It's been a while

It's been a while... 1992 was my last Naui Dive Log Entry. Not really sure why I stopped diving. My dive buddy at the time was a bit of an odd duck, and I guess I got busy with life. So here I am now...forty...Fat and now another friend is chompin at the bit to get me to go drown myself. Back in the day I had all Top of the line Dacor gear. I guess there is no Dacor anymore. Most of my diving was in tropical water with only a few at the Edmonds underwater park.

Is diving around here worth it? Do I need a boat or is there ample shore diving to be done?

Fill me in if you dont mind.

Northwest diving is worth it and there are lots of good shore diving spots, though I will qualify that I'm biased to our diving. With the length of time since your last dive if you haven't considered it I would suggest that you do give some thought to taking a refresher course. What is your general location? From your reference to Edmonds I'm guessing that you're located in WA and if so there are several good dive shops located throughout the state as well as active dive groups. Here are a few websites for shore diving locations.

Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: Washington, USA West
Puget Sound Diving and Hood Canal Dive Site Maps and Directions to Washington Dive Sites
Puget Sound Dive Sites

Is diving here worth it? Well, do you like Giant Pacific Octopus, or wolf eels, or Pacific Spiny Lumpsuckers, or grunt sculpins, or . . . The Pacific Northwest is an amazing place to be a diver. If you are in the Puget Sound area, you have a huge body of water which can easily be accessed from shore in multiple places, and which is sheltered from the majority of weather. Any day you would be willing to be outside, you can dive SOMEWHERE. Check out theperfectdive.com for information on both shore and boat diving sites -- there are lots of both. And, if you are in Washington, check out nwdiveclub.com, and in particular, THIS thread, for information on what we see when we dive. That local forum is a great place to find dive buddies, too.

I do agree that, if you haven't dived since '92, at the very least a refresher course is in order. And spend some time talking to folks who dive here before you drop a lot of money on gear, too. Things have come a long way since your Dacor rig.

The above posters are absolutely correct! PNW diving is well worth, but you've got to be sure you've got the right equipment and know how to use it. Diving here is spectacular and will make you a better diver for those tropical trips!