and not too deep or swift. You will find all sorts of goodies. When criminals burglarize a house, they take everything, often piling stuff on a bed sheet and running out of the house looking like the grinch. Later, they will sort through the stuff, and throw away the things they dont want. Since they dont want to use their own garbage, they might pitch it over a bridge. You might even find something that can be identified, and given back to the owner (go through the police, so you wont be the burglary suspect). To date I have found a shotgun, a motorcycle (try to bring that up from 40 feet!), wallets, tons of costume jewelry, watches, toys, and lots more, including the scoreboard from the highschool footbal field, a fire hose and tons of street signs. Every trip is like going to a new store.

[will_e_fish]

Used to do salvage with some buddies by sellwood bridge. Lived there in houseboat before they built the park. We pulled up some of the stuff you mentioned. Cars, boats, guns,and allsorts of stuff. Insurance companies sure got mad at some guys when we found the stuff and told them.

The bigger things pop up with a bladder like a water bed is inflated inside it, then it is easier to drag out. Always more stuff down there than you would beleive.

Want to get recertifed to harvest some Sea Scallups or have other adventures. Need some new equipment as well.

[marko]

Me too. First trip to Bonaire was last fall. 18 dives in 6 days 84 degree water. What a great place. not real keen on cold water diving though.
:grin:

[Ryan Pultz]

I have always wanted to get cert. it looks so cool I have friends that go to local lakes in California and dive were there are snags they get all kinds of spinners and stuff. They also dive in some mountain lakes like pinecrest in California it is a clear and cold alpine lake but they say it is one of the most amazing dives to be in that clear and blue water. That and they have seen some monster fish I know one time wile diving in a lake named New Malonies in California they said they seen catfish that they would never have thought could get that big. CDFW has verified there are some monster cats in that lake. makes me wanna break out my sturgeon gear. And take a trip. any one around hear dive in some of the local lakes around hear I have read a web page about someone the dove in timothy lake that would be cool.

[Brine]

Took my open water in the Hood Canal. Way cool. Did six dives (two for fun). Octopus hole was fantastic saw A giant octo guarding her eggs, 6' ling, and more. Vis was great. There are a couple more hot dive sites up there and lots of support systems.

[Smily]

I have been certifiable for years now! :grin: But the problem I have is going into the cold and swift currents of the Northwest. I did the Sound before and that was my scariest dive ever. I did that in 94'.The currents are so swift and uncontrollable. I had done other drift dives before but experienced nothing like the Northwest!! Before that I did the Mollala once and did Kuai(sp)once, Bahama's Twice, Cozumel once and the Channel Island chain about a hundred times. Okay maybe not a hundred but do have countless boat trips and Beach dives logged and not logged. Maybe I do have a hundred!!! I use to love to spear fish and find Scallops and I'm getting hungry thinking about it. I'll stop now. It was better than going to a Seafood Market. It was all yours for the taking. As far as diving up here. Scary and very cold. I got up in Education as far as Advanced and Diver rescue and wreck diving and night diving and so on.

After starting a family, time has not permitted me to dive anymore. That is one of the things I miss most. But Fishin' has taken it's place quite well.


:smile: Smily :smile:

[Drachir]

I'm a certified diver, and have been for 28 years. However, I've not been under in more years than I care to mention. If I ever wanted to dive again, I would go through certification course again. There is too much at stake every time you go under the surface. Don't care to lose my life or anyone else because of stupidity and ignorance. It is a great sport, but can be very dangerous. :cool:

[Keta]

You haven't experienced diving until you have done it in SE Alaska in the winter, 42-48 degrees and VIRTUALLY UNLIMITED VISIBILITY! I certified in 1967 but I haven't been in the water since 1998 due to health problems.

[Steelie Steve]

I got certified in '90. Haven't been in a few years now, but starting to get the itch. Been in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and or course Puget Sound. Winter diving in the Sound is much better than summer. Visibility is great.

Looking forward to getting out again.

:grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

[Coot22]

PADI certified in 1999. Mostly warm water diving...in fact all warm water diving :wink: But cannot wait to do some drift diving in the big river :cool:

-Coot

[birdhunter]

Yes, Yes and YES!!

Certified a few years back, Open Water Advanced. I've got almost 100 hrs now. I'm definately a cold water diver. Love diving the local rivers diver. Skin diving in the Clack (w/ Smily) and Sandy (you remember that one Cooter :wink: ). SCUBA in lots of the lakes in Oregon. Emmigrant, Clear, Detroit, Timothy. Super easy to do, and TONS of lures out there.

Only done one warm water dive. Hawaii last spring break. Boy, that'll spoil ya! Great vis, lots more fish, and beautiful scenery. It isn't nearly as glamorous, or warm or easy to dive locally, but if you like to fish, than boy howdy, is it worth it. You learn a lot about how the fish act/move and usually pick up a ton of gear too.

Funny thing, just this morning I was out on the Clack for some very BRISK skin diving. A new Berkley rod, a big blue cooler, 7 plugs, 1 jet diver and about 50 corkies later, I'm still shivering, but very pleased. Smily and I posted something last summer from one of our dives on the river. Came up w/ a ton of gear. They don't call me the "salvage king" for nothing. Much easier in the summer - slightly warmer, better vis - but I couldn't wait.

It's well worth it to dive around here. I've never seen anyone else. Got all that water to yourself. Start out in the lakes, then move on to the rivers in summer flow. If you think you've mastered that, then I'd say have at the bays/ocean. Good luck, it's virtually an untapped resource.

[Snagly]

My girlfriend (now wife) and I got our PADI certs in 1986 and since then we've logged about 130 dives each. Not a huge number, but have been fortunate to dive some of Asia's (if not the world's) best dive spots: Maldives, Sipidan, Similans and Palau, among others (some unnamed: first descents on pinnacles in the Sulu Sea while on a live aboard). That's the good news.

My wife knows that my fishing addiction is such that if I mix fishing and diving, the dive trip comes to an end and I fish all the time. That means that I'm tackle-less when we dive . . . so these days I usually go to these same great dive sites and fish instead. I miss diving, but I decided I'd rather catch'em than watch'em if forced to choose.

For those of you who don't dive and wonder what it's like, I urge you to get your certifications and go try it out. I recommend diving so long as you're not afraid of water, a non-swimmer or claustrophobic (One person said, "When I'm on the bottom all I think about is all the tons of water above me head between me and the surface." Bad sign.) Diving is incredibly relaxing, and certainly the scenery can't be beat. But without trying to sound alarmist, I have seen enough when recreational diving -- lung embolisms, bent divers and a double-drowning (snorklers) -- to know that uncertified divers are very dangerous to themselves and others. Take the time to it right and build on good habits.

[Gus Orviston]

Aquatic sports on Barbur has an indoor pool and occasionally they will have an intro day to show people what it is like. They will get you into the pool and show you the basics, even in the pool you will think it is awesome. It only gets better when you go out for real! graemlins/lurk.gif

Aquatic sports dives in the bay for crab on a regular basis, so those crab lovers you can take it to a new dimension.

Manta Ray Madness dive. BTW you can snorkel this one too, so you don't have to dive it. Diving it puts you in the front row.

http://konacoastdivers.com/engray.html

[Cohodependent]

I'm with Keta. SE Alaska in the winter was the best. While living in Juneau I did a lot of diving in the winter. There is not an easier way to get crab (both King and Dungi) as well as scallops. We also placed shrimp traps. In high school I was an exchange stundent in the Phillipines for a year and had some great dives. I really got into the spear fishing thing until I came face to face with a Hammerhead Shark. Now that is the scariest thing that I have ever seen.

[PRINCEMASTER]

I am certified through PADI and havbe dived in Michigan a few times. Would love to try it out here if there are any volunteers to show me where. And yes I got hooked the first day so I bought all my own equipment

[KrystalFlash]

I Am certifed through PADI. I have not done a lot of diving, but I have been on a few dives. Drop me a line if any opportunites come up.

Team Double G
Team Pilar
Team Bad Salmon
Team Flipper
Fillet and Release Team
Fishin for the feelin'

[craigc]

I was NAUI certified in 72' Hawaii, when I was a kid, in the early days when they had you breaking down your gear underwater, blind folded, and someone thumping on your head, or ripping your regulator out of your mouth... a real U.S. marine bootcamp experience, not much different than the experience you get when you try to crawl out of the ocean, on to Monastery Beach, Carmel, CA. I haven't dove for a couple of year 'cause it's been too hard to find a long term partner I'm willing to trust my life with... although, I wishfully keep looking for that 'perfect' woman that's willing to dive in cold waters between those trips to warmer places. :wink:

Most of my diving is heavy into spear fishing in Hawaii and Carmel area... also done live aboard diving in Fiji, Solomon Islands and Egypt...

I have a wet suit where I can tolerate 52F for about an hour before I feel like a frozen tamale. I would like to understand if there's any decent diving along the northern coast of OR, or do you have to go to the Seattle area before diving gets a bit more interesting... at least the San Juan area gets some of the warmer waters from the equator...

Has anyone done any diving locally ?? What was it like ??? I'd love to hear about it on this board..

[Fish mojo]

This has been really cool hearing from all you divers. We need to an outing this summer. I have a friend who runs Andrea K Charters out of Garibaldi. He does diving at Cape Lookout a couple times each summer. Anyone up for this or have any other ideas for local diving?

[parker]

Yes, that was/is me. I shutdown "Diving The Northwest" and just moved it to my personal site. All the info and reviews are still there. See link way up top.

Parker

[ 02-17-2002, 07:23 PM: Message edited by: parker ]