Wreck certification course in the Puget Sound area?

I'm new to the Seattle area, and I'd love to get my wreck diving cert. I've dived wrecks before, namely in Coron Bay in the Philippines, including penetration, so I'm definitely comfortable with it and I've done it before (I have my advanced open water and am getting drysuit in 1.5 weeks, and nitrox in late July). Can someone recommend a good local instructor/course? Also, are there any good groups/outings for nearby wrecks? I'd love to check out the Dawn and the PB4Y in Lake Washington.

Jerry Dollar teaches a wreck course, including basic penetration, through Bubbles Below. However, the two wrecks you mention are not appropriate dives at all for someone with limited experience. Lake Washington is very challenging, with a poorly defined colloidal silt bottom and some of the most miserable viz you will find anywhere. The Dawn sits at 120, and the PB4Y is by anyone's measure a technical dive, sitting at 150.

We do have any number of wrecks in salt water here that lie in recreational depths. We have the barges at Shilshole, the Possession Point ferry, the Anna Foss tugboat, a barge off Des Moines, and of course, all the small wrecks at Edmonds and the Honey Bear at Cove 2. Scott Boyd's Puget Sound Wreck Dives is an excellent book, and gives you an overview of what's around to dive.

I am not aware of any specific wreck diving group, but you might post on our local forum, nwdiveclub.com, and see if there are any divers there with a specific interest in wrecks. For the bigger dives, you really will need to get to know some folks and get some dives with them under your belt, so that everybody feels comfortable taking you to the dark, spooky places. There are no charters that regularly run to the Lake Washington wrecks, so it's a matter of connecting with folks with private boats.

Thanks. Those two wrecks were kind of more longer-term goals, I plan on being here a few years at least. I've already ordered the Puget Sound Wreck Dives book (and spent a fair bit of time at the associated website), so I'm definitely excited to see what's out there. Registered on nwdiveclub.com now, thanks!

I used to teach both Wreck Survey and Wreck Penetration when I was working in the area, but we did the final penetration dives on the Saskatchewan in Nanaimo, BC. There are very few wrecks in the Puget Sound suitable for penetration.

-Adrian

The Saskatchewan and the Cape Breton up by Nanaimo are two of the best wrecks in the Salish Sea for conducting traditional penetration dives. They were cleaned and sunk as artificial reefs and have many entries and exits on each deck. Both are deep enough that you'll need to spend 20 minutes or more of run time at 100 to 110 feet to really get a good look. That means planning for some decompression time on the ascent, with EAN50.

So in addition to being comfortable in cold dark water, you'll want to get started in technical dive training. Advanced Nitrox & Decompression to start with, then eventually Trimix.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

If you are interested in developing appropriate skills for wreck penetration, consider coming and joining our GUE-Seattle dive group on Wednesday nights at Alki. It's a group of divers who are all working on the skill level you need for wrecks penetration or cave diving, and we're nice people, too.