Divign the lower Rappahannock / Chesapeake Bay

[TCSCUBA]

I am looking for anyone who has done any diving in the lower Rappahannock / Bay area. I have done a ton of river diving even in the Rappahannock (Fredericksburg area) but have not been in around the mouth of the bay yet. I have a place at Grey's Point, nice boat and all the toys needed to jump in and get wet. My primary focus in on finding rock beds for fossil hunting. Maybe oyster diving too. I would love to find a few local divers in that area that I can go out with or take out with me. I have several very experianced dive buddies in central Va that would also like to do a bit of divig on the Rappahannock. Any info would be great.

 

[mheaster]

Hey dude! When you want to try this?

 

[TCSCUBA]

well, this weekend is the charity auction... hope to see you guys there.... next weekend is a cub scout camping trip.. after that... either may 1st or 2nd. I want to try it with 4 psople max.. me and 3 other divers. You in?

 

[mheaster]

Count me in. Do you have identified site/s or just going to explore? Jeff "may" be a 3rd if agreeable with you?

 

[TCSCUBA]

as for sites.. if you check out google earth and turn on "Dive Sites" you will see a few withing a few miles of my place (Rt. 3 bridge on Rap.). Other than that I have charts and maps that will help determine drop offs and potential ledges. Using the sonar and underwater video system we should be able to find "hard bottom".

as for the divers... I was going to talk to Mike and Val Sat. night. figured you, me, mike, val or if they can't go we can find 2 more. really want people with black water experiance and prefer people I have dove with before. Until we find some good spots and get the lay of the land I want to make sure we reduce any potential issues. what is Jeffs experiance? backwater, current, navigation, solo, etc?

 

[TCSCUBA]

Well, myself and two buddies dove the Rappahannock last weekend. On Sat the water was pretty choppy and vis was pretty poor. Did not get in as many dives as we were hoping too but I did learn a thing or too. The "Reefs" in the Chesapeake (according to Google Earth) are just fishing reefs that have little or no "marine life" around... from what we saw (or didn't see). I also found out where to look if I need a new weight belt (inside joke). Still planning on making lots of trips out there and will post our dive reports.