question for the SCUBA divers

[mattleycrue76]

Got my AOW an EANX cert. this year. I am really loving it so far. I am wondering how many of you dive locally and whether anyone would like to meet up for a dive sometime. My problem with finding dive buddies is mainly due to the fact that I usually have time on mondays or evenings.

Also have any of you ever tried setting up a coldwater "Puget sound tank" full of locally collected stuff. I don't know what the laws are on this, just curious.

 

[reedman]

I used to dive locally with a few folks around here, but since having a kid my time is spent before I get it (and so is the money). Would be a blast to get a group of reefers together to go dive. I find that we stop and stare at things like anomones, shrimp and of course octos.

On your puget sound tank....I don't believe it is legal to collect here in WA, but I think OR allows it. Steve Weast setup a coldwater system that is really nice, but those systems come with a whole new set of criteria....chiller required, either double pane glass or thick acrylic to keep it from sweating, and getting inhabitants is crazy.

 

[seabeaver]

I got my open water cert ~7 years ago and just started really using it, mainly on Alki. Cove 2 is a nice enough spot to get back into diving for me. I'm up for a dive with divers that are comfortable with a newbie.

One long summer during college, I worked doing maintenance on Albertson's lobster tanks. Those meat department tanks are awfully limited, but while I froze my arms off up to the armpit, I escaped thinking a PacNW display would be fun to try in one

 

[mattleycrue76]

I used to dive locally with a few folks around here, but since having a kid my time is spent before I get it (and so is the money). Would be a blast to get a group of reefers together to go dive. I find that we stop and stare at things like anomones, shrimp and of course octos.

On your puget sound tank....I don't believe it is legal to collect here in WA, but I think OR allows it. Steve Weast setup a coldwater system that is really nice, but those systems come with a whole new set of criteria....chiller required, either double pane glass or thick acrylic to keep it from sweating, and getting inhabitants is crazy.

Getting the inhabitants would be the fun part

 

[seabeaver]

exactly.

I'm easy, I've even scooped some sandy goop and plants out of the low tide flats on Alki and put them in a small tank, let the dust settle, and stared at the crazy amount of critters that were clinging to the algae for a few hours. Lots of shrimp, crabs, pods, anenomes....

 

[epiphanus]

exactly.

I'm easy, I've even scooped some sandy goop and plants out of the low tide flats on Alki and put them in a small tank, let the dust settle, and stared at the crazy amount of critters that were clinging to the algae for a few hours. Lots of shrimp, crabs, pods, anenomes....

I believe the website was www.oregonreef.com, there will be some specs there for you to help you determine what you would need.
Most of his stuff is from WA... and it's pretty easy to collect there, with a fishing license. OR is actually a bit toucher about that, but also possible.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Looking for a diver in the area (Edmonds?) who would like trade some diving gear toward a nice sized starfish to freeze and feed legs my three harlequin shrimp. Weights, fins, collection bags whatever. Have a lot of stuff and only dive in warm water these days. For that mater, need to trade or sell off most of stuff but that is for a different post.

 

[mattleycrue76]

I have a Chocolate chip starfish in my sump

 

[mmn_usn]

ok... learned how to dive here almost 10yrs ago. I dove quite a few times the first couple of yrs and then it dwindled down to a couple times a month before I moved to Guam. I figure that I put in about 1000 dives in the first 4 yrs and then a good 200+ in the 2 yrs in Guam... mostly night dives in Guam. I would love to get back into the dive scene here. I don't know how well I will be able to do that with my current handicapped arm. I will talk to my PT to see if he thinks it would be ok... and would definately need a buddy to help with the tanks.

 

[rjarnold]

In my opinion, the best place for divers is nwdiveclub.com We are a very friendly bunch of people, and, unlike myself, there are a lot of people that have a lot of time to dive.

Mike - it's easy for me to collect starfish. Just let me know when you want to pick one up for free.