Diving in Eastern Washington & Northern Idaho

[SeahorseDeb]

I live in Spokane Washington and most often when I dive with salt water buddies the question of where we dive and what we see pops up. If you are interested in the answer to this question and others, please visit our Facebook page "Inland Northwest Divers."

Our most anticipated diving of the year is coming up, where the salmon migrate on Lake Coeur d'Alene to a cove, and the bald eagles come pig out for about 6 weeks. The salmon are so plentiful they swim right into us at times. As they get closer to spawning they turn vibrant red. Depth is about 25-45 feet for the salmon, parking is close, food and gas amenities are about five miles away in beautiful downtown Coeur d'Alene.

The lake offers spectacular photo ops of the eagles or beautiful lake, and there are boat sight seeing tours as well. You can easily drive your car around and park at various places along the lake and the Dept. of Fish and Game have educational booths set up.

We also have beautiful Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced pond-o-ray) to the north, as well as some smaller lakes. We have dive profiles for the beginner, intermediate, and tek. We have train wreck dives, sunken boat dives and wall dives. So, yes we do have fun and some of us ice dive too!!

Come visit our FB page, and be sure to post a "Hello!" too, we'd love to have you!!

The url for Inland Northwest Divers Facebook page;
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inland-Northwest-Divers/204751646220990

 

[Peter_C]

Salmon dives are awesome! We do that in our rivers just before they open the fish ladders.

What time of year do the salmon congregate?

(For ease you might want to link your FB page)

 

[SeahorseDeb]

Peter, I will edit my original post to include the link. Thanks for doing my thinking for me, superb job!!!

Some of us are going this Saturday to have a look and see if the salmon are beginning to show up. Typically by Thanksgiving weekend they are in full swing, and it subsides around Christmas.

 

[TSandM]

Maybe I need to haul my dive gear with me on one of my next few work tours, and head east rather than west when I'm done with work

 

[IDMike]

It would be great to go on a salmon dive! I'm working on my advanced, and my wife just got her Scuba certification this year. It looks like this Sunday will be my last dive of the year though, since neither of us dive dry. I made it over to Alki in January, and it was great seeing all of the marine life I'd only seen in pictures, but it's great fun out here in Northern Idaho too. Geologically fascinating. This Sunday I'm headed down to 3rd Street Marina with James Flodin, and if I'm not mistaken that's where those beautiful natural rock steps are. Can't wait

 

[SeahorseDeb]

It would be great to go on a salmon dive! I'm working on my advanced, and my wife just got her Scuba certification this year. It looks like this Sunday will be my last dive of the year though, since neither of us dive dry. I made it over to Alki in January, and it was great seeing all of the marine life I'd only seen in pictures, but it's great fun out here in Northern Idaho too. Geologically fascinating. This Sunday I'm headed down to 3rd Street Marina with James Flodin, and if I'm not mistaken that's where those beautiful natural rock steps are. Can't wait

Yes a drysuit would extend your season!! You will catch the bug......it's only a matter of time and budget!!! Once bitten, then you can dive all year round!!! We are meeting saturday morning at 09:00 at Higgins to check out the salmon and I'm taking my u/w camera too!! I will post a report on INWD!

 

[cdascubaman]

! We are meeting saturday morning at 09:00 at Higgins to check out the salmon and I'm taking my u/w camera too!! I will post a report on INWD!

Sounds like we have a good group going out. Should be a good time

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Resurrecting an old thread. I'm looking at dive sites in eastern Washington/Idaho to combine with a trip out to the missile silos. The salmon run sounds fun. What time of year is it? That question wasn't answered previously. Thanks.