Northern VA Winter diving?

[mbwilliamn]

OK, maybe a dumb question, and if so, I apologize ahead of time. Most of my dives are in FL (Atlantic and Gulf), but I am heading to N VA for a 10 week school Jan - Apr....not sure I can go that long without diving, sooooo.....

What do you guys do for diving up there in the winter?

I have up to 9 mil of neoprene, but if I need to get drysuit certified, I'm up. I havent gone two months without diving in 4 years....this will be painful unless I can find some options!

I'm going to be in the Springfield area, so any recommendations of shops or charters, events etc.

THANKS!
Mike

 

[Fly Girl]

hi, Mike - I live and work in the Springfield area, but I'm a new diver and haven't braved the winter diving here yet. The Dive Shop in Merrifield is doing a couple of chilly willy dives at the local pond (about an hour away from Springfield). Millbrook Pond is fairly lame, but it might be a nice change from what you are used to. They are a really nice shop, and I got my OW cert there. I suspect a 9mm might be okay, but you'd have to asked them. The url is Events.

If you are working at Ft. Belvior, Aquatic Adventures is the closest shop nearby and the staff is great. I'm not sure what they have going on but it is worth a stop to see them - Events.

If you want salt water, Virginia Beach is not very far away. I don't know if Lynnhaven Dive Center is running trips while you are here, but it is worth a phone call - Welcome Lynnhaven Dive Center.

My favorite local pond is Lake Rawlings which is just south of Richmond. It is an easy there and back trip to do in a day, or there are plenty of places to stay overnight down there. Lots and lots of bass and crappie which may be fun for you (it is for me). It looks like they are doing some polar bear dives while you are around - Welcome Lynnhaven Dive Center.

PM me if you are looking for an inexperienced but adventuresome dive buddy. I hope you enjoy your stay here!

 

[RAD Diver]

Lynnhaven runs trips through the winter, as long as Mother Nature cooperates.
I would highly recommend that drysuit. Water temps will drop to about 40 & true that can be done in a thick wetsuit, the air temps during the SI will not give you much time to get any warmth recouped before needing to don that thing for the 2nd dive.
If you do decide to come down to Va. Beach post & I will try to get on the trip. I've been to most of the wrecks, heck probably all of them that they run to.

 

[mbwilliamn]

RAD, Thanks! I'm looking at dry suit gear right now. It gets into the mid 50s in the gulf and when you are laying on the bottom for two hours at a time looking for fossils it gets pretty cold! (well that's my story and I'm stickin to it!). Hope to get checked out before I get up there, but if not I'll be looking to put in some time.

 

[RAD Diver]

Cool, let me know when you are here, I also run with a few others besides Lynnhaven. So if they can't get 8 divers to go the trip is usually canned.
But if smaller boats don't bother you, we can hook with Pelican Dive Charters Pelican Dive Charter ,or maybe if we get real lucky a friend will be going out in his private boat & all we pay for is fuel, usually about $60. He is a Captain in the Navy & his boat is rigged to the gills. O2, radar, side scan sonar, so it is a nice boat to go on. Also bigger than Pelicans.

 

[mbwilliamn]

Sounds good to me! Fly Girl is pretty near where I will be and is working a dry suit deal for us! The only other thing I might try to get to while up that way is a run to the Cooper river...did that last summer...talk about BLACK water!
Later!

Cool, let me know when you are here, I also run with a few others besides Lynnhaven. So if they can't get 8 divers to go the trip is usually canned.
But if smaller boats don't bother you, we can hook with Pelican Dive Charters Pelican Dive Charter ,or maybe if we get real lucky a friend will be going out in his private boat & all we pay for is fuel, usually about $60. He is a Captain in the Navy & his boat is rigged to the gills. O2, radar, side scan sonar, so it is a nice boat to go on. Also bigger than Pelicans.

 

[Lone Wolf]

For some local diving, there is millbrook quarry. It is just before manassas va. just off of hiway 66. 'The Dive Shop' in fairfax is running some winter dives on the week ends. Also there is Mt. Storm lake in west virginia, it is a cooling pond for a coal fired power plant, so it is warmer than anything else around. We dove there on the 1st, several people dove wet and were comfortable.

 

[Fly Girl]

I've heard about Mt. Storm. Is it warm enough in the winter for a 7mm suit? I'm looking into dry suit certs, and we'll probably be doing the water part at Millbrook. RAD, if I can get dry suit certified, would the VA Beach dives in the winter be to hard for a newbie? I've done Pacific Coast diving and Delaware diving, so I guess I could handle VA Beach in a dry suit? Mike will likely take class with me, so he would be a good judge of if I could handle it. If so, would ya mind if a 25 year old supermodel trapped in a 47 year old short and round body would join you?

 

[RAD Diver]

No problem Fly Girl, diving around here will be just like Delaware, maybe a bit better vis. We have plenty of entry level dives, less than 80fsw. But they are typically lower on the vis scale, averaging 20ft. If you are AOW we can get to some of the better wrecks in the 100fsw range & vis will typically be 20-40 ft.
The deeper dives aren't any harder than the shallower wrecks. Nitrox & bigger steel tanks help, even though I know plenty of divers who do these dives with an Alum. 80.
You will find that the drysuit will add weight to the belt, so steel tanks will help neutralize this.
I can help with tanks, I seem to have a few laying around.

 

[Fly Girl]

Thanks, RAD Diver!!! Depth doesn't bother me - I don't have my AOW yet, so I shouldn't go more than 80-90ft, but I am my most happiest in around 50-70ft. I am Nitrox cert, and I definitely prefer it if I can get it (as she said with all of her massive 20 dive only experience). I sent Mike a note today, and if he is still in the area, there is a possibility we could head your way the weekend of 21-22 Feb since we'll likely be doing drysuit certs the weekend before. It sounds like a great time if we can work out logistics.