Headed to Dutch This Wen the 4th

[fire5man]

I am going to take my wife up to Dutch for her first open water dive out of her class that she finished last fall.

I was just hoping someone could give me an idea of water temp and viz.

I want to make sure she enjoys herself. We live just south of Baltimore and she did her check out at Lake Rawlings, VA and had great Viz. (it was a cold weekend) It really helped build up her confidance during the class. I would travel back down that way for the warmer water but i just find dutch to be a nice place (based on 2 visits). Willow springs would be closer but last year when I was there I had less then 2ft of viz in the middle of the week.

I guess my best bet is to have her rent a 7mm wetsuit. I dont plan on doing any dives with her greater then 30ft. I just want to review the basics with her and build up her confidance. I would evjoy taking her to the helo or the hell cat but I think some patform work and the fire truck may be the ticket to make her happy.

Any ideas or imput would be great. Thanks

 

[acxc]

Going on a weekday should be great, little or no crowd and visibility should be as good as 30-50ft, maybe more.

I don't usually pay attention to temp but I'd imagine the surface temp is over 70 by now with a thermocline around 26ft. Should be fine with a 7mm, maybe even 5mm, without hood or gloves at about 30ft which will definitely help with comfort.

The helicopter and hellcat are exciting but definitely deeper and colder, if you want an interesting shallower dive follow one of the walls at about 20-25ft. Stay shallower and you may hit one of the groups of koi in the back corner. Honestly I would consider diving dutch on a weekday in august on par with a Carribean dive. You will absolutely enjoy yourself.

 

[Mayor]

Above 30ft your in the high 70's. Some are in 3mm so 5mm with no hood and gloves would be fine. Drop down below the 30ft mark your going to want the hood and gloves.

It's almost to hot right now. Good luck and enjoy the day.

 

[scubapeople59]

Heading to Dutch this Wed the 4th and Thurs the 5th with a nice group from our LDS. Vis should be in the range of 30ft. and temps in the high 60s above that 30' mark. We are doing some advanced cert. with some divers when we are there as well. Hope you have a great time and your wife's comfort level increases.
Cheers

 

[a22shady]

As others stated Viz is around 30' and above the thermoscline 30' water temp was around 70-75F last weekend. Below that it drops rather quickly. at 60' i had recorded 55-60F and Below that Which you probably won't go as from what you said she is only OW it was 50-55F at 80'. And you say you have been there before the peninsula is the better side IMO the bathhouse is nice Heat/Ac etc. and food stand is right there. And typically not many people there at all during weekend they usually allow you to leave you vehicle there if it's slow just ask permission first

 

[ReeferBen]

Fwiw Ive been there a lot recently and also found the temps high 60's low 70's above the thermocline and consistently around 55 by the bus. Right inside the helicopter is 45', while it drops to the bottom at close to 70'. There's a map on here that gives all the cords to if your not following ropes or want to work on navigation. If your into following the ropes, the peninsula side you can follow the platform to the bus and then follow that to the firetruck or Cessna. The Cessna and firetruck are both shallow but if you go firetruck you can do platform to firetruck to van to boat or firetruck to reefrocks and reverse it. Makes for a nice dive, but in either course if you dip to the school bus to follow the rope you'll end up below the thermocline and in the colder water for a short time. From the student side you can avoid that. You can also catch the crayfish at either the cessna or firetruck and feed the fish for fun. My son is jr certified so I always have to do the shallower stuff. Sometimes we just follow the wall to the left or right and stay around 35-40'. I was there wednesday a few weeks ago and got the closest table to the water at the peninsula and was able to get tank fills quick. A little better viz during the week too.
Have fun

 

[herbdb]

I dove on Friday and Sunday last week. Vis was pretty good on Friday, but much lower on Sunday. Wednesday it will be great. I usually do my diving midweek and rarely see more that 20-30 divers in the whole area.

Sunday I dove a 5mm merino suit with gloves, no hood and was very comfortable above about 35', below that it started getting cooler.

She will have a great experience if you stay shallow. If she is cold natured, use the hood. I just hate the things and will not use one if I can get away with it. Lehigh Valley Dive Center has a nice rental package of cold weather gear - $48 for two tanks plus all of the gear you need except mask and fins.

Have a good time, perhaps I will see you there.

 

[fire5man]

Thanks everyone for the info. We had a great time. Lots of nice people running around. There was a dive class of some kind going on and I was amazed to see that during the week. As a guy that works weekends I could drive the 3+ hours for training. Leave it to me to set there and think about saying something but not. Oh well, maybe someone here knows them. The viz and temps were as you all said. My wife and I made it to the 47ft mark before she got cold and we headed back to the 70 deg water. The viz was not that great however. We did a lot of refresher stuff and took it slow and let her go at her pace. She is a trooper. she hit the 7mm suit with no gloves, no hood. I am the wimp and am always cold. Even in a drysuit, hood and gloves I was getting chilled at the 40ft mark. I almost put on my polar for dive number 2. As I said the vis was not great but thats ok. Viz on the platform and firetruck for some photos and her comfort level.

Looking forward to another trip up that way in the near future with some other buddies.

 

[a22shady]

Viz over on the Firetruck tends to get silted out quite quickly. Next visit stay toward the Peninsula side the Viz is usually a little better at other attractions (School bus-Crane-Comet-even Platforms) but then again it depends on how many people where there. Great to hear you both had a good time. Dutch is a great place to visit to get wet and practice/play around. I am with you with the Cold, Drysuit/hood/gloves all the time. Plus it doesn't bother me to wear the gear.