where to go, where to live

Hey all. I'm moving to the Seattle area and looking for suggestions on where. I'd like to be 40 minutes or less from Seattle, but also within easy access to the best diving.

I get the impression that there is more diving in the north part of the sound? Where is the best variety or the best overall diving?

Seattle itself may not be the best place for me since, being a (somewhat reformed) red-neck, I still need to work on the truck and I have a sailboat for the backyard and will continue to cook biodiesel and don't want to hear any crap from the neighbors.

A friend of mine suggests Tacoma as a good town for me, but it seems so remote from the rest of the route out to sea.

Any tips will help. Thanks.

-dennis

The best diving is really all up and down the Sound. I live in Renton, one of the suburbs about 20 minutes south of Seattle, and I'm within easy distance of two of my favorite sites, Redondo and Three Tree. Redondo is in Des Moines and Three Tree is in Burien, both within easy distance of Seattle. Up north you have Everett and Lynnwood, both are nice places to live and close to some good sites like Edmonds and Mukilteo. There really isn't any one area that's "better" than another, but I agree you probably don't want to live right in Seattle because the streets and everything else are a bit of a cluster-****. It's also a bit more expensive.

As far as boat diving, there are charters that depart from all up and down the coast as well, so really, it's basically a matter of "you pays your money and you takes your pick." Just about all the sites along the east side of Puget Sound are excellent, and you'll find divers eager and willing to show you around any and all of them. When you get here, hop onto Northwest Dive Club • Index page and let folks know you're here. You'll have more diving invitations than you could imagine.

See you there!

I live in Federal Way and work in Tacoma, and I'd be hard-put to find the diving more convenient. One of my favorite dive sites is five minutes from my house, and all the great South Sound sites are within easy driving distance from work ... or home, since it's only 15 minutes from work.

If you're working in Seattle, be prepared for a tough commute wherever you live unless you live in the city. Traffic here is best described as "too many cars, not enough pavement".

FWIW - lotta rednecks living around here. You might want to look at DesMoines, Federal Way, Puyallup, and Bonney Lake (on the south side) ... sounds like you'll fit right in ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Will you be working in Seattle, or just want to be able to reach the city easily?

I work in Seattle (Queen Anne district) and I live in Bothell currently, which is SE of Lynnwood. If I leave at 5:30-6:00am I can be at work in 25-30 minutes. If I leave at 8:00 it can take me easily over an hour. Many people here go into work early then take off early so there is a surprising amount of traffic on the road even at 5:30am.

Shore diving is spread out kind of all over the Sound, although there does seem to be a higher density of interesting sites down in the Tacoma area. Our one big, regular charter is based there, too. (There are a couple of smaller boats that go out in the Seattle area, and a couple that go out of Anacortes or in the San Juans. We do not have as many charters as we did five years ago.)

If you're interested in eviscerating a truck or cooking biodiesel, Kent/Renton or Tacoma will be places you'll fit in fine. A lot of the areas north of Seattle are a little more uppity.

For weekend diving, a LOT of places are within reasonable drives, almost no matter where you live. For weekday evenings, commuting from outlying areas (which are cheaper and a bit more rural) can be punishing.

Thanks for all the input. I'm coming up there in the second part of April to start checking things out.

In fact, my job isn't in the PNW at all, but rather on a research ship. I work 28 days and then have 28 days off. So commuting isn't a problem, ever. I just have to get to or from the airport once each month.

I've often joked that I'd like to buy a Jiffy Lube and turn the office into a small apartment. Ah, we all have our dreams, don't we?

Thanks again for the help. I'm headed to sea for the next 28 days so I won't be able to check in until April, but if you have other suggestions post them here and I'll get them when I get back.

Fair winds,
-dennis

I am in the same ring as you. I will be moving to the PNW later this year, I will be at Everett though and I am looking for any good places to live that are not that expensive if anyone knows of anything that would be great.

Kyle